With a total of 43 cars entered in the Bill John Memorial Invitational, the final weekend of racing at the Merritt Speedway was a thriller.

There was fierce competition in all four classes of vehicles between local drivers, Merritt Speedway regulars and a host of out-of-town visitors.

A strong contingent of cars was in attendance from the Agassiz Raceway. It included Travis George who dominated the 4-cylinder division with a total of five victories.

The 6&8-cylinder class was a battle all weekend between three Merritt racers — Bill Fader, his nephew Brock and Brad Gillis. The senior Fader (a.k.a. the ‘Silver-Haired Fox’) prevailed, winning four races.

Both the Street and Hobby divisions were hotly contested with six different winners in each class. Bob Kuhn, Jake Mills, Dale Calder, Dennis
Smith, Darren Metcalf and Grant Powers were all multiple winners.