Veteran Kirk Peacey Wins Tuff Stock Car Feature: Langford BC, April 18, 2009 by Ken Keating                 The "Captain" Kirk Peacey survived a tuff V.I.Rental Stock Car race and held off a strong challenge to win the fifty lap Feature event at Western Speedway Saturday night. After a near flawless race last week, this one was a little bit tuffer on machines and drivers.                 Kevin Knight and Chris Thomsen held the front row for thirty laps of racing in their L.P. Gear I.M.S.4 Mini Stocks. Gilles Parenteau grabbed the lead only three laps down but had early pressure from Ryan Patterson, Aaron Willison, and Mike Derepentigny over the first ten laps. On lap 5, the caution came out as Alex Mourner slammed the front stretch wall. On the restart, Patterson led Derepentigny and Parenteau back to the green flag that lasted only a couple of laps as three more cars spun bringing out yet another caution. Derepentigny entered the pits with mechanical problems dropping out of the lead pack. Ryan Medenski, who hails from the lower Mainland and started 10th moved up to the lead on lap nine as he, Patterson, and Willison waged a good battle running side by side and bumper to bumper. Over the remaining laps, Medenski opened a good lead and raced to the checkered flag ahead of Willison and Patterson. In the post race interview Ryan stated that he is going to try and race here all season as he really likes Western Speedway.                 Nine Late Model Stocks lined up on the grid for another thirty lap Feature event with Tyler Clough and Troy Tarbuck leading the charge to the green flag. The veteran, Tim Christy waited only three laps to jump quickly into the lead bringing Brent Morris with him just one lap later. The field stayed pretty well the same until Dan Morris brought out the yellow when he spun around. On the restart, Christy was away again and Morris fell way off the pace. Christy managed to get a sizeable lead but on lap 21 Jason Tarasenko, also from the lower Mainland, passed Tarbuck for second and started to reel the seven time Western Speedway Champion in. Christy managed to hold off the hard charging Tarasenko for the win but not by that much. Geoff Morris passed Tarbuck and placed third in the first race of the season for this series. Christy said "Another couple of laps and Tarasenko might have got me".                 Sam Hunt and Dan Myers lead a field of fourteen V.I.Rental Stock Cars to the line for fifty laps of racing in the Feature event of the night. With the drop of the green flag, Myers took the lead while Kirk Peacey, Dave Reside, and Rory Smith jumped up quickly to challenge for positions. On lap three, Reside and Myers went around bringing out the caution. Peacey grabbed the lead on the restart with only four laps in the books with Smith on his bumper and Brandon Carlson in hot pursuit. Green flag racing only lasted about one lap as Sam Hunt and Kyle Cottam got together going into turn three that brought out a red flag. Both cars suffered a lot of damage but both drivers were uninjured.                 Over the next several laps, Peacey and Smith got away from the pack somewhat while the battle for third and fourth was heating up behind them. Ryan Wade was on the move taking the fourth spot from Cody Brown on lap twenty-four. Up front, Smith tried several times to get by Peacey but each time Peacey closed the door. Ryan Wade passed Carlson for third on lap thirty-two and now set his sites on Smith. Over the remaining laps Peacey held his groove taking the win followed by Smith and Wade, the top three. In the post race interview, Peacey said; "I'm old driving a bucket of bolts for a race car and Smith has a better car but I got lucky in this one". Peacey used his experience in Demo Cars to avoid pileups in the early going as a couple os spins and crashes happened just in front of him. Next weekend marks the return of the Demo Classes along with the Bombers and a drifting display that should prove interesting.  IMS4 MINI STOCK CAR CLASS: FAST TIME:  #25  Ryan Medynski  18:731 B TROPHY DASH: Glen Percival; Ryan Patterson; Alex Mouner; Mike Derepentigny A TROPHY DASH: Aaron Willison; Lois Pollard-Grant; Ryan Medynski; Nick Hastie 1ST HEAT RACE: Ryan Patterson; Gilles Parenteau; Matt Szauer; Kevin Knight 2ND HEAT RACE: Glen Percival; Alex Mouner; Lois Pollard-Grant; Ryan Medynski MAIN EVENT (30 LAPS): Ryan Medynski; Aaron Willison; Ryan Patterson; Nick Hastie; Lois Pollard-Grant   LATE MODEL STOCK CAR CLASS: FAST TIME: #21  Jason Tarasenko  16:992 B TROPHY DASH: Tyler Clough; Troy Tarbuck; Dan Morris; Mike Slchott A TROPHY DASH: Geoff Morris; Tim Christy; Brent Morris; Jason Tarasenko 1ST HEAT RACE: Tyler Clough; Tim Christy; Geoff Morris; Brent Morris 2ND HEAT RACE: Jason Tarasenko; Brent Morris; Troy Tarbuck; Tim Christy MAIN EVENT (30 LAPS): Tim Christy; Jason Tarasenko; Geoff Morris; Troy Tarbuck; Tyler Clough   STOCK CAR CLASS: FAST TIME:  #95  Ryan Wade  18:537 B TROPHY DASH: Dave Reside; Cody Brown; Sam Hunt; Steve Copp A TROPHY DASH: Ray Anderosov; Kyle Cottam; Brian Clutchey; Ryan Wade 1ST HEAT RACE: Rory Smith; Kirk Peacey; Brian Clutchey; Dave Reside 2ND HEAT RACE: Cody Brown; Ryan Wade; Ray Anderosov; Brandon Carlson MAIN EVENT (50 LAPS): Kirk Peacey; Rory Smith; Ryan Wade; Brandon Carlson; Ray Anderosov
Barrie Goodwin photo	Barrie Goodwin photo