Opening night at Saratoga speedway was nothing short of exciting on May 8th with the crash to pass cars, Hornet cars, roadrunners and the figure 8 cars who were canceled due to car count. The 2010 racing season started off as usual with a long drivers meeting and new tech “guru” Andy guest “laying down the law” giving out the Rules and regulations for the 2010 racing season.

The roadrunner class brought an 8 car field to opening night, headlined by the 4 green leemar cars. The dash was a fast 4 lap race with #77 Hans Baan sitting pole for the 4 laps, on lap 2 #18 William Robertson toke over the lead and never looked back as he took the first dash on the racing season. The heat race saw the whole 8 car field take the track with 17 year old #7 Matt Robson sitting pole for the 10 lap race. On the first lap #77 Hans Baan moved from his starting position of 5th and moved up to second then shortly after taking the lead from Robson. On lap 3 # 28 James Buchanan and #69 Beau Haselhurst got into a altercation in turn 1, taking them both out of contention for the heat race Baan led the rest of the 8 laps to take the heat race in the roadrunner class. The main event was an exciting 20 lap race With #7 Matt Robson sitting pole once again, but like the heat race Hans Baan stormed to the front on lap 1 and never looked back as he took the 20 lap main event in the roadrunner division.

The Crash to pass cars numbers dropped a bit on opening night with a 4 car class. The dash brought out a big of fireworks as #8 Brad Kotscherofski spun out car #13 Tom Dunn on lap 1 taking Dunn out for the dash, in the front of the pack #77 Mark Stephens was leading the charge as he took the 4 lap dash. The heat race saw something rather interesting as usual Crash to pass driver #8 Brad Kotscherofski decided to jump into a Figure 8 car for the 8 lap heat race. #2 Glenn Pinto started 2nd and on lap 1 he took the led from #77 Mark Stephens and never looked back and he took the 8 lap heat. The main event brought out a 15 lap race. On lap 1 a big crash happened in turn 4 involving #13, #8 and #77 with Kotscherofski going on 2 wheels!, as this took place Pinto took advantage lapping the majority of the field and he took the 15 lap main event.

The hornet car class had a terrific 36 car field with 9 cars taking the Hornet car class for the first time. With 36 cars, this brought out for many races as there were 3 dashes. The C dash 12 year old Tristin Gait #23 held pole with his dad marlin Gait #33 holding 2nd. On lap 1 #11 Alex Benyuk took over 2nd then first and never looked back as he took the c dash. The B dash had another 12 year old sit pole, # 42 Jordan Phillips took the green, white and Checkered as he led the whole 4 lap dash making him the youngest winner of the 2010 season. The A dash had new track record holder #88 Calvin Chamberlin who hit a speedy 18.700 in Qualifying sit in the 4th position. Pole position belonged to #08 Daryn Cahill as he also took the green, white and checkered in first position as he took the A dash. The D heat race saw an 8 car field with Tristin Gait taking pole once again. The 10 lap race saw #75 Dwayne Zeinstra moves up in the field as he eventually took the lead on lap 3 and never looked back. The C heat race Saw 61 year old Lyle Bolam take pole position, but on lap 1 a altercation developed in turn 1 bringing a complete restart. # 95 Carolyn Thomas took advantage of some “sleeping” drivers as on the restart she stormed to the front and she never looked back as she became the first lady driver to win in the 2010 racing season. The B heat saw 15 year old #84 Jake Townsend sit second and on lap 2 take the lead and had smooth sailing from there as he took the B heat. The A heat was a very fast 10 lap race with #58 Dano Bryant sitting pole. The 2 Cahill’s #02 and #08 were sitting in the back but not for long as #02 stormed to the lead on lap 2 and on lap 3 posted a lap time of 18.572 the fasted hornet car lap in there history here but being it was a heat race, it will not count as track record. #02 led the rest as he took the A heat. The B main saw a 30 lap exciting race as #77 Hans Baan driving his sons Hornet car look the lead early, #93 Jacob Johnson and #75 were competing with him through the main but in the end Hans was to much as he won the first of 2 main events, with #93 2nd and #9 Andrew Buchanan placing 3rd. The A main was a clean 50 lap race with #73 Walker Welsh sitting pole, and the 2 Cahill’s sitting in the back once again. Last years champ #37 Brandon Steen took the lead early but did not hold on to it long as #67 Corey Sanderson look the led on lap 7 and held it till lap 17 when he Cahill brothers both catch him with #08 Daryn taking first and #02 Daryl in second, but on lap 25 Daryl catches Daryn and passes him for the led. The back and forth action was not done there as on lap 37 Daryn passes Daryl for the lead once again, back in the field #67 Corey Sanderson was keeping the leaders in his sight in 3rd, #13 Jason Fraser is strongly holding on to 4th and Steen in 5th. Not surprisingly on lap 46 Daryl once again catches Daryn once again and takes the lead for good as the Cahill’s finish 1, 2 in the main with #02 Daryl in first, #08 Daryn in second and #67 finishes 3rd.

The night ended with the always popular fireworks show for a loud and exciting finish to the first race night on the 2010 schedule. The next race night is May 15th with the Hornet cars, Dwarf cars and Bomber cars. Mark your calendar and get ready for an exciting 2010 racing season