He'll be hard-pressed to repeat his last performance, but Wade Bland will be the driver to watch this Saturday (July 18) as The Keg Late-Model Series pays tribute to a late, great champion.
The Rick O'Dell Memorial races will see Bland and the rest of the field contest twin 50-lap main events to cap an evening of fast action at Western Speedway.
Bland, who won back-to-back feature mains back on June 20, leads the season points race with 352, 30 ahead of Aaron Wilkie, while Brandon Carlson is another five back in third.
These ultra-quick, NASCAR-like cars will be joined on the night by the stock cars and dwarf cars, with time trials at 5:30 p.m. and racing underway at 6:30.
And while the theme last Saturday was the Eve of Destruction, there were plenty of cars that actually raced across the finish line.
Car driver George Haywood rolled across the line well ahead of second-place finisher Jim Young in the 20-lap combined demo cars and trucks main event Saturday. Young had a battle on his hands, however, as Cody Young was right on his tail for third. Brandon Young finished fourth while yet another Young, Shawn, wound up seventh.
Mike Melin was a double winner, crossing first in the cars/trucks second heat race and the demo cars trophy dash. Shawn Young took the combined first heat race, while Billy Stidson won the trucks trophy dash.
In bombers, Giles Cyr won a sprint to the checkered flag in the 30-lap main event, outracing Aaron Cameron to the line for first. Right on Cameron's bumper was Brian Baltis, while Brian Wakelin was a short distance behind him to take fourth.
Don Hallgarth won the bombers heat race, while Stuart Campbell captured the trophy dash.
Amongst the mini figure 8s, Darryl Cahill took the checkers in the 40-lap main by a comfortable margin ahead of second-place finisher Johnny Earl, who was the only other driver on the lead lap. George Newell took third spot, while Tanner Jacobs was fourth.
In the warmups, Bill Gallagher won the trophy dash and first heat race, while Rhett Szevics took the second heat race.
For some mid-week racing entertainment, the Hornets take to the track Wednesday (July 15) starting at 7 p.m.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com