American Speed Association Northwest Sprint Car Series makes its 9th stop of the 2008 Championship season at Ephrata Raceway Park for the running of the Rebel Jackson Memorial August 9th, 2008

Thunderstorms had roamed the local area around Ephrata, Washington Friday night washing down Ephrata Raceway Park (ERP) leaving a green track for the American Speed Association/Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association (ASA/NSRA) competitors on Saturday. The skies over the track grudgingly gave up their cloudiness to yield sunny skies over the course of raceday. ERP is a quarter-mile high banked track but perhaps the most difficult track the ASA/NSRA racers face in the 2008 Championship season as the track surface is very abrasive making tire conservation a top priority for the drivers.

Twenty-seven race teams from Canada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington unloaded their cars to make ready for the days activities. Many teams were seen purchasing extra tires from the Hoosier tire trailer in anticipation of the wear the tires would receive from the tracks surface. With the points championship very much up for grabs the teams involved in the points were making sure their cars were properly prepared for racing, checking and rechecking tires, engine, and chassis setups. A close battle for first meant each team had to be at their best for the night’s competition. A misstep here could prove disastrous but by the same token a good finish could cement their points position or move them up in the points. The end of the night would indeed reveal changes in points standings.

The ASA/NSRA drivers would have three practice sessions to both get a feel for the track as well as work to get their cars set up for racing. Though each practice session was a half-hour in length with twenty-seven sprint cars on hand time on the track would be at a premium and those teams that could quickly diagnose what their combination wanted would be at an advantage later in the evening. During first practice the #7 of Randy Dubois was losing oil on the track. He pulled to the outside immediately helping the track safety crew in their cleanup of the oil. The front stretch and turns one and two had a stream of oil around the outside of the track. A quick cleanup provided the rest of the teams time to get their turn on the track for practice laps. Randy Dubois determined the car had to much rear gear allowing the engine to over rev on the straights pushing oil out the valve cover vent. Regearing the car for this track resolved his problem. The #51 car driven by Jake Mann had severe bottoming on the left side during the practice, Mann staying out only two laps before coming off the track to make adjustments. Mann made it back out on the track for first practice after some adjustments but only for a few laps before returning to his pits. The Kenny Waller owned #51 team raised the car one full inch to resolve the bottoming issue. The #99r car of Cory Lockwood had issues as well, the car missing, sputtering and backfiring on the track; Lockwood brought the car back in to his pit stall to have the team diagnose the issue. The team found the fuel system not completely primed leaving air in the system causing fuel delivery issues. Correcting the malady helped the #99 car in the second practice but it was not until the third practice that the car would run strong without an engine miss.

Second and third practice revealed no additional issues for the teams making all the cars ready for qualifying. Matt Hein, current season points leader, wheeled his #98h car around the quarter-mile high banked track in 12.694 seconds to earn quick qualifier. Three other drivers broke the twelve second barrier, Andy Alberding in the #76, second in season points, was second quick at 12.805, Kenny Hamilton in the #01 was third quick at 12.848, and Sierra Jackson in the #25j, fifth in season points, fourth quick at 12.907. Third place in season points Jake Mann in the #51 qualified fifth, the first car in the thirteen second bracket at 13.023. Fourth in season points Justin Mack in the #17 qualified thirteenth quick with a 13.287 second lap. During the qualifying effort for the #55 car the driver Jeff Bird spun the car in turns three and four ending up in the infield on his second lap. Jeff would have to settle for his first lap for his qualifying effort clicking off a 13.466 placing him in nineteenth position. Cory Lockwood spun his #99r car coming off turn two before taking the green flag in his qualifying effort. After getting refired Lockwood took the green for his qualifying. His second lap of 13.132 yielded his quickest lap placing him ninth in the qualifying order.

With qualifying completed the two Trophy Dashes would be the first racing of the Rebel Jackson Memorial. The B Trophy Dash was served up first to the capacity crowd with the #65x of Don Kudrna on the pole, Wes Helgeson in the #23 outside pole, Dave Quick in the #13q inside second row, and Todd Lolkus in the #7e outside second row. At the green Kudrna took the lead with Quick getting underneath Helgeson in turns one and two taking over second. Lolkus challenged Helgeson for third over the course of the first two laps taking away third by lap two. The last two laps saw the order unchanged having Don Kudrna in the #65x finishing first, followed by the #13q of Dave Quick second, Todd Lolkus in the #7e third, and the #23 of Wes Helgeson fourth.

The A Trophy Dash brought out the quickest qualifiers of Jake Mann in the #51 on the pole, outside pole to Kenny Hamilton in the #01, inside second row the #76 of Andy Alberding, and outside second row to the #98h of Matt Hein. At the green Hamilton drove around the outside of Mann in turns one and two taking away the lead down the backstretch. Down the backstretch Hein moved around Mann taking over second by turn three of the first lap. Alberding was pressuring Mann through the next three laps but would not pass Mann. Hamilton had taken the lead in lap one and was stretching out his lead over second place Hein. After four short laps Kenny Hamilton in the #01 took the checkered flag followed by the #98h of Matt Hein in second, Jake Mann in the #51 third, and the #76 of Andy Alberding fourth.

After the Trophy Dashes came the eight lap Heat races. Four heat races were scheduled with the top three finishers of each heat seeding to the A Main for the night and leaving the balance in each Heat to race their way into the A Main through the B Main. Heat One brought out the #25n of Whitney Nolan on the pole, Duane Zeinstra in the #11 outside pole, the #13q of Dave Quick inside second row, Mike Fought in the #78 outside second row, third row inside Mike Basher in the #13b, and outside third row the #25j of Sierra Jackson. At the drop of the green Zeinstra drove around the outside of the pole sitter Nolan into turn one taking the lead. Nolan got very loose off turn two but recovered the car. While Nolan was gathering his car back up Basher moved forward quickly to get by in turn three to take over second place on lap one. Fought followed Basher to take third place by lap two. Nolan had faded back to fourth and was being challenged by Jackson for the position. Up front Basher was working over Zeinstra for first, himself being challenged for second by Fought. Basher made the pass on Zeinstra on lap four to take over first followed shortly by Fought passing Zeinstra moving Zeinstra back to third. Jackson had gotten around Nolan to take fourth by lap four now chasing down Zeinstra for third. On lap six Jackson challenged for third. With one lap left Zeinstra went high in turn one and Jackson slid underneath for third putting herself in the final position for the A Main transfer from the heat race. At the finish line the #13b of Mike Basher took the win followed by Mike Fought in the #78 second, Sierra Jackson in the #25j third, the #11 of Duane Zeinstra fourth, Dave Quick in the #13q fifth, and the #25n of Whitney Nolan sixth.

Heat Two featured the #42 of Doug Peter on the pole, outside pole to the #55 of Jeff Bird, second row inside Cody Veenstra in the #7v, outside the #25z of R. J. Fronsman, third row inside Adam Roduner in the #82, outside the #01 of Kenny Hamilton, fourth row inside Kevin Witte in the #96. At the green the #55 of Bird jumped the start causing the caution to be thrown for a restart. With the field lined up once again the green waved, this time being determined a good start. Bird took the lead going into turn one. Fronsman challenged in turns one and two but couldn’t get it done. Down the backstretch into turn three Fronsman moved around Peter to take over second. Hamilton had moved himself into fourth by the completion of lap one. On lap two Hamilton passed Peter down the backstretch to take over third. Roduner’s left front touched Veenstra’s right rear on the front straight forcing Roduner to back off to recover his car on lap two. Veenstra and Roduner both passed Peter moving him back to sixth. Hamilton was challenging Fronsman for second passing Fronsman in turn three on lap four. Roduner continued to challenge Veenstra for the last four laps but could not get around him. Hamilton started to challenge Bird for first but by lap six decided to settle into second for the last two laps. The finish of Heat Two had Jeff Bird in the #55 cross the line in first, the #01 of Kenny Hamilton in second, R. J. Fronsman in the #25z third, the #7v of Cody Veenstra fourth, Adam Roduner in the #82 fifth, the #42 of Doug Peter sixth, and Kevin Witte in the #96 seventh.

Heat Three starting grid showed Justin Popple in the #19 on the pole, outside pole to the #65x if Don Kudrna, inside second row Randy Dubois in the #7, outside Rick Brown in the #1, inside third row the #4 of Greg Middendorf, outside Andy Alberding in the #76, inside fourth row the #65 of Kevin Burke. At the green the #65x of Kudrna jumped the start causing the caution to come out over the field for a restart. With the second starting green flying Popple keeps the lead into turn one. Dubois moves under Kudrna in turn one pushing Kudrna up high out of the groove to take over second. Brown and Alberding were quickly moving up from their starting spots Brown taking over first and Alberding taking second by the end of lap two; Middendorf, in fourth, was starting to look over Popple for third. Over the next several laps Middendorf challenged Popple for third knowing third was the final transfer spot to the A Main from the heats. Middendorf worked the outside of Popple for nearly two laps and finally made the pass out of turn four at the end of the sixth lap taking over third. At the finish Rick Brown in the #1 took the checkered flag, followed by the #76 of Andy Alberding. Third went to Greg Middendorf in the #4, fourth to the #19 of Justin Popple, fifth to Randy Dubois in the #7, sixth to Don Kudrna in the #65x and seventh to the #65 of Kevin Burke.

Heat Four brought out the remaining cars in the twenty-seven car field with the #7e of Todd Lolkus on the pole, outside pole the #23 of Wes Helgeson, inside second row Justin Mack in the #17, outside Cory Lockwood in the #99r, third row the #51 of Jake Mann, outside Matt Hein in the #98h, fourth row inside the #28 of Tom Beierman. This heat race had three of the four cars in season points, the #17, # 51, and the #98h. Those drivers knew that only the top three positions moved to the A Main making a top three finish here critically important. For the third heat race in a row the start was waved off with a caution for a bad start, the pole sitter jumping the start. After reforming the second green flag start was good. Lolkus held the lead going into turn one. Mack quickly dispensed with Helgeson to take over second in turns one and two. Mann moved into third and by lap two Mack passed Lolkus for the lead. Lockwood moved back around Mann to take over third then passing Lolkus for second. Hein started moving forward passing Mann, Lolkus, and Helgeson to move into third. Mann started to lose his handling badly and lost fourth and fifth place to Lolkus and Helgeson respectively. Justin Mack driving the #17 had managed to accumulate a comfortable lead over Lockwood taking the checkered flag followed by Cory Lockwood in the #99r in second. Third went to the #98h of Matt Hein, fourth to Todd Lolkus in the #7e, fifth to the #23 of Wes Helgeson, sixth to Jake Mann in the #51 and seventh to the #28 of Tom Beierman.

The heat races having been settled the B Main was next up for the night. In the B Main fifteen cars would start with only the top eight transferring to the A Main. Of the top eight in season points only one found himself in the B Main. Jake Mann had failed to get a transfer spot in his heat race. Mann knew full well to protect his third place season points standing he would have to finish in the top eight in this race. The drivers would have just fifteen laps to either hold their position or advance it to the top eight to move onto the A Main or pack it up for the night. The starting lineup was favorable to Jake Mann for he found himself on the pole. Outside pole went to Adam Roduner in the #82, inside second row the #7 of Randy Dubois, outside Cody Veenstra in the #7v, inside third row the #13q of Dave Quick, outside Wes Helgeson in the #23, inside fourth row the #65x of Don Kudrna, outside Duane Zeinstra in the #11, inside fifth row the #7e of Todd Lolkus, outside Justin Popple in the #19, inside sixth row the #25n of Whitney Nolan, outside Tom Beierman on the #28, inside seventh row the #65 of Kevin Burke, outside Doug Peter in the #42, eighth row inside the #96 of Kevin Witte. At the green the front row stayed dead even through turns one and two and down the backstretch. In turns three and four Roduner on the outside took over first at the completion of lap one. By lap two Roduner had started stretching out his lead over second place Mann. Dubois was starting to press Mann hard for second place. Kudrna had started seventh and began moving his way forward over several laps getting by Helgeson who was falling back, Quick, and Veenstra to slide into fourth. Burke had started to move forward from his thirteenth position to ninth and started his challenge of Lolkus for eighth place eventually passing Lolkus for eighth. Over the remaining laps the real race became that of eighth place and the final transfer position. Both Helgeson who wanted eighth spot and Burke who held the eighth spot were working hard for it. That race went right down to the checkered flag battling over the position with Burke claiming eighth. At the checkered Adam Roduner wheeling the #82 crossed the line in first having run away from the rest of the field lapping the twelfth through fifteenth place cars. Second to the line was Randy Dubois in the #7, third to the #51 of Jake Mann, fourth to Don Kudrna in the #65x, fifth to the #7v of Cody Veenstra, sixth to Dave Quick in the #13q, seventh to Duane Zeinstra in the #11, eighth and the final transfer spot to the #65 of Kevin Burke, ninth to Wes Helgeson in the #23, tenth to the #19 of Justin Popple, eleventh to Todd Lolkus in the # 7e, twelfth to the #25n of Whitney Nolan, thirteenth to Doug Peter in the #42, fourteenth to the #96 of Kevin Witte, and fifteenth to Tom Beierman in the #28.

The A Main now had its full field of twenty competitors for the running of the Rebel Jackson Memorial fifty lap race. As the cars lined up for push off the drivers, teams, ASA/NSRA staff, and the fans didn’t know this would be a significant and historic race for the ASA/NSRA. The top six were inverted for the race putting Mike Basher in the #13b on the pole with the #4 of Greg Middendorf on the outside pole. Second row inside had the #25j of Sierra Jackson, outside Kenny Hamilton in the #01, third row inside the #76 of Andy Alberding, outside Matt Hein in the #98h, inside fourth row the #99r of Cory Lockwood, outside Rick Brown in the #1, inside fifth row the #25z of R. J. Fronsman, outside Mike Fought in the #78, inside sixth row Justin Mack in the #17, outside the #55 of Jeff Bird, inside seventh row Adam Roduner in the #82, outside the #7 of Randy Dubois, inside eighth row Jake Mann in the #51, outside the #65x of Don Kudrna, inside ninth row Cody Veenstra in the #7v, outside the #13q of Dave Quick, inside tenth row Duane Zeinstra in the #11 and outside the #65 of Kevin Burke. At the green Basher got a good jump to hold first going into turn one. As the field negotiated turn one Brown in the #1 spun down to the infield crossing the nose of Fronsman. All the cars got through the turns with Brown the only casualty. A push truck was summoned to get Brown back on track and fired. Since no laps had been completed the field reformed in a two wide lineup for the green with Brown going to the back of the field, the outside row advancing one position from the fourth row back. At the second drop of the green the pole sitter Basher jumped out into the lead followed by Middendorf and Jackson. Mack started his movement forward in the first few laps moving from his eleventh starting position to ninth. Alberding and Hein were battling for fifth while Alberding was attempting to get around Hamilton for fourth. Mann had started his move to the front getting up to eleventh from his starting slot of fifteenth. Hamilton, while holding off Alberding was working over Jackson in an attempt to take away third from her. Mack had continued to move forward to seventh now challenging Lockwood for sixth. Hein did get around Alberding to take over fifth. On lap eleven Roduner left the track again a victim of a sputtering engine. Five laps later Dubois left the track as well. Meanwhile Basher was stretching out his lead over Middendorf while Hein managed to get around Hamilton to take over fourth. Mack had made a pass on Lockwood to take over the seventh position moving Lockwood back to eighth. Basher had started lapping traffic with the cars following him doing the same. As Basher was lapping back markers he was starting to get held up by them allowing Middendorf, Jackson and Hamilton to catch up. Basher suddenly had not one but two cars challenging for the lead. Not only was Middendorf trying to go around but Jackson was as well! On lap twenty-two Basher tangled with Zeinstra as he was attempting to lap him. Zeinstra was spun on the track ending up facing oncoming cars while Basher went to the infield, his car smoking. The second and final caution for the night flew over the field slowing the cars to allow track safety and emergency crews access. The rest of the field had missed Zeinstra making the caution a two car caution only. The #11 of Zeinstra was pushed off the track not to return but the #13b of Basher required a tow truck for his car. Basher was done for the night having a bent front axle, radius rods, and drag link. During the caution Kudrna left the track not to return. The field was reformed to take the green now with Middendorf leading followed by Jackson, Hein, Hamilton, Alberding, Mack, Fought, Lockwood, and Mann in ninth. Over the next two laps Alberding worked on Hamilton to finally get around him on the front stretch to take over fourth. Mann started to slide backward losing ninth to Bird. Bird continued his move forward to take away positions from Lockwood and Fought getting himself into seventh position. Up front Middendorf looked to be on cruise control as he was comfortably in the lead with a four car gap back to Jackson, she maintaining about a four car lead on third place Hein, Hein in turn keeping around a four car length over Alberding in fourth. Alberding was keeping his lead over Hamilton in fifth, no one gaining on the competitor ahead of them in the top five. On lap forty Middendorf slowed in turns one and two allowing Jackson to get around him. In just the next few laps Middendorf went from second back to fifth, the last car on the lead lap, a victim of worn out tires. After Jackson had assumed the lead she kept her spacing over the second through fourth place cars. Sierra Jackson crossed the finish line under the checkered flag in first place making this race both a significant and historic ASA/NSRA race! By finishing first in the Rebel Jackson Memorial Sierra Jackson has become the first woman and the youngest driver at age fifteen to win a sanctioned ASA/NSRA race!! Finishing second to Sierra was Matt Hein in the #98h, third went to Andy Alberding in the #76, fourth to the #01 of Kenny Hamilton, fifth to Greg Middendorf in the #4 the last car on the lead lap, sixth to Justin Mack in the #17, seventh to the #55 of Jeff Bird, eighth to Mike Fought in the #78, ninth to the #99r of Cory Lockwood, tenth to Jake Mann in the #51, eleventh to the #1 of Rick Brown, twelfth to R. J. Fronsman in the #25z, thirteenth to Kevin Burke in the #65, fourteenth to the #7v of Cody Veenstra, fifteenth to Dave Quick in the #13q, sixteenth to the #13b of Mike Basher, seventeenth to Duane Zeinstra in the #11, eighteenth to the #65x of Don Kudrna, nineteenth to Randy Dubois in the #7 and twentieth to the #82 of Adam Roduner. Only the first five cars were on the lead lap, the sixth through twelfth place cars were a lap down, the thirteenth place car two laps down, the fourteenth place car three laps down, the fifteenth place car five laps down. Sixteenth through twentieth place cars were DNF.

Sierra Jackson was found to be very busy after the race in the pits, she getting ample opportunity to practice her penmanship having a very long line of excited fans clamoring for her autograph of this historic night for her!

After the race in the pits Adam Roduner, driver of the #82 explained that the team had found a nearly stripped cam spud believing that to be the source of the fuel delivery issue in previous races. Having the same symptoms this night the team will need to look further for the source of the fuel starvation to the engine. The team is now wondering if the cam spud was only a partial cure and the ignition system may be a contributor.

With Sierra Jackson’s win coupled with Matt Hein’s and Andy Alberding’s great finishes, along with both Jake Mann’s and R .J. Fronsman’s dismal finishes the season championship points race has taken a slightly different look. Matt Hein retains his first place points position gaining three points over second place Andy Alberding. Justin Mack has traded positions with Jake Mann taking over third in points. Jake Mann, by virtue of his poor finish, moves back one position to fourth. While Sierra Jackson did not move up in her season points position she has closed up the gap to both fourth and third place. She now sits just eight points behind fourth place Jake Mann and fourteen points behind third place Justin Mack. Cory Lockwood retains his sixth place in season points but has lost ground to fifth place Jackson. Greg Middendorf has moved up one position to seventh in season points overtaking R. J. Fronsman and moving Fronsman back to eighth. In ninth is Adam Roduner holding his points position but losing ground to Fronsman and Middendorf. Kenny Hamilton has moved from eleventh to tenth moving Rick Brown back to eleventh in points. The race to the season championship is no where close to being settled however with a close spread still existing in the top four and fifth in season points, Sierra Jackson, starting to sniff the top spot herself the remaining races could yield a shakeup in the points positions.

The top ten in 2008 Championship points after the Rebel Jackson Memorial: Matt Hein 478, Andy Alberding 457, Justin Mack 434, Jake Mann 428, Sierra Jackson 420, Cory Lockwood 391, Greg Middendorf 376, R. J, Fronsman 372, Adam Roduner 303, and Kenny Hamilton 277.

There are four races left in the 2008 Championship season with Stateline Stadium & Speedway in Post Falls, Idaho being next on the schedule August 23rd. Following that is the big track in Monroe, Washington, a five-eighths oval that could certainly cause huge changes in the points standings. The race there is the Rory Price Memorial and has a substantial purse with a large payout to first, second and third place finishers. It will draw a very large field of winged sprinters. In addition to a large field of cars this track is by far the largest track the ASA/NSRA drivers face making chassis setup and gearing critical to get right. The last two races are scheduled at Meridian Speedway in a special two day show on September 26th and 27th. These will be two separate races with points paid for each race. ASA/NSRA drivers there will have to get good finishes each night as well as contend with drivers from the local sprint car series at the track. The last four races are very important to the drivers in the points chase. A slip up at any track could cost a championship for one or allow another to take over the lead. This championship race is far from over!