Langford BC-- The Hornet Series, sponsored by Steve Copp Construction, put on another great show at Western Speedway as they head for the chequered flag in the regular season. Championship night is just one week away with the final appearance set for August 31st and everyone will be going all out for the final points in both Series. Tonight's program had five Trophy Dashes, twelve Heat races, a "B" Main, and two Feature races. Helen Thorne won the Bumblebee Dash by an inch over Brenda Leslie, Chris Davis and Rod Tytgat won the Rookie Dashes while Cody Aumen and Mike Halls won the Expert Dashes. Heat race wins were recorded by Rod Tytgat, Davin Otke with two, Bailey Walker, Helen Thorne, and Cole Schuurman in the Rookie Division. Matt Schultz, Mike Halls, Daryl Cahill, Rhett Smith, Richard Shuck, and Garrett Smith won the Heat races for the Expert class. Rod Tytgat is usually seen on the flag stand but tonight traded the flags for a steering wheel and picked up a couple of wins for his efforts.
Tytgat and Nathan Fournier shared the front row for the start of the "B" Main but it was Ken Plante that passed for the lead after just two laps. Bruce Duffis, Davin Otke, and Helen Thorne moved up quickly to run second, third, and fourth respectively by lap five. There was a lot of contact between several drivers and when the chequered flag dropped, those positions did not change. Meghan McCollum and Marty Anctil also transferred to the "A" Feature event for the Rookies. Brenda Leslie won the Bumblebee top honors once again for her sixth time.
Ian Walker and Devin Fournier shared the front row as sixteen cars lined up to take the green flag and twenty laps of racing for the Rookies. Walker got out to the early lead with Tyler Broughton taking the second spot on lap four and Kyle Fournier moving into third one lap later. On lap twelve, Fournier took over the second spot dropping Broughton back to third. Meanwhile, up front, Walker was picking his way through lapped traffic while the battle for the next positions raged on. On the very last lap things changed in a hurry as Walker did hold on to take the chequered flag while Broughton reclaimed the second spot, Kyle Fournier held on for the third spot while Glenn Rand jumped from sixth to fourth, and Cole Schuurman held on for the fifth spot.
Rock Sandhu led twenty cars to the green flag and the start of twenty-five laps of racing in the Expert Feature event of the night. He got out quickly and led for the first five laps until Richard Shuck passed him on lap six. Phil Lagan and Shuck battled hard for several laps and then was joined by Daryl Cahill and Mike Halls as they wanted the lead as well. Lagan took over the lead on lap nine and Cahill moved up into the second position. Behind him Ryan Smith was charging forward taking the third spot on lap eleven and then the lead four laps later. Over these middle laps, Garrett Smith also moved into the mix with Cahill, Cole Schuurman, and Cam Stanfield as they ran bumper to bumper. On lap twenty-four Stanfield was able to pass Schuurman for the third position as the laps ran out. At the flag it was Ryan Smith with the victory followed by Daryl Cahill, Stanfield, Schuurman, and Garrett Smith rounding out the top five positions. Betty Kate presented all the winners with their respective trophies on this night.
The next and final race for 2011 is scheduled for August 31st and Champions will emerge on this night. The next event is the return of the Demo Series with the Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Figure 8s, and the Bombers. Also on this night, is the return of the Big Rigs with "Pinkfoot" and Glen Creed and his Louisville Ford. The Berdahls will provide lots of competition and are always close to the top trucks. There will be a Total Destruction event along with a semi truck jump.
