The cooler temperatures made for a tight racetrack all evening long in every class. Cars that handled so well last time out had troubles through the corners and the tail ends of many cars didn't want to stay behind the front which led to a lot of caution flags. The stage was set for 3 good main events in all 3 divisions with Dustin Haviland in the Youth Hornets getting the fuel system bugs out of his Honda and being able to keep up with points leader Dwight Waterbury. As for the Les Schwab Mini Sportsmen, Gustavo Martinez is always tough, Bill Russell is on a mission to win the championship, but the Walters Brothers, Chris and Todd are getting better every time out, with Todd winning his share lately and Chris' car getting the engine freshened up to get him the extra power needed to keep up with the leaders, and the super consistent Chuck Keifer ready to keep the two in front of him in points on their toes. The Big 10 Super Late Models points chase will come down to the Pepsi 200 with BJ Tidrick from Yakima only 5 points behind Chad Holaday at the beginning of Saturday night, but Tidrick had won two 100 lappers in a row, and was ready to tie Shane Mitchell's record of three! So when the orange #99 showed up Saturday afternoon, the stage was set.
To start the evening, Mitchell was the only car to run a sub 13 second qualifing lap with a 12.936, then Shane rolled the dice for the invert, an 8 put him mid-pack with Tidrick starting 4th. In the heat races, Michelle Kennedy won her first race ever for the 14 to 17 year old kids in Hornets, DW, Dwight Waterbury won the second heat for the 4 cylinder's, and Jeff Bryant won for the Les Schwab Mini Sportsmen. Trophy's in the dashes went home with Dustin Haviland, Chuck Keifer and Josh Jones in his Super Late Model. Then 6 personal rides took to the oval to compete 2 at a time in the Performance Auto Sound Spectator drags. Josh Musgrove in his 1993 Pontiac Grand Prix won 3 times to take the trophy.
As the sun went down the main events were lined up and on the radio, Ross was telling us to get a move on the drivers were chomping at the bit to get racing, which always produces plenty of caution flags. One of the flags was brought on by Nicole Linterman when some front end parts failed and she went into the turn 2 wall. Nicole did a good job of keeping the car against the wall and out of the way of the rest of the field, got on the brakes hard and got Don Meza's #2 car slowed down almost enough. At the end of the ride was the water barrier at the entrance to the pits which did their job of providing a softer stop than concrete alone. She was fine and the resulting big splash of water was quite a site! Track photog Dar Filbeck saw the crash coming and got a great shot, check it out at Darsphotography.com. Dustin Haviland showed the speed and car control he had before fuel issues have slowed down the #6 car down the past few races as he led most of the way through the caution flags to the finish with Dwight Waterbury driving real well for second. Here's the result of the main:
1 Dustin Haviland- Edmonds, 2nd in points
2 Dwight Waterbury- Wen, points leader
3 Ryan Cutright- Wen, 6th in points
4 Michelle Kennedy- Wen, 8th
5 Eric Linterman- EW, 9th
6 Nickolas Piton- Leavenworth, 3rd
7 Nicole Linterman- Wen, 7th
8 Michael Wagner- Wen, 4th
9 Adam Bates- Wen, 5th
The Les Schwab Mini Sportsmen are getting more competitive each race with 5 racers able to win at any time and others getting better and harder to pass. Todd Van Diest races all over the state on a regular basis and took the lead early and was pulling away as the points leaders worked their way through the field. Gustavo Martinez took the outside line as usual, but swung a little too wide out of turn 4 and bumped the wall, keeping the #43 from handling it's best afterwards. Jeff Bryants #17 had a sputtering engine, slowing him down, Chuck Keifer worked his way to third to keep him third in points, and Chris Walters and the fresh engine got loose out of turn 4 and spun bringing out another caution, then worked his way back to 4th. Brother Todd had his hands full after he reached the front, because points leader Bill Russell was all over the back of his #24. Bill tried everything is his relentless drive to get by, but it didn't happen as Walters won his second main of the season. Here's the finish:
1 Todd Walters- EW, 4th in points
2 Bill Russell- EW, points leader
3 Chuck Keifer- EW, 3rd in points
4 Chris Walters- Eniat, 6th
5 Bob Moore- Chelan, 7th
6 Troy Daggett- EW, 13th
7 Gustavo Martinez- EW, 2nd
8 Jeff Bryant- Wen, 9th
9 Todd Van Diest- Redmond, 12th
10 Mathew Rise- Leavenworth- 15th
The 8 car invert put Steve Floyd on the pole in a car come to find out had never, ever finished a main event. Floyd is the third owner of the car that was once totaled by Shane Mitchell. In four appearances at the oval this year, engine failure and 3 times being wrecked with anothers help the only results. Sure enough, even though I asked over the mic for fans to pray that Steve would do well this time didn't change the inevitable. Half way through Floyd ended up in the infield with a tore up race car. After the races I told him to take the car to the crusher, if it fixes itself, name it Christine and go win some races! Kevin and Darrin Dietrich were back in their Walker Racing SLM's as the two get some laps getting ready for last year. Kevin's #33 is acting a lot like Steve Floyd's car, once again having problems and out early. Darrin stayed out of trouble and passed a few cars for 6th. Jeff Barkshire came out for the second time this season is his new Dodge and ran with points leader Chad Holaday for most of the race. Both drove real well and finished 2nd and 3rd. Tour driver Brian Saling drove well working on the set up for the Pepsi 200 coming up on the 26th to finish 8th, and Andy Stibal is gaining more confidence in the #11 and came in 4th. The big story was between Shane Mitchell and BJ Tidrick. Shane was last years champion, and the two had raced earlier in the year, but now Tidrick had been doing what he set out to do this year, learn the quarter mile and compete against the best and try to do well. After not even finishing a main event at WVSO or State Fair on the dirt in July, BJ started August with a Big 10 win at the Oval on the 7th, then won again on the 21st. Mitchell owns the record of 3 main wins in a row and came up last night to see what the kid's got. Shane's car was tight through the middle of the corners while Tidricks car was right on again. Holaday and Barkshire had good setups and stayed on the lead lap, but couldn't get very close. Shane drove to second and chased Tidrick until about lap 80 when the clutch let go, leaving the win to Tidrick, the points lead, and setting up an awesome Pepsi 200 since it is a points race for the regulars! Shane will have a new car, and Tidrick will have plenty of competition. Here's how they finished:
1 BJ TIdrick- Yakima, points leader by 5
2 Chad Holaday- Wen, 2nd in points
3 Jeff Barkshire- Wen, 12th
4 Andy Stibal- Orondo, 3rd
5 Ben Reid- Orondo, 4th
6 Darrin Dietrich- Chelan, 13th
7 AJ Fugitt- Kingston, 8th
8 Brian Saling- Spokane, 24th
9 Loren Payne- Renton, 16th
10 Shane Mitchell- Wen, 15th
11 Kevin Dietrich- Chelan, 19th
12 Marty Wason- Chelan, 5th
13 Josh Jones- Wen, 6th
14 Steve Floyd- EW, 9th
Looking forward to this Saturday evening with the Jerry's Auto Supply Grand Nationals, the Dicks Heating and A/C Thunder Cars, the Pepsi Cola Mini Super Stocks and the Adult Hornets. All 4 classes have close points chases, and everyone is poised for the season ending races at the end of the month, so don't miss a race! Gates open at 5, racing at 6 with one of the classes taking a shot at the qualifing record to start the night!
