Langford BC -- Western Speedway hosted another Wednesday Night Fever event with the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Hornet Series on July 27th. As usual, this was a spirited event with five Trophy Dashes, twelve Heats, a "B" Main, and two Feature events with a lot of bumping and grinding along the way.
Trophy Dash wins went to Helen Thorne in Bumblebee competition, Kevin Smith and Glenn Rand in the Rookie Division, while Brent and Ryan Smith took the honors in the Expert Division. Meghan McCollum with two, Kyle Fournier, Kevin Dawson, Helen Thorne, and Glenn Rand won Rookie Heat races while Blair Davis, Steve Copp, Bill Peacey, Mike Halls, Rhett Smith, and Cam Stanfield won the Expert Heat races.
Stephan Crowe and Nathan Fournier shared the front row for the start of a fifteen lap "B" Main event with Crowe taking the lead for the first two laps. Kevin Smith passed for the lead on lap three followed by Kyle Fournier and Meghan McCollum one lap later. This would be the finishing order as the chequered flag dropped.
Helen Thorne and Devin Fournier led a field of fourteen cars to the green flag for twenty laps of racing in the Rookie Feature event. Fournier grabbed the lead on the first lap followed by Thorne and Kevin Dawson. These drivers chased each other over the first several laps while Bruce Duffis, Laura-Ashley Grant, and Glenn Rand battled hard for the next positions running door handle to door handle and bumper to bumper. On lap fifteen, Thorne went to the inside and passed Fournier for the lead while Grant, Rand, Kevin Dawson, and Fournier were still going at it for the next positions. On lap seventeen, Dawson took over the third spot finally getting clear of the other competitors. Thorne stayed in the lead and took the chequered flag followed by Fournier, Rand, Dawson, and Brenda Leslie taking the top five positions. Helen Thorne had a great night of racing taking the Trophy Dash, one Heat race, and the Rookie Feature and top Bumblebee honors all in one race.
Eighteen cars lined up for thirty laps of racing in the Expert Division led by Matt Schultz and Blair Davis on the front row. Schultz led for the first two laps with Blair leading the next two just as the yellow came out for a pileup involving Rocky Sandhu, Richard Shuck, and several other cars as they got together in a chain reaction. Over the first few laps drivers were often four wide with a lot of bumping and hitting. Just before the yellow came out Daryl Cahill jumped from his twelveth starting position into the lead pack so on a double file restart he shared the front row with Davis. With the drop of the green flag, Cahill immediately grabbed the lead dropping Blair back to second while Steve Copp moved up to third. Garrett Smith took the third position on lap eight and then took second one lap later while the battle back in the field was still intense with lots of hip checks. On lap eighteen the yellow again came out as there was another big pileup in turn four. Sandhu got turned around and collected Rhett Smith, Shawn Hitchings, Steve Copp, and Phil Lagan. Smith and Sandhu seemed to suffer the most damage to their cars. On this double file restart, Cahill had Garrett Smith on his outside and as the green flag dropped, Cahill grabbed the lead with Smith all over his bumper. Over the remainder of the event, Smith tried everything to get by Cahill often pushing the lead car but Cahill held on for his second consecutive Feature event win. Smith held on for second while Karl Parker, Bill Peacey, and Ryan Smith rounded out the top five positions in yet another hard fought Expert Hornet race.
The next event will again pit the hard charging Hornet cars back at the track on August 3rd in the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Wednesday Night Fever. For the first time in a long time there will be no Saturday night race on the August long weekend. Regular Saturday racing will return on August 6th and will see the Late Model Series, Stock Car Series, I.M.S. 4 Mini Stocks, and the OTRA Series invade the Langford oval sponsored by O'Dell Slinger.
