The Spoils of victory belong the the Canadians

Ron Larson starts on the pole for the 40 lap Main Event then takes the checkered flag in an all green race ! Larson said, “ I tried to be as smooth as I could with both hands on the wheel but if I put one hand on the wheel and one hand up on the side it seemed to drive better that way, I don’t know why. It was so hard to get anywhere, you get hung up behind somebody and the closing rate is so different from what I’m used to and you get there and you’re there way to quick. You try to find a place to go and you think you’re going to get passed by somebody else and you’re working like a dam to get by !”

Winner of the Art Pollard Memorial Ron Larson (third from left)

Oddly enough Larson had problems earlier in the day during the practice sessions. The first session had his right rear tire catch fire in the pits after coming off the track. The issue was a overly rich fuel ratio leaving excessive unburned fuel in the exhaust pipe. With that corrected the second session produced an overheating condition due to timing issues. The 3rd practice session continued with the earlier problems yielding qualifying for Larson twelfth quick out of thirteen. The cooler evening air with a cooler track surface must have found the sweet spot for his car resulting in the checkered flag !

Larson started on the pole as a result of a 12 car invert but was passed by the #V23 of Darren Spiers in turns 1 and 2 moving Larson back to 2nd down the backstretch. The #15R of Vern Scevers started 4th but quickly dispatched the #97s of Brian Smith to take over 3rd. For the next 19 laps the top three would give chase to each other, Scevers at times challenging Larson unsuccessfully. The #12 of Johnny “Jet” Geisler starting in 6th had moved around the #44 of Todd Coleman to start challenging Scevers. On lap 12 while trying to pass Scevers on the inside coming off turn 4 Geisler and Scevers touched sending Geisler into a near spin in the infield. Miraculously, Geisler recovered the car, stabbed the throttle driving into turn one, having only lost one position ! Geisler again had to go to work getting around Coleman to get to Scevers.

Lap 20 showed a change in the lead coming off turn 2, Larson passing Spiers in turns 1 and 2. For Larson, the only traffic he had to concern himself with were lapped cars. Once around Spiers he opened up a comfortable distance for the lead. Within a few laps after Spiers had given up 1st he was overtaken by Scevers then Giesler being moved back to fourth. Lap 23 had two events, first Spiers left the track being concerned about his water temperature reaching 235 degrees and still climbing. The #52 of Tim Alberding had his right rear go flat, he moving up to the outside of the track to exit as soon as he could allowing the track to stay green.

Geisler had gone to work on Coleman again passing Coleman then on to Scevers, passing Scevers on lap 27 to take over 2nd place. Geisler would spend the last 13 laps giving chase to Larson but was never in a position to challenge for the lead. Geisler consistently closed the gap to Larson but simply ran out of laps finishing .413 seconds behind the leader.

2nd place Art Pollard Memorial Johnny "Jet" Giesler (third from left)

Of the top three in season points only the #25j of Sierra Jackson fared well for the night. She started ninth steadily working her way forward to finish 3rd. #76 of Andy Alberding started eleventh slowly working forward to the sixth finishing position managing to get past the points leader Matt Hein in the #98H car. Hein started tenth getting around the #14 of Matt Mansell and #98 of Rick Brown and with the attrition of Spiers locked down the seventh spot. By Hein’s standards a dismal night. With Alberding’s top qualifying position, good finishes by all three in their respective heat races, the points will tighten up amongst these top three drivers. Both Jackson and Alberding will shrink the points lead held by Hein.

3rd place Art Pollard Memorial Sierra Jackson (third from left)

Heat one had yet again a green flag quickly replaced by a yellow for a bad start. The outside line took off but the inside line of cars did not. The start was recalled with the cars lining back up in their starting positions. With the second green displayed Spiers quickly dispatched Larson in turn one taking the lead and never looked back over the course of the eight laps finishing ahead of Hein by 2.6 seconds.. Hein had advanced from sixth to fourth in one lap, moving up to second over the course of eight laps. Larson was steadily moved back to fifth by the end of the heat as was Geisler starting fourth, finishing sixth. Scevers held on to his third starting position, finishing third, while Mansell advanced one position to finish fourth.

Heat two had Tim Alberding on the pole with both Jackson and Andy Alberding in this race starting fifth and sixth respectively. Tim Alberding was shuffled back to seventh place during the eight lap event. Rick Brown moved up to first from his fourth starting position followed by Alberding and Jackson. Brian Smith lost three positions to finish fifth. Coleman started and finished fourth. Mitch Holte managed to take away sixth from Tim Alberding in spite of a severely pushing car that he had battled from qualifying on.

The A-Dash had the four quickest qualifiers and the top three in season points. Mansell had the pole with Jackson outside, behind them Hein on the inside and Andy Alberding outside. The A-Dash took three green flags to get started. The first green was called back for Mansell being perhaps overzealous on his start leaving Jackson on the outside far behind or maybe Jackson wasn’t ready for the green. A yellow called them all back to form up again with the same misfire on the second green. Called back again with a yellow the front row was moved to the back to give Hein and Andy Alberding the front row and the chance for a better start. This time the start was good with Hein taking the lead into one and keeping it all the way to the finish with Andy Alberding second, Jackson third, and Mansell fourth.

Matt Hein winner A-Dash

The B-Dash put Tim Alberding on the pole, Spiers outside, Smith and Scevers out back. Dropping the green Spiers took the lead going into turn one, keeping it for all four laps. Scevers moved up to second getting around both Brian Smith who finished third and Tim Alberding.

Darren Spiers winner B-Dash