By Ken Keating
Langford, B.C., April 16th, 2011
The first of the crashes happened in the B-Heat for the I.M.S. 4 Mini Stocks. Sharon Constantine shared the front row with Sean Staniforth as the green flag fell. Caleb Van Bree, driving Lois Pollard-Grant's old Mini Stock for the first time, spun out going through turn one and two coming to a full stop. Constantine couldn't see the spin in time and nailed Van Bree's car. Jeremy Waksel also couldn't avoid the Constantine car and smashed into the rear end of the #3 car. The red flag came out to attend to Constantine as she seemed to have difficulty in walking on her own and was later taken to Hospital for a further check up. Van Bree was done for the night, early indications are the #3 car is a write-off, and Waksel was OK to continue and this all happened on the fourth lap. Alex Mouner was the eventual winner.
Shawn Sanger and Jim Pridge waged a great side by side battle in the B-Heat for the Dwarf Cars. Several times, Pridge tried to get by Sanger but each time Sanger shut the door and went on to the chequered flag leaving Pridge the second spot. Pridge also was victorious in the other Heat race. Bob Greenaway led six cars to the flag for the Dwarf Car Feature event and held the lead until Jim Pridge passed him on lap five. Greenaway held on to the second spot until lap ten and Mike Schott, from the Late Model Series, passed him to take that position away. Pridge checked out on the field and completed a clean sweep for the night taking the chequered flag first followed by Schott and Bruce Garside rounding out the top three. Sanger, who had a fast car all night experienced trouble and only lasted two laps and Greenaway also had problems giving up with just four laps to go. Another name of note is Randy Vincent, from the WilRoc Sprint Car Series, was behind the wheel of the #10 Dwarf Car on this night but was unable to go in the Feature event.
Gilles Parenteau and Glen Percival shared the front row for the start of the I.M.S. 4 Mini Stock Feature event. Going into turn four, there was a big crash that involved many drivers as the field was closely bunched and jockeying for position. Most of the cars were OK to continue but sustained damage that included Parenteau and Alex Mouner. On the restart, Percival was not in the line-up. Parenteau got out to the early lead on the green flag followed very quickly by Mouner and Justin Woodske. On lap ten, Mouner ran down the Parenteau and passed for the lead. Mouner went on to complete the second clean sweep of the night taking the chequered flag first followed by Parenteau, Woodske, Matt Szauer, and Chad Dobranski rounding out the top five.
New paint, new sheet metal, and new drivers were ready to go as a field of seventeen beautifully prepared cars took the green flag for sixty laps of racing in the Stock Car Series Feature event led by Brandon Hutchinson and Dean Macknery on the front row. On the very first lap, Aumen spun out coming down the frontstretch and Daryl Crocker went airborne as he ran over the front tire of the spinning Aumen. The yellow came out to clear some debris and this allowed Crocker a chance to enter the pits to check out his steering while Aumen also came into the pits, with his good start in the Stock Car Series, finished for the night. On the double file restart, Kyle Cottam got the jump and went into the lead followed by Aaron Wilkie, Hutchinson, and Rory Smith after just three laps. On lap seventeen the red flag came out as it appeared the #37 car, driven by Mackerny, caught fire coming out of turn two. On the restart, Cottam again got the lead followed by Wilkie. On lap eighteen, Smith took over the third spot dropping Hutchinson back to fourth. On lap twenty-two Dan Myers got into contention taking the fourth spot away from Hutchinson. On lap thirty-eight, Smith took the second spot while Wilkie held on to third followed by Myers and Chris McInerny. Over several laps, Smith tried everything to get by Cottam for the lead but to no avail. After running up front for almost the whole race, wouldn't you know that a mechanical problem slowed the #33 car down enough to allow Smith to get the lead on lap fifty-nine. A tough break for Cottam but he did finish second behind Smith with Wilkie finishing third followed by McInerny and Myers rounding out the top five. Kirt Rompain was behind the wheel of the #95 Ryan Wade car but his front steering fell apart putting him in the pits even though, at the time, he was not in contention. Needless to say that several of the cars went home with new bends and scratches to go along with the new paint and sheet metal as this Series still remains very competitive. This Series will return to the Speedway in two weeks with the Mini Stocks along with opening night for the Late Model Series where Smith has a chance for another win in the faster cars.
The next event will be held on April 23rd with the Demo Series featuring the Demo Cars, Demos Trucks, Figure 8s, and the Bomber Series.