In his first stock car race in nearly seven years, Darrell Horwath led the Prince George Auto Racing Association Canadian Tire street stock main event from start to finish.
But no matter how hard he tried, he could not switch off that magnetic field his Nellie's Pub-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo was sending out as he made his way around the three-eighths mile oval track Saturday night at PGARA Speedway.
It attracted a couple a tailgaters named Grant Powers and Shane Murphy, and they stuck to Horwath throughout the 30-lap feature race, engaging Horwath a relentless duel that put his veteran driving skills to the test. Horwath beat Powers to the checkered flag by about a car length and he wasn't much further than that ahead of Murphy, who settled for third place.
"That was a handful, right from about halfway to the finish, Grant and Shane were behind me and they were pushing," said Horwath. "I had to try to fill the holes they were trying to shoot for and just lucky enough we held them off. A few more laps and I don't know if we would have come out on top."
Nellie's Pub owner Troy Hirvi bought the car and made the 36-year-old Horwath an offer he could not refuse, convincing the 2010 street stock points champion to return to the stock car circuit he did so well in for so many years before he decided to give it up to spend more time with his family.
"We're shooting for another points championship this year and we'll see how it goes," he said. "We definitely have to do some more homework."
Powers almost got by on the outside groove in Lap 28 and just about had Horwarth eating his dust as they headed into the back straightway but Horwarth had just enough horsepower to stay in front.
"I wanted in the worst way for that second groove to work but it just wouldn't come in this time - I worked him and worked him," said Powers. "I had a shot at him there but couldn't get in front of him to take the bottom away from him but that's racing. That was one helluva race. It's good to see Darrell back."
Murphy was ecstatic with his third-place result.
"I don't know remember a time when I've raced with three cars so tight and so clean for so many laps," said Murphy. "It was exciting for all of us.
"It's our first race with some new things under the hood and it's the first time we've had an opportunity to get it super-hot. We're a lot better than we were last year so we're real excited about that, we did a lot of work over the off-season."
There were a couple of fender-benders that took a toll on the eight-car field. Jerry Gascon spun in Lap 7 heading into the third turn and Chris Arronge, who set a new track record Saturday in qualifying, could not avoid a slow-speed crunch into Gascon's No. 6 car. That forced Arronge to duck into the pits for some sledgehammer adjustments to some body panels to bash them back in place away from his left front tire.
Arronge, who had been running up with the fast guys, got back into the race on the lead lap but was forced to back off when his car started overheating, much like the drivers were in the 26 C heat.
A couple laps later, Lyall McComber got into the back bumper of Powers, which left McComber's car with a fat lip. That required some tearing and tugging from his pit crew to remove the front left fender so McComber could once again see where he was going.
Despite having just four cars entered Saturday, the 15-lap Chieftain Auto Parts mini stock main also had its share of thrills, supplied by the Woods brothers.
Ryan Woods, 36, took over the Ford Focus his 38-year-old brother Stephen drove to the mini points championship last year and drove it like he stole it. After flirting with the lead briefly for one lap, Ryan noticed his older brother was approaching a lapped car driven by Gary Howard heading into Turn 1 and went three-wide as he snuck past both of them on the inside lane. Ryan held on for his first stock car win over Stephen and his Ford Escort.
"We were keeping up with each other earlier and I was trying to go high, trying to go low - he's a seasoned racer and this is my first year in mini stocks and when I saw him get slowed up behind Gary and I saw the opportunity to duck down," said Ryan Woods. " I barely got my front bumper up to his driver's door before we got into the corner and that's the rule, it was just legal.
"It's fun racing my brother. He convinced me to jump into the mini stock this year. I'm real excited for the next race day (June 17)."
In the Tri-Par RV Rentals hornet class, 15-year-old Riley Markovics completed the hat trick, winning the dash, heat and main event races.
Arronge's 17.738-second lap in qualifying beat McComber quick-lap time of 17.810 seconds, set last year.
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