Wild Flower runs over all in its path during the Monster Truck show at Saratoga Speedway on the weekend. Photo by Fernando Pereira
One of the best Monster Truck shows to have ever hit Saratoga Speedway was held over the August Long weekend as Wild Flower, Time Flys, Blown Income and Island Outlaw put on an amazing show, hitting some outrageous air and doing some amazing Hurricane Donuts for two sell out crowds.
The Crash to Pass cars, Hornet cars, Roadrunners and the Galaxy Motors Mad Max cars rounded out the action, with Columbia Fuels and Coastal Canadian Credit Union sponsoring all the fun.
A full field of 42 Hornet cars took to the track over the weekend. On Saturday, heat race action would see wins go to Stephanie Addison, Dana Ackerman, Michael White, Darren Monk, and Shawn Allen. All 23 B cars entered into a 25-lap main event; an early spin would spread out the field early, but Clancey Beamish had his car flying as he would make up the gap fast and find his way into the lead on lap 12 and he would battle bumper to bumper with Keegan McCosh and White for the lead. But it would be Beamish who would barely hold off McCoch and White to take home his first ever main event win.
In the 25-lap A main, Blair Mangles would battle his way into the lead early and would stretch that lead for the first 20 laps. Behind Mangles, Ryan Jensen and Kevin Lawrenuk were working their way through the pack until they finally broke free on lap 18 to catch up to Mangles, but Mangles would not be denied on this night as he managed to hold off Jensen to take home his first main event win of the year.
Sunday night saw even more great racing, with wins in the the heats going to Brandon Carter, Stephanie Addison, Josh Webster, Don Clark, and Glenn White. Three mains were awarded to the Hornets on Sunday. In the C main, Terry Guest would jump into an early lead and would pull away from the pack, but unfortunately he would run out of gas on lap 17, opening the door for Arlend Berry to take the lead which he would hold on to take home his first ever main event win.
In the B main event, birthday girl Kiana Westra would start pole and she would pull away from their as she would lead all 25 laps of the main event to take home her first ever main event win.
In the A main, Shawn Allen and Glenn White would find themselves up front early and would battle for the lead for the entire race. But Allen would get the edge on White, managing to hold him off to take home the win.
The Crash to Pass field saw 12 cars take to the track over the weekend. Sheldon Hopp would dominate on Saturday. Hopp would set fast time in qualifying, win the heat and dominate the main to take the clean sweep.
Sunday night saw the most hitting we have seen in the class this year. The heat would see some of the hardest hitting, with cars flying in and out of the pits, but it would be Travis Stevenson who held on for the win. Stevenson would continue that into the main as he managed to hold off Hopp to take his own clean sweep on Sunday.
The Roadrunner class would see six cars enter in the action. Saturday night saw Ryan Guest and Tristen Zeinstra have a great battle all night. Guest would get the edge in the heat, but it would be Zeinstra holding off Guest in the main.
Sunday night saw more of the same action but this time it would be Guest who dominated the main, grabbing the lead on lap 8 and running away with it from there, taking yet another main event win.
Finally, our Galaxy Motors Mad Max cars put on an amazing show over the weekend. Saturday night’s action saw Toryn Davies in his Scooby Doo machine grab the heat race win. A 20 lap feature would see lots of lead changes and hitting early, mixing everyone around, but it would be Dan Kemp who would grab the final lead change and he would hold on to take his his first ever Mad Max main event win.
Sunday night’s action saw Davies and Damon Dunn battle all night. Dunn would take home the heat race win by only a small margin, and it was looking like he would do the same in the main, but Davies would find his way around Dunn on lap 18 and he would hold on to take home the win.
Extra laps...Next weekend, the I.M.C.A Modifieds are back to put on a show at Saratoga. These cars are our fastest local class that race at the Speedway, with lap times averaging from 15 to 16 seconds. Going into the night, Travis Stevenson holds a slim 42-point lead over Dano Bryant and a slim 101 point lead over Chris Beaulieu. The Bomber cars will also be on the card, with their points battle being between the two Larsons, as Darrel Larson holds a 132-point lead over his nephew Boston Larson. The Hornet cars will round out the card. The B points race is as tight as ever, with Michael White holding on to a very slim 18 point lead over Keegan McCosh, and a 295-point lead over Terry Guest. Blair Mangles holds on to the points lead in the A class, leading Shawn Allen by 157 points.