The hot summer Saturday nights are just a memory, shorts and tank tops have been replaced by pants and coats, but the engines in race cars love this cooler weather! Whats amazing is that there were no track records set in qualifing. After months of new fast times, no one wanted to push there car on such an important night of the final points races. Jeff Bryant was quickest in the Les Schwab Mini Sportsmen, with a 16.032 run, Russ Kain had the fastest Dicks Heating and Air Conditioning Thunder Car to the tune of 16.760, Wild Wes Childress had the Pepsi Mini Super Stock with a 14.983, and it was good to see Scott Jones score another fast time after a nasty wall banging over a month ago in his Camaro, Scott ran a 15.438.
Trophys were taken home by Daniel Pairistani from East Wenatchee for the Les Schwab Mini Sportsmen, Brett Shanholtzer (EW) in the Pepsi Mini Super Stocks, John Wagner from Wenatchee in his Dicks Heating and A/C Thunder Car, and Ephrata's Kurt Kleyn in the Jerry's Auto Supply Grand Nationals.
Just like last week, no caution flags needed to be waved until the heat races, then the points battles started showing their presence on this night. Darrin Dietrich from Chelan did double duty and climbed into one of Randy Englands back up cars and won the first heat in MS. Chris Noakes in 2nd, Bill Russel in 3rd, Chuck Keifer in 4th, Jeff Bryant in 5th, Brian Wells in 6th and Eric Brown the points leader damaging his car, so he climbed in Brian Wells car for the Main Event.
Trophy dash winner Daniel Pirestani had made the right changes during the week and went on to win heat 2 for the Les Schwab Mini Sportsmen, with Brandon Knouf in 2nd, Camano Island's Justin Hamlin (no relation to Kevin) in 3rd after he and his crew replaced a rear main seal during practice. Bob Moore in 4th, Chris Cormier in 5th, Teddie Shales in 6th, and 2nd in points Tony Daggett in 7th.
The Pepsi Mini Super Stocks are all good friends who help each other out a lot when off the race track, but when it comes to racing, the gloves come off! Bob Coffey needed to finish well ahead of Kevin Dietrich in both points races on this night to take the points lead back and win the championship. He was off to a good start with a heat race win, with 5 time champ Wes Childress in 2nd, Larry Sweeney in 3rd, Darald Schall in 5th, points leader Kevin Dietrich in 5th, Darrin Dietrich in 6th, Tom Ripley in 7th and Larry Hyde in 8th.
Heat 2 Randy England won his 3rd heat of the season, with Jan Gall in 2nd, Larry Jobe in 3rd, Ziggy Grunert in 4th, Mike Pease in 5th, Jeff Tarrant in 6th and Brett Shanholtzer in 7th.
The 5 Main Events got started with the Les Schwab Mini Sportsmen, Eric Brown from Wenatchee, had the points lead for most of the year without winning a heat or a main! Eric damaged his own car in the heat so Todd and Brian Wells donated their #47 to his cause and "Pipes" drove it right to the winners circle! Congrats Eric, his own #4 took a beating this year and he kept on fixing it and stayed consistent. Brandon Knouf (Wen) ended up in 2nd, and 14th in points. Teddie Shales (Wen) was a lot like Brown, she didn't win any races this year but was there for every race and stayed out of trouble for 3rd in the main and 2nd overall! Jeff Bryant (Wen) had Hornet guru Gustavo Martinez working on the #43 for the last few races and won the main on August 30th, Jeff finished this main in 4th and 7th overall. Chelan's Bob Moore missed a couple of races helping Mitch Evans out with his Hydroplane, came in 5th, and 8th overall for the season. Mike Siverit showed up late for his first run on the Super Oval and finished 6th, Lake City's Chris Cormier in 7th and 9th for the year. Chris Noakes (Wen) was up front until an incident put him out and he finished 8th, Trophy Dash and Heat winner Daniel Pirestani (EW) came in 9th for the main and 6th in points. Chelan's Darrin Dietrich in a Randy England car in 10th, and Tony Daggett (EW) in 11th and 3rd for the year.
Many other racers showed up throughout the season, this is how everyone did: Chuck Keifer (EW) 4th in points, Ken Guffy from Chelan- 5th, David Patty (Wen) in 10th, Chelan's Chad Davis in 11th, EW's Bill Russel in 12th, Orando's Todd Wells in 15th, Camano Islands Justin Hamlin in 16th, Brett Shanholtzer (EW) in 17th, Randy England from Rock Island in 18th, Darrin Dietrich in 20th, Brian Wells from Orando in 22nd, and Tyson Daggett (EW) in 23rd.
The Pepsi Mini Super Stocks have been a track position type class all year with at least 7 drivers who could win on any given night. Darald Schall won a couple of Trophy Dashes this season but no mains. The self-sponsered racer from Wenatchee has "Support Our Kids" painted on his hood and saved the best for last by winning the main and finished the year 5th in points. Chelan's Darrin Dietrich passed up points leading bro with 2 laps left to take 2nd, and 3rd for the season points. Kevin Dietrich just needed to stay ahead of Bob Coffey for the championship, he finished 3rd and thanked the fans and WVSO for the fun this year, congrats Kevin! Wenatchee's Wild Wes Childress scored a 4th in the main and a 4th for the year, with Chelan's Larry Seeney 5th for the night and 6th overall. Centralia's Bob Coffey led the points chase for the first half of the season, but problems slipped him to 2nd and finished 6th for the night. Larry Jobe (EW) had his share of problems throughout the year including a bad accident that knocked him out completely, his crew did a great job of rebuilding the Honda and Larry raced to a 7th place for the night and 8th for the year. Oriville's Zig Grunert came in 8th, and 16th for the year. Goldbar's Mike Pease was 9th in the main and 7th for the year. Rock Island's Randy England helped a lot of other racers out this year and finished 10th for the night and 9th for the year. Jeff Tarrant (Wen) kept getting quicker all season long and came in 11th Saturday night and 10th for the year. Cashmere's Larry Hyde in the Prune Juice Special completed his season with a 12th place finish and a 12th in points. Pashastin's Tom Ripley in 13th for the night and 13th in points. EW's Brett Shanholtzer began the year in MS, then moved up to MSS and ran 14th, and 15th for the year. Wenatchee's Jan Gall won 2 heats this year, came in 15th in the main and 11th in points.
Other racers who had fun at the Oval this year: Brandon Knouf (Wen) in 14th for the year, Arlington's Bob DeYoung in 18th, Okanagan's Bryon Goetz in 19th, Dryden's Mike Milne in 20th, Orando's Ben Reid in 21st, Wenatchee's Chris Noakes in 22nd, Jason Merrill in 23rd, Ernie Richardson (Wen) in 24th and Mitch Evans in 25th, but Congrats Mitch on winning the Gold Cup in Detroit!
The Dicks Heating and Air Conditioning Thunder Cars will have more competition next year with many more cars planning to enter the class next year. Wenatchee's John Wagner proved that big cars work on a quarter mile by winning another main in the 1969 Impala along with his trophy dash win for the night, John started mid year and came in 6th in points. Russ Kain (Wen) won the heat race earlier in the evening and kept the '79 Z28 behind the Impala for 2nd and 2nd in points for the season. Wenatchee's 19 year old EJ Caveness has learned to drive well quickly, and was rewarded with a 3rd place finish and 5th for the year. Coming into the night Wenatchee's Terry Osborn had the points championship wrapped up if he started the main, he ended up in 4th, congrats to Terry and his crew who kept 2 cars out there looking and running great all season. Wenatchee's Chris Bagdon had never been in a race before Saturday night, but still came in 5th, with Bill Harvey being the consistent one, didn't win a race but finishes 3rd in points and got 6th for the night. Chuck Wagner from Wenatchee drove to 7th, and 4th overall. Eric Butler also raced once and came in 7th in points. Feliz Mackarness also raced once for 8th.
In the first Main Event for the Jerry's Auto Supply Grand Nationals, Shannon Mitchell worked her way to the front and stayed there for the win, with Tom Wentz in 2nd, Andy Stibal in 3rd, Mitch Kleyn in 4th, Lloyd Sims in 5th, Mike Sims in 6th, Scott Jones in 7th, Jason Ogle in 8th, Rob Richards in 9th, Terry Osborn in 10th, Mike Ledbetter in 11th, Kurt Kleyn in 12th, Lacey Ledbetter in 13th, Jeremy Osborn in 14th, Amanda Rowe in 15th and Nathan Schuyleman in 16th.
Then it was time for the final main event of the evening to determine who would be champ of the Grand Nationals. Quincy's Mitch Kleyn got the handling of his Camaro just right and stayed ahead of Andy Stibal to win the 2nd main. Mitch had a great year and was 2nd in points. The Champ 2 years in a row will now move up to Late Models full time next year, Congrats Andy Stibal from Orando! Monitors Lloyd Sims came in 3rd for 15th place on the year. Wenatchee's Terry Osborn completed his 2 class, 2 car year with the T/C championship and 7th overall in GN. Terry got 4th in the 2nd main. Monitor's Mike Sims raced to 5th, and 9th overall. Ephrata's Kurt Kleyn ended up 6th for the night and 5th overall. Amanda Rowe (Wen) got 7th in the main and 6th overall for the season. Maliga's Mike Ledbetter got 8th, and 8th overall, Concunully's Kevin Burley borrowed a Ledbetter engine for the night while a new one is being completed for the extravaganza and finished 9th and 13th overall. Wenatchee's Jeremy Osborn in 10th and 11th overall. Jerry Rowe (Wen) drove to 11th, and 21st overall, Maliga's Lacey Ledbetter in 12th and 10th overall. Wenatchee's Tom Wentz won a few mains this year to help him to a 3rd overall, Tom was 13th in the main. EW's Rob Richards came in late in the year, won one Trophy Dash, got 14th in the main and 25th overall. Shannon Mitchell (Wen) was 15th on the 2nd main after winning the first and 16th overall. Scott Jones ended up in 16th for the night and 4th on the year, and Pashastin's Jason Ogle will be up front next year, he proved he can drive the #40 fast and got some seat time and help for a 17th place on the night and 12th for the year.
Others who competed: Waterville's Joe Ludeman in 14th, Okanagan's Daron Goetz in 17th, JW Jones, Manson in 17th, Cashmere's Rod Pogue in 19th, Waterville's Keli Ray in 20th, Wenatchee's Trucker Moore in 22nd, Nathan Schuyleman (Wen) in 23rd, Gevin Gates in 24th, Manson's Kenny Road Rage Evans in 26th, Quincy's Keith Kleyn in 27th, EW's Terry Mr Exitement McGraw in 28th, Chuck Reid inn 29th, Mark Bush in 30th, Terry Carlsen in 30th, Kevin Hill in 32nd and Russ Kain in 33rd.
This Saturday Night it's the Rick Henderson Open Wheel Extravaganza! NSRA & WMRA Championships, NW Legends and the kids racing the Bandoleros! Gates open at 5, qualifing at 6, racing at 7!
