Western Speedway 2007
Year End ReviewThe 2007 race season at Western Speedway did not have a banner year and neither did the WilRoc Sprint Car Series. No less than eight rain-outs plagued the Speedway through out the course of the schedule. The first four races for the Sprinters succumbed to Mother Nature with two canceled at Victoria and two more at Saratoga.
"HALL OF FAME NIGHT”
All news was not bad as Darrell Midgley and Harold Corbett took over the operations and many improvements were undertaken before the season began. Most notable were the improved lighting under the grandstands, lighting on the track, improvements through corners three and four, the concession stands including the pits served better food, and some shows were improved with the addition of the Canada 200 and the Katana Boat Late Model Series coming to the track for the first time. New paint and handicapped ramps for seating with even more improvements were in the plans.
The season got underway on April 14 with cold temperatures and a threat of rain greeting fans and the Goldstream Gazette Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Figure 8s, and Claimers. Brian Wakelin, last year’s Claimer Champion, wasted little time visiting Victory Square by winning the first Trophy Dash, his Heat race, and the Main event for the clean sweep. Jim Young took the checkered flag first in the Demo Car Feature; Brad Watkins survived long enough to take the checkered flag and the win in the Figure 8 Class.
On April 21, Western Speedway saw the return of the IMCA Modified Series after a five year absence. The program also included the Western Region Rentals & Jack FM Stock Car Series, and the Island Dwarf Car Series. Steve Jacques got the jump and took over the lead and went on to the victory ahead of Gord Kraus and Bob Pridge in Dwarf Car competition. Ten IMCA Modified cars took the green flag in the Feature Event with Brad Purdy taking the early lead and the win with IMCA, and Robbie Haslam, driving for Ryan Wade, won the Stock Car Feature.
This program returned one week later and Ray Anderosov piloted his Chevy Monte Carlo to a thrilling victory in the Western Region Rentals Stock Car Feature. Gord Kraus won the Dwarf Car Feature and Ken Schuurman took the checkered flag in the IMS 4 Mini Stocks, his first in awhile as he took a couple of years off.
On May 5th, Jim Young again took the checkered flag first in a very wet Demo Car Feature Event as light showers plagued the race track all evening but the hardy fans, drivers, and officials ran the program slated for the evening anyway. JJ. Taylor doubled in wins with a Heat Race and the Main Event for the Figure 8 Class; Chris Broughton built a good lead and never looked back as he took the checkered flag in the Claimers.
For the first time in many years, Western Speedway had a turn away crowd Saturday as the Monster Moose and Public Disturbance, Monster Trucks out of Washington, invaded the Langford oval. The stands were full to capacity and the lineup outside remained long as the National Anthems of Canada and the US were being sung by April Riedie inside. Racing was delayed for a time to allow as many fans as possible enter the stands to enjoy the full program that included, not only the monster trucks, but a “boat race” for the first time ever at Western Speedway on May 12th.
The monster trucks took the center stage for the first of three performances and they were very quick in bringing the crowd into the program by a huge jump and wheelie from Public Disturbance. He launched over stacked cement barriers and then stood the truck up on the rear wheels and down the front stretch at full throttle. Monster Moose, driven by Jen Consoliver, was just as impressive as she launched over a few cars and almost stood her truck up on its tail-gate and coming down on all fours in one of the best wheel stands of the night.
Buck Ford won his first Demo Car Feature, Kyle Ridley won the Figure 8 Main, and Chris Broughton walked away from the rest of the field to take his second Feature in a row.
The very first boat race provided lots of action and flying debris. The idea is to keep your boat tied to your car while the rest of the field tries to smash it or dislodge it. In a ten minute time span, boats were passing cars while cars were passing boats and other cars. Eight drivers took up the challenge and in the end; George Haywood had most of his boat intact and was declared the winner in a very entertaining event.
On June 2nd, Mel Jeffries came out on top, in a crash fest, and took the checkered flag in the Demo Car Feature Event and Aaron Wilkie charged to the win in the Claimer Feature.
Jeremy Stevens went inside, on the final lap and grabbed the lead and the win June 16th in the Dwarf Car Feature, Brad Purdy grabbed the win in the IMCA Series Main Event making him a two-time Feature winner at Western Speedway as he also won the last event here. Rob Leighton survived all challenges and won a very entertaining and ruff Feature Event in the first appearance of the Sportsman Series. Marc Parkison held off a determined Ryan Wade and walked away with the Western Region Rental and Jack FM Stock Car Series Feature Race.
On June 20th, Western Speedway, Canada’s oldest race track came up with a couple of new twists over this past week. On Wednesday night, the Hornets took to the track for the first time ever and put on quite a show for the two-hundred or so fans that turned out to watch. The new series raced on the inside oval and sliced and diced their way through two Trophy Dashes, four Heat races and a Main Event. Bumping and bouncing off each other was common throughout the whole evening as the turns are tight, the cars are competitive, and there is very little room for mistakes. Mark Marky and Darrell Crocker were the first Hornets to pick up trophies for their wins in the dash races. This series was scheduled for eleven dates over the summer and proved to be more than entertaining and gained in popularity. Darrel Crocker took the Championship in this series, a series that also were called on to back up a shortened program when car counts were to low to put on a decent race particularly with the IMCA Modified Series. On these nights, the Hornets used the big oval and proved to be just as competitive as the small oval.
On June 23rd, Scott Aumen successfully defended his Strawberry Cup title at Western Speedway winning in classic fashion as he did in the same race in 2006. The race program featured the IMS 4 Mini Stocks, the Old Time Racing Association, along with the WilRoc Sprint Car Series trying to get their race schedule on track for the first time in 2007. Four of their previous events were canceled due to Mother Nature and Saturday night she gave notice she was still in the area as the races were held up for about a half hour as a brief shower passed over the track.
Once the racing surface was dry enough, serious racing was underway with Gord Percival winning his first Feature with the IMS 4 Mini Stocks and it was Jesse Dardengo with the Old Timers win.
June 30th could only mean that there would be fireworks at any racetrack in Canada and such was the case at Western Speedway. Figure 8s, Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Claimers, and the exciting boat races entertained close to 3000 fans in attendance for the Canada Day celebrations. Cody Young started the fireworks as he went on to the “clean sweep” by winning his heat and capped it off with the win in a tuff Feature with the Figure 8 Series, Jim Young came out with the win in the Demo Car Feature, Gary Smith won the Claimer Feature, while Jamie Sheppard won the Demo Truck Feature.
The boat race was next with about eight cars staggered along the front stretch and the fourth corner all tied to a boat. The action was quick and furious with cars and boats crashing all around the speedway. Smokin Joe Liberatore suffered a lot of front end damage to his new car as he tangled with the boat tied to Marty Hansen. Several cars met the same fate as car met boat, and boat met car with wood, fiberglass, and metal flying in every corner. When the dust settled Mel Jeffries had the most boat left and was declared the winner.
In the ongoing effort to entertain race fans with the best of racing, Western Speedway teamed up with the Times Colonist and presented the “First Annual One Hot Weekend” with racing Friday and Saturday July 6, & 7th to claim the first ever Times Colonist 350 Championship.
The Hornets using the big oval for the first time saw Brad Davis weave his way through traffic and with only three laps remaining grabbed the lead and the win in the Feature Event. The Western Region Rental Jack FM Stock Car Series took the green flag for fifty laps of racing. Ryan Wade was too fast this night and grabbed the win and the big cheque for the $1000.00.
Kyle Vantreight won the WilRoc Sprint Car Series Feature Event on the second portion of the “One Hot Weekend” that featured not only WilRoc, but Stock Cars, Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks, IMCA Modified Series, Sportsman Series, and the Hornets. Vantreight not only won the very exciting Feature, but he also captured the Roy Smith Memorial Trophy and the 1st Annual Times Colonist 350 Cup in only his second season with the high powered WilRoc Sprint Car Series.
Robbie Haslam, driving the #21 Hornet, led for a lot of laps in the Hornet Feature but couldn’t hold off Darryl Crocker who made the pass with just a few laps left in a very entertaining race. The Dwarf Cars lined up to run for the Jim Pridge Memorial Trophy with Jeremy Stevens taking the win, marking the second time that Stevens has claimed victory in this event one he says “is an honor to win”. No one had anything for Mitch Egner as he cruised to the win with the Mini Stock Series. Pat Brown shared the front row for the IMCA Feature and with the drop of the green flag, checked out and took his first win in his first race at Western Speedway beating Purdy and Beaulieu across the line.
On Friday night Tim Christy pulled a quick inside move to take positions away and Saturday would be no different. Christy went inside of Cody Brown and Brent Morris going through turn four and came out with the lead and cruised from here to the win in the Sportsman Series Feature. Brian Clutchey worked to the outside groove and made it pay for the lead 35 laps gone and taking the win in a very close Stock Car Feature. Clutchey said” This is the toughest year in this series to win but I'm looking forward to the rest of it”.
The wild and whacky world of Demo races lived up to its billing on July 14th. Roll overs, hard licks, tuff walls, and another “clean sweep” were the norm this night as the Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Crazy Mini Figure 8s, and Claimers took to the track for Dashes, Heats, and Main Events. Going through turn three and four, Eric Fournier took the lead on the very last lap and took the win in the Claimer Feature. Doug Richens finally got to George Haywood taking him out and went on to and capture the Barry Goodwin Trophy in the Demo Car Series. Cody Young worked his way through the mayhem and emerged with his second “clean sweep” in the Figure 8s. Mike Dash held on for the win and captured the Gary Madden Trophy with the Claimers, and Dave Cates got the lead on the last lap and went on to win the Truck Feature.
July 28th brought back the North American Big Rig Racing Series with local favorite Glen Creed in the field. Creed pulled a risky move, going three wide to get the lead, and came out with the win much to the delight of the local race fans. Creed wanted this race as it would tie him with the big Peterbuilt “Pinkfoot” truck of Peter Van Dyke and gives the local driver two consecutive Feature Events in Big Rig competition at Western Speedway. The Hornet Series replaced the IMCA Modified Series for the show this night as Dean Bowers had his hands full trying to hold off Daryl Crocker for the Main Event win. Mitch Egner took the checkered flag ahead of Robert Orr and Lois Pollard Grant in the Mini Stock Division. This is one of the best races Pollard Grant has put together this season as she battled with the best all evening.
Smokin’ Joe Liberatore took the win in a most dramatic fashion and in a very tuff Demo Car Feature Event on July 4th.
On the final lap Richens caught up to Joe and as the two drivers accelerated for the checkered flag, and locked together, Joe drove head long on into the raised cement barrier just across from the starters box. He careened across the track slamming hard into the front stretch wall and backed across the track again coming to rest at the pit entrance on turn one. No one watching, on the raised platform, was injured as many scattered including this writer. Joe got out of his badly damaged Monte Carlo suffering with just a headache after one of the most devastating hits seen in a long time. With this victory Liberatore also claimed a “clean sweep” on one of the most successful nights the popular driver has had in some time in this very tuff series.
Barry Morrison also had a good night of racing as he won the Demo Truck Trophy Dash and placed first in the Demo Truck Feature after a tuff battle with Bill Shire and Dave Cates. The win in the Feature event also garnered the Darcy Kemp Memorial Trophy for the Demo Truck driver.
Dennis Smith built a new car, after writing off his last car last race, and won the “Best Appearing” award with his “Killer Bunny” complete with ears and bright pink paint job. He then captured a win in the Figure 8 Trophy Dash and his Heat race. He started dead last in the Feature Event and kept himself out of trouble and used patience and driving ability and wound his way through crashes and traffic and won this race giving him a “clean sweep” and his first Main event win at the speedway.
Lois Pollard Grant and Ray Anderosov made their cars as wide as possible to snare victories in their respective Feature events Aug 11th. Pollard Grant took the lead on lap 16 in the IMS 4 Mini Stock Series and raced to the victory holding off past Champions. Anderosov took the lead on lap 9, in the Western Region Rentals Jack FM Stock Car Series Feature, holding off Curt Haugen and Marc Parkinson down the stretch.
The Old Timers were set to go for thirty-five laps but Mother Nature intervened and rained on their parade virtually cutting the Feature in half. There was just enough moisture to make track conditions greasy for the open wheel drivers to continue. Rob Morneau moved from his 9th starting position to take the lead on lap 9, a lead he would not relinquish in the other Series racing this night.
Once again, Ray Anderosov proved he is one tuff driver to beat in the Western Region Rental Jack FM Stock Car Series. For the second time this season, Anderosov has won two consecutive Feature events; the latest, a one hundred-lap race for the Billy Foster 100. Rick Kosolowski, driving for Jeremy Stevens in the Dwarf Car Series, won the Feature event and Lorraine and Roy Haslam joined Gilles Parenteau at Victory Square to present the Jim Haslam Memorial Trophy for the IMS 4 Mini Stock winner.
Race fans, at Western Speedway, became accustomed to watching Scott Aumen sliding high going through corners, smoking the tires, and passing cars while doing so. August 25th‘s Times Colonist / Alpine Group Daffodil Cup was no different. Aumen, using his patented move on the outside, passed Jake Mann with one lap left and added the prestigious Daffodil Cup to his impressive string of victories for 2007. Phil Lagan worked his way to the front on lap 8 and held on for the win in the Hornet Series Feature. Chris Beaulieu started third in the IMCA Modified Feature and used only three laps to get the lead and Jason Beaulieu used four laps to get to his son’s rear bumper. Jason tried several times to get by Chris but to no avail as the youngster closed the door and took the checkered flag with Jason second.
August 29th marked the last of the “Wednesday Night Fever” for the Hornet Cars as fans continued to support and increase in numbers over the 11 Wednesday night events. Daryl Crocker won the Championship in this class several races earlier.
September 1st marked the first ever appearance for the Katana Sportsman Tour running for the Canada 200. Jason Beaulieu was right behind Dave Hemrich from lap 125 and tried as hard as possible to pass, but when the checkered flag flew, he had to settle for second as Dave was unbeatable on this evening. Congratulations were very evident in Victory Square as Dave won the famous Canada 200 race which was initially run in 1972 with Ross Surgenor being the very first of many reputable winners over the years.
The 40 lap O.T.R.A. Main Event saw Jessie Dardengo take an early lead over Bob Exton and Dan Morneau. Dan moved up into second place on lap 26 then finally overtook Dardengo on lap 34 to capture the victory in the Ron Mayell Memorial Feature. A large number of the Mayell family was on hand to present the trophy to the winner.
On Sept 2nd, fans didn’t have to wait very long for the action to begin. Don Banasky, driving the #44 Dwarf Car, crashed big time in the Dwarf Car Heat race. As the field got the green flag, Banasky caught a tire, from another car, and went airborne rolling end over end several times and came to rest well clear of the track on turn one. This was one of the worst crashes in this series since they started racing at Western Speedway. Preliminary examination, by medics, seemed to indicate that Don was sore but ok. Later he would be transferred to hospital for further examination as the pain in his neck got worse. Not long after this crash, Brad Campbell fired up the big Monster Public Disturbance. As he came down from his first jump something went wrong and the engine was turned off. Once around to the back of the truck it was readily apparent that he blew a rod right through the oil pan ending the night for this truck.
Sean Hitchings always seemed to be in the right place and at the right time as when the dust settled he took the checkered flag ahead of J.J. Taylor and Kyle Ridley in another tuff Figure 8 Main. This marked the first time this driver won a Feature event. Tyler Peters got the lead very early and had to try and hold off a determined Carl Carlson Jr. until he spun out on lap 16. On the restart, Peters then held off BJ Bradley and Bob Pridge for the remaining five laps for the win in the Dwarf Car Main. This was the second night for a program that called for three nights of racing dubbed “Monstrous Weekend”. Night three was to feature the WilRoc Sprints and Stock Car Series but yet again, Mother Nature took over the Langford oval.
The team from the U.S.A. finally found a way to beat the team from Canada on September 8 by getting a few more Canadian drivers in their cars. Bolstered by Greg Sagamoen, Marty “McFly” Hansen, “Psycho” Bill Connor, Randy Matoski, and “Dr. Death” Keith Hansen, Team U.S.A. virtually shut out Team Canada in the fifteen minutes of anything goes in the Annual Demo Car Team Challenge. By the end of just a couple of laps, there were no Canadians left running and that left the U.S.A. team unchallenged. Seven American cars were still running at the end and they seemed content just to give each other a friendly bump as they circled the track. After loosing over the last three years Team U.S.A. were ecstatic as they gathered for a team picture at Victory Square led by Team Captain Rob Meyers out of Washington State.
The Figure 8 Feature was just another in a long line of tuff racing but in the end, young Kail Beck came away with the win followed by JJ Taylor and Cody Young. Chris Broughton got to the front in the Claimer Feature as he took over the lead with six laps in the books. On a restart, Broughton brought the field back to the green and with the drop of the flag the “Pastor of Disaster”, Tim Davis dove to the inside of Broughton and took over the lead. Davis has not raced in a while but there was no rust on this driver this night as he cruised the rest of the way to take the victory.
IMS4 MINI STOCKS / OLD TIME RACERS / STOCK CARS ON FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT
September 15th
Ray Anderosov was still untouchable in the Western Region Rental Jack FM Stock Car Series as he raced his way to his fifth Feature event victory of 2007. With the Jerry Ferrie Memorial Trophy up for grabs, Anderosov dove to the inside of Josh Reaume going through turn one coming out with the lead stretching his lead over the rest of the field cruising to the victory. Anderosov, who crashed at Saratoga the previous week, didn’t know how well his car would handle this night but if there was any bugs there were no indications in this event.
Thirty laps would make the distance for the IMS 4 Mini Stock Feature and at the checkered flag, it was Gilles Parenteau with the win followed by Sean Constantine, and Lois Pollard Grant who continued her impressive races in 2007.
Thirty laps of Main event racing for the Old Timers proved only one thing; it is competitive. It took only four laps for Jesse Dardengo to move from his 7th starting position to the lead while Denis, Rob, and Dan, the Morneau clan, to also move up from deep in the field. On lap 25, Dan used Beck as a pick and dove to the inside three wide going through turn three and four and come out with the lead as Dardengo made the most of the opportunity to take over the second spot leaving Rob Morneau out in the cold. Dan admitted his car was not as good as Rob’s on this night but a bold move to take over the lead was the key to victory
September 22nd, Times Colonist and the ZONE 91.3 WILROC Sprint Cars, Hornets and Dwarf Cars:
Ryan Floer, driving in his first year with the WilRoc Sprint Car Series, won his first Main Event of the season capturing the Billy Foster Memorial Trophy and after setting a track record at Vernon just a couple of weeks earlier. Bad weather again threatened to scuttle the race program as a huge rain cloud covered the Langford oval while all the surrounding area basked in sunshine and clear skies. By late afternoon, the skies cleared and efforts by push trucks, crew-members, photographers, and anyone else who could drive were successful in drying the track even though it did cause a delay with the start time.
Daryl Crocker had won two Feature events in the Hornet Class on the big oval but on this night he hit the wall hard sending him to the pits with serious suspension damage ending his night very early. Phil Calman worked his way from his thirteenth position to take the win.
A big field of sixteen Dwarf cars took the green flag for thirty laps of Main event racing and on lap twenty-four Gord Kraus and Jeremy Stevens got locked together surrendering the lead to the winner Shane Kraus with Bob Pridge second with Stevens recovering for a third place finish.
October 6th was to Feature Championship night for the Serious Coffee IMS 4 Mini Stocks, the Western Region Rentals Jack FM Stock Car Series, and the WilRoc Sprint Car Series. Lois Pollard Grant trailed Justin Woodske by only 9 points. The “Lady from Sooke” had a phenomenal season and was a serious threat to take the Championship this night. Darren Yates, after taking the Saratoga Championship, was close enough to Scott Aumen in the points chase to be a serious threat with Guy Barrett also within striking distance in the WilRoc Series. Ray Anderosov had a very impressive season and was in the hunt for the Stock Car title as was defending Champ Brian Clutchey. All the high expectations and anticipation was for not as Mother Nature reared her ugly side again and the racing was canceled. Scott Aumen won his second consecutive overall and Western Speedway Championship capping a season that included the Strawberry Cup, the Daffodil Cup, the Platinum Cup, “Most Main Event Wins” Trophy, as well as the Doug James Memorial at Washington’s Evergreen Speedway in late March.
Ryan Wade won the Stock Car title as he was consistent all year running in the top five most nights and he did have the Feature win on the One Hot Weekend event. He certainly was fast all year and usually had to work himself through a lot of traffic to get to the front.
Justin Woodske also was successful in defending his title that he won in 2006. He was another driver that consistently finished in the top positions even though he had to keep his eyes on the rear view mirror as a hard charging Pollard Grant was right there.
October 13 saw the close of the 2007 race season and the crowning of four more Champions.
CLAIMER CLASS SEASON POINT CHAMPION:ERIC FOURNIER
DEMO CAR CLASS SEASON POINT CHAMPION: DOUG RICHENS
DEMO TRUCK CLASS SEASON POINT CHAMPION: BILL SHIRE
MINI FIGURE 8 CLASS SEASON POINT CHAMPION: KYLE RIDLEYCONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE CHAMPIONS FOR 2007. MAY YOUR SUCCESS FOLLOW YOU INTO 2008.
