A magical night at the Superoval with Fastor Pastor and a nearly full grandstand! The northwest Legends and Bandolero's, The wild and crazy Hornets and the Jerry's Auto Supply Grand Nationals and a little better weather all combined with the great racing made for a really nice show. Ross in the pits reminded me during the evening that our stands were filled with mostly "green" race fans that were here primarily to watch their Pastor race and that I needed to inform and entertain them as though it was their first time at a stock car race, watch the content of the jokes and such so these folks want to return to a racetrack in the near future. Cute jokes filled radio communications throughout the evening, most I was able to share with the audience- all were funny. The Fastor Pastors who did compete in the two 10 lap races and their Church along with the Hornet cars and owner/drivers they raced are:
Mike Rumley-Wells from the Wenatchee Fellowship and John Clark from the Free Methodist Church in Wenatchee driving Jeff Linterman's #13, Bill Lane from Eniat Federated and Bob Shepard from the Wenatchee Valley Church driving Randy Dietrich's Champion Pinto #25 being driven this year by Scott Burchett because of Randy's ailing back injury. Jay Caron from Calvary Crossroads drove Josh Sim's #7, Paul Pankey from the First Presbyterian in Jeremiah Voss's #14, Tom Nees from the Church of the Nazarene and Sal DiMare from the Wenatchee Valley Praise Center in Patrick Flanagan's #17, Myron Vierra from the Living Hope in Wenatchee and Jeff Brown from the First Presbyterian racing the #5 driven by Mathew Rise, Tim Wilbur from New Song and Steve Whitley from The Calvary Bible Church in Don Meza's back up #2 1/2 being driven on this night by Lyle Purdy, Jim Deal from Eastmont Presbyterian and Gordon Goodwin from The Stemelt Hill Church in Lucas Merril's #3 BMW 320i, and Andrew Thompson from The Columbia Grove Covanent Church along with Glen Carlson from The Christ Center Church in Cashmere.
Race 1 was won by Tom Nees, race 2 by Glen Carlson. These men were so easy to interview since they speak publically so often! The racing was fun to watch as some got so close to the turn 4 wall right in front of the fans. It surprising in a way that no cars were damaged since we gave them absolutely no practice time. The fan's went crazy, it was truely a great show!
As for the Bandolero's only 2 young drivers raced, I was told that many of the racer's did not bring home good enough grades so the cars stayed at home! Patrick Ahlgren from Veradale and Zachary O'Brien from Everett did race with 10 year old O'Brien winning the Trophy Dash, heat and Main over the 12 year old Ahlgren.
The Legends always put on a great show, and in the Trophy Dash for the Semi-Pro entries James Landon from Tacoma won as did Rick McNeill from Burien in the Master's Dash, then Duane Swanson from Burien won for the Pro's.
Our wild and crazy Hornets Trophy Dash was won by first year driver Josh Kaminoff (EW) who's learning curve is very steep as he won the Main Event also! The Jerry's Auto Supply Grand Nationals also are going to have to deal with a new driver in town this year as Robin McCluskey from Pentictin B.C. won the dash and has committed to race the entire season at WVSO. The 22 year old is competing in only his 4th year of racing and already has two Championships at Sun Valley Speedway and has a lot of experienced help in the pits!
Heat races for the Legends were won by Jeff Mueller from Lake Steven's and Rick McNeill from Burien, and the Legends cars full results can be found on their website at WWW.nwlegends.com. Main event started out looking like it would have an exciting finish as the winner of the past 3 main events, Pasco's Tom Matheson was starting 11th and told me before the race that he figured it was time for his luck to run out. Early in the race Tom went to the outside in turn 2 to try and get around the car in front of him, got into the throttle too quick, the back end came around and into the wall he went with 2 other cars of which Matheson's and one other car needed the hook and was done for the evening. The race was led for the last 30 or so laps by eventual winner Rick McNeill from Burien who had the best car of the night according to 2nd place finisher Duane Swanson also from Burien. The next race for the Legends will be at Port Angeles Speedway on June 5th.
Heat 1 for the Hornets finished like this: 1 Robert Sutton- Wen 2 Don Meza- EW 3 Brad McFarlane- EW 4 Lucas Merrill- Wen 5 Chris Bates- Malaga 6 Lyle Purdy- Wen 7 Angela Ward- Wen 8 Patrick Flanagan- Wen
Heat 2: 1 Josh Ingram- Wen 2 Josh Kaminoff- EW 3 Scott Burchett- EW 4 Jeff Linterman- EW 5 Johnny Huson- Wen 6 Mathew Rise- Leavenworth 7 Josh Sims- Monitor 8 Ron Voss- Cashmere (driving Jerimiah's car)
The Main Event for the Hornets is always the most exciting during the first few laps and the last few laps. Paybacks, the faster cars trying to move up from the back, good hard racing and so many guys and gals just having too much fun make for the rubbin at the beginning of racing, yet to be experienced driver's surprising themselves by being close to the front and pushing just a little harder to try and win their first is a treat during the first part of any race season. Robert Sutton raced last year and has already won a Trophy Dash, a heat race and a Main this year, but with Josh Ingram on the recieving end of someone else not using enough brakes and bending some front end parts to slow him down and other fast cars caught back in the pack it was time to see which new driver would be able to step up their pace at the end without experiencing too much damage. That driver was Josh Kaminoff. After working his way throught the pack, Josh passed Robert Sutton to take the lead. Kaminoff tried to hurt the car by brushing the backstretch wall coming out of turn 2, but didn't hurt the car enough and went on to the win. The final finish looked like this:
1 Kaminoff 2 Sutton 3 Flanagan 4 Meza 5 Merrill 6 McFarlane 7 Burchett 8 Rise 9 Jerimiah Voss 10 Linterman 11 Bates 12 Ingram 13 Juson 14 Ward 15 Sims 16 Purdy
The Jerry's Auto Supply Grand Nationals Heat races were won by the two who ended up dominating the main with the new kid from Pentictin showing that he will be up front all season. Heat 1 results: 1 Darren Goetz- Okanogan 2 Joe Ludeman- Waterville 3 Tom Wentz- Wen 4 Kevin Gates- Wen 5 Terry Osborn- Wen 6 Lacey Ledbetter- Malaga 7 Keli Ray- Waterville
Heat 2: 1 Mike Sims- Monitor 2 Robin McCluskey- Penticton B.C. 3 Lloyd Sims- Monitor 4 Shane Brim- Malaga 5 Amanda Rowe- Wen 6 Terry McGraw- EW 7 Ed Jones- Orando
The Main Event had two additions with Jason Ogle from Federal Way and Jeremy Osborn from EW fixing their problem during the previous problem, Osborn's crew replaced a tranny to get him back out! Mike Sims wasted no time getting to the front in the 7 car as Darren Goetz and Robin McClusky worked their way up. About half way through the 50 lapper, Goetz took the lead and didn't look back. McClusky's crew has done a great job of getting the #44 car to handle well despite the lack of laps spent so far this year. McClusky was able to get close to Goetz but unable to pass as the two pulled away from the rest of the field. Sims was able to hold off all others to keep in third. In his second attempt to return to racing at WVSO, head gasket problems last time out, Shane Brim started at the back and worked his way to 5th. Here's the final results:
1 Goetz 2 McClusky 3 Sims 4 Ogle 5 Brim 6 Lloyd Sims 7 Ludeman 8 Terry Osborn 9 Jeremy Osborn 10 Gates 11 Jones 12 McGraw 13 Wentz 14 Ray 15 Ledbetter 16 Rowe
June 5th the Big 10 Super Late Models are back with the Pepsi Cola Mini Super Stocks, The Youth Hornet race for the first time this year and The Performance Auto Sound Spectator Drags! Those who want to participate in the drags need to get signed up between 4 and 5:30 at the pit gate. Gates open at 5, racing at 6!
