Langford, BC: August 25, 2007

                Race fans, at Western Speedway, are becoming accustomed to watching Scott Aumen sliding high going through corners, smoking the tires, and passing cars while doing so. Saturday’s Times Colonist / Alpine Group Daffodil Cup was no different. Aumen, using his patented move on the outside, passed Jake Mann with one lap left and added the prestigious Daffodil Cup to his impressive string of victories for 2007.
Gord Smith took the B Dash for Sprint Cars with Randy Dubois taking the win in the A Dash.
Jeff, the “Hurricane” Montgomery, in his first race this season, blew by Rob Scott half way through Heat 1 and took the checkered flag in Sprint Car action. Justin Mack took advantage of contact between Ray Jones and Dave Conway with the drop of the green flag and went on to the win in the 2nd Heat. Darren Yates and Randy Price went side by side through turn one, both drivers smokin the tires in Heat three but Andy Alberding grabbed the win. Kyle Vantreight got the lead on lap three in the final Sprint Car Heat and went on to the win.
Randy Dubois and Mike Basher shared the front row for the Sprint Car B Main but going down the backstretch on the green flag lap, Yates, starting third, blasted by the two front runners and grabbed the lead. Handling problems dogged the Duncan driver during the Heat race but was not a factor here as he led Dubois and Basher to the checkered flag over the ten laps.
Alberta’s Merv Barcelo and Rob Scott led twenty Sprint Cars to the green flag for forty laps of high octane racing to determine the Daffodil Cup Champion for 2007. Last year’s Champion Montgomery started seventh with Aumen and Alberding buried in the 11th and 12th spot respectively. Ahead of them Jeff Bird, Justin Mack, Jake Mann, Kyle Vantreight, Price, and Mansell all with Sprint Car credentials.
Bird powered to the front by lap two just as the first yellow came out as Barcelo and Scott got together going through turn three and four. Mann had moved into second with Montgomery jumping into the 3rd spot by the 3rd lap. On this same caution Price, always a threat to win entered the pits with a problem with the rear end of his car ending his run. On the restart, Bird again led Mann and Montgomery. Behind them, Vantreight, Aumen, and Mansell were on the move with Aumen taking over the 4th spot, from Vantreight, seven laps down. Yates, who had the impressive win in the B Main dropped out with engine problems by lap nine. Meanwhile, Aumen powered by Montgomery for third on lap eleven as Mansell moved into 5th followed by Vantreight. Dubois brought out a caution on this lap as he lost the handle on turn two.
Bird now had Mann and Montgomery with Aumen on his bumper for the restart. On the next lap, Aumen passed Montgomery and set sites on Mann who had Bird in his sites. On Lap twenty, Mann finally put the move on Bird and took over the lead. Aumen used three more laps to also go by Bird moving up to second. Montgomery was still in the hunt as he reclaimed the third spot going by Bird on lap twenty-nine. Up front, Mann had worked himself up to a pretty good lead with Aumen chasing him down over the next several and by lap thirty was on the rear of Mann’s car. The yellow came out on lap thirty-five as Montgomery coasted to a stop out of turn four with a suspected blown motor. After running about eighty laps the field was red flagged in order to fuel the cars so that they could complete the run.
On the restart, Mann now led Aumen, Mansell, and Vantreight to the green flag for five more laps to the Daffodil Cup. Over the next couple of laps Aumen was all over the driver with the NSRA. With the white flag in sight, Aumen in classic style powered to the outside of Mann, and with 3500 plus fans howling and on their feet, won the drag race down the front stretch and gained the lead one he would not relinquish. Mann held on for second with Mansell, Vantreight, and Alberding rounding out the top five.
In an after race interview, Mann commented on the winning pass stating, “It was a heck of a move. I heard him coming.”
Aumen is fearless slinging his car dirt style and using the outside groove to pass the opposition and has done it several times in 2007 and as usual waits until there is little room left on the lap chart. It is a dramatic and exciting move to watch this close side by side action with two or more talented drivers using all of the track and machines to get the win. For the driver, fresh from the Platinum Cup victory in Calgary, this win gives the WilRoc driver some redemption as he placed second to Montgomery in last year’s Daffodil Cup. It also gave the WilRoc Series yet another win over the more powerful NSRA cars. Six very fast drivers from the NSRA Series and two cars from Alberta joined the WilRoc Series for this running of the Daffodil Cup with the many fans leaving and talking about the final pass pulled off by Aumen.
Aumen, the WilRoc Points leader from Duncan wins the coveted Daffodil Cup which was first run for at Western Speedway in 1961. With this win, the famous trophy still resides on Vancouver Island.
Other wins this season include the Doug James Memorial Trophy won at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington on March 31/07, The Times Colonist and the ZONE 91.3 Strawberry Cup on June 23rd also at Western Speedway, and the Platinum Cup held at Calgary’s Race City on August 11 and 12,

Story by Ken Keating