They say all
good things must come to an end and so it is with the winter Enduro
Series sponsored by Steve Copp Construction. After five races, Darren
Yates holds the points lead with just one race left to go on March 25th.
Cody Aumen is within striking distance and he is a past Champion, a
Feature winner this season, and has a fast car. Howie Mace sits in the
third spot in points and has a victory under his belt in this season's
Enduros. Yates has three victories plus a WilRoc Sprint Car Championship
to his credit so the competition will be fierce in this last event.
These races has had great support from the drivers and sponsors from
start to finish which is a credit to everyone involved. They race rain
or shine on a tough course and for two hours or 200 laps whichever comes
first just for the fun of racing.
Cody Aumen had the pole as eighteen cars lined up in the Steve Copp
Construction sponsored winter Enduro series on Sunday afternoon running
for 200 laps or two hours whichever came first. This event also feature
the Keg Steakhouse & Bar Challenge where staff from the downtown
location challenged the Quadra Street location to see who would come
out on top driving these Hornet cars. Darren Yates, the current points
leader, started in the third row outside as the field came down the
frontstretch to take the green flag. Alex Atkinson grabbed the lead
after the first lap followed closely by Aumen and Yates. On lap four
Aumen passed Atkinson dropping him back to second as Yates hung on to
the third spot. One lap later, Yates moved up to run second with Atkinson
running third and Howie Mace moving into the fourth spot. Lap eight
produced a yellow flag as one of the cars quit coming out of the dogleg
while lap eleven produced another yellow as Brad Aumen slammed into
one of the big tires forming the frontstretch chicane. His car suffered
quite a bit of damage to the front end ending his day. On the restart,
Aumen again took the lead followed by Yates and Mace and they began
to pull away from the rest of the field and then the top two drivers
also pulled away from Mace. By lap twenty-two, Atkinson got into the
side of Brandon Carlson, driving the #16 car, ending his day. On lap
twenty-three Yates spun around on the frontstretch but only lost a couple
positions leaving Mace running second and Blair Davis running third.
The race was slowed a bit as a couple more yellow flags came out but
by lap fifty-two, Aumen still led followed by Mace, Yates, and Davis
running in the top four positions. After the mandatory stop at the half
way marker Yates was quick to take over the second position as Aumen
still held the lead. The green flag run was short lived as one of the
Keg drivers went around on the frontstretch followed quickly by another
of the Keg cars both spinning out. On the restart it took very little
time for Aumen and Yates to run away from the field again and build
a pretty good lead. By lap ninety-nine, Aumen had opened a good distance
between himself and Yates just as another yellow came out tightening
up the field. Again the field was under another caution as the #13 car
spun around again along the frontstretch. By this time Yates got by
Aumen and grabbed the lead with Aumen still attached to rear bumper
of the #90 car. By lap one hundred and twenty, Yates still led followed
by Aumen, Mace, Davis, and Ian Walker rounding out the top five positions.
As time was beginning to be a factor, one of the Keg drivers spun out
as the frontrunners were closing fast along the frontstretch and almost
collected Yates as he had to take evasive action to avoid the spinning
car. Time did run out after one hundred and forty-one laps with Yates
taking the win followed by Aumen, Mace, Davis, and Walker rounding out
the top five positions. It wasn't clear which Keg Steakhouse & Bar
actually won the Challenge but everyone had a great time watching and
cheering their driver throughout the run.
The 2012 racing season is scheduled to open on May 5th with the Demo
Series and will continue through until September 29th wityh many new
shows and events coming to Western Speedway. The regular Hornet series
will begin on June 20th and run through until August 29th on Championship
night for them again sponsored by Steve Copp Construction.
Winter Points:
1/ #90 Darren Yates - 90
2/ #04 Cody Aumen - 81
3/ #28 Howie Mace - 69
4/ #8 Blair Davis - 67
5/ #91 Brenda Leslie -
65
6/ #15 Steve Copp - 53
7/ #49 Kevin Knight - 46
8/ #66 Ian Walker - 43
9/ #98 Brad Aumen - 37
10/ #18 Jay Young - 35