Marang Pads Points Lead with Sportsman Victory at Yakima Speedway

Marang pads points lead with Sportsman victory at Yakima Speedway Yakima, WA (June 23, 2012)-Chris Marang is proving he has no sophomore slump in his pit area as he picked up his third main event victory of the season in the H&H Furniture Pure Stock main event held Saturday night at Yakima Speedway.

Last season's Rookie of the Year has battled Rob Allen through countless laps in 2012 and this weekend would be no different as Marang claimed fast time and held off a hard charging Allen over the finale's final laps. Kyle Wade nabbed his second consecutive third place finish in the division while also taking home a victory in the night's A-Trophy Dash.

Tim Hitchcock and Peppie Rojas rounded out the top-5 running order at the checkered flag.

Buck Noel Jr. has established himself as the man to beat in the Burger Ranch Sportsman division as the defending series champion captured his second consecutive main event victory over last season's Rookie of the Year, Lucas Valdez.

For Valdez it was his second consecutive top-3 finish in a main event and moves the Tri-Cities native into a solid second-place position in the points chase for the 2012 championship with plenty of racing left in the season.

Morgan Morrison's third-place run in the Sportsman finale was his best effort of the season with Don Klang and James Norman rounding out the top-5.

Jeff Ball continues to show the way in the CWI Security/EZ Credit Auto Sales Hornet division as the veteran outlasted Joshua Henne and Bailey Broers for the main event victory. Also having strong nights were AJ Rose in his first race at Yakima Speedway in 2012 and Nathan Voyles who was in Henne's former car for the first time this season. The pair trailed Ball, Henne and Broers to the stripe at the completion of the 15-lap main event.

For Rose the night was a double amount of success as he went on to pick-up the victory in the Speedway Mini-Stock division's main event over points leader Cody Denton with Henne also having a double top-3 run on the evening with his third-place effort.

Josh Aguirre is a driver who appears to be unstoppable in the Sea Galley Bump-to-Pass class as he earned his fifth consecutive main event victory in as many starts. Aguirre had picked up his last two checkered flags with passes for the lead and eventual victory coming on the night's final lap. This weekend found Aguirre using a bit of racing luck as leader Bobby Trujillo got tangled in a four-car knot entering turn three that allowed Aguirre, who had been running in second-place, to get by the collision and take over the top spot in the running order. From there Aguirre cruised in the final handful of laps to set-up a run for a half-dozen helping of main event victories when the class returns to action in a few weeks.

Dan Lowther and Dylan Caldwell made the trek from Idaho's Treasure Valley to help the Speedway kick off its Late Model Sportsman division with the duo running one-two at the checkered flag at the end of their main event with Chase Kirk rounding out the top-3.

Yakima Speedway returns to action on July 4 with their annual 4th of July Demolition Derby extravaganza. 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.