DEAVER EARNS CAST IRON CROWN

Source: tb
Date: 05/07/2007

The second annual Cast Iron Nationals ended with the same result as the first. Craig Deaver is now two-for-two at Ephrata Raceway Park’s kick-off event for winged-sprint cars. The Lake Tapps driver edged out the 2006 Columbia River Open Wheel champion, Mike Fought of Othello, by several car lengths for the victory. John Boyatt survived a last lap charge by Steve Woods to earn the top spot in the Limited Late Models and Ephrata’s Kenny Brown crossed the finish line first in the Pioneer Muffler II adult hornets.

Seventeen winged sprint cars from Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia converged upon ERP’s quarter-mile high-banks to do battle in the F/T Starbound Cast Iron Nationals. Doug Peter of Yakima and Kurt Myers of Wilson Creek led the rumbling pack of open wheelers to the green flag for the 50-lap main event. While leading, Peter drifted up the track in turn 3 opening up a gap just big enough for local lead-foot and 2006 Inland Northwest Sprint Car Association champion, Kevin Burke, to shoot through to take the lead after starting seventh. Mike Fought trailed Burke closely. The pair closed in on slower traffic and went three-wide coming out of turn 4 on lap 12. One lap later, Adam Roduner of Quincy sailed off the track in turn 3 and had to be hooked to the pits, ending his bid for a win after posting the fastest qualifying time. Burke led Fought and Deaver to the line for the restart on lap 14. Without having to battle lapped traffic, Fought glued himself to the back of Burke’s sprinter. On lap 19, Fought managed to duck under Burk and assume the lead. Meanwhile, Burke had to contend with Deaver’s glossy black rocket and was not able to hold him off. Deaver quickly dodged slower traffic to reel in Fought. On lap 29, Fought went high to get around Jason Thomas of Marysville. Much to Fought’s chagrin, Deaver shot to the bottom to scoot by both drivers and take over the top spot. The second and last caution of the night was brought out on lap 37 after Paul Dart of Soap Lake had difficulties and ended up in the gravel above turn 3. During the ensuing restart, Deaver led Fought, Jeff Bird of Victoria, B.C., and Burke to the green flag. With only 13 laps to go, Deaver was firmly in control. At the line, Deaver took the checkers with Fought, Bird, Burke, and Myers rounding out the top five positions.

Also paying a visit to the Columbia Basin track were the Limited Late Models. Chris Schlaht led the field of stock cars to the green flag and took the lead. But John Boyatt wasted little time in challenging Schlaht for first place. After only four laps of racing, Boyatt charged from the sixth starting spot to move in right behind Schlaht. While coming out of turn 2, Schlaht drifted up the track and Boyatt seized the opportunity to snatch the lead. John Pokorny was able to move into the second spot at the same time. Meanwhile, Steve Woods, Schlaht, and Jim Jussila battled for the third position. At the halfway point of the 40-lap race, Woods managed to sneak under Pokorny in turns 3 and 4. Then, in a daring zigzag maneuver going into turn 1, Jussila took the third spot from Pokorny. With only ten laps remaining, Woods nestled in behind Boyatt and was ready to pounce if Boyatt bobbled. After dashing under the white flag, Woods made a great move to get inside of Boyatt coming out of turn 4. The crowd took to their feet for the finish. Boyatt held on to win the main event by less than half a car length. Woods’ valiant effort came up short and he had to settle for the second position. Jussila crossed the finish line in third and Pokorny and Schlaht took the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

The Pioneer Muffler II adult hornets took to the bullring for their first race of the 2007 season. The main event saw Josh Hector take the early lead. He was followed closely by Evan Evans and Chris McCart, both of Moses Lake. McCart’s sharp looking car quickly received battle scars as he was sandwiched by two other cars coming out of turn 4. The contact popped a tire in McCart’s ride. Several laps later, contact was made between Evans and Dustin Kapalo as the pair emerged from turn 2. Kapalo got the worst of the deal, spinning and contacting the backstretch retaining wall. The incident drew a red flag. However, Dustin Kapalo was able to get his lime-green Honda fired back up, but found himself a lap down. On the restart, Jeremy Lodi shot under Hector going into turn 1. The pair battled it out for several laps until Lodi finally closed the deal and assumed the lead. Unfortunately for Lodi, mischievous racing gremlins waited for him to take the lead before causing Lodi some trouble. Lodi’s car slowed, relinquishing the lead and the victory to Ephrata’s Kenny Brown. Hector took second, while Rod Julian of Soap Lake netted the third spot. Fourth and fifth went to Ephrata drivers Fred Moore and Eddie Razey, respectively.

The racing action is sure to be intense on May 12th as ERP’s Pepsi Cola street stocks go head-to-head with Wenatchee Valley Super Oval’s Grand National stockcars in the first of four events in the Pepsi Challenge Series. Also hitting the quarter-mile asphalt track will be the Plummer/Janke State Farm Agents youth hornets and the Columbia Glass mini-stocks.

CAST IRON NATIONALS WINGED SPRINT CARS

Fast Time

Adam Roduner : 12.62

C Dash

(1) Kurt Myers B Dash (1) Russel Root A Dash (1) Kevin Burke C Heat (1) Craig Deaver (2) Kevin Burke (3) Jason Thomas (4) Larry Davies B Heat (1) Mike Fought (2) Jeff Bird (3) Doug Peter (4) Bob Witte A Heat (1) Robbie Patterson (2) Paul Dart (3) Adam Roduner (4) Kurt Myers Main Event (1) Craig Deaver (2) Mike Fought (3) Jeff Bird (4) Kevin Burke (5) Kurt Myers (6) Doug Peter (7) Robbie Patterson (8) Paul Dart (9) Whitney Nolan (10) Larry Davies (11) Jason Thomas (12) Kyle Secord (13) Rally Root (14) Adam Roduner (15) Bob Witte (16) Russel Root LIMITED LATE MODELS Fast Time John Boyatt : 15.00

Dash

(1) John Pokorny

Heat

(1) Chris Schlaht (2) John Pokorny (3) Steve Woods (4) John Boyatt

Main Event

(1) John Boyatt (2) Steve Woods (3) Jim Jussila (4) John Pokorny (5) Chris Schlaht (6) Walter Lynch

EPHRATA PIONEER MUFFLER II HORNETS Dash 1 (1) Eddie Razey Dash 2 (1) Dustin Kapalo Heat 1

(1) Josh Hector (2) Evan Evans (3) Rod Julian (4) John Olsick

Heat 2

(1) Chris McCart (2) Kenny Brown (3) Dustin Kapalo (4) Fred Moore

Main Event 1

(1) Kenny Brown (2) Josh Hector (3) Rod Julian (4) Fred Moore (5) Eddie Razey (6) John Olsick (7) Evan Evans (8) Dustin Kapalo (9) Jeremy Lodi (10) Chris McCart (11) Nathan Schell

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