Campbell River BC - After rain greeted racers and race fans last Saturday night to open the 29th season of auto racing at Saratoga Speedway the Black Creek oval will honour a former Bomber car racer this Saturday night with the running of the 2nd annual, Brian Sullivan Memorial for the Bomber car class, their first race of 2009.Sullivan, who sadly passed away last year was a long time Bomber car driver, was known as one of the friendless drivers ever to race at Saratoga, that was evident on the track, as he was voted by his peers in the division 3 years in a row, as the Sportsman of the year. Sullivan was one of people that everyone looked forward to talking to each and race night, as they always walk away feeling refreshed, and feeling good about racing, he reminded you that racing was for a good time and if you weren’t having fun then you were missing something good.
After his passing in 2007, the Speedway created a Memorial race in his honour for the Bomber division, along with retireing his # 12 car number, that it would never be on any other Bomber car, similar to Western Speedway which retired the #27 for former Victoria racer Billy Foster who was killed in a NASCAR crash while doing practice laps.
The Memorial Trophy which is a lasting memory of who Brian was and what he stood for was won by Campbell River’s Stewart Lee last year, and it goes to the Bomber driver with the most points after the nights racing, and with being their opening race of the season double points while be up for grabs. This season’s Bomber class is expected to be very competitive and will see Kyle Harrison #20 back to defend his 2008 points championship, that was decided last day of the season..
The Bomber cars will be joined by the IMCA Modifides the Motorcycles and the Hornet cars that had 19 cars start last Saturday night’s main event.
Last Saturday night which was sponsored by Campbell River and Courtenay's Fountain Tire Store, was a rain or shine event and the luck of the racers was no where to be seen, after a warm sunny week the rain came Saturday afternoon and never let up, but didn’t dampen the racer’s desire to race, or the race fans who showed up instead of staying home and watching a gut wrenching Canuck loss.
While car numbers where down in the Crash to Pass and Road Runner classes the Figure 8’s and Hornet’s more than made up the short numbes. In the Hornet and Figure 8 classes were dominated by Victoria’s Brandon Steen #37 who raced like the track was not wet, winning 5 out of the 6 races he entered. The amazing part of Steen’s accomplishments was that the wins came in two different classes in his Figure 8 car and his very fast Hornet car. After timing in as the fastest Hornet car he would win the Trophy dash then 10 lap heat race before starting in 18th spot in the main event and 20 laps later he would take the checkered flag to finish ahead of Campbell River's Stuart Lee and Qualicam Beach's Kevin Lawrenuk #01 whose older sister Jennifer #22 earlier won the B heat.
After each Hornet car race Steen would have to quickly jump into his Figure eight car, and after grabbing third fast time and third in the Trophy dash he would go on to take the win in the heat race and main event ahead of #24 Rachael Sawatzky, #02 Brandon Moore and Jocelyn Popowich #12.
The rain which cancelled the Dwarf cars off the nights schedule affected the car counts in both the Crash to Pass and Road Runners classes which saw the Crashers run only a Trophy dash and heat race and they were won by rookie #28 Mike Morningstar in the dash and Dave Starrie #46 in the heat race. In the Road Runner class Ken Davis posted fast time and the Trophy dash win, while rookie driver John Baly #88 of Nanaimo, would win both the heat race and main event. Jumping out of his car, as very pleased driver.
Racing this Saturday night sponsored by United Equipment Rentals of Campbell River, the racing will have gates open at 5.30 followed by qualifying at 6 and racing begins at 7.00 sharp, and those not sure due to the weather if a night’s racing program is still on or rained out, can call the Speedway racing hotline 250-337-5024 will always have updates on the evening races. A reminder to all racers that Thursday night is test and tune night from 6 to 8 pm with race fans welcome to watch from the grandstands with no admission charges.
