RIDDLE REPEATS, TAKES RACE #2

Owen Riddle from Naches Washington made a statement on Saturday night proving that he and the crew of the Don Riddle Excavating Super Late Model Team want the coveted champion title as well as the champions share of the 2010 Yakima Speedway Late Model Challenge Series $30,000 purse. In a mirror image of last weeks season opener, Owen Riddle again claimed qualifying fast time with a time of 18.862 earning the privilege to draw for the invert putting his 2010 Ford Fusion in the 6th starting position of the 12 car field, and Kennewick’s Mike Zamora on the pole for race #2 of the Northwest’s Premier Super Late Model Event. The elite field of cars led by Zamora began the race charging hard and fighting for position from the first wave of the green flag. Aggressive driving and fearless moves had Owen moving his way up through the pack and in the lead by lap 10 leaving Kennewick’s Mike Zamora, Yakima’s Erick Hargraves and Portland’s Joey Tanner to battle for the 2nd position. On lap 12 Chuck Dills of Ellensburg would lose a radiator cap and leave fluid on the track that would unfortunately collect the 51 car of a Hargraves spinning him off the track in between turns one and two. A broken flywheel would prevent Hargraves from restarting putting him a lap down and finishing his evening. On the restart, Riddle would again assume the early lead and the side by side racing action between Mike Zamora, Joey Tanner, Yakima’s Ron Bemis and Wapato’s J.C. Wofford was undeniably some of the best racing action and hard core driving that would captivate the fans until lap 43 when the 25 car of Randy Marshall Jr. making his 2010 debut would spin out, bring out the caution and re-stack the field. The green flag start would however be short lived as the competitors fighting for track position would collect the 4th place car of Ron Bemis spinning him on the front stretch in the middle of the field and putting him to the back of the pack where he would fight back the rest of the evening to finish in a podium third place finish. Late cautions in the race would stack up the pack and a late charge from Joey Tanner challenging Owen Riddle on the green, white checker would keep the crowd on there feet but the dominate car of Riddle would again claim first place and Race #2 of the Yakima Speedway Super Late Model Challenge Series. “We worked hard all day making sure the car had good forward bite and it really paid off. I didn’t want to see those last cautions because I knew it would give Joey a chance to close back up on us, then on the last restart I spun the tires, but I knew that the car was good enough to hold him off. Our strategy is to take this year one race at a time and so far it is paying off” said Riddle. The Super Late Model Challenge series will have a weekend off and are scheduled to begin the pivotal race #3 of the Series on May 16th at Yakima Speedway. In the Pure Stock division, Jay Younker would claim fast time and win the main event. Joe Estep would start the race in the pole position but would be challenged by Terry Cook and Younker, all racing side by side and three wide for the first 6 laps until the first caution flag. On the restart Terry Cook would gain the lead and would hold the lead until lap 13 where Younker would claim first and never look back. The slow but steady racing of 14 year old Kyler Conduff would pay off as he would pass Estep on lap 13 for the 3rd position where he would finish for his first podium finish in the Pure Stock division. The exciting Hornet division was also featured for the second race in 2010 and would find Greg Gargett in the winners circle at the end of the wild race. From start to finish of the 20 lap main event, Gargett would battle the fast time qualifier Josh Washington for the win. Both drivers made incredible moves around lap cars and wrecks and until the checker flag fell and would find Greg Gargett in first, Josh Washington in second and the 10 car of James Norman in the third place position. Fan Favorite Bump To Pass racing was the final event of the evening. The racing action/ demolition derby was wild and crazy pleasing the families and fans alike. The 46 car of Allen Reid would claim the first place trophy followed by Jake Breshears and Francisco Rojas who started the race in first and finished with a respectable third place finish.