The still air around Western Speedway came to life Saturday night as racing began for the 2012 season as the Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Figure 8s, and the Bombers opened the 58th year of operation at the famed oval. April Reidie, the talented singer with the Turnpike Bandits, got the evening going with the National Anthem followed by Trophy Dashes, Heat races, and Feature events for all classes.
Mark
Lockhart was the first winner of 2012 driving his #77 Camaro to a Trophy
Dash win in the Bomber Series. Chris Stone was also a winner in his
Trophy Dash. Other Dash winners were Cody and Brandon Young in their
respective races, George Haywood won the Demo Truck Dash, and Robin
Trotter won the Demo Car Dash. The Heat race winners included
Cody and Shawn Young as they won their respective races in the Figure
8 Class, George Haywood in the Demo Truck Series. Bobby Cyr and Mark
Lockhart won the Bomber Heats, and Joe Liberatore won the Demo Car Heat.
Eleven
cars took the green flag for forty laps of racing in the Figure 8 Feature
event led by last year's Champion Kyle Rizok with James Young sharing
the front row. This bunch of drivers got a lesson in the school of hard
knocks as it featured real hard hitting right from the drop of the green
flag. Rizok got out to the early lead with Brandon Young and Kail Beck
moving up to challenge within the first few laps. On lap ten, Beck took
the lead from Rizok as behind them Shawn Young and Cody Young were on
their way forward. On lap sixteen Shawn took the lead with Cody moving
into the second spot. Beck was the recipient of a hard hit as the rear
axle was almost disengaged from the rest of the car but he managed to
limp through a few extra laps until a mechanical black flag caught up
to him sending this warrior to the pits. On lap twenty five Rizok moved
back in contention regaining the second spot with Cody now running third.
On lap thirty, Cody again took the position away from Rizok as the field
was now somewhat diminished as cars fell by the wayside. Up front, Shawn
continued to lead and when the dust settled, he was the only car left
on the lead lap finishing first after forty laps on his triumphant
return to Western Speedway. His brother Cody finished second, on his
return, with Garrett Dougan, Rizok, and Rhett Szevics rounding out the
top five.
Three
Demo Cars and three Demo Trucks took to the track in a combined Feature
event scheduled for fifteen laps. Kenny Baker had a brand new truck
and gained the lead on the first lap. Normally trucks are to hit only
trucks while cars are to hit cars but that really doesn't happen as
they were bumping everything. Kenny Baker took top honors in the truck
while Robin Trotter took out his friend Kirk Peacey with just two laps
remaining and took the honors in the Demo Car Series.
Last
season Bomber drivers had to keep their cars over the 20 second lap
time or suffer a stop and go penalty and this season this rule still
applies making for a double challenge to said drivers. You have to beat
the competitors as well as that clock which isn't easy in the heat of
competition. Gilles Cyr entered the evening with a beautifully prepared
car and suffered the penalty in the Dash followed by another penalty
in his Heat race beating the 20 second lap time. Mark Lockhart was on
his way to a clean sweep as he entered the Feature event for the Bombers
with eighteen cars lined up behind the new Dodge Ram Pace Truck for
forty laps of racing.
Tyler
Woods had the pole and got the early lead after nailing the front stretch
wall in qualifying and making the repairs for the Feature event. Lockhart
moved quickly to take the lead on lap five with Woods running second
and Sean Staniforth moving into third and Bobby Cyr taking the fourth
position. On lap eleven, Staniforth moved into the second spot with
Gilles Cyr taking the third spot two laps later. On lap fifteen, Lockhart
suffered the stop and go penalty sending him to the pits and surrendering
the lead to Staniforth. Over the next few laps, Bobby and Gilles Cyr
battled back and forth for the second spot as Chris Stone moved into
the mix running fourth. On lap eighteen Gilles was too fast and suffered
the twenty second lap penalty once again having to go to the pits. On
lap twenty five Bobby took the lead with Brendon Moore moving up to
run second dropping Staniforth back to third. Over the next couple laps
and running very close together both Staniforth and Bobby Cyr got busted
for fast times and drove to the pits. Chris Stone drove to the lead
with Aaron Cameron now in the mix as the earlier penalized drivers were
coming back through the pack. Gilles again was too fast getting a second
penalty while Staniforth gained on the frontrunners running back in
the second position by lap forty five. On the last lap Staniforth gained
the lead and went on to win an eventful Feature race. At Victory Square
he learned that he was mistakenly given the black flag penalty in the
tight racing and when asked about that. His reply was, "That will
teach you to black flag the wrong car". Cameron held on for a second
place finish with Woods, Lockhart, and Stone rounding out the top five
positions.
The next event at Western Speedway is the season opener for the Stock
Cars, the Richlock Rentals Non Wing Sprint Cars, and the new Keg Steakhouse
& Bar Late Model Twin 50's. Car counts are expected to be high in
each Series and should provide great competition. Don't forget the new
early start time of 6:30 PM each and every race date for 2012.