WCICS Rd7 Kamloops – Report
The Western Canadian Indoor Championship Series makes one final stop in the mountains at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops, British Columbia for round 7, the Mid Winter Challenge which was hosted by the TVRCRC. This club each season relocates its track and equipment to a beautiful indoor facility offering great racing and great viewing for the public. Another great show of entries from all the provinces in the series, and some joining from south of the border. Each class showed full support, and great racing action.
In Modified Touring Car each round saw the lap times get faster and faster from all drivers. Dave Ehrlich was the pairing to beat all weekend. Managing pole position, he would be followed by Blake Bell and Korgae Scales. Blake suffered from a first lap mistake tumbling him to 6th allowing Dustin Quanstrom and Korgae to 2nd and 3rd, and giving Dave a 1 second cushion before the end of the first lap. Korgae quickly took over second and Blake began the climb back to the lead group. After 2 minutes the two were now within just inches on the track, each having to give and take to avoid colliding. At the one minute mark, Blake edged by and held onto second to the finish line.
Stock Touring Car, a series favourite, again was the largest class of the weekend. The battle upfront was fierce from qualifying on to the starting line Sunday afternoon. Korgae Scales at the pole, Ivan Chan in second, and Dustin Quanstrom in third. Early stages of the race, the order would remain unchanged and the three together on the track. A minor mistake in traffic let Dustin through to finish second with Korgae maintaining the lead to the finish buzzer.
In 1/12th Modified Dave Ehrlich again led the train of cars on the way to TQ. Blake and Craig were joined by Jason Melnyk in the chase. Dave beat the computer doing repeated sub 7.2s laps around the track. Craig shot into second, Blake following after some trouble in the opening laps; they exchanged positions throughout the first half of the race before Craig had a large incident and retired. Meanwhile, Jason Melnyk was also recovering from trouble in the opening minute and slowly working his way up taking third on the final lap after a last lap bobble by Ivan Chan.
1/12th Stock had Dave Ehrlich joining the field from south of the border and he would be chased all weekend by Blake Bell, Craig Roberts and Dwayne Flodell. From the start tone, Dave left the gate and never looked back. The rest of field got to enjoy the battle for second between the Blake, Craig and Dwayne. Craig suffered from mechanical issue mid race which left just Blake and Dwayne battling for second. It appeared that Blake had it secured, but Dwayne closed the gap and took the position with 2 minutes to go. The final minute saw them exchange positions again giving Blake second and Dwayne third.
In the World GT class TQ holder Korgae Scales had shown impressive pace all weekend and the main was no different. Craig Roberts drove a solid race for second just 4 seconds back. Third place was a three way battle for most of the race, between 3 drivers. Frank Bortolazzo claimed the spot with less than a tenth after a final lap bobble.
Formula was well supported at the 2014 Mid Winter as a demo class, this year was no different as it became a full Series class. Ivan Chan, a leader in the on again, off again appearance of Formula class, was the driver to beat this weekend. Earl Towson and Brandon Rogers were up for the challenge though. They exchanged positions throughout the main but Earl settled into a groove and held off the younger driver to finish second.
CTA didn’t seem to be about which driver took TQ, rather, which car; an old school Trans Am or a more refined GT race car. Kevin Soukoroff showed that old school muscle was the pace setter taking both TQ and the win. Ivan Chan and Mike San Antonio followed with their GT cars.
In Tamiya Mini there was a battle between a cold and cool Alberta driver and a head high local. Series leader, Ivan Chan increased the pace round to round fending off TVRCRC Prez Brent Wende. It was clear from the first round Saturday morning, that this was going to be a battle to the end. Both drivers managed traffic well with Ivan leading until an incident with less than a minute to go. Brent took over the lead with Ivan quickly closing the gap. The two drivers came together with 3 laps to go, Ivan getting the better of the accident for the win. Post-race Ivan shock hands with Brent and exchanged awards with him – a truly sportsman moment of the weekend.
Source: WCICS [wcics.ca]
