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French wins tight race at PGARA season opener

Rain, thunder and lightning stopped just in time Saturday night to allow Wayne French to take the checkered flag and capture the season-opening Canadian Tire Street Stocks race at the Prince George Auto Racing Association speedway.
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Rain, thunder and lightning stopped just in time Saturday night to allow Wayne French to take the checkered flag and capture the season-opening Canadian Tire Street Stocks race at the Prince George Auto Racing Association speedway.

French and his black and orange 1975 Chevelle Malibu battled James Lewis, Danny Arronge and Shane Murphy during the entirety of the main event race until French overtook Arronge and Lewis on the outside in the back straight-away and held on for the win.

Lewis was then struck by a lapped car, which should have meant a caution flag and a restart, but with rain starting to threaten again, officials decided to continue the race.

Arronge and Murphy finished second and third respectively in the seven-car field.

"I really had to work for it," said the 44-year-old French, adding the threat of rain didn't bother him.

"It's the best racing when it's door to door. James made me earn it. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the season. It gives me a good leg up on the rest of the field."

French, who's lived in Prince George since 1996, finished second overall in the points race in 2014 behind champion Jerry Gascon. It was French's first time back on the track since 2005.

But with Gascon out of the running Saturday after the new engine on his 1979 Monte Carlo SS blew during practice on Victoria Day weekend, that opened the door for others.

French, who co-owns Competition Automotive with his wife, wasn't sure he'd make it to the track for opening night, which was also a double points night.

French said he didn't tinker too much with his car, with number 73 emblazoned on it, over the winter.

"It's much the same car. It has the same engine that ran last year," he said, who was helped out by a pit crew of four. "Last year it handled well, I was just disappointed in my qualifying times. I knew I needed to step it up in qualifying this year."

A thunder and lightning storm threatened the race right up until just before qualifying was supposed to start at 6 p.m.

But since the track was already hot on the surface prior to the storm, track crews managed to get it ready for qualifying and the allow racing to begin.

Lewis won the street stocks heat race, followed by Murphy and French. Dave Adrian won the street stocks B dash, while Arronge won the A dash.

Saturday's racing also included the Chieftain Auto Parts mini stocks and the hornets.

Nathan Linfitt led from the first lap in the mini stocks main event and never looked back to win the race in the five-car field.

Lawrence Barks was second, followed by Gary Howard.

Linfitt and Barks went door to door in the mini stocks heat and Linfitt came away with the win. Barks won the mini stocks A dash.

In the hornets class, rookie Derek Bussey captured the checkered flag in the main event in the three-car field, followed by Warren McCann in second and Tracy Medley in third.

McCann won the hornets heat race, while Bussey locked up second place and Medley third. Bussey also won the A dash.

The next PGARA race is the Wescar OK Tire Challenge on June 13.

Saturday's races also doubled as the Roger and Corrine Turgeon Memorial Opening Day. The Turgeons were longtime PGARA members who served on the board of directors, while Roger was a multi-time champion in the 1970s and 1980s.

Roger died in 2012 and Corinne died in 2014.

The winners of all three main events on Saturday will have their name engraved on a trophy.