By Ken Keating
Once again fans can expect to be treated to the lightning quick WilRoc Sprint Car Series, head to head in a wild shoot out with the high powered cars from the N.S.R.A. and you will see some of the best drivers and the fastest cars in the Pacific Northwest in this must see event sponsored by P&R Truck Centre/Western Star, and Richlock Rentals. The two day Daffodil Cup is up for grabs and is one of the most prestigious races and sought after Trophies that Western Speedway has to offer. Drivers make their way from as far away as Alberta, Prince George, Boise; Idaho, Oregon, and many parts of Washington State to take part in this event. Over the last several years local drivers have done very well whether they have driven with the NSRA or the local WilRoc Series as Jeff "The Hurricane" Montgomery won three Cups in a row from 2004 through 2006. Watch for this past WilRoc and NSRA Champion to be charging to the front as he is always a threat to win. The "Tire Fryer" Scott Aumen, Mr. Excitement himself is a four time WilRoc Champion and defending Daffodil Cup winner and is always quick at Western Speedway. The NSRA has a few hard chargers as well as Matt Hein, from Roseburg, OR., has a hot hand and is the defending NSRA Champion and the current points leader for 2011. Hein demonstrated he is in top form at the half way point of the ASA/NSRA Championship season winning his third Rebel Jackson Memorial race in a row when they ran August 6th at Ephrata, WA . Right behind him is the bright young star that thrilled the Western Speedway crowd when she ran in the Billy Foster / Strawberry Cup two day event in June. Sierra Jackson, the driving sensation from Boise, Idaho, has won the respect, imagination, and the hearts of everyone wherever she races and is not afraid to put the hammer down in a Sprint Car as the big boys can attest. On Friday, June 10th, Sierra politely went out and posted the quickest time of the night. On the Saturday night, Guy Barrett, Jeff Montgomery, and Scott Aumen all set qualifying speeds under the 14 second mark with Barrett having the best mark of these three at 13.926. Sierra Jackson came out again and as she did on Friday and showed everyone how to get around Western Speedway as she set a qualifying time of 13.664 just over the track record of 13.62 much to the delight of the big crowd and that caused the head shake of many of the drivers. After double checking the points sheets from the 2011 Diamond Cup weekend, and after two days of racing, Hein and Jackson were tied for the points championship and have been declared co-champions for the 2011 each driver winning a Feature event running at Meridian Speedway. Did I fail to mention Jackson is currently running second in NSRA points?? Keep your eyes on this driver and don't blink as she'll be gone!! Ron Larson, another BC boy, also has an NSRA victory in 2011 winning the Art Pollard Memorial running in Roseburg Oregon on July 23rd.
The Billy Foster Memorial and Strawberry Cup, Part 2, Saturday night produced another great night for racing and what a great night it was. Rob Scott had the pole position with Marty Venoit on his outside for the start of thirty-five laps of racing and this was loud, furious, and fast and took little time to complete. Scott got out early and into the lead followed quickly by Merv Barcelo, Ron Larson, and Randy Vincent. Behind them the fast qualifiers were trying to make their way through the pack and they included Scott Aumen, Matt Mansell, Guy Barrett, Jeff Montgomery, and Sierra Jackson. On lap twelve Darren Yates moved up to the fourth spot with Barrett now up to fifth and Montgomery and Jackson still coming forward. On lap fifteen, Barrett went by Yates and into fourth leaving Yates to try and hold off Jackson and Montgomery. On lap eighteen "The Hurricane" pulled a daring move blowing by both Jackson and Yates and took over the fifth spot with Barrett now in his sights. Up front Scott continued to lead Larson and Vincent turning very fast laps. Vincent now had Barrett on the rear nerf bars and Montgomery bumper to bumper with him. On lap twenty-eight, Montgomery went to the inside of Barrett with an excuse me and moved into the fourth spot setting his sights now on Vincent. On lap thirty-three, Montgomery made the pass for third blowing by Vincent. When the chequered flag dropped it was Rob Scott taking the win followed by Larson, Montgomery, Vincent and Barrett rounding out the top five positions. These twelve drivers ran flag to flag with no cautions at all in a very thrilling event that lasted almost nine minutes.
One of the most difficult things to do, if your involved in car racing, is to beat Mother Nature and Saturday July 16th Western Speedway done 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. 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.