In one of the largest car counts our club has ever seen at one event, the 2012 Hurricane Midgets season opener started with a thunderous roar!  Saturday was a night of heavy competition, and only the strong survived to make it in to the 24 positions available in our A Main Feature event.

Heats 1 & 2 saw all cars in attendance split in 2 for a full on race to the checker flag.  The top 6 from each heat were guaranteed a position in the A Main, and the ones who came prepared floated to the top like oil on water.  Last seasons Points Champion, Brian Woodland in the #48 took the 1st Heat, and veteran Hurricane driver #21, Larry Westwood, after starting in the number four position, flew in to place during the 2nd lap to take the 2nd Heat flag. 
We also saw excellent performances from Car #62 of Rob McCall, the brand new cars of #97 & #18 of Robin McLean and Paul Draganac, the #68 of Adam Carrothers, and #99 of Adam Tyo.  All these boys were anxious to pick up where they left off last season.

Heat 3 was a race for points only as the top 6 from each of 1 & 2 joined up for a battle of the fastest cars of the evening taking the field.  Once again we saw the #48 car take his favourite position at the finish line, just sneaking by Rob McCall on the last lap of the race, after Rob held on for the previous 6 laps!  It was a nail biter, and very exciting to watch from the fans perspective.  All of these cars were prepared, and performed hard.  This was "primo" Hurricane racing folks!

Heat 4 was a very eclectic mix, seeing veterans and rookies fall in to place , to see who had come to the track the most prepared to race.  Mike Westwood who did not finish Heat 2, burst up from the back of the field of 15 cars to take his checker flag for the night.  After getting the bugs of the 1st race of the season worked out, he was just flying!  Heat 4 also saw Kelly Summers in the #31 return after a 2 year absence from the Hurricanes to take a second place finish along with her brother Rob Jr in the 14 taking an 8th, and her dad Rob Sr. in the new #85, a Rookie to us this year, in 9th.  You know what they say folks...The family they plays together - stays together !  The top 6 from this heat were also guaranteed there position in the A Main Feature event...

Our first B-Main ever gave all remaining drivers, who had not yet qualified for the last 6 positions open for the A Main to put on their game faces once again and take to the track for an all out shoot out for the last 6 spots.  Unfortunately, with some bad planning at the track, our B Main which should have seen at least 11 cars fighting for the final 6 spots, was cut short as only 7 had time to jump back in and/or fix their cars and get back on the track within 5 minutes of their last heat race.  It was one of the craziest things we have ever seen, as driver raced to get their cars ready, and head straight back out on the track unprepared for the lack of time the track planners had given us.  The B Main included a major caution as the #47 of Trevor Small broke a front right rod, and his tire went screaming in to turn 1 on the 5th lap.  In the end, we had 5 of the 7 cars finish the race, and we moved everyone on up to the A Main Feature.

The Top 24 Cars were assigned to their starting positions for the evenings A-Main Event.  Watching the field bunch up two wide, and listening to them scream past the Green Flag is one of the greatest rushes you can get.

Our top runners from our previous Heat events quickly showed up in the top 5 positions and by Lap 5 we were running 62, 48, 99, 18, and the #10 of AJ Emms, last seasons 2nd Place Points Winner....   But who was this, sneaking up from the 19th spot in the starting line up?  It was the brand new Stryker Chassis built car of #94, young rookie, Ryan Fraser, that was completely built and set up by his father, Justin Fraser, former Hurricane driver.  If you remember folks, back a couple of weeks ago during my commentary after tech day... I told you to watch out for this kid, and DANG, I was right!  Ryan Fraser, who raced go karts for several years,  has now followed in his dad Justin Fraser's footsteps, to become a Hurricane driver, and he tore up that field of cars like he was on a mission !  Placing 5th in Heat 1 and then 9th in Heat 2 did not leave many of our seasoned drivers feeling like he was any threat to that coveted position of 1st Place at our season opener.  Ryan drove with confidence, and with great respect to all those around him, passing with lots of clearance, and making sure his window was wide open before slamming it shut behind him as he passed each car coming up the field.  By Lap 13 we saw Ryan at the front of the pack, and the speed coming out of this brand new motor was stunning.  It was a crisp, clean and well deserved win. 

The pits were full of hand shakes and applause for this kid as he drove in after his photo op at the start/finish line, and we couldn't have been happier with the end result. 

Congratulations Ryan! 
We're looking forward to what this year has in store for you.

A-MAIN FEATURE RESULTS: FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY MAY 12, 2012
94, 62, 10, 21, 97, 99, 43, 7, 7X, 31, 51, 8, 9, 00, 85, 18, 68, 48, 24, 14, 66, 91, 77 DNS, 55 DNS