By Kris McKenzie
A close and exciting main event closed out a night of great midget racing at the Wenatchee Valley Super Oval. Evan Margeson nosed out Ben Petter who had closed right up to the #50 rear bumper just several laps from the finish.
Time trials saw eleven of the twelve cars take the green flag and register timed laps. Kevin Koepke was once again the victim of mechanical reverses which prevented him from clocking in, however, the car was able to answer the green flag for the first heat.
The brand new good looking Tom & Judy Maples Beast/Ed Pink Ford made a great showing and rewarded Tom, Tony Seidelman and Pat Bliss for the three hard weeks work they put in to get the car ready for this race. The eighth car out to qualify, Margeson set fast time of the evening at 12:583. There were two other cars which were within a tenth of a second of the time the smooth and fast car #50 laid down.
Fans were treated to two trophy dashes; the first being made up entirely of "Rookie" drivers which proved exciting and a crowd pleaser! When the green flag waved, Bobby Dempsey from his outside front row starting spot, dove into turn one at something barely shy of mach three! Owner Allen Dixon added a bunch of gray hairs as he watched Bobby wrestle with the car, miss the outside cement wall by inches, floorboard it and zoom back into the lead going into turn three, at that time Dixon quit counted gray hairs and started swallowing hard and fast!
Bobby started to settle down by that time and began turning in some really fast and smooth laps, but Billy Bell in the Globe #55 just would not go away. Dempsey managed to hold a lead until coming out of turn two on the last lap. A throttle linkage malfunction caused the Dempsey driven #43 to have to coast around to the checkered flag and a jubilant Billy Bell found himself the winner.
The fast and close "A" dash saw Mitch Hoffses in his dad's Hawk/Gaerte take a close and hard fought win from Pat Bliss in the brand new Maples #98 Beast/Ed Pink Ford. Four of the five rookies started the first heat; missing from the line up was Bobby Dempsey as work on the throttle linkage was not yet completed. Pole sitter Troy Globe grabbed the lead going into turn one, and never to relinquish it, he was followed by Billy Bell, Kevin Koepke and Cole Tupling. On lap five the #44 car just gave up the ghost and was out for the evening. This put Cole Tupling into third where he remained until the checkered flag.
The "A" main start was something to behold. Neither drivers, pitmen watching, nor fans thought the cars were lined up, but rather, still dropping into their assigned starting positions when the green flag was waved! This resulted in a pretty wild scene as some cars were undecided, some still trying to fit into their assigned slots and others on it full bore and going for the lead! Fortunately, there seemed to be no contact, even if the track was full from top to bottom with midgets. At the end of the first lap, the running order was Hoffses, Petter, Margeson, Bliss, Livernash, Globe, McKenzie, Tupling, Dempsey, Bell and Hughes. While there were positions changed in the rear of the field, the front five remained as position on the first lap.
On lap nine, Margeson got by Petter. On lap eleven, going into turn three the #50 and #5 cars touched with the #5 car moving up the track as the #50, #21 and #98 cars got by before Hoffses could rein it back in. In the meantime, after having been way out of position on the start, Livernash was running an equal speed to the leaders, but could not close the gap from his 5th running position.
Lap eleven saw the #11 of Troy Globe take the pit exit with an overheated motor. The rookies were all having a great battle of their own, but a distance back from the hard charging leaders. Kris McKenzie who had worked his way up in the field hooked the inside berm of turn two and did a quick spin. He was restarted, went to the rear and the green flag waved again. Dempsey in the #43 had worked his way up to sixth when the throttle linkage once again gave problems and he was forced to drop out of the race. There were no other incidents during the event and the close finish had the fans watching carefully as Margeson and Petter crossed the line nose to tail. Results below.
Qualifying: 1. #50 Evan Margeson 12:583 2. #21 Ben Petter 12:629 3. #98 Pat Bliss 12: 640 4. #5 Mitch Hoffses 12:644 5. Snake Livernash #13 12:827 6. #41 Kris McKenzie 13:186 7. #11 Troy Globe 13:405 8. #55 Billy Bell 13:905 9. #4 Cole Tupling 13:910 10. #43 Bobby Dempsey 14:002 11. #79 Steve Hughes 16:283 DNQ #44 Kevin Koepke
"B" Dash: Bell, Tupling, Dempsey, Hughes "A" Dash: Hoffses, Bliss, Petter, Margeson 1st Heat: Globe, Bell, Tupling, Hughes, Koepke 2nd Heat: Hoffses, Livernash, Margeson, Petter, Bliss, McKenzie
"A" Main: Margeson, Petter, Bliss, Hoffses, Livernash, Tupling, McKenzie, Bell, Dempsey, Hughes, Globe.
Rookie of the Year Battle: Kris McKenzie holds the lead by 27 points over Steve Hughes. The rub is that McKenzie will miss the next race and Hughes is hoping to be in his own Beast/Gaerte for the first time that night! Cole Tupling who missed the opener at South Sound looked really good in the Seidelman #4 and is going to be a factor in the rookie race for honors and he plans to make the May 14th race at South Sound. With the Dixon #43 making its first appearance at Wenatchee and rookie Bobby Dempsey looking very strong, he may well be a factor in this "race within a race". The bad news for Brian Crutcher is that during practice a rod went through the block in the Beautiful Voss #45 and plans for the future are uncertain as of this time.
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1. Evan Margeson 325
2. Snake Livernash 278
3. Ben Petter 265
4. Mitch Hoffses 264
5. Pat Bliss 252
6. Kris McKenzie 228
7. Troy Globe 219
8. Steve Hughes 201
9. Cole Tupling 119
10. Billy Bell 112
11. Brian Crutcher 105
12. Kevin Koepke 103
13. Bobby Dempsey 99
CHAMPIONSHIP ROOKIE
Kris McKenzie 228
Steve Hughes 201
Cole Tupling 119
Billy Bell 112
Brian Crutcher 105
Bobby Dempsey 99
Kris McKenzie 228
Steve Hughes 201
Cole Tupling 119
Billy Bell 112
Brian Crutcher 105
Bobby Dempsey 99