Terry Guest
Special to the Mirror
Once again the young 18-year-old phenom Rosalee Ramer stole the Monster Trucks show at Saratoga Speedway over the May Long Weekend.
Ramer, along side her father Kelvin, were hitting jumps like Saratoga has never seen before, pushing their trucks to the absolute breaking point each and every round. Flying high with the father-daughter duo was Island Outlaw, who added in his own style to the show. Accompanying the high powered Monster Trucks were the Crash to Pass cars, Hornet cars, Roadrunners, Bombers, and the Galaxy Motors Mad Max Extreme Racers, who made their first appearance of the 2016 season, with Courtenay Canadian Tire and York Machine Shop sponsoring all the action.
For the first time in many years, the Hornet car division passed the 40 car plateau, with a total of 46 cars taking to the track over the weekend, accompanied by a full field of Roadrunners, Bomber cars, Crash to Pass cars and Galaxy Motor Mad Max cars.
Heat race action on Saturday would see wins go to Duane Zeinstra, Brian Baltis, TJ Lippy, TJ Halliday, Ryan Guest, Shawn Allen, Blair Mangles and Corey Sandirson. To start off the main events on Saturday, seven Roadrunners took to the track for a 15 lap main event which saw Devon Degraag grab an early lead and would hold off an intense bumper to bumper battle behind him to take home his first ever main event win.
Twenty laps were awarded to the Bomber cars for their main event which saw Baltis once again start on pole and once again hold off the pack, leading all 20 laps to take home his first main event win in many years.
Due to the high car count in the Hornet car division, they were awarded them three main events. In the C main, Danika Seggie would pull herself into the lead early and hold on to take home her first even main event win. The Hornet B main saw one of the closest finishes we have ever seen at the Speedway; Rowland Westra and Andy Inglis would find themselves in a heated battle through lap traffic, and at the finish line, Inglis would edge out Westra by less than a hair, barely holding on to take home his first main event win of the year.
In the Hornet A main, 14 cars would battle bumper to bumper for all 25 laps, with the advantage eventually going to Nate Bonn, who constantly swapped back and forth with Shawn Allen for the lead.
The final main event of the evening would see a full field of Crash to pass cars hit the track for 15 laps; Tons of action would see cars flying in and out of the pits, with the eventual win going to Corey Sandirson, who dominated the field to take home his first ever main event win.
Sunday nights action saw the Galaxy Motor Mad Max extreme racers make their debut at Saratoga Speedway, putting on a younique show to a sell out crowd. Another full field of cars hit the track Sunday, with heat race wins going to Cory Sandirson, Arlend Berry, Dana Ackerman, Brandon Carter, Ryan Guest, Taylor Pheaton, Nate Bonn, and Craig Gagne.
A very exciting Crash to Pass main event saw tons of hard hitting through-out the race, knocking out a few cars early on, with the eventual win going to Sheldon Hopp, who dominated the field on his way to his second main event win of the year.
Once again, the Hornet car division ran three main events; In the C main, Jarrod Brown would work his way from the back to front and would grab the lead on lap eight and would pull away from there, holding on to take home his first ever win at Saratoga Speedway. In the B main event, James Laidlaw would hold the lead for the first 20 laps, until the group of faster cars caught up to him with Keegan McCosh getting the advantage on Laidlaw, making his move on lap 21 and holding on from there, taking home his first main event win of the year.
Finally, the 14 fastest Hornet cars took the track for a 25 lap A main event which saw Carter Hintz jump out into an early lead, holding it for the first 15 laps, until the duo of Bonn and Allen passed Hintz, once again battling side by side to the finish, but for the second night if a row, Bonn would get the advantage on Allen, taking home his second main event win in as many nights.
Some of the coolest looking 4 cylinder cars took to the track in In the Galaxy Motor Mad Max main event; Toryn Davies in his Scooby Doo themed Mystery Van would hold an early lead, until #90 Damon Dunn in his Pirate themed car took over the lead and would hold off the group to take home the first ever Galaxy Motor Mad Max main event.
Extra laps...Next weekend Saratoga welcomes back the Dwarf cars to the 2016 season. The Dwarf cars are some of the nicest looking cars you will see at the Speedway, with cars ranging in years from the early 1930’s to late 1940’s.
Also running with the Dwarf cars will be the I.M.C.A Modifieds, Bomber cars and the Roadrunners.
