By Ken Keating
Western Speedway hosted the I.M.S 4 Mini Stocks, The Island Dwarf Car Series, and the Stock Cars with a full program of Trophy Dashes, Heat races, and Feature events this evening and every class was extremely competitive and tough on equipment. Jeremy Stevens, driving the #5 car, and Mike Meeres won the Dwarf Car Trophy Dashes, Gord Percival and Jeremy Waksel won the Mini Stock Dashes, while Kevin Knight, driving for Steve Copp, and Cody Aumen won the Stock Car Dashes. In the "A" Dash Sean Sanger, Bob Pridge, Mike Meeres, and Dave Emmerson were all trying for the win and Pridge and Emmerson touched tires and went around on the last lap leaving Meeres with the win. The "A" Dash in the Mini Stock Series ran virually the same order as they lined up for the start of this race with all four cars in a tight bunch until the very last lap. Justin Woodske got into Jeremy Waksel a bit resulting in a black flag for Woodske and a win for Waksel as he managed to run through the dirt and still maintain control of his car and got the chequered flag. In the "B" Dash for Stock Cars, Kevin Knight, Garrett Smith, and Jeremy Gardiner tried racing three abreast through the corners and made it without a mishap with Knight taking that win.
The first of two Dwarf Car Heat races went off without a hitch with Mike Meeres taking the win. The first Mini Stock Heat race proved otherwise as very early Caleb Van Bree went to go three wide and started to spin around. As he came down the track, Billy Stidson had no place to go and drove his #88 pickup into the broadside of Van Bree. Stidston had severe damage done to his vehicle and his night was finished. Van Bree would return in this race and the Feature. Alex Mouner avoided disaster and won the first of two Heats. Dave Reside was victorious in the first Stock Car Heat with Mike Derepentigny winning the second Heat. The second Heat race in the Dwarf Car Series had all kinds of problems getting underway between a false start and spinning cars. Jeremy Stevens and Sean Sanger got locked up on the backstretch and brought out a yellow and before the green could drop the #97 stopped in corner one in a vulnerable spot. Eventually Dave Emmerson, driving the #24 car, did find the chequered flag.
John McNabb had the pole for the start of the Dwarf Car Feature event and led early as Randy Vincent, Dave Emmerson, and Mike Meeres started to come through the pack in a hurry. After just three laps, Meeres dove to the inside and took over the second spot while Emmerson followed him through. Sean Sanger, the points leader also started to come through the field setting his sights on Randy Vincent. On lap five, Meeres made his move and passed McNabb for the lead with Emmerson still in the mix and Sanger now in fourth. On lap eight, Emmerson grabbed the second spot as Sanger took over the third spot. Meeres had started to build a big lead when the yellow came out for a couple of cars spinning out. On the restart, Meeres got away again as behind him the best battle was with Bob Pridge and Vincent for the fourth and fifth spot. When the chequered flag dropped, Meeres came away with the win followed by Sean Sanger, who made the pass for second on the last lap, Emmerson, Pridge, and Vincent rounded out the top five. Meeres explained how fast these cars were as they sometimes run up to about one-hundred and thirty miles an hour on the stretches and because of the dimensions are a handful to drive but a lot of fun. Sean Sanger, by placing second in the Feature, is the Dwarf Car Champion for 2011.
Gord Percival and Giles Parenteau shared the front row for the start of twenty laps of racing in the Mini Stock Series. On the very first lap, Jeremy Waksell and Justin Woodske got together with Waksel having to remove most of the front end of his car in order to continue. Percival led early after the restart followed by Matt Szauer and Parenteau while Alex Mouner worked his way on the outside and was moving in a hurry. On lap three, Szauer spun out and almost collected Mouner. On lap eight, Van Bree took over the second spot with Percival still in the lead. Woodske moved into contention running side by side with Van Bree looking to take the second spot while Mouner was moving into this bunch as well. Woodske moved to the outside while Mouner went inside Van Bree and come out with the second spot by himself by lap fifteen. One lap later, Percival turned himself around and Van Bree slipped by for the lead as Mouner checked up. This was short lived as Mouner went by before the lap was complete and reclaimed the lead. When The chequered flag dropped, Mouner had claimed the win followed by Van Bree, Woodske, Sean Constantine, and Jeremy Waksel rounding out the top five. Mouner said: " I had to drive the wheels off this car to get here as this race was tough."
Kevin Knight and Garrett Smith shared the front row for the start of fifty laps of racing in the Stock Car Feature event with Knight claiming the early lead. Behind him several cars changed positions as the faster cars were coming through the pack. By lap ten, Knight still had the lead as Sam Hunt and Dan Myers were in contention running second and third respectively. On lap eleven, the yellow came out as Chris McInerny, Smith, Daryl Crocker, and other got together. McInerny entered the pits with a torn up race car ending his run. Crocker lost a lot of sheet metal but could continue. On the double file restart, Knight had Meyers on his outside as the field retook the green flag. Knight got away first but soon had Hunt trying to move to the inside to take over the lead while behind them, Dave Reside and Ryan Wade made three wide racing with Knight and everyone looking for the lead with Wade getting the advantage and taking the second spot while Knight dropped way back. The yellow came out briefly on lap sixteen and on the double file restart, Wade and Hunt shared the front row for the resumption of green flag racing. Wade got away with a good jump and took over the lead while Mike Derepentigny moved into the second spot with Reside now running third. On lap twenty, the yellow came out as Derepentigny and Hunt got together and Reside, with no place to go, slammed into the mess and significant damage was done sending him to the pits for the remainder of the race. On the double file restart, Wade got the early jump from Smith and regained the lead and began to check out on the rest of the field. On lap twenty-seven, the yellow came out again as Hunt's machine blew out a motor after running so well early. Over the next few laps, Wade checked out again as cars behind him were changing positions regularly with Myers spinning and Garrett Smith entering the pits and Crocker dropping off the pace. When the dust settled, Ryan Wade picked up his sixth Feature event in a row and all but sewed up his fifth consecutive Championship as well with only one race left in this Series. This car suffered its only defeat way back in April when Rory Smith captured the first win of the season. Daryl Crocker, Cody Aumen, Kevin Knight, and Jeremy Gardener rounded out the top five positions.
The next event features the Demo Series with the Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, the Bombers, and the Mini Figure 8's to do battle plus a boat race sponsored by Galaxy Motors with Sooke Disposal sponsoring a trailer race as well. This event is scheduled for September 17th.