By Ken Keating
Last night's race program, held at Western Speedway, was a history maker as the OTRA Series and the ASA Advance Testing Tour BC Late Model Series made their way onto the track to run for the Ron Mayell Memorial Trophy for OTRA and the Canada 200 and the Debbie Copper Memorial Cup for the Late Model Series. This is the first season that the ASA has been the sanctioning body for what was once called the Katana Boat Sportsman Series and the first time that this Series would run for the first ever BC Late Model Championship at Western Speedway. The night's sponsors included O`Dell Slinger and IslandCarBuyers.com.
Larry Joyce and Ken Littleproud won the Trophy Dashes for the OTRA Series. Littleproud has not raced in some time but used the occassion to announce he will return in 2012. He made the most of his return with a third place finish in his Heat race plus the Feature event as well. Tyler Clough and Darrell Midgley won the Trophy Dashes for the ASA Late Model Series and they did not run Heats. Between the Heat races and Feature events, however, all Late Model drivers pulled their cars to the frontstretch and fans were invited down to talk to the drivers and have autographs signed.
 |
| Duane Zeinstra wins OTRA Feature |
Terry Cessford, driving for Roger Beck, shared the front row with Stephen Dardengo for the start of twenty laps of racing in the OTRA Feature event. Ken Littleproud took the lead rather quickly as George "The Jet" Jenson moved up to run third followed closely by Duane Zeinstra. These two drivers battled side by side for several laps before Jenson took the lead from Littleproud as he ran side by side with Zeinstra for a few laps. Zeinstra was able to finally make the clean pass and took the second spot dropping Littleproud to third. Zeinstra went to the inside of Jenson in a bid to take over the lead with laps running out. On lap seventeen, Zeinstra made the pass and took over the lead and went on to the win picking up the Ron Mayell Memorial Trophy and the Feature event win. If you go back over the last four races that Zeinstra took part in, he has won three of them for a pretty amazing run. Jenson, Littleproud, Denis Morneau, and Kail Beck rounded out the top five positions. Members of the Mayell family and Trophy Girls, Elsa and Kyra greeted the winner at Victory Square to present the trophies.
 |
| Geoff Morris second in Canada 200 and ASA 2011 Champion |
Geoff Morris and Tom Berrow were tied in season's points as the BC Late Models lined up behind Doug Richens and Robbie Haslam, who shared the front row, for the start of 200 laps of racing and a Championship on the line. On lap ten, the first yellow came out as Haslam and Bart Smith got together a bit in turn four as they were racing very close to the front. On the double file restart, Rory Smith and Geoff Morris shared the front row but within two laps the yellow came out again. These two drivers again shared the front row as the field came around for the resumption of green flag racing. Geoff Morris grabbed the lead with the drop of the green flag and led until the yellow came out again on lap thirty-eight as John Ross spun around on turn one. On this double file restart, Morris again got away clean and went back to the lead with Rory Smith, Brent Morris, Wade Bland, and Darrell Midgley still in the mix. On lap sixty-two, the yellow again came out as Robbie Haslam blew an engine in his car ending his night. On the double file restart, Morris found Midgley running on his outside for the drop of the green flag but he was able to get a good jump and again went into the lead followed by Midgley, Korbin Thomas, and Wade Bland. On lap seventy-one, the yellow came out again as Morris went around after a light touch by Midgley sending both drivers to the back of the field. On the double file restart, Thomas had Bland on his outside for the resumption of racing with Brent Morris and Jason Tarasenko in the next row. Bland and Thomas ran side by side for several laps with Thomas finally getting the clear lead as Tarasenko then took his turn running side by side with Bland for the second spot. On lap eighty-eight, Tarasenko took over the second spot dropping Bland back to third with Brent Morris in fourth and Rory Smith running in fifth. Back in the field, both Geoff Morris and Midgley were threatening to get back into contention as the race reached the half way point and a stop for fuel and adjustments to cars would be allowed on the frontstretch on lap ninety-nine.
 |
| Jason Tarasenko third in Canada 200 |
The field again came around to the green flag with Tarasenko and Thomas sharing the front row and they continued to run side by side for several laps, as behind them Geoff Morris had moved up to run fifth. On lap one hundred and six, Thomas finally got the clear lead while on lap one hundred twelve, Geoff Morris passed his brother Brent and took over the fourth spot. Meanwhile Thomas began to build a decent lead over Tarasenko and Bland running in second and third respectively. On lap one hundred and forty, Midgley took over the fifth spot dropping Brent Morris out of the top five. On lap one hundred fifty, Morris moved up to run side by side with Tarasenko for the second spot as the yellow came out as Brandon Carlson and Tom Berrow spun out in turn one and two. On the double file restart, Tarasenko moved to the outside to share the front row with Thomas with Bland and Bart Smith in the second row and Darrell Midgley and Brent Morris in the third row for the drop of the green flag and the resumption of racing. Thomas got the jump and went back to the lead followed by Tarasenko, Bland, Geoff Morris, and Midgley on lap one hundred fifty-seven. On lap one hundred sixty-seven, Morris had taken over the second spot dropping Bland back to third. Midgley was quick to move up and run side by side with Bland looking to move closer to the front. Up front, Thomas had built a good lead and he would go on to his second Canada 200 win as he was the winner in last season`s race as well. Geoff Morris, Tarasenko, Midgley, and Wade Bland rounded out the top five positions in a well run race. Virtually all cars went home in one piece as there were no serious accidents whatsoever.
 |
| Korbin Thomas Canada 200 winner |
Members of Debbie Cooper's family and the Trophy Girls met the winner at Victory Square to present the trophies. With his second place finish, Morris, unofficially at this point, secured the first ever ASA Advanced Testing Tour BC Late Model Championship.
The next event, at Western Speedway, is the return of the Stock Cars and high Flyin Ryan Wade looking to continue his hot streak, the I.M.S. 4 Mini Stocks, where Alex Mouner will try and get back to his winning ways, and the always competitive Dwarf Cars Series in their last race at the Speedway this season. All of this is scheduled for September, 10th, next Saturday night.