By Ken Keating
One of the most difficult things to do, if your involved in car racing, is to beat Mother Nature and Saturday Western Speedway did all it could to do just that. The Speedway had a two night event planned with the Cast Iron Nationals, with the Sprint Car Series, the WilRoc Lites, with both Series running for the Roy Smith Memorial Trophies, and the Island Dwarf Car Series running for the Jim Pridge Memorial Trophy. On Friday night Mother Nature won out as rain fell in the area cancelling the races. On Saturday night, she almost won again but with a break in the weather coming Speedway Officials waited out the showers and everything was done to dry the track and get the full program underway. Local singing artist, Jenny Rhodes got things started by singing both the U.S. and Canadian National Anthems and racers began a full program of Trophy Dashes, Heat races, and Feature events sponsored by Richlock Rentals.
Dave Emmerson, driving for Jim Pridge, and Bob Greenaway won Trophy Dashes for the Dwarf Car Series, Jeff Bird and Wayde Heckford won Dashes in the WilRoc Lites Series, while Jeff, "the Hurricane" Montgomery and Matt Mansell were victorious in the Sprint Car Series. On a track that was not at its best, Jeff turned a lap at a blistering 13.683 which is just shy of the track record of 13.65 in this race. Heat race victories went to Sean Sanger and Dave Emmerson in the Dwarf Car Series, WilRoc Lite Heat races were won by Robbie Haslam and Jeff Bird, and Sprint Car Heats went to Guy Barrett and Scott Aumen. During hot laps, Merv Barcelo, coming from Spruce Grove Alberta, broke a crankshaft and Rob Scott had engine problems on practice night and could not run.
Bob Pridge and Rodney Cardiff shared the front row for the start of twenty laps of racing in the Dwarf Car Series but Don Bonasky, returning to racing after a long absence, found the lead on lap two followed by Sean Sanger on the third lap with Emmerson taking the third spot one lap later. On lap nine, Sanger went by for the lead dropping Bonasky back to second while behind him Emmerson had James Dore to contend with. As Emmerson battled with Bonasky entering turn four, both drivers spun out bringing out a yellow flag. Bonasky was able to continue but Emmerson entered the pits with his night finished. On the restart, Sanger again jumped into the lead followed closely by Dore as these two drivers began to pull away from the rest of the field. Scott Drake was running third but Bonaski chased him down and took the third spot on lap sixteen. When the chequered flag dropped, Sanger was the winner with Dore, Bonasky, Drake, and Bob Pridge rounding out the top five positions. Members of the Pridge family along with Trophy Girl Betty Kate presented the Jim Pridge Memorial Trophy to Sanger at Victory Square.
Jesse Dardengo and Ron French led a field of thirteen cars to the green flag for twenty laps of racing in the WilRoc Lites Feature event. On the very first lap and going around turn three and four, Ron French went around and collected Jeff Bird who had nowhere to go and smacked the wall thus ending his night. He had a very fast car and it appeared he had overcome over heating problems that plagued him throughout this season. French was able to rejoin the field but Bird's night ended here. On the restart, Dardengo got away to the early lead followed quickly by Deter Lajeune and Ryan Wade. In the early stages of this race there were several cars all dicing for positions trading spots by just inches and running side by side. On lap fifteen, Lejeune finally made the pass for the lead and Wade also followed through to take over the second spot dropping Dardengo back to third. Lejeune carried on for the win followed by Wade, Jesse Dardengo, Stephen Dardengo, and Robbie Haslam rounding out the top five positions in one of the best and highly competitive WilRoc Lite Feature events this season.
Darren Yates and Mark Fisher shared the front row for thirty-five laps of racing in the Sprint Car Feature event with Yates taking command with the drop of the green flag. On the very first lap, Doug McLees slammed into the frontstretch wall causing a lot of damage to the front of his car and that resulted in a red flag as his crew had to replace a flat tire in order to pull him from the track, his night ended there. On the restart, Yates again grabbed the lead followed quickly by Randy Vincent and Matt Mansell. On lap four Mansell blew by Vincent and took over the second spot and Guy Barrett then followed through for third three laps later. Mansell closed the gap on the leader and began to put all kinds of pressure on Yates for the lead until he got a run and made the pass on lap twelve. Once in the lead Mansell drove away from the field leaving Yates, Barrett, Jeff Montgomery, and Scott Aumen to battle for the next positions and they did that well running bumper to bumper and wing to wing. On lap thirty-one, Aumen passed Montgomery for fourth and then passed Barrett for third one lap later. No one had anything for the very fast Mansell as he cruised to victory followed by Yates, Aumen, Barrett, and Montgomery rounding out the top five positions. "Chuck" and Gary Smith met Deter Lajuene and Matt Mansell at Victory Square and presented the Roy Smith Memorial Trophies to both the winning drivers in an event filled night to say the least.
The next event, at Western Speedway is another Wednesday Night Fever event with the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Hornet Series, July 20th, and the next regular Saturday night event is the "Eve Of Destruction", on July 23rd, with the Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Mini Figure 8s, and the Bombers. Also on this card, Gary Williams is set to jump another limo and there will be an always entertaining and competitive boat race with the nights event sponsored by Victoria Hyundai.