Wade Bland made his move with 15 laps to go and roared to his third straight victory in the Reg Midgley Canada 200 for Late Models at Western Speedway.
Sunday’s win put the Central Saanich racer into some pretty rare company, as only one other driver, Monte English of Port Angeles, had previously won the classic late-summer race three times in a row in the 44-year history of the 200.
Shane Berrow and Tyler Baker led the field to the green in the evening and weekend’s feature race. Berrow jumped out to an early lead, with his dad, Tom Berrow, managing to get around his son for the top spot on lap 64.
After the halfway break at lap 100, Tom Berrow was out front as the field raced back to green. The first caution came out on lap 116, when Brandon Carlson spun in turn one. Berrow would get the advantage on the restart, with Bland moving into second.
The two drivers battled for the next 50 laps before Bland slipped by on lap 185 and held on for the win.
Dave Hemrich finished about four seconds behind in third, while Brandon Carlson and Aaron Willison were well back in fourth and fifth, respectively, rounding out the cars on the lead lap. It was the second checkered flag of the night taken by Bland, who also won the Happy 10 warmup race, after taking the trophy dash the night before.
The Late Model class shared the weekend with the B.C. Street Stock Challenge, whose drivers battled through a full slate of races on both nights.
Here are the race-by-race results:
Late Models Night 1
Dash: Wade Bland
Heat 1: Ken Jorgansen
Heat 2: Brandon Carlson
Canada 200: Wade Bland
Street Stocks Night 1
Dash: Gary Smith
Heat 1: Dave Reside
Heat 2: Kyle Cottam
Main: Dave Reside
Street Stocks Night 2
Dash: Troy Tarbuck
Main: K. Cottam
–Submitted by Cole Sorenson