New class, new season.
Same great start for Darrell Horwath.
The returning champion of the Prince George Auto Racing's top racing class, formerly known as the thunders, showed in Saturday's season-opener he can handle the extra horsepower now that the class has been upgraded to street stock.
Horwath waited until the halfway mark of a 15-lap main event to make his move on Jim Chapman and by the second corner found nothing but daylight ahead of him as night descended on the three-eighths mile oval at PGARA Speedway.
Chapman had his chance when James Lewis lost power and stalled, prompting a caution flag on Lap 12, but Chapman couldn't match the pace of Horwath's Monte Carlo in the three-lap sprint to the finish.
"It's just like last year (a feature-race victory on the first day day of the season) -- we're right on track and hopefully the end of it turns out the same," said Horwath. "We're about three-quarters of a second quicker than (his thunder was last year) and I don't mind that at all."
See Monday's Citizen for more.