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 Langford BC, May 30, 2009 Submitted by: Ken Keating On a great night for racing, and the "Princess & Pirates" night, Brian Clutchey won his second Feature event in the V.I. Rentals Stock Car Series. Several people from age three to thirty-three used the occasion to dress in a Princess or Pirate outfit and take part in the festivities hosted by Western Speedway. On this night all of the Feature events were of the highest caliber with some outstanding battles throughout. Jim Pridge began the night by winning the Trophy Dash, followed by a win in the Heat race, and buried deep in a field of thirteen Dwarf Cars to begin a twenty-five lap Feature race. Brent Peck and Bob Greenaway shared the front row as the field came out of turn four to take the green flag. Peck jumped quickly into the lead while Pridge used only five laps to get into the fifth spot setting up a battle between Peck, himself, James Dore, and later Mike Meeres. Through the first half of the race, Dore and Pridge changed second and third almost every lap. On lap fourteen, as Pridge moved along side of Dore, he baubbled just a bit forcing him to back off and drop back somewhat. In these middle laps, Meeres used the opportunity to move into the mix and provide a challenge and run side by side and bumper to bumper with the other three drivers. On lap twenty, Pridge finally made the move and took over the lead but still in tough with the other four drivers right on his bumper. On lap twenty-one, Meeres and Dore got together going through turn one taking each other out. On the restart, Pridge remained in the lead and completed the "clean sweep" with a win in the Feature followed by Peck and Jeremy Stevens coming through in third place. This was truly one of the best Dwarf car races in sometime with four of the top drivers giving their all side by side and changing positions every lap. Tyler Clough and Doug Richens led a field of eight Late Model Stocks to the green flag for a forty lap Feature event. The race had several yellow flags coming out for spinning cars causing some double file restarts. After just one lap, Clough had Troy Tarbuck on his outside as they came around for the green flag. These rivals from the Demo Classes raced each other side by side for several laps with Tarbuck taking the lead six laps down. Meanwhile Jason Tarasenko moved into the mix and as the yellow came out once again found himself on another double file restart side by side with Tarbuck. As the field went back to green flag racing, Tarasenko and Tarbuck raced side by side until Tarasenko grabbed the outright lead on lap twelve. By this time Brent Morris had moved in to take part and making a four car race for top spot. On lap eighteen, Morris passed Tarbuck and took over the second spot. Over the remaining laps no one could mount a serious challenge to Tarasenko who took his second Feature event at Western Speedway. In the after race interview, the Langley driver said: " I love coming here. It is a great track with great fans and I look forward to coming back". On May ninth, Brian Clutchey survived an early incident and went on to capture the checkered flag in the V.I.Rental Stock Car Series. Last night it was revealed he ran the last ten laps or so on only seven cylinders and a bent frame. Clutchey found himself in the twelveth starting spot for seventy laps of racing in this highly competitive and talented field of drivers. Sam Hunt and Brandon Giles brought the field of seventeen cars around for the drop of the green flag. Giles moved to the lead quickly followed by Hunt and Dave Reside until Reside took over the second spot eight laps down and the outright lead two laps later. Clutchey began his charge moving up through the field and by lap thirteen was running fourth and quickly dispatched the second and third place drivers taking the lead on lap seventeen using mostly the outside groove. Over the next ten laps Clutchey pulled into a big lead leaving Reside, Hunt, Cody Brown, and Aaron Wilkie to run for the next spots. On lap twenty-eight, Hunt and Giles got together collecting Ryan Wade who had moved up and looking to challenge for the top five spots. The field was stopped as the Richileau Rental cleanup crew cleaned up the race track resulting from this collision. After a twenty minute delay, Clutchey brought the field around again for the resumption of green flag racing. With a clear track ahead Clutchey quickly resumed where he left off building another good lead. Behind him, Reside, Brown, Wilkie and Wade continued to race hard for positions. On lap thirty-five Wade took over the third spot and on lap forty-one passed Reside for second. Over the last laps no one had anything for Clutchey as he won his second consecutive Feature in convincing fashion. At Victory Square Clutchey said, "I have to thank my crew and my dad who gave me an awesome, awesome car." Seventy laps of racing with only one stoppage just shows how good this series really is especially given how close most of the field is. To cap a great night of racing, Western Speedway hosted a great fireworks display much to the delight of the fans. The operators from Vancouver put on a tremendous show and along with close to forty kids and adults who dressed as Princesses and Pirates and the display of their costumes at Victory Square for a group picture made for a very exciting night at the Speedway. Up next, on June 6th, is the return of the Demo Classes, the Bombers, and the L.P. Gear I.M.S. 4 Mini Stock Series led by last season's Champion Lois Pollard-Grant. Back to News
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