TWO DAYS OF EXCITING RACES AT YAKIMA SPEEDWAY

Source: Ron Bennett
Date: 09/12/2004

Five classes were scheduled to do battle at the historic paved oval on Saturday night, but Mother Nature had other ideas. After the time trials, dashes and heat races were completed, the rain started to fall. It never rained very hard, but just enough to make the track too wet to race on. The Bump to Pass and Hornet cars completed their main events on a damp track, much to the delight of the good crowd. Merle Stilner finished second in the main, won by Robert Albert, to claim his first track championship. AJ Rose captured the exciting Hornet race over a field of thirteen racers.

Track owner Ted Pollock and manager Ron Bennett, made the decision to continue the event on Sunday afternoon.

The days events started out with the Sportsman 35 lap main. Tom Pollock of Portland Oregon, led the first 17 laps of the race. On the next lap there was contact between Pollock and the fast time car of Kris Clark. Pollock spun and Clark received a penalty. Clark rebounded to finish in the third position. The remainder of the race, Pollock had brake problems that resulted in a fourth place finish. Erick Hargraves took over the point and was never seriously challenged.

The championship race for the Hobby division was next on the card. Going into the event, 2002 Champ Don Klang was the points leader and Jake Maggard was in the second position. When race leader Buck Noel Jr. and second place runner, Bobby Trujillo were clocked below the allowable time of 24.500 seconds on consecutive laps, they both received the black flag. This moved the point to Maggard. He held on for a win and points leader Klang came home in the fourth position to clinch another track title. Jeremy Lennartz was second with Jessie Vincent third and Tom Moser Jr. rounding out the top five.

The 75 lap Late Model event had the crowd cheering the entire time. Ken Kaltschmidt took the lead at the drop of the green. Mike Longton was gluded to his rear bumper cover as the top duo moved away slightly from the pack. Jason Jefferson, Mike Zamora, BJ Tidrick, Erick Hargraves, Ken Olson, Troy Tramell were locked in a dog fight but back about 20 car lengths from the leaders. Longton used every move in the book and his opportunity came on lap37 when the car of Kaltschmidt moved up the track ever so little, but giving Longton the room and opportunity to make a clean pass. Longton was off to the races as he opened up a huge lead. The rest of the field were having a very spirited battle between seven drivers. On lap 67 of the 75 lap event, disaster struck the Longton racing team. Ron Bemis and Oregon’s Christopher Kalsch tangled in turn one. Both cars spun and almost blocked the track. Leader Longton went high around the spinning racers and off the track. The Ford racer moved back up onto the track but the car died and would not restart. Longton had to be push started and moved to the back of the pack for the restart. With only a hand full of laps remaining the young racer was only able to get back up to seventh place. With Longton’s misfortune, Kaltschmidt took over the top spot again. He held on for the win over young Erick Hargraves. BJ Tidrick, Troy Tramell and Mike Zamora rounded out the top five. Jason Jefferson had a tough day as his car broke a suspension piece on lap 30 and put him out of the event.

The next event at the speedway is September 18th. The Late Models, Sportsman, Street Stocks and Hornets will hold their championship events. The season ending Fall Classic is set for the first weekend of October.

Summary

Late Models

Fast Time – Erick Hargraves 18,669 sec.

A Dash – BJ Tidrick – Jason Jefferson – Erick Hargraves – Christian Roeder

B Dash – Ken Olson – Josh Jones – Rick Schultz – Christopher Kalsch

Main – 75 laps – Ken Kaltschmidt – Erick Hargraves – BJ Tidrick – Troy Tramell – Mike Zamora – Ken Olson – Mike Longton – Mel Shenyer – Ron Bemis – Christopher Kalsch – Jason Jefferson – Tony Deskin – Christian Roeder (DNS) – Rick Schultz (DNS) – Josh Jones (DNS)

Sportsman

Fast Time –Kris Clark 20.428 sec.

A Dash – Darrell Tidrick – Erick Hargraves – Kris Clark – Ross Ogan

B Dash – Chance Overholt – Tom Pollock – Tony Deskin

Main – 35 laps – Erick Hargraves – Darrell Tidrick – Kris Clark – Tom Pollock – Ross Ogan – Chance Overholt – Tony Deskin

Hobby

Fast Time – Jake Maggard – 24.635 sec.

A Dash – Jeremy Lennartz – Jake Maggard – Tom Moser Jr. – Buck Noel Jr.

B Dash – Don Sowder – Bruce Benscoter – Jeff Daughtry – Dusty John

Main – 50 laps – Jake Maggard – Jeremy Lennartz – Jessie Vincent – Don Klang – Tom Moser Jr. – Buck Noel Jr. – Chet Beaman Jr. – Coy Mcthenny – Bobby Trujillo – Ralph Smith – Bryan Moser – Larry McCauley – Dusty John – Don Sowder – Mark Tenney – Jeff Daughtry – Jim Zorrozua – Kevin Taylor – Vance Fischer – Bruce Benscoter – Ron Morton – John Bishop

Bump to Pass

Fast Time – Jeff Burns – 16.212 sec.

A Dash – Shannon Davis – Jeff Burns – Robert Albert – Allen Reid

B Dash – Mark Bolster – Lester Bolster – Bobby Zickefoose – Brandon Dean

Main – Robert Albert – Merle Stiltner – Mark Bolster – William Keck – Brandon Dean – Shannon Davis – Bobby Zickefoose – Allen Reid – Lester Bolster – Scott Belcher – Jeff Burns

Hornets

Fast Time – AJ Rose – 15.157 sec.

A Dash – AJ Rose – Mark Bolster – Steve Hall – Jonathan Ray –

B Dash – Brice Carter – Molly Griffith – Jamie Murphy – Kevin McGovern

Main – AJ Rose – Mark Bolster – Jamie Murphy – Shane Johnson – Molly Griffith – Steve Hall – Jeff Moser – Terry Ren – Mellissa Maggard – Jessica Rose – Brice Carter – Kevin McGovern – Jonathan Ray

See Also .:

• Yakima Speedway Track Page

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