Wilson speeds to Laird sweep

George Wilson made his season debut and looked to be more dominate than ever by cruising to a pair of wins at Laird International Raceway on Thursday night.

Wilson returned to LIR with vengeance by overpowering the 10-car late model field to wins in the heat race and special 40-lap feature. The second heat race was scrapped in order to accommodate qualifying, which was delayed due to late afternoon rain.

In the feature, Wilson quickly and easily built a lead that extended to a half lap advantage before a caution flag drew the pack together on a restart. Wilson then build another huge lead before another caution drew the pack together again with four laps remaining.

While the pack stayed close in the final laps, Wilson was never seriously challenged for the lead. But the race for second was never actually decided.

The second through fifth place drivers were involved in a big collision down the front stretch, just feet from the finish line on the final lap.

Rick Ellis, Terry McClelland, Rod Bolduc and Chris Furkey all collided with Ellis and McClelland sustaining the most damage. A furious Ellis immediately charged at McClelland and had a face-to-face shouting match at the finish line before LIR officials quickly intervened.

In other action, Matt Huber captured all three stock four-cylinder races. Huber, driving the same car used by Kevin Vaz last season, won both heat races and the special feature, which saw the drivers race the final half of the race in the reverse direction.

Second-year driver Carmen Cavaliere won his first ever race by winning the opening heat in the pure stock division. The Michigan Sault's Barry Glenn won the second heat and feature.

In factory stock, Jason Praysner won the feature and opening heat while David Slingsby won the second heat.

All results are unofficial. Following the races, the top finishers must pass inspection at the tech station before all winners are finalized. When official results are confirmed, they will be posted on LIR's website at www.lairdraceway.com.

Action continues next Thursday at Laird, located east of Echo Bay on Lake George Road, with racing beginning at 7 p.m. and qualifying at 6 p.m.