ASA NORTHWEST SPRINT CAR SERIES RETURN TO WENATCHEE VALLEY’S SUPER OVAL

The seventh scheduled race of the season held at the picturesque Wenatchee Valley’s Super Oval (WVSO) provided more reasonable temperatures along with cloudy skies for most of the event. This race marks the start of the second half of the 2008 Championship season. Seventeen teams from Washington, Idaho, and Oregon, unloaded their sprint cars at the track and set about preparing the cars for the day’s event. Of note, three teams from Idaho made the trip to Wenatchee after running an event at Meridian Speedway the night before.

Three practice sessions were scheduled for the ASA/NSRA winged sprint cars. For some, all three practice sessions were welcome as a few were very loose in the first session with a small number of cars being tight. The #1 car driven today by Rick Brown and owned by Eddie Isackson was extremely tight, that team using all three practice sessions to work to loosen the car up for the night’s competition. By the third practice session the #1 was sporting what one person called a “logging truck shock” on the right rear. The coil over shock extended from the rear axle to the top of the roll cage area of the chassis providing quite a different look to the car. The changes to the chassis, including the right rear sh ock certainly seemed to help the handling as Rick Brown qualified second fastest and did well in the A Main.

Qualifying was set for 6 PM for the ASA/NSRA sprint cars. Eventual quick qualifier Andy Alberding driving the #76 car rolled off tenth, timing in with a 11.277 second lap. Rick Brown, having solved the tight chassis came in second quick with an 11.283 lap. Sierra Jackson piloting the #25j and having run Meridian Speedway the night before clicked off third fastest with an 11.294 lap. All but two cars traversed the quarter mile banked oval in less than twelve seconds.

By the early evening the skies to the west were looking foreboding thus a decision was made by track management and the NSRA race director to cancel the Trophy Dashes for the winged sprint cars. The other car classes did likewise as well.

With the Dashes cancelled the eight lap heat races were the first competition of the night. Three heat races were scheduled. Heat one brought out the #82 of Adam Roduner on the pole, outside pole the #01 of Kenny Hamilton, second row inside the #44 of Todd Coleman, outside Mike Basher in the #13, third row inside Sierra Jackson in the #25j. At the green the pole sitter took the lead into turn one. In turn three of the first lap Coleman went high and Basher tried to get under Coleman but couldn’t make the pass. Starting on lap three Hamilton started challenging Roduner for the lead. For the next two laps Hamilton would attempt to get under Roduner without success. At the end of lap five Hamilton squee zed under Roduner coming out of turn four to take the lead. On the last lap Jackson tried to get around Basher down the backstretch and into turn three without success. The finishing order of Heat one had the #01 of Kenny Hamilton winning, Adam Roduner in the #82 second, the #44 of Todd Coleman third, Mike Basher in the #13 fourth, and Sierra Jackson in the #25j finishing fifth.

Heat two competitors pushed onto the track with Greg Middendorf in the #4 on the pole, outside pole to the #97s of Brian Smith, inside second row the #98h of Matt Hein, outside the #46 of Larry Davies, third row inside Rick Brown in the #1, and outside the #99r of Cory Lockwood. As the green flag waved Middendorf and Smith drove into turn one dead even. Smith took the lead away from Middendorf coming off turn two of the first lap. By the completion of lap one both Brown and Lockwood had moved around Davies for fourth and fifth position. As Brown was looking at challenging Hein for third, Lockwood was working the outside to attempt to get around Brown. At the front Middendorf was repeatedly attempting to regain the lead from Smith working the outside without success finally settling into second after lap six. Lockwood was trying the same on Brown working the outside to grab fourth away. On the last lap going into turn one Lockwood took one more shot at a pass on the outside of Brown. Lockwood pushed up to far into the turn keeping him in fifth place for the heat. At the finish line Brian Smith in the #97s crossed first, followed by the #4 of Greg Middendorf. Third went to Matt Hein in the #98h, fourth to Rick Brown in the #1, fifth to the #99r of Cory Lockwood, and sixth to the #46 of Larry Davies.

Heat three saw the last of the untested cars in competition roll out onto the track. One of those cars, the #8, had to scratch from Heat three due to a faulty magneto. The #8 of Robert Beck would have to wait for the A Main to test the car’s capability in competition. The five other drivers were ready for the green and lined up with the #25w of Whitney Nolan on the pole, outside pole R. J. Fronsman in the #25z, inside second row the #17 of Justin Mack, outside Jake Mann in the #51, third row inside Andy Alberding in the #76. At the drop of the green flag Fronsman powered his way around the outside of Nolan into turn one. Coming off turn two Mann passed Nolan to take second place. In turns three and four Mack and Alberding tried to split Nolan one going high the other low. With three wide Mack and Alberding backed off with Nolan holding third at the completion of lap one. On lap two Mack slid under Nolan going into turn three, Alberding got around Nolan coming off turn four to take over third and fourth respectively. After the flurry of passing in the opening two laps the drivers held their positions for the remaining six laps to produce a finishing order of R. J. Fronsman in the #25z winning, the #51 of Jake Mann second, Justin Mack in the #17 third, the #76 of Andy Alberding fourth, and Whitney Nolan in the #25w fifth.

The A Main would start with daylight still permeating the track. The earlier weather to the west that threatened to unleash its moisture had turned north providing the facility with sunlight in the late evening. Having cancelled the Dashes the time frame for racing had moved up allowing the teams to start in the dwindling daylight but finishing under the lights. With this race starting the second half of the Championship season, the points race has the top four separated by only twenty-five points. Coming into this race Matt Hein held the top spot with 284 points, followed by Andy Alberding just 15 points back with 269. In third, Jake Mann was just 9 points behind Alberding with 260 and Justin Mack in four th just a single point short of Mann at 259. The two teenage drivers could easily see the top spot themselves, Cory Lockwood sitting in fifth with 240 points, 19 points out of fourth and 44 points away from first. Behind Lockwood by only 4 points sits the teen driver Sierra Jackson with 236. This race would demand good finishes by the top six or they would risk sliding backward in the points.

All seventeen cars would make the call for the A Main. The #8 of Robert Beck had resolved their ignition woes and had received safety/checkout laps a little earlier in the evening. The lineup for the A Main had a six car invert this night putting the #17 of Justin Mack on the pole, outside pole going to the #13 of Mike Basher, second row inside Matt Hein in the #98h, outside the #51 of Jake Mann, third row inside Rick Brown in the #1, outside Andy Alberding in the #76, inside fourth row the #44 of Todd Coleman, outside Brian Smith in the #97s, fifth row inside Kenny Hamilton in the #01, outside the #25z of R. J. Fronsman, sixth row inside the #4 of Greg Middendorf, outside Adam Roduner in the #82, seventh row inside Sierra Jackson in the #25j, outside Cory Lockwood in the #99r, eighth row inside the #25w of Whitney Nolan, outside Larry Da vies in the #46, ninth row inside Robert Beck in the #8. At the green Mack jumped out to the lead for the first seven circuits. On lap seven, Alberding came in contact with Hein while battling for position into turn one spinning Hein to the infield. Hein recovered without completely spinning out moving back onto the track surface in turn two. Alberding’s front tire rode up over Hein’s rear tire spinning Hein on the track and throwing Alberding’s car nose high into the air ripping off the inboard side of the top wing. The yellow immediately flew over the field. The #76 of Alberding required a tow truck for removal from the racing surface while Hein’s #98h left the track in front of a push truck. Both cars were done for the night. During the caution the #13 of Basher also left the track. With the field reformed the order coming to the green was the #17 of Mack, the #1 of Brown, #51 of Mann, #44 of Coleman, #01 of Hamilton, #25z of Fronsman, #4 of Middendorf, #46 of Davies, #97s of Smith, #99r of Lockwood, #82 of Roduner, #8 of Beck, and the #25w of Nolan. The green flag once again unfurled with Hamilton passing Coleman in turn one to move to fourth. Coleman challenged Hamilton on the outside in turn four not able to get around. Lap nine saw Lockwood spin in turn three bringing out the caution again. During this caution the #97s of Brian Smith left the track, a victim of an overheating engine. Smith saw 260 degrees on the coolant gauge, making the decision to get off the track and shut it down. With the field formed up again and Lockwood placed at the back of the field again the green flag waved. Again Mack got a good start holding off Brown. Mann challenged Brown over the next few laps on the outside not able to get around him. Mann soon had to concern himself with Hamilton who had been sitting in fourth watching Mann and Brown dicing for second place. By lap fourteen Hamilton had moved around Mann to take over third on the track. On lap seventeen down the backstretch Beck and Roduner touched wheels, both recovering. After getting straightened out Beck drove around Ro duner. Lockwood moved around Roduner shortly after Beck did. On lap nineteen Roduner left the track. The #82 of Roduner had engine problems that were getting progressively worse. The engine was sputtering coming off the turns but picking back up down the straights. As the laps wore on the sputtering became worse coming off the corners and down the straights until Beck bumped Roduner, as he couldn’t accelerate out of the turns. Roduner wisely chose to leave the track rather than becoming the next caution. On lap twenty-three the caution flew for Lockwood spinning again in turn four. The race director called Lockwood into th e pits as ASA/NSRA rules state a car that causes two cautions is done for the race. At the green the field had been reduced to ten cars from the original seventeen, the #44 of Coleman having left the track as well as the #99r. At the green flag Mann continually challenged Hamilton on the outside for third over the next several laps not being able to complete the pass. Lap twenty-seven saw Middendorf get around Jackson for sixth position. The racing through the remaining laps was for second with Hamilton continually challenging Brown but could not get around him. Fourth, fifth and sixth were all working hard to exchange positions. Middendorf was trying to get around Fronsman while Jackson was trying to get around Middendorf. None were successful in their bids to improve their finishing positions. On lap thirty-nine Davies in the #46 very nearly contacted the wall in turns three and four. On lap forty Mack in the #17 took the checkered, leading the race flag to flag. Mack was never seriously challenged for the lead even on the restarts. Finishing second was Rick Brown in the #1 just being able to hold off third place finisher Kenny Hamilton in the #01. Fourth place went to Jake Mann in the #51, fifth to the #25z of R. J. Fronsman, sixth to Greg Middendorf in the #4, seventh to the #25j of Sierra Jackson, eighth to Robert Beck in the #8 all on the lead lap. Finishing several laps down were the #25w of Whitney Nolan in ninth and Lar ry Davies in the #46 in tenth. The balance of the field were not running at the finish with Cory Lockwood in the #99r eleventh, #82 of Adam Roduner twelfth, Todd Coleman in the #44 thirteenth, #97s of Brian Smith fourteenth, Matt Hein in the #98h fifteenth, #76 of Andy Alberding sixteenth, and Mike Basher in the #13 seventeenth.

With the poor finish of the top two in points and a win by Justin Mack the positions have changed in the season Championship points. Mack has taken over the lead in points with 331 followed closely by Mann with 327. Just a single point behind Mann now is Hein with 326. Alberding has slipped from second to fourth in points with 313 but still in view of the top spot held by Justin Mack, Andy Alberding being only 18 points out of first. Moving up one position to fifth is Sierra Jackson with 292 points and slipping back to sixth with 281 points is Cory Lockwood. R. J. Fronsman remains in seventh place in points with 267 but has tightened up the gap to sixth place. L ikewise Greg Middendorf retains eighth place at 259 tightening up the gap to sixth place as well. Ninth place is currently held by Adam Roduner at 228 points and tenth by Kenny Hamilton with 209 points. Rick Brown finds himself in eleventh place with 198 points. Brown has driven four different cars in five of the seven races managing to earn enough to be just outside the top ten. The #33j of Jeff Montgomery finds himself in twelfth in the points sliding all the way backward from first after the first race at Wenatchee May 17th. Missing the two-day show at Meridian, Idaho, Roseburg in June and now Wenatchee again Montgomery moves backward again from tenth to twelfth in season points with 165.

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