By Ken Keating
On his way to Western Speedway, Ryan Wade must have stopped at a local Timmy's and ordered a large double double as this is exactly what he got as Western Speedway hosted the Stock Cars, I.M.S. 4 Mini Stock Series, and the WilRoc Lites running Trophy Dashes, Heat races, and Feature events with the program sponsored by Richlock Rentals. Wade drove in the very competitive Stock Car Series and pulled double duty as he was also driving in the WilRoc Lites Series on this night. Matt Szauer and Caleb Van Bree won Trophy dashes with the Mini Stock Series, Daryl Crocker and Sam Hunt won the Dash races for the Stock Car Series, while Guy Barrett and Paul Verhagen were victorious in the WilRoc Lite Trophy Dashes. Matt Szauer and Alex Mouner won their respective Heat races as did Dan Myers and Ryan Wade in the Stock Car Series, and Jesse Dardengo and Paul Verhagen with the WilRoc Lites Series.
Matt Szauer and Giles Parenteau shared the front row for the start of the Mini Stock Feature race scheduled for twenty laps. Szauer had a pretty good night winning the Dash and held off the hard charging Alex Mouner in the earlier Heat race and his crew have made steady advancements in his car's performance. In that Heat, Jeremy Waksel, Justin Woodske, and Alex Mouner had a great race as Szauer took the chequered flag and was looking for the clean sweep. Szauer grabbed the lead early as behind him Giles Parenteau was in a race with Mouner until Mouner took the second spot on lap three and then took the lead on lap seven. Once in the lead, Mouner checked out and built a good lead while Szauer checked out on the rest of the field and left the battle for third behind him. On lap thirteen Woodske got by Parenteau and moved into the third spot. Mouner went on for his fourth win followed by Szauer, Woodske, Parenteau, and Caleb Van Bree rounding out the top five positions.
Tyler Woods and Jeremy Gardener brought fourteen Stock Cars to the green flag for forty laps of racing in the Stock Car Feature event of the night. Woods got the early lead and led for the first five laps until he was passed by Dan Myers on lap six. The battle for position behind him involved several cars and on lap seven the yellow flag came out as several cars tagged one another with Mike Derepentigny getting the worst of it as he wound up in the turn two wall. He was able to continue however but before the field could get the yellow there was another collision that broke the front steering on Wood's car sending him to the wall on the frontstretch ending his night. On a double file restart, Myers would have Daryl Crocker on his outside as they came around for the green flag. On lap nine, Kyle Cottam took over the lead as Ryan Wade moved up to take the third spot sending Crocker back to fourth. On lap eleven Crocker had regained the third spot passing Myers as Aaron Wilkie moved into the mix passing Dave Reside and taking the fourth position on lap fourteen. At one point, Wilkie, Reside, and Myers were running three wide going through turn three and four and then Chris McInerny took his turn three wide with Myers and Reside and everyone made it through. Meanwhile up front Wade reeled in Cottam and took over the lead on lap nineteen. On lap twenty-three, Wilkie found his way past Crocker and took over the third spot. On lap thirty-two, Jason Frost, driving for Steve Copp, took over the fifth spot when Myers dropped off the pace somewhat. When the chequered flag dropped, Wade was the victor followed by Cottam, Wilkie, Crocker and Frost rounding out the top five positions.
In an after race interview, Wade was asked about running Stock Cars and then jumping into the WilRoc Lite car for another Feature event. He said: "We've got the car to go fast now I have to learn how to pass cars." He quickly left Victory Square and came back to start in the tenth spot for the WilRoc Lites Feature event led to the green flag by Chris Root and Ron French. Root got the lead early followed by French and Paul Verhagen. On lap seven, Jesse Dardengo had moved up and took over the third spot followed by Jeff Bird. On lap thirteen, Bird passed Dardengo for the second spot in a tight battle with these two drivers while Wade was making his way forward and into the fourth spot. On lap fifteen the yellow came out as the #08 car driven by Shane Woolcock spun into the backstretch wall and Frank Mayell also suffered lots of front end damage as his car was also pulled to the pits. Bird has had an overheating problem all year and on this yellow also went into the pits his night finished. On the restart, Root got away again followed by Dardengo and Ryan Wade as he moved into the third spot. Dardengo began a relentless pursuit of Root trying everything to get by the leader as Wade also was well within striking distance. On lap twenty-two the yellow again came out as Root spun coming out of turn two as Dardengo done a little "bump draft" on the leader and getting a stop and go from track officials. This put both Scottie cars at the back of the pack and yes, Ryan Wade into the lead for the restart. Once the green flag dropped, Wade took the advantage and got away followed by Guy Barrett and Deter Lajuene. Barrett, a veteran in winged competition, tried to get by Wade early but couldn't muster the power to do so. Wade took the chequered flag for his second Feature event in two different classes of cars with Barrett holding the second spot followed by Lejuene, Ron French, and Dardengo coming all the way back to a fifth place finish. Wade is another driver that has made great gains in his performance since joining the Lites Series as his car has been getting better each time out and was certainly competitive in this race and a man to watch for the rest of the 2011 season.
The next event, at Western Speedway, is the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Hornet Series scheduled for July 6th with the next regular Saturday race will be the Demo Series with Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Figure 8s, and the Bomber Series. Also on this card is a school bus race and a Mascot night where we may see the return of Skidmark, Buzz the Bee, Aaron's Lucky Dog, and maybe a few more from the local sports scene. There will also be a fireworks show at the end of the races. Wilson's Transportation will sponsor the School Bus race with Galaxie Motors the sponsor for the regular races.
The next event, at Western Speedway, is the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Hornet Series scheduled for July 6th with the next regular Saturday race will be the Demo Series with Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Figure 8s, and the Bomber Series. Also on this card is a school bus race and a Mascot night where we may see the return of Skidmark, Buzz the Bee, Aaron's Lucky Dog, and maybe a few more from the local sports scene. There will also be a fireworks show at the end of the races. Wilson's Transportation will sponsor the School Bus race with Galaxie Motors the sponsor for the regular races.