By Ken Keating
The Hardy boys
are at it again as the Enduro race is 1st up for 2012 scheduled for 1 PM on
Sunday, January 22nd, at Western Speedway. These guys and gals race no matter
what the weather is like and for 2 hours or 200 laps whichever comes first.
There is usually a good car count and these drivers are just itching to get
back to race action.
For the remainder of the Winter
Hornet Series races, there is a procedure change. The race will be stopped for
five minutes at the half way mark (either 100 laps or 1 hour) and during this
time the drivers may enter the pits for repairs, tire changes, fuel or driver
changes. They then will line up behind the cars who either stayed on the track
or the ones that came out of the pits first and they will not loose a lap for
doing this.This will give a great opportunity to run the 1st half of the race
and have someone else complete the 2nd half.
Twenty-six racers lined up for round three in the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Enduro race held at Western Speedway Sunday, December 11th. in the last event of 2011. The temperature was cool but action on the track was somewhat warmer and sometimes hot but sunny skies prevailed throughout the event making for another entertaining event. Glenn Rand and Phil Lagan shared the front row for the first come first served start with Lagan jumping out to lead the first lap plus several laps thereafter. Rory Smith was quick to move into the second spot with Darren Yates also running close to the front. In the early stages Smith and Yates changed positions quite often taking turns trying to run down the leader. The first yellow came out to clear a stalled car from the track and when the field went back to green, Lagan still had the lead followed by Yates, Smith, Heath Cooper, and Cody Aumen running in the top five positions. Over the next several laps the battle for positions one through five changed almost every lap. Rory Smith entered the pits very early as his car quit and he had to be pushed to the pits after challenging for the front. At one point Lagan had built a decent lead out front only to have a yellow flag bunch the field as yet another car came to a stop on the hard dog leg at the end of the track. On the restart, Lagan still led while Aumen moved up to run in the top five along with Cooper, Yates, and Wolfgang Tremmel. Aumen then passed Lagan for the lead while the battle behind was still up for grabs with Lagan, Cooper, and Yates running very close together. Heath Cooper and Darrell Midgley got together coming out of the pit area and just missed slamming into the wall on the backstretch. Midgley came to the pits shortly after the collision while Cooper did stay on the track but eventually he entered the pits with his day complete about half way through the event.
Twenty-six racers lined up for round three in the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Enduro race held at Western Speedway Sunday, December 11th. in the last event of 2011. The temperature was cool but action on the track was somewhat warmer and sometimes hot but sunny skies prevailed throughout the event making for another entertaining event. Glenn Rand and Phil Lagan shared the front row for the first come first served start with Lagan jumping out to lead the first lap plus several laps thereafter. Rory Smith was quick to move into the second spot with Darren Yates also running close to the front. In the early stages Smith and Yates changed positions quite often taking turns trying to run down the leader. The first yellow came out to clear a stalled car from the track and when the field went back to green, Lagan still had the lead followed by Yates, Smith, Heath Cooper, and Cody Aumen running in the top five positions. Over the next several laps the battle for positions one through five changed almost every lap. Rory Smith entered the pits very early as his car quit and he had to be pushed to the pits after challenging for the front. At one point Lagan had built a decent lead out front only to have a yellow flag bunch the field as yet another car came to a stop on the hard dog leg at the end of the track. On the restart, Lagan still led while Aumen moved up to run in the top five along with Cooper, Yates, and Wolfgang Tremmel. Aumen then passed Lagan for the lead while the battle behind was still up for grabs with Lagan, Cooper, and Yates running very close together. Heath Cooper and Darrell Midgley got together coming out of the pit area and just missed slamming into the wall on the backstretch. Midgley came to the pits shortly after the collision while Cooper did stay on the track but eventually he entered the pits with his day complete about half way through the event.
Up front, Aumen still was in the
lead with Yates all over him still trying to win another event as they were
able to put some space between themselves and third place. After several more
laps, the yellow came out as Yates came to a stop as he sheared an axle coming
through the chicanes at the end of the drag strip. This, however, would not be
the end to his day as they were able to make repairs and put him back on the
track late in the event. Aumen was still in the lead but was challenged by Copp
until he entered the pits with a brake problem. He was able to continue but was
not able to go quite as fast as the previous laps. Lagan also came into the
pits after running close to the front for most of the event. He too made some
adjustments and could get back later to complete more laps. Aumen was able to
build a pretty good lead over the remainder of the race and came home with his
first victory of this winter series followed by Curtis Williams, who made the
trip from Agassiz, and Jay Young coming to the chequered flag in third place
after a full 163 laps. Phil Lagan and Kevin Knight rounded out the top five
positions. Williams usually races Hornets at Evergreen but he and another
driver made the trek to Western Speedway saying: "It was fun except for
the high cost to get here with the Ferries." The top three drivers
received their trophies from Rockell Kroppmans at Victory Sqaure at the
conclussion of the event. With his eventual 10th place finish, Yates held on to
the points lead with Aumen taking over the second spot in overall points with a
real close battle for the next positions. The next event is scheduled for
February 19th, 2012 with the start time of 1:00 PM and two events left.
Winter Points:
1/ #90 Darren Yates -
50
2/ #04 Cody Aumen -
43
3/ #8 Blair Davis -
39
4/ #28 Howie Mace -
38
5/ #91 Brenda Leslie
- 37
6/ #18 Jay Young - 35
7/ #79 Heath Cooper -
32
8/ #15 Steve Copp -
31
9/ #66 Ian Walker -
27
10/ #83 Shawn
Hitchings - 24