By Ken Keating
Galaxy Motors sponsored the last event at Western Speedway as the Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Figure 8s, and the Bombers raced to be Champions in the final event for the 2011 season. Trophy Dashes, Heat races, and Feature events were on tap on a cool night that did present some hot racing. Andrew Wilson won the Bomber Trophy Dash, Robbie Haslam took the Demo Truck Dash, Aasen Baker won the Demo Car Series Dash, while Mike Dash won the Figure 8 Dash. George Haywood, driving for Ashton Campbell, and Kevin Knight, driving for Rory Smith, won the Figure 8 Heat races, Jamie Morgan was the winner in the Bomber Heat race as both Heath Cooper and Brandon Steen went under the twenty second mark and suffered a stop and go penalty, Andrew Wilson won the A Heat race after Chris Stone and Dennis Stewart tried racing three wide causing the two front runners to spin out. Richard Milne won the Heat race for the Demo Truck Series while Greg Sagmoen took the Heat race for the Demo Car Series.
Fifty laps, one of the longest Figure 8 Feature races of the season, saw Andrew Buchanan on the pole with Jake Burns on the outside to take the green flag. Buchanan got the lead early with Kail Beck, and Chahala Boyes his co-rider, move quickly to run second. Behind him, Caleb Van Bree, driving the #66 car, and Robin Trotter battled for third and fourth. On lap nine, Beck moved into the lead dropping Buchanan back to second with Roger Beck moving into third. On lap eleven, Roger took the second spot with Trotter taking third. Kail kept his nose clean and picked off drivers as he cruised to the victory followed by his father Roger and Trotter placing third.
Kyle Rizok led the points race as they entered competition and held on to take the Figure 8 Championship for 2011. During the after race interview he said; "Thank you to Kail Beck for not racing every race as that gave me a chance to win the Championship."
Robbie Haslam had the pole for the start of the Demo Truck Feature event scheduled for fifteen laps. He got the jump from the green flag and led for four laps followed by Doug Richens for two of those laps. On lap three, George Haywood moved up to second only to be taken out by Kevin Knight one lap later. Knight led lap five until he was passed by Richard Milne.
Last event, Milne had a truck that was lighning quick and it was no different in the final race as he went on to win the Demo Truck Feature event followed by Knight and Darren Keeler.
Knight was the point leader heading into tonight's race and did take home his first ever Championship. He ushered a thank you to George Haywood saying; "He was fighting for a Championship and loaned me a rear end so that I could compete tonight as I broke mine last event."
The Demo Car Feature event was also scheduled to run fifteen laps with Craig Holfeld holding the pole position. Troy Tarbuck led the first lap and was passed by Greg Sagmoen on lap two. On lap four Aasen Baker moved up to run third. Sagmoen held the points lead and stated earlier that he was going to retire this season and no one had anything for him as he cruised to the victory and the Demo Car Championship.
He and teammate, Troy Tarbuck, went bumper to bumper in a smoke show on the frontstretch but that ignited a fire under the #89 car as the transmission got a little toasted in the head to head showdown. Sagmoen's response was; " Drive them till you burn them to the ground." as he was interviewed after the race.
Chris Broughton and Brian Wakelin led a field of eighteen cars to the green flag for fifty laps of racing in the Bomber Series. Wakelin led the first lap, Broughton led lap two, Mark Lockhart led lap three and four, and then Broughton took over the lead again on lap five. Tyler Woods moved up to run second dropping Lockhart back to third also on the fifth lap. Behind them, Aaron Cameron and Chris Stone where on a mission to get to the front along with Heath Cooper. On lap sixteen, Cameron had moved up to run third followed by Stone, who took over the fourth spot one lap later with Cooper still in the mix. On lap twenty-four, Cameron made the pass for the lead with Cooper and Stone moving into second and third respectively one lap later. Over the next several laps, Cooper ran side by side and bumper to bumper with Cameron but couldn't find a way around the leader from the outside grrove. When the chequered flag dropped, Cameron had the win followed by Cooper, Stone, Lockhart, and Dennis Stewart rounding out the top five positions.
Going into competition, on this night, Brandon Steen had the points lead with Dennis Stewart, Jamie Morgan, and Cameron all with a shot at the Championship only separated by sixty points between them. Steen did finish seventh and might have been a bit tentative after the stop and go in the Heat race, but his finish did secure a second Bomber Championship for the young driver by seven points over Cameron who vaulted into second in points. The winners were greeted at Victory Square by Kayla Reid, Samantha Eldridge, and Arden Baker to receive their trophies.
Congratulations to all the Champions emerging from last night's event. You have earned your place in Western Speedway's history book. Congratulations to Harold Corbett on his retirement. He has been a fixture at the Speedway since 1969 either as a driver, car owner, or has held a management position with several promotors and has been the General Manager for the last few years. Enjoy your retirement. You will be missed. So the chequered flag has also dropped on the 2011 regular race season with, hopefully you the fans, the winner as you had the opportunity to watch some excellant races throughout the year. Western Speedway thanks you as well as all of the many sponsors, drivers, and volunteers who help to make it all work. See you again in 2012.