Wenatchee Valley’s Super Oval, Wenatchee, Washington May 17th, 2008

The third scheduled race of the season held at the picturesque Wenatchee Valley’s Super Oval (WVSO) provided hot temperatures and stunning scenery to the event. The weather overly cooperated in Wenatchee with sunshine and a 96 + degree-day for the racers, part of an unnatural heat wave for the entire northwest. Twenty-two teams from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and British Columbia, Canada unloaded their sprint cars at the track and set about preparing the cars for the day’s event.

WVSO’s facility is perhaps one of the nicest in the northwest. The racing surface is smooth without showing signs of age. The pit area is fully paved and striped for parking for the race teams, an additional area just to the west of the pits is provided for the tow rigs to park outside the pits. The retaining walls all are fresh in their appearance, the signage of track sponsors stand out well on the backstretch and corners. The spectators have an excellent view of the entire track with the stands being cut into the land rather than on top of the ground, with the track itself sitting just below the seats for the spectators. The landscaping is kept nicely manicured for racers and spectators alike. Lighting for both the track and the pits were excellent.

Initially, two practice sessions were scheduled, however it was deemed by WVSO that a third practice session could be added, as it was. The teams certainly would make good use of three practice sessions, as the excessively warm and humid weather conditions made the track very greasy during the day. Most cars were loose on the first practice session both into and off the corners. A number of cars spun on the track during their practices. All recovered to be able to continue in their respective sessions. Having that one extra practice session allowed the teams to make additional adjustments for the daytime racing. Even as adjustments were being made to compensate for a hot racing surface the drivers and crews knew that the cars would require “going the other way” in their chassis’ for the main event. That would be at nighttime with a cooler track surface.

Qualifying was set for 6 PM for the NSRA sprint cars. Eventual quick qualifier Matt Hein driving the # 98h car rolled off nineteenth. With the weather abnormally warm there was no chance of a new track qualifying record being set, currently held by Trevor Montgomery at 10.765. Matt Hein did manage an 11.196 second trip around the quarter mile oval to set fast time for the night. Just 1.34 seconds separated the # 98h car from the slow qualifier. The only car to not make a qualifying run was the # 26 car of Dan Fisher.

Next up were the two trophy dashes for the night. The B Trophy Dash started the #97s car of Brian Smith on the pole, outside pole the # 99 car of Cory Lockwood, second row inside the # 3 car of Robert Beck, and outside second row the # 01 car of Ken Hamilton. Cory got a jump on the outside at the drop of the green flag and took the number one position coming out of turn two on the first lap. As Cory came off turn two the very next lap he spun the car down into the infield bringing out the caution. Cory recovered the car without killing the engine to get himself back on the track, though now placed at the back of the field for the green flag. With the dashes only four laps in length it gives the drivers very little time and real estate to work their way to the front and for the pole sitter the opportunity is there to lead the four quick laps to a trophy. The finishing order for the B Trophy Dash was the # 01 car of Ken Hamilton, # 3 car of Robert Beck, # 99 car of Cory Lockwood, and the # 97s car of Brian Smith.

The A Trophy Dash brought out the four quickest cars of the night to do battle in just four circuits around the quarter-mile facility. On the pole was the # 76 car of Andy Alberding, outside pole the # 33j car of Jeff Montgomery, second row inside the # 81 car of John Tharp and outside second row the # 98h car of Matt Hein. In little more than a minute the four fastest settled up with the front row trading positions. The finishing order for the A Trophy Dash was the # 33j car of Jeff Montgomery, # 76 car of Andy Alberding, # 81 car of John Tharp, and the # 98h car of Matt Hein.

Next on the program were the three 8 lap heat races. Heat one featured the # 32 car of Kurt Myers on the pole, outside pole the # 44 car of Todd Coleman, second row inside # 01 of Ken Hamilton, outside # 5 of Allen Goetz, third row inside # 4 of Greg Middendorf, outside # 33j of Jeff Montgomery. Due to fuel starvation issues with a crushed secondary fuel filter the # 97s did not start. The green flag flew with the # 32 car taking a short-lived lead. Before lap two was completed the # 01 car took over the lead. The # 33j car had started working his way forward during the first two laps when the # 5 car spun into the in field out of turn two bringing out the caution. The # 5 car kept his engine lit proceeding to the back of the field for the restart. The # 33j car had worked his way up towards the front along with the # 5 car restarting from the rear of the field. The # 01 car maintained his lead position throughout the remaining laps to finish first. The # 01 of Ken Hamilton was followed by the # 33j car of Jeff Montgomery for second, # 5 car of Allen Goetz third, # 32 car of Kurt Myers fourth, # 4 of Greg Middendorf fifth, and the # 44 car of Todd Coleman sixth.

Heat two started the # 25n car of Whitney Nolan on the pole, outside pole # 25z of R.J. Fronsman, second row inside # 99 of Cory Lockwood, outside # 25j of Sierra Jackson, third row inside # 51 of Jake Mann, outside # 17 of Justin Mack, fourth row # 81 of John Tharp. At the drop of the green flag the # 25n car held the lead for less than a lap. The # 25z car quickly disposed of the # 25n to take the lead at the completion of the lap one. R. J. Fronsman kept his car up front for the remaining seven laps to finish first, followed by Sierra Jackson in the # 25j car, Cory Lockwood in the # 99 car, Jake Mann in the # 51 car, Justin Mack in the # 17, John Tharp in the # 81, and last Whitney Nolan. Whitney went from the pole to last with all the other cars holding their places.

Heat three consisted of the # 78 car of Mike Fought on the pole, outside front row # 55 of Jeff Bird, second row inside # 3 of Robert Beck, outside #98 of Rick Brown, third row inside # 82 of Adam Roduner, outside # 76 of Andy Alberding, fourth row inside # 98h of Matt Hein, outside # 26 of Dan Fisher. Within one lap of the green the # 55 car had taken over the lead from the # 78 car. During lap three both the # 98 and # 98h car spun in turn four down to the infield. The caution flew immediately. Both cars required push trucks to restart them after which both cars went to the back of the field. At the restart on lap four the # 55 car took the green and kept his number one spot to the checkered flag. The # 3, # 76, #78 provided good racing challenging for each others’ places on the track. The # 82 was in the mix challenging with the other three cars until the last laps of the race, his car going very loose. At the end of eight laps the finishing order was the # 55 of Jeff Bird, second # 3 of Robert Beck, third # 76 of Andy Alberding, fourth # 78 of Mike Fought, fifth # 82 of Adam Roduner, sixth # 98 of Rick Brown, seventh # 26 of Dan Fisher, eighth # 98h of Matt Hein.

After awarding points for qualifying and the heat races both Mains were determined. Twelve cars were seeded into the A Main. Eight slots were left open. The B Main would provide cars for those eight open slots in the A Main.

The B Main would run ten laps and the top eight would transfer to the A Main for the night. Ten cars would start the B Main with the pole car being the most surprising to many drivers. The pole sitter for the B Main was also the quick qualifier for the night! Matt Hein in the # 98h car started number one, outside pole was the # 81 of John Tharp, second row inside # 17 of Justin Mack, outside # 4 Greg Middendorf, third row inside Adam Roduner in the # 82, outside #98 of Rick Brown, fourth row inside # 44 of Todd Coleman, outside Whitney Nolan in the # 25n, fifth row inside # 26 of Dan Fisher, outside 97s of Brian Smith who had missed his heat race due to fuel starvation. The green flag flew for ten caution free laps. Early in the race the # 17 and # 4 touched wheels on the backstretch but both recovered on the track. The pole sitter and outside pole swapped positions during the race; the # 4 lost two positions to finish up sixth. The # 97s car moved up to eighth to get the final transfer spot to the A Main. The # 25n car slipped from eighth at the start to tenth at the finish. The # 26 car started and finished ninth. The finishing order for the B Main was # 81 of John Tharp, second # 98h of Matt Hein, third # 17 of Justin Mack, fourth Adam Roduner in the # 82, fifth the #98 of Rick Brown, sixth the # 4 of Greg Middendorf, seventh the # 44 car of Todd Coleman, the eighth and final transfer spot went to # 97s of Brian Smith, ninth to Dan Fisher in the # 26 car and tenth Whitney Nolan in the # 25n.

With the field set for the A Main, the B Main competitors that transferred set about freshening up their cars with fuel and last minute adjustments. The B Main competitors had been on the track in the cooler part of the late daylight hours and had the opportunity to massage chassis settings and tire pressures. The A Main started twenty cars to run a forty-lap event with the first eight cars inverted in their starting positions. The starting grid was made up of the pole sitter Cory Lockwood in the # 99 car, outside pole Robert Beck in the # 3 car, second row inside Ken Hamilton in the #01, outside # 25j of Sierra Jackson, third row inside # 5 of Allen Goetz, outside Jake Mann in the # 51, fourth row inside # 76 of Andy Alberding, outside the 3 3j of Jeff Montgomery, fifth row inside # 55 of Jeff Bird, outside R.J. Fronsman in the # 25z, sixth row inside # 78 of Mike Fought, outside # 32 of Kurt Myers, seventh row inside John Tharp in the # 81, outside 98h of Matt Hein, eighth row inside Justin Mack in the # 17 car, outside the # 82 of Adam Roduner, ninth row inside Rick Brown in the # 98, outside Greg Middendorf in the # 4, tenth row inside the # 44 car of Todd Coleman, outside Brian Smith in the # 97s car. The green flag flew at 9:40 PM with the #99 car quickly taking the lead. Before the first lap was completed the # 5 car spun in turn one down to the infield. The caution came out for the # 5. A tow truck was needed to remove the # 5 of Allen Goetz as he had sheared the left rear axle causing his retirement for the night. The # 32 of Kurt Myers also left the track with the help of a push truck not to return. Since no laps had been completed the cars were lined back up in their original starting positions both lines moving up one as necessary to fill the voids left by the #5 and # 32 cars. The restart was a double file restart. On the restart the # 99 car did not get the jump he did the first time around but did hold his lead over the # 3 car. The 33j car immediately started making his way to the front of the field. On lap seven the # 3 car spun in turn two bringing out a caution. During the caution the # 76 car retired to the pits a victim of nearly the same problem as Andy had in Roseburg just three weeks ago. This time the flange that attaches to the rear end to hold the driveshaft in place failed. In Roseburg a bolt backed out allowing the flange to loosen resulting in the driveshaft coming out of the rearend losing power to the rear wheels. The # 3 car got a push to refire and joined the field at the back. On the restart the # 99 still held the lead and would continue to do so for over half the race. The # 33j car was continually making progress towards the front. The # 33j caught up with # 99 car and used a back marker as a pick to get around the # 99 taking over first place. After taking over first place the # 33j put a quarter lap on the # 99. The # 01 had managed to keep himself in third place during the first twenty-nine laps of the race. On lap 29 the caution flew for the # 81 car spinning in turn one. During the caution the # 17 car left the track for an overheated engine. On lap thirty-one the caution flew for the # 81 car hitting the outside wall between turns three and four. The safety crew, track crew, and push truck responded. The damage was great enough that the red flag was unfurled to stop the cars on the backstretch to allow a roll back truck to come out on the track to scoop up the # 81 car. The driver of the # 81 car believed he was helped to spin hitting the wall on the drivers side of the car bending up both wheels, the front panhard bar and doing extensive damage to his main wing. During the red flag condition teams are allowed to have four crewmembers attend to their cars, may refuel the cars with the proper safety equipment on hand at the car and the driver out of the car, and may use hand tools to make adjustments. Most crews elected to refuel their cars. The cars were pushed off to fire, realigned in their respective positions to take the green flag on lap thirty-one. One lap later the caution flew again for the # 55 car spinning in turn two. The # 55 required a tow truck to remove him from the track as his right rear tire had come mostly off the rim. Back in the pits the crew tried to get the right rear changed but were having problems loosening the wheel nut. The field formed up once again for the green. Once the green flew the # 51 car started working hard on the # 01 car for third place. It took several laps for the # 51 car to get around the #01 car but he completed the pass on the outside to take third place moving the # 01 back to fourth. The # 25j car started to work over the # 01 car to attempt to pass but failed in her attempt before the checkered flag flew. On the last lap of the race with the checkered in view the # 3 car spun on the backstretch bringing out the caution and the checkered flags. At the stripe the # 33j car of Jeff Montgomery claimed first place, followed by Cory Lockwood in the # 99 car second, third went to the # 51 car of Jake Mann, fourth # 01 of Ken Hamilton, fifth Sierra Jackson in the # 25j car, sixth the # 25z car of R. J. Fronsman. The first six cars finished on the lead lap. In seventh one lap down was the # 98h of Matt Hein, eighth to Greg Middendorf in the # 4 car, ninth the # 3 car of Robert Beck. These nine cars were running at the end of the A Main. The remainder of the field had all left the track during the race. Tenth went to # 55 Jeff Bird, eleventh # 98 of Rick Brown, twelfth to John Tharp in the # 81 car, thirteenth the # 78 of Mike Fought, fourteenth # 17 of Justin Mack, fifteenth Adam Roduner in the # 82 car, sixteenth to Todd Coleman in the # 44, seventeenth # 76 of Andy Alberding, eighteenth # 97s of Brian Smith, nineteenth to Allen Goetz in the # 5, twentieth to the # 32 of Kurt Myers.