6/26/2023
Laird Raceway
Enduro Race was Great Fun!
Our season opening Enduro race on Saturday June 24th was great fun for participants and fans. The weather was a bit hotter than most of us would like, but hey, in this part of the world we shouldn’t complain when it gets hot, we have enough cold months to deal with! Right?
The 100 lap Enduro race was broken into four 25 lap segments with a short break in between to allow cars to cool down, tire changes, some fuel, and in some cases a driver change. 24 cars started the race with the starting lineup decided by random draw before the race.
At the end of the fourth segment, with 100 laps completed, there were just 10 cars left running.
Visiting driver Kyle Neumeister, from Stratford Ontario, about 40km west of Kitchener, took the checkered flag in his #92. A cheque for $4,000 for the win was presented to him on the front stretch. Pre-race Kyle said, “I’ve always wanted to drive every asphalt track in Ontario. Until recently I didn’t know this one (LIR) existed. This is the last one on my bucket list. I drive mini stock at other tracks and had this car kicking around, it’s been in a couple other enduro races.”
There were lots of smiles in the pits through the day. We had a lot of first time drivers out having some fun, lots of them from the younger crowd. Great to see!
We had some additional entertainment too! The afternoon’s events got underway with a 10 lap School Bus Race. They went three wide a couple times and there were some rear wheels in the air around the corners. Randy Larrett managed a win. Fans were also entertained a couple of times between Enduro race segments by infield lawnmower races courtesy of the Algoma Lawnmower Racing Association (ALMRA).
Photos from the day’s events can be found on the lairdraceway.com website under the “media – photos” menu item.
Join us on Thursday June 29th for Thursday Night Thunder, our first regular race night of the season. We’ll have a full show of Super Late Models, Modifieds, Factory Stocks, Factory Fours, and the Enduros. Another school bus race is planned, and the guys from ALMRA should be back out to run their lawn tractors around their infield loop. Main grandstand gates open at 5:00 pm, qualifying at 6:00 pm, and opening ceremonies at 7:00 pm.
Article Credit: Tom Stephenson
Submitted By: Tom Stephenson