|
 |
EPHRATA RACEWAY PARK
Source: Tom Beierman
Date: 09/20/2007
EPHRATA, Washington -- When it comes to contributing to the Columbia Basin’s economy, auto racing plays a small role. Racers and fans spend money for food, lodging, and petroleum products. Racers also do a lot of business with local auto parts stores, body shops, fuel outlets, and tire retailers. It seemed evident Saturday night that the local racers wanted to assist sectors of the local economy that are often neglected; such as metal recyclers and chiropractors. The fact that racers have seven months to repair any damage incurred to their rides helped establish a “win it or wreck it” mentality during the season finale at Ephrata Raceway Park.
The AllState Electrical CROW sprint cars have races several seasons without any wrecks. That changed in a big way on lap one of the first Twin 25. Ephrata’s Tom Beierman was on the pole with Robbie Patterson of Soap Lake on the outside. The winged warriors flew into turn one side by side. Exiting turn two, the rear of Patterson’s sprinter broke loose and spun in front of the field. A chain reaction of collisions between Paul Dart of Soap Lake and Donnie Kudrna of Othello launched Soap Lake’s Bob Witte into Patterson. Right after contact, Witte’s car became airborne. Fortunately, the car was upright when it returned to Earth. The race was immediately red-flagged.
No one was injured in the melee and all were able to walk away. The same could not be stated in regard to the sprint cars belonging to Kudrna and Witte. Both cars experienced severe damage.
Kevin Burck inherited the pole after Beierman’s sprinter experienced a cooling system failure. Joining Burck on the front row was Kurt Myers of Wilson Creek. After ducking under the green, Burck leapt out to take the early lead. Myers held on to second with Mike Fought of Othello nipping at his heels in third.
Dart started the main event near the back of the field. However, he didn’t stay there. One by one, the Soap Lake driver zipped past those who started in front of him. At the midway point in the race, Dart caught up with Burck and drove under him while rocketing down the backstretch. Once in the lead, Dart cruised to the checkers with Burck, Myers, Fought, and Whitney Nolan of Wenatchee in tow to take the first five spots in the finishing order.
The second Twin 25 was similar to the first. Dart started in the rear and quickly jetted toward the front. After working on Fought for several laps, Dart was able to scoot by for the second spot and set his sights on Burck. Again, Dart zoomed past Burck to commandeer the lead. Dart rolled across the finish line with another dominant showing. However, Fought was able to get by Burck as well to take second. Burck took third with Nolan and Myers rounding out fourth and fifth.
Based on points earned in the Twin 25 mains, Dart walked away with the overall win with Burck and Fought earning podium finishes as well.
Coming into the final main event of the 2007 season, Bart Hector had the Pepsi Cola street stocks championship wrapped up. That did not mean that the rest of the field was ready to concede the 40 lap season-ending feature event to the point leader.
Paul Dart and Jeff Lodi raced door to door after leading the pack across the starting line. The rest of the field stayed double file for the first dozen laps. After sorting themselves out and lining up nose to tail, Hector scooted to the high side; a place his car handles very well. Before Hector could drive to the front, veteran racer Bill Rutherford moved into the high groove ahead of Hector. Rutherford is no stranger to the second groove and has a history of making it work. The move slowed Hector’s progress, yet both were moving toward the front together. Another driver who went high was Moses Lake racer, Ron Stewart. Stewart was near the front after going to the outside.
Stewart, Rutherford, and Hector were several car lengths behind the race leader, Paul Dart, when Dart had a tire go down. Dart checked up right in front of the trio. Stewart was pinned behind Dart while Hector blasted by for the lead. Meanwhile, Ephrata driver Dan Martin maneuvered his stock car into the third position.
In the late stages of the race, Nick Sieg of Hartline and Jeff Lodi of Ephrata tangled while streaking down the backstretch. The fracas caused Lodi’s car to broad slide through the dusty infield, coming to a rest between turns three and four. Brad Morrison of Moses Lake tried to evade Lodi, but clipped the trunk area of Lodi’s racer. The rear of Lodi’s car was destroyed in the collision.
When green flag racing continued, Hector pulled away from Stewart by several car lengths, driving just hard enough to keep a comfortable lead. The checkers waved for Hector yet again while Stewart had to be contents with a second place finish. Third place went to Martin.
The 20 lap main event for the Jerry’s Auto Supply hobby stocks saw Kevin Hill lead the race after starting on the pole. Hill was pressured by Billy Smith until Smith tried to move the front stretch retaining wall with the nose of his car. The impact delivered significant damage to the car, ending Smith’s season prematurely. Jason Ray of Quincy moved into the second spot behind Hill, but could not mount a serious challenge to take the lead. Stuart Barger of Royal City was able to come from the last starting position to third. However, time ran out for Ray and Barger as Hill dashed under the waving checkered flag for the win.
Joe Smith of Moses Lake arrived at the quarter-mile facility with a very thin lead over Fred E. Moore of Ephrata in the Columbia Glass mini stocks. His hope of winning the season point championship was jeopardized when he blew a motor in practice. In a grand gesture of sportsmanship, Jeff Hector elected to change his car number to Smith’s #7 prior to time trials in an attempt to amass enough points for Smith to remain in the point lead.
Josh Hector led the race from the pole position until Charles Larr of Ephrata took the point several laps later. Jeff Hector patiently threaded through the pack and snatched the lead from Larr. With Jeff Hector in the lead, the outlook was bright for Smith. Then, inexplicably, the right front wheel of Jeff Hector’s Mustang freed itself from the chassis as the car hauled down the backstretch. The wheel careened toward emergency service personnel and vehicles. Hector nursed the ailing stocker to the pits and was able to return to the oval before the race was over.
Larr graciously accepted Hector’s charity, retaking the lead and holding on to it for the win. Josh Hector was the second mini to cross the line. Fred E. Moore’s third place finish garnered him a fair number of points. However, Jeff Hector’s kindness and ability to rejoin the action was enough for Smith to be crowned the 2007 mini stock point champion by a scant nine points.
The action in the Ephrata Pioneer Muffler II adult hornets was intense. Brian Hahne took the early lead. But Dustin Kapalo relentlessly gnawed on Hahne’s advantage until he was able to duck under Hahne going into turn three. Chris McCart was right behind Kapalo and was able to slide into the second position. Driving hard into turn three, McCart was able to get under Kapalo to assume the lead. Meanwhile, Derrick Kapalo was charging to the front when the rear of his car broke loose in between turns three and four. After counter steering to the right, Kapalo’s Honda CRX slid toward the wall. He managed to stop the car before impact, but forfeited his third place spot.
The ensuing caution period helped to bunch up the field. McCart had his hands full with Josh Hector and Rod Julian giving chase after the green flag reemerged. Much to the dismay of Hector and Julian, McCart would not be denied. McCart powered under the flag stand to take the main event win.
The youngest racers at ERP are the Plummer / Janke State Farm Agents youth hornets. Evan Zema travels over the Cascades on race days to compete. A fitting nickname for Zema could be “The Bus Driver” because he took the kids to school. Starting at the back of the pack, Zema displayed skill and maturity as he patiently picked off his competitors one at a time until taking the lead.
A brief caution period slowed the racing action when Kelly Olsick of Soap Lake and Austin Schooler of Moses Lake came together on the front stretch. The contact sent Schooler into the wall just before the flag stand. Schooler was unscathed in the incident, but his car was damaged too badly to continue.
After retaking the green flag, Zema powered to the win with Dallas White and Jesse Hector close behind for second and third. Fourth place went to Entiat driver, Damon Claibourn. Race Results -- 09/15/2007 | Columbia River Sprint Cars | Fast Time
Donnie Kudrna : 12.87
B Dash
(1) Robbie Patterson
A Dash
(1) Mike Fought
Twin 25 #1
(1) Paul Dart (2) Kevin Burck (3) Kurt Myers (4) Mike Fought (5) Whitney Nolan (6) Tom Beierman (7) Bob Witte (8) Donnie Kudrna (9) Robbie Patterson
Twin 25 #2
(1) Paul Dart (2) Mike Fought (3) Kevin Burck (4) Whitney Nolan (5) Kurt Myers (6) Robbie Patterson (7) Tom Beierman
Overall Standings
(1) Paul Dart (2) Kevin Burck (3) Mike Fought (4) Whitney Nolan (5) Kurt Myers (6) Robbie Patterson (7) Tom Beierman (8) Donnie Kudrna (9) Bob Witte | | Street Stocks | Fast Time
Bart Hector : 15.56
B Heat
(1) Jeff Hector (2) Nick Sieg (3) Paul Dart (4) Brad Morrison
A Heat
(1) Bill Rutherford (2) Bart Hector (3) Ron Stewart (4) Elvin Brincefield
Main Event
(1) Bart Hector (2) Ron Stewart (3) Dan Martin (4) Jeff Hector (5) Bill Rutherford (6) Elvin Brincefield (7) Brad Morrison (8) Nick Sieg (9) Terri McCart (10) Jeff Lodi (11) JR Miner (12) Paul Dart (13) Sam Todd (14) Steve Lincoln | | Hobby Stocks | Fast Time
Stuart Barger : 16.22
Heat
(1) Billy Smith (2) Kevin Hill (3) Derrick Kapalo (4) Patrick Canady
Main Event
(1) Kevin Hill (2) Jason Ray (3) Stuart Barger (4) Fred E. Moore (5) Derrick Kapalo (6) Patrick Canady (7) Chris Costlow (8) Billy Smith | | Mini Stocks | Fast Time
Jeff Hector : 16.95
Heat
(1) Jeff Hector (2) David Mackin (3) Fred E. Moore (4) Josh Hector
Main Event
(1) Charles Larr (2) Josh Hector (3) Fred E. Moore (4) David Mackin (5) Nick Gardner (6) Chad Moore (7) Jeff Hector
EPHRATA PIONEER II MUFFLER HORNETS
B Heat
(1) Jeremy Lodi (2) John Olsick (3) Jeremy Block (4) Nathan Schell
A Heat
(1) Dustin Kapalo (2) Chris McCart (3) Josh Hector (4) Sid White
Main Event
(1) Chris McCart (2) Josh Hector (3) Rod Julian (4) Dustin Kapalo (5) Eddie Razey (6) Sid White (7) John Olsick (8) Jeremy Block (9) Kenny Brown (10) Nathan Schell (11) Derrick Kapalo (12) Brian Hahne (13) Evan Evans (14) Jeremy Lodi | | Youth Hornets | B Heat
(1) Stephen Lodi (2) Justin Dunagan (3) Derek Thompson (4) Dylan Adamson
A Heat
(1) Evan Zema (2) Dallas White (3) Jessie Hector (4) Damon Claibourn
Main Event
(1) Evan Zema (2) Dallas White (3) Jessie Hector (4) Damon Claibourn (5) Kelly Olsick (6) Austin Schooler (7) Stephen Lodi (8) Justin Dunagan (9) Michael Olsick (10) Sean Manderville (11) Dylan Adamson |
 See Also .: News Index | E-mail to a Friend
|
|
|
