News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

Last night Thunder Mountain Speedway hosted the first annual 'Christmas in July' toy and food drive for the Salvation Army.

 Many of the local race fans who came out to enjoy a night of racing donated cans of food, rice, pasta, miscellaneous dry goods, as well as toys, stuffed animals, and various games. Fans who hadn't previously heard about the food and toy drive were eager to donate cash to a great cause.

Drivers and race teams did their part too, filling the back of the welcometowilliamslake.ca truck with all sorts of goodies.

Time trials got underway at 6:00pm and racing starting at 7:00. All four club classes raced trophy dashes, heats and mains. Drivers treated the kids in the crowd to race car rides around the entire track during intermission, an ever popular event with race fans of all ages. 

(Photo: #35 Thunder Stock driven by Jesse Fisher gives young fans a few laps around the track.  Mouse over:  John Haines, #79 Thunder Stock also gives youngsters a few laps around the track during intermission.)

The action was hot as the Street Stocks trophy dash was won by Bob Lowen, the heat race by Arnie Kunka (who also set a new track record) and the main by Bob Lowen. These two drivers are always crowd pleasers when they're at the front of the pack together. During the main, one of the slower cars spun out and both Bob and Arnie had to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid colliding with the sideways car and with each other. 

The Pro Mini class saw their main come down to two cars battling it out fender to fender for the win. Marius Dunford took the lead from Tim Roberts after eight laps and held on for the rest of the race. 

The Thunder class main saw a couple of cars get tangled in turn two with Tim Westwick's #56 car breaking an axle housing which ended his night early, while the #35 car of Jesse Fisher went on to win the main event. The #79 Ford pick-up of John Haines had an earlier incident that put him on his side on the back straightaway. "It all seemed to happen like it was slow motion, I thought I had it back under control and then realized I was going to go over on my side and it seemed to just slowly tip over," said John. "There was hardly any damage and I'm all ready to race without missing any laps at all."

(Photo:  First time racer, 14 year old Danny Lussier)

The Bone Stock Mini's fielded 8 cars including two 14 year old rookie drivers, Paige Lennox in the #96 car and Danny Lussier in the #37 car. Saturday night was Danny's first time in a stock car race with his only previous seat time being during a test-and-tune night earlier in the week. The #37 car was previously driven by another young racer, Donny Kunka, who turned in lap times in the mid 20's and already Danny's fastest times were in the low 21's --  very respectable for a rookie driver. "I'm a little nervous, a little scared, but mostly excited," said Danny before racing got under way. He is hoping to be able to purchase this car and continue racing with the number 82 on the door. Keep your eyes on these two young drivers as they get more seat time and become more competitive through the rest of the season. 

Once again, Welcome to Williams Lake supplied the trophy truck for the event and Jessica MacIssac from Williams Lake presented trophies to the winning drivers at the finish line.

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