Event 21 - BEMROSE CAPTURES THE SUNSET LATE MODEL MAIN EVENT
August 23 Report by Brian Watt

Last Saturday night August 23rd we had the most perfect weather of the year as it was warm under blue skies all day ready for all our regular classes to entertain the fans at Sunset Speedway. The night’s sponsor was an old friend Highland Chev-Olds Cadilac-Aurora who have been a great supporter of the speedway for over 20 years pervading the tracks pace car as well as a fantastic corporate sponsor. They handed out trophies to all the evening’s winners and the feature winners got Plan Group hats that say 2003 Sunset feature winner. The big winners on the night were #3 Ken Bemrose in the Sunset Late Model division, #51 Mark Adams in the Thunder Cars division and #22.2 Bob and Jay Phinnemore in the 4 Cylinder division. We would like to thank an outstanding gesture by #72 Ron Tracey who gave up his ride to #12 Lambert Yake who hit the wall extremely hard in turn 2 tearing up the right side and done for the night. With Yake still in the points race and Tracey not Yake drove the 72 car in the feature and finished a strong 2nd quite a feat considering he never sat in the seat before way to go Ron that shows the pits are a community ready to help each other in times of need.

As the late models lined up on the track for their 25 lap feature there was only one question not who would win but by how much as #3 Ken Bemrose was starting on the outside pole and he had an extremely quick car. We had an incident on the first lap as the #104 of John Mombourquette got into the rear of the #87 machine of Grant Lloyd causing Lloyd to spin out and both summoned to the rear for the restart. On the drop of the green flag by starter Doug, Bemrose wasted little time in jumping to the lead while #1 of Vic Parsons was hung up on the outside and freight trained back to 6th as he could not get down in the low groove as #12 Lambert Yake, #8 Brendan Adams, #22 Chris Morrow and #57 Ron Quesnelle made up the top 5. They went 8 laps until #65 Dan Robb loop it with the result Robb and Mombourquette both summoned to the rear. On the restart visitor #12x Paul Milligan spins and is summoned to the rear. At the half way point Bemrose was on the point and appearing untouchable on this night as his smooth lines are perfect while in behind there was Bristol like paint trading going on as Yake, Adams, Morrow, Quesnelle and Parsons were in hot pursuit. They went in this train until the last caution appeared on lap 20 when #97 Simon Lloyd and #65 Dan Robb get together and the result both summoned to the rear and Robb gets the black flag for unsportsmanlike conduct and done for the rest of the night. The last 5 laps were run hard but the positions stayed the same as they sped down the front chute to take the checkered flag the running order was Bemrose, Yake, Adams, Quesnelle Parsons and #95 of Ron Lethbridge. The heat winners were #72 Ron Tracey, Morrow and Vic Parson with 2. Congratulations to Ken, Judy and the crew on a great feature victory considering they had to change a transmission in the pits after blowing it in the first heat when he gets out front with his smooth line is extremely tough to get around even if you can catch up to him. Once again Ron Tracey deserves a lot of credit for giving up his mount to a fellow driver after Lambert Yake wrecked his car in a heat race considering Ron missed most of the year already and appears happy to be back home at Sunset Speedway and racing extremely hard.

THE THUNDER CAR DIVISION

There was a low car count for some reason on this night but the racing was still great. On the drop of the green #3 Ernie Fummerton grabs the lead while in behind #23 Paul Maltese, #00 Andrew Cole, #51 mark Adams, #74 Mark Zacchigna, #94 Doug Harvey and #49 Flyin’ Frank Davey were all cued in behind. As the laps clicked by Fummerton still held the point but Maltese was applying heavy pressure every lap and appeared to be the quicker of the 2 cars and in behind there was a tremendous battle as Adams, Davey, Zacchigna, Harvey and #16 Amanda Connelly jostled for position. On lap 10 Maltese finally got the opening he needed exiting turn 2 and got his nose under the 3 car and as they drag raced down the back chute Maltese had the low groove and Fummerton figured he could get down to the low groove and the result was Fummerton and Maltese getting together and a caution flag appearing and the result both summoned to the rear. Fummerton disagreed with the call and left for the pits on his own thus ending his evening. The result of the leaders getting put to the rear was Adams inherited the lead while in behind Davey was set to run down the leader and Zacchigna, Harvey and #45 Rob Poole were in hot pursuit and Connelly also retired to the pits for the night with mechanical problems. As the laps ticked off Adams was under extreme pressure from Davey but try as he may he could not get by as Adams held the bottom groove and Frank didn’t have the extra power to go around Adams on the outside. As they roared down the front chute to take the checkered flag from Doug the running order was Adams, Davey, Zacchigna, Harvey, Poole, Maltese and Cole. The heat winners were Fummerton and Connelly. Congratulations to Mark and the crew on a great feature victory his first of the 2003 season.

It was nice to see the mad pirate #10 Mario Poulin back in action as he has been missing for a few weeks. On the drop of the green flag Poulin takes the early lead with #00 John Cole, #80 Jim Carter, #90 Darren Lloyd and #22.2 Bob and Jay Phinnemore after the black #10 machine. By lap 3 Carter was applying heavy pressure to the Pirate while in behind Phinnemore’s, #21 Ted Edwards and Cole round out the top 5. Finally Carter wheels by Poulin and along come the Phinnemore’s for the runner up spot while Edwards and #22 Mike Grooves were in pursuit. At the half way point and Carter well out in front disaster hits the 80 machine as Carter seems to loose power possibly a cylinder was going meanwhile the Phinnemore’s inherit the lead and would be hard to beat on this night with the remaining top 5 Poulin, Edwards, Grooves and #8 Rob Snow. With The 22.2 machine out front comfortably there was a last yellow flag as the 8 machine loops it and that would create a 6 lap shoot out. While Edwards moved to the rear of The Phinnemore’s bumper and applied tremendous pressure and try as he may could not find away around and had to settle for the runner-up position on this night. The running order as they accepted the checkered flag was the Phinnemore’s followed by Edwards, Poulin, #54 Edward Cole, #9 Mike Carson, #88 James Rodgers and Snow. The heat winners were Poulin, Carter, Snow and Grooves. Congratulations go to the Phinnemore’s on a great feature victory there first in a while.

Once again we would like to thank the fine folks at Highland Chev-Olds Cadilac-Aurora on their sponsorship not for this night but for their support over twenty years and we hope this support continues for many years to come.