It was Season Championship Night at Ephrata Raceway Park Saturday night, and with four out the six division titles still up for grabs, the racers were driving as hard as they have all season. In the Pepsi Racing Street Stocks, the tandem of Gary Creech and Eric Hector had the title more than under wraps with a close to 200 point advantage on the second place car of Chris Knutson. By the way Knutson was racing, you would think he was only a point behind. Ron Stewart, winner of two-in-a-row in the class started on the pole, and rocketed out to a lead, while Knutson patiently pulled Stewart into his grasp. In a classic match up between grizzled veteran and young lion, Stewart managed to keep the younger Knutson behind him the rest of the way, closing the season with a modest three event win streak, and a green to checkered 40 lap win. Knutson, aside from finishing second in the main and second in points, won the qualifying dash, a 10 lap race for the top 6 in points that locked in their starting positions for the main event.
The AllState Electric CROW Sprints took the track one last time, with Bo Swenson only needing a main event start to seal things up. Swenson not only started the race, but put up a very impressive showing finishing second place behind a lightning quick Kevin Burck. Burck, driving the Perkins Racing #37, won the qualifying dash, and took little time asserting his dominance on the field, shooting under Paul Dart on lap two, and crossing the start/finish line first on lap 30 for the win. Adam Roduner took third in the main after a great see saw battle with Swenson.
The Season Championship was still on the line for the Larry’s Auto & Marine Hobby Stocks, with Elvin Brincefield holding a small lead on Sean Giraud. Giraud did almost everything he could to overtake Elvin, passing him midway through the main event on his way to a third place finish. Brincefield ended up with a 7th place finish, and as of this writing, the final points had not been determined. The main event winner was JR Miner, who led wire to wire for 35 laps. Daniel Hector ended his season on a strong note with a second place. Kevin Bottineau won the qualifying dash.
Charles Larr and John Marthini have been slugging it out all year long in the Columbia Glass Mini Stocks. Larr went into the final race of the year holding a slim 15-point lead on Marthini, and nursing a very sick racecar as well. Opportunity opened the door for Marthini, but he may not have capitalized enough, only finishing one spot ahead of Larr in the main event. The winner of said main event was Todd Walters, darting underneath Todd Van Diest with three laps to go in the 20-lap feature. Nick Gardner won the trophy dash.
Stuart Danby cemented his championship in the Ephrata Pioneer Muffler Hornets. Holding a 9 point edge on Justin Massie, Danby ran down a lightning quick Frank Sieker and passed him on lap 16 to win the main event and secure first place in the final standings. Greg Hector won the B-main event. Trophy dashes went to Ken Taylor and Kenny Brown.
The combination of Tyson Largent and Robbie Patterson took home the Championship in the Cost Less Tools Youth Hornets thanks in part to a 4th place finish by Largent in the 20-lap feature, and a last place finish by second in points Cody Cobb. Amanda Macdonald, finishing a very successful youth hornet career, won the main itself. Macdonald also took home a trophy dash win, as did Largent.
Final point totals will be available online at www.ephrataracewaypark.com
Results-
Pepsi Racing Street Stocks Qualifying Dash- Chris Knutson Main- 1-Ron Stewart 2-Chris Knutson 3-Dan Martin 4-Bart Hector 5-Mitch Kleyn 6-Eric Hector 7-Michael Knutson 8-Ben Meyette 9-Jeff Cobb 10-Tom Claibourn 11-Jeremy Lodi 12-Bill Rutherford 13-Terry Osborn 14-Charlie Wood 15-Tyler Delong 16-Tom Veenstra Season Champion- Gary Creech/Eric Hector
AllState Electric CROW Sprints Qualifying Dash- Kevin Burck Main- 1-Kevin Burck 2-Bo Swenson 3-Adam Roduner 4-Ty Cobb 5-Eric Hector 6-Donnie Kudrna 7-Bob Mosher 8-Mike Fought 9-Todd Lolkus 10-Bud Largent 11-Tom Beierman 12-Mark Shearer 13-Paul Dart Season Champion- Bo Swenson
Larry’s Auto & Marine Hobby Stocks Qualifying Dash- Kevin Bottineau Main- 1-JR Miner 2-Daniel Hector 3-Sean Giraud 4-Stuart Barger 5-Kevin Bottineau 6-Dan Costlow 7-Elvin Brincefield 8-Mike Wall 9-Tom Price 10-Nick Sieg 11-Kurt Kleyn 12-Ray Hahne 13-Robert Hagadorn 14-Pat Lus Season Champion- Undetermined
Columbia Glass Mini Stocks Dash- Nick Gardner Main- 1-Todd Walters 2-Todd Van Diest 3-Nick Gardner 4-Josh Buys 5-David Macken 6-John Marthini 7-Charles Larr Season Champion- Undetermined
Ephrata Pioneer Muffler Hornets B Dash- Ken Taylor A Dash- Kenny Brown B Main- Greg Hector A Main- 1-Stuart Danby 2-Frank Sieker 3-Jeremy Lodi 4-John Hagood 5-Terri McCart 6-Jeff Allen 7-Justin Massie 8-Ken Taylor 9-Robert Barnes 10-Greg Hector 11-Sid White 12-Fred Youngers 13-Rick Bretches 14-Larry Powell 15-Cary Morlan 16-John Olsick 17-Jason Mcdonell 18-Mike Fisher 19-Scott Brown 20-Chris Matheson 21-Kenny Brown 22-Darren Manners 23-Mike Wall Jr 24-Fred Moore Season Champion- Stuart Danby
Cost Less Tools Youth Hornets
B Dash- Amanda Macdonald
A Dash- Tyson Largent
Main- 1-Amanda Macdonald 2-Josh Hector 3-Robert Henderson 4-Tyson Largent 5-Kayla Henderson 6-Steven Criss 7-Ana-lisa Garcia 8-Kurt Meyers 9-Dylan Chisum 10-Tim Clark 11-Chad Moore 12-Cynthia Pruneda 13-Jeff Chambers 14-Nathan Mcdonell 15-Tyler Cummings 16-Josh Ingram 17-Cody Cobb Season Champion- Robbie Patterson/Tyson Largent
