YAKIMA, Washington — The Spring Spectacular proved to have plenty
of thrills and racing action on Saturday night at Yakima Speedway as
six divisions of competition gave the capacity crowd all it could
handle. When the smoke cleared Owen Riddle (Late Models), Jeff Ball
(Hornets), Rob Allen (Pure Stocks), Adam Bryan (Mini-Stocks), Josh
Aguirre (Bump-to-Pass) and Buck Noel Jr. (Sportsman) came away with
main event victories.
Riddle has had one of the top late models in the region and was
looking to win his second consecutive main event after a rousing
victory in Spokane just one week ago. The reigning Yakima Speedway
Late Model champion just missed a chance to set fast time as Moxee's
Mike Longton claimed that honor with a lap that was less then
one-tenth off his own track record. Riddle then saw younger brother
Tayler take the checkered flag in the night's trophy dash leaving only
the 60-lap main event for the elder brother to chase.
Tayler Riddle and Randy Marshall Jr. led the field to the green flag
with Riddle taking the point entering the backstretch. Riddle moved to
a solid five-car length lead as Marshall and Owen Riddle did battle
for the second and third place position on the field. Marshall gave
way to Riddle on lap 10 with Longton clearing for third-place one lap
later. Owen Riddle stayed with his younger brother for the race's next
10 circuits then took the lead on lap 20. Longton dodged a spinning
Talyer Riddle late in the race then missed a shift on the restart that
allowed Christopher Kalsch to jump into the second place position in
the late going. In the end Riddle had more then enough to keep Kalsch
at bay with Longton recovering for third-place in the final five laps
of the race
Buck Noel Jr. made it clear after watching Garrett Sisk dominate the
Burger Ranch Sportsman division's last main event that the Selah
native would be counting on his championship experience to school the
youngster in their next match-up. With each driver posting top-4
qualifying runs that set the stage for the duo to drive to the front
from their third row starting positions based on the night's invert.
Also in the mix would be a resurgent Lucas Valdez who had finally
found some of last season's magic to get his car going in the right
direction after a month of tough outings.
Noel made quick work of the field to take the point but found Sisk
worthy of the challenge as each went side-by-side for the final half
of the main event with Noel prevailing by virtue of a strong restart
after a late race caution. Valdez stayed with the pair and nabbed his
best finish of the season as the Sportsman division gave the crowd one
of the best races of the evening.
Adam Bryan made the trip to Yakima from his Tri-Cities home and put on
a clinic in the Speedway Mini-Stock division as he set a new track
record in qualifying then wheeled his Mazda to the front past a
hard-driving Josh Parmentier who was making his first start of the
season. Cody Denton, the division's points leader, came to the initial
green flag and could not get his car in gear which resulted in a
caution and a complete restart. Pitting for aid from his crew, Denton
got the gears working and retook the start of the race at the rear of
the field. When the racing had wrapped for the night, Denton found
himself in the final three running order and adding points to his
chase for the division's first-ever championship.
Rob Allen and Chris Marang have each scored two main event victories
in the H&H Furniture Pure Stock division with both drivers
understanding that each of them along with rookies Jeff Wilkinson and
Tim Hitchcock would be battling for the classes main event victory.
Allen and Marang got to the front late in the going after contact
between Hitchcock and Wilkinson sent both drivers to the pits for the
remainder of the night as each suffered significant damage in a turn
No. 4 incident. Both drivers were checked and cleared.
Allen held Marang at bay with Kyle Wade showing he was move then up to
the challenge of running in the front after holding an early lead.
With Allen's win he adds to his points total as he and Marang appear
to be taking the division's championship chase down to the wire.
Jeff Ball continues to lead the CWI Security/EZ Credit Auto Sales
points championship after netting another main event victory on
Saturday night. The always-smiling Ball made a charge to the front and
took the lead from first-time racer Bailey Broers in the late stages.
Josh Reiners came home with a third-place finish as Michael Beck and
Roger Eaton rounded out the top-5 running order.
Josh Aguirre appears to have one of the most dominant Bump-to-Pass
cars in the Northwest as he has claimed a fast time award, trophy dash
victory and main event win in each of his first three starts in the
2012 season. Saturday night would prove no different as Aguirre
started deep in the field before mounting a charge with five laps to
go in the finale. As in his prior victory, Aguirre took the lead on
the night's final lap of racing then held on for his fourth victory of
the season.
Yakima Speedway returns to action on June 23 with the Sportsman, Pure
Stocks, Mini-Stocks, Hornet and Bump-to-Pass divisions all taking to
the famed half-mile. For more information log onto yakimaspeedway.us
or the tracks page on Facebook. For ticket and other information call
the Speedway Hotline at (509) 248-0647.
June 9, 2012 Yakima Speedway Results-
Speedway Late Models Main Event
1) Owen Riddle
2) Christopher Kalsch
3) Mike Longton
4) Randy Marshall Jr.
5) Tayler Riddle
6) Dave Smick
Fast Time- Mike Longton
A Trophy Dash- Tayler Riddle
CWI Security/EZ Credit Auto Sales Main Event
1) Jeff Ball
2) Bailey Broers
3) Josh Reiners
4) Michael Beck
5) Roger Eaton
6) Robert Patton
7) Frank Stiltner
8) Merle Stiltner
9) Paul Townsend
A Trophy Dash- Jeff Ball
B Trophy Dash- Bailey Broers
H&H Furniture Pure Stocks Main Event
1) Rob Allen
2) Chris Marang
3) Kyle Wade
4) Peppie Rojas
5) Chris Morrison
6) Mike Denton
7) Cody Denton
8) Steve Armstrong
9) James Harris
10) Eric Coble
11) Tim Hitchcock
12) Jeff Wilkinson
13) Joe Estep
14) Ron Hawkins
DNS-Harold Emmons
Fast Time- Jeff Wilkinson
A-Trophy Dash- Tim Hitchcock
B-Trophy Dash- Kyle Wade
C-Trophy Dash- Eric Coble
Mini-Stock Main Event
1) Adam Bryan
2) Josh Parmentier
3) Cody Denton
4) Casey Chambers
5) Kyle Wade
6) Joshua Henne
7) Jessica Tidrick
8) George Jankowics
9) Jessie Eaton
Fast Time- Adam Bryan 24.765-sec.(new track record)
A-Trophy Dash- Adam Bryan
B-Trophy Dash- Casey Chambers
Burger Ranch Sportsman Main Event
1) Buck Noel Jr.
2) Garrett Sisk
3) Lucas Valdez
4) Jim Zorrozua
5) Kyler Conduff
6) Terry Cook
7) Jerry Walker Jr.
8) Derrick Denton
9) Morgan Morrison
10) Larry Norman
11) James Norman
12) Josh Johnston
Fast Time- Garrett Sisk
A-Trophy Dash- Lucas Valdez
B-Trophy Dash- Morgan Morrison
C-Trophy Dash- Josh Johnston
Sea Galley Bump-to-Pass Main Event
1) Josh Aguirre
2) Kellie Zacharias
3) Dennis Clouse
4) Shannon Davis
5) Wes Heigh
6) Joe Stevens
7) Todd Nunn
DNS-Jason Schick
A-Dash- Josh Aguirre
B-Dash- Shannon Davis
