Perfect weather, full night of racing at Ephrata Raceway Park

By Keith Danson, Ephrata Raceway Park announcer

EPHRATA, Wash. — The weather people talked about thunderstorms for Saturday, good thing they were wrong! Perfect evening at ERP with the Kim Janke State Farm Agent Youth Hornets, Schaeffer Oil Mini Stocks, Pepsi Cola Street Stocks, Jerry’s Auto Supply Hobby Stocks and the last race of the season for the insane Big Cars.

It’s also crunch time for those pursuing championships, so aggressive, yet careful racing is the name of the game. First up was qualifiing, here’s who ran the quickest:

Mini Stock- #96 Austin Schooler, Ephrata, 16.27

Hobby Stock- #6 Russ Kain, Wen, 16.25

Street Stock- #21 Skyler Lessman, Ephrata, 15.85

The 16 year old Schooler made the jump last time out from the Youth Hornets to the Mini’s and got fast time, then got involved in a bad wreck in the main. Saturday night he qualified even quicker with hopes of running a complete main, but had to survive the Trophy Dash and Heat races first. The Big Cars got the Dashes started with enough bumpin and rubbin to keep the fans excited about their main event at the end of the evening! Here’s who won their Trophy Dashes:

Big Car 1- #84 Josh Hector, Ephrata;

Big Car 2- #6 Ray Hayne, Wilson Creek;

B Hornet- #72 Kelly Olsick, Soap Lake;

A Hornet- #16 Taylor Blackburn, Ephrata;

B Mini- #5 Charlie Larr, Ephrata;

A Mini- #96 Austin Schooler, Ephrata;

Hobby- #18 Jason Ray, Ephrata;

B Street- #18 John Cook, ML;

A Street- #9 Randy Pugh, ML.

Schooler proved his fast time was no fluke by winning his dash, and champ contenders Blackburn, Ray and Pugh showed they had the set up to gather more points in the heats and mains. Looked like family night with the Olsick cousins racing each other in the Youth Hornets, the brothers Razey team, and Pat Brown returning to race his Dad Doug in the Mini’s, and of course there were a couple of Hectors. Heat races were next, here’s how they finished:

Big Car 1- #25 Fred Berger, Cashmere

#19 Eddie Razey, Ephrata

#23 John Blackburn, Ephrata

#42 Lance White, Ephrata

Big Car 2- #84 Josh Hector, Ephrata

#6 Ray Hayne, Wilson Creek

#3 Chad Moore, Ephrata

B Youth Hornet- #00 Dylan Adamson, ML

#72 Kelly Olsick, Soap Lake

#15 Derick Burck, Ephrata

#77 Bobby Bailey, Ephrata

#6 Mike Olsick, Ephrata

A YH- #11 Jatender Veenstra, RC

#68 Bart Hector Jr, Ephrata

#67 Riley Gates, Quincy

#6x Glen Knutson, Quincy

#16 Taylor Blackburn, Ephrata

B Mini- #07 Rod Whited, ML

#6 Kerrigan Clark, ML

#71 Justin Dunagan, Ephrata

#13 Lou Kyzivat, Odessa

#5 Charlie Larr, Ephrata

#1 Harold Gardner, Quincy, DNF

A Mini- #88 Alan Dixon

#52 JR Minor

#84 Doug Brown

#18 Jeramy Razey, ML

#96 Austin Schooler, Ephrata

#19 Eddie Razey, Ephrata

#81 Pat Brown, DNF

Hobby- #6 Russ Kain, Wen

#34 Josh McKenzie, Wen

#42 Neil Nelson, George

#18 Jason Ray, Ephrata

Street- #9 Randy Pugh, ML

#64 Ron Stewart, ML

#21 Skyler Lessman, Ephrata

#18 John Cook, ML

#12 Rick Bretches, Quincy

#10 Fred Moore, Ephrata

#92 Mike Bise, Warden

#6 Troy Lannoye, Ephrata

Congrats to Jatender Veenstra for winning her first race this year, that will keep the boys on their game! Too bad her luck went bad in the main, but after starting in the back 3 times because of accidents, she still finished fourth! Points leaders Russ Kain and Ron Stewart helped their causes, but McKenzie and Pugh made their point that they were going to run hard for the championships. The first lap of the Youth Hornet Main ended with a few cars getting too close and Bart Hector Jr went for a wild ride rolling over twice before resting upright on the tires! Bart was fine, but the wrecks didn’t stop there. A few run ins in every class keeps drivers and fans alike on the edge of their seats, and the last main event was for the Big Cars, and putting dents in cars is the second goal of all after trying to win! Here’s how the mains finished:

YH- #16 Blackburn

#6x Knutson

#00 Adamson

#11 Veenstra

#67 Gates

#72 Kelly Olsick

#77 Bailey

#15 Burck

#6 Mike Olsick

#68 Hector

Mini- #96 Schooler

#52 Minor

#18 Jeramy Razey

#19 Eddie Razey

#07 Whited

#88 Dixon

#6 Clark

#84 Doug Brown, DNF

#81 Pat Brown, DNF

#13 Kyzivat, DNF

#5 Larr, DNF

#1 Gardner, DNS

#71 Dunagan, BF

Hobby- #6 Kain

#34 McKenzie

#18 Ray

#42 Nelson

Street- #64 Stewart

#9 Pugh

#21 Lessman

#18 Cook

#12 Bretches

#10 Moore

#92 Bise, DNF

#6 Lannoye, DNF

Big Cars- #84 Hector

#19 Eddie Razey

#25 Berger

#6 Hayne

#42 White

#37 Kapalo

#3 Moore

#23 Blackburn

#29 Schnieder

Thank you Big Cars for a really entertaining season, you guys are awesome and can’t wait for next year, the fans want you back!

Congrats to Taylor Blackburn, Russ Kain and Ron Stewart for possibly wrapping up their championships with their class wins, and to Austin Schooler for making a quick transition from winning in the Youth Hornet division to winning against the Mini’s. In our post race interview, Austin said he wants to race Outlaw Compacts next year, watch out everyone, this kid can drive! Labor Day weekend will be a fun one.

Join us Saturday for Topless Night with the WMRA, Vintage Sprints, The Golden Wheels Ephrata Pioneer Muffler II Adult Hornets and Wingless Sprints.

Sunday night is loaded with more Sprints in the Winged Sprint Car Cast Iron Nationals, the Kim Janke State Farm Agent Youth Hornets and the Ultimate Challenge 125, if it’s legal, bring it! Fireworks will wrap up Sunday evening!

Saturday Gates open at 5 pm, racing at 7 p.m. Sunday gates open at 3 pm, racing at 5 pm