By Kris McKenzie
Mitch Hoffses drove the wheels of his Dad's Hawk/Gaerte and scored an exciting win at the Beautiful Wenatchee Valley Super Oval, one of the finest racing facilities on the Pacific Coast.
The first afternoon hot laps session saw a horrific crash when Pat Bliss in the Maples Beast/Ed Pink Ford had the throttle stick wide open going into turn one. A hard hit with the cement wall nearly destroyed the car, but thankfully, after being checked by the medics, Bliss, along with Maples and the crew chief, was able to walk back to the pits, to try to determine exactly what happened. Sadly this is the second car that Maples has seen heavily damaged this season, the first one being a total loss. Tom Maples is determined to get back out and is working now to try and make that happen, and have this new car repaired so Bliss can get back in the Championship hunt. Both Maples and Bliss were waiting for the 79 car to come through the pit gate so they could try and talk Rod Churchill into giving Pat Bliss the ride so he might have a chance to earn enough points to keep him in the lead for the Championship. Unfortunately for all concerned, the 79 car did not show up for this race.
Two new drivers made their appearance at this race, down from Aldergrove, B.C., with his beautiful Ellis/Focus was Steve Hora, making his very first appearance with WMRA. The 2006 WMRA Champion, Spence Gatrell in his Dad's Hawk/Esslinger made his first appearance for the 2011 season.
In qualifying the sought after Quality High-Tech Award went to Evan Margeson. In the six races run in 2011, Margeson has won this award twice, while Livernash, Petter, Tupling, and Bliss have each won once. This coveted award generates interest, not only for the drivers in the pits, but the fans in the stands. This evening Margeson won it by seven one hundredths of a second over second fast qualifier, Snake Livernash!
Two trophy dashes were run, in the first "B" dash Hoffses, from his outside front row starting position led every lap to come home the winner. The "A" dash saw a driver lead every lap to take the win, but this time Evan Margeson did it from his 4th starting position.
The first heat race got off to a wild start as going into turn three on the first lap. four of the five cars tried to occupy the same space. It didn't work! Both Brian Crutcher an Troy Globe were the recipients of the brunt of the melee and retired to the pits to assess damage. Brian and Troy Globe labored mightily and were able to repair their "11 car in time to start the main. However, the steering was broken in the Voss #45 and the car was retired for the night. The remaining cars took the green and Mitch Hoffses came home the winner by a large margin.
The second heat was a tremendous event as Kris McKenzie, in the Globe #41 fought to keep his Beast/Focus car in the lead fending off challenges from the best WMRA had to offer. He maintained the lead, but on lap three hard charging Ben Petter got by, but the next lap saw McKenzie back in the lead, which he held until going into turn three on the final lap when both Petter and Margeson slipped by.
Of the twelve cars that signed in the pit gate, only nine remained in racing trim to line up for the main event. Steve Hughes fought his Beast/Fontana all day long, got it to fire, but could not keep it running and so was not there to answer the green flag. When the green flag dropped contact between cars resulted in the #8 of Spence Gatrell doing a 360 down the front stretch and he continued on. From the pole position Mitch Hoffses took the lead and held it to the checkered flag. Ah, but it was not that simple, he had tremendous pressure for almost the entire thirty five laps from hard driving Ben Petter who was right at the rear bumper of the five car waiting for the slightest slip, which did not come. Behind Petter Evan Margeson was lurking and watching for a chance to improve his position, but sadly, that all ended when a battery wire failed and he made an early trip to the pits. Spence Gatrell meanwhile had been working his way back up and was in third place, and watching for any chance to get by either Petter or Hoffses. Back in the pack, Livernash who had suffered due to the front stretch spin was far back in the field and battling to regain positions. For several laps he had a ringside seat to the tight, close racing between Troy Globe and Kris McKenzie before getting by them. Behind that was another little war going on between Hora and Tupling which ended when Tupling pulled in on lap 17 with motor problems. It was coming out of turn four on the last lap when spectators knew that Mitch Hoffses would pull it off - yes, it was that close!
Qualifying: 1. #50 Evan Margeson; 12:810 2. #13 Snake Livernash; 12:817 3. #21 Ben Petter; 12:866 4. #4 Cole Tupling; 13:141 5 #41 Kris McKenzie; 13:325 6. #46 Steve Hora; 13:325 7. #8 Spence Gatrell; 13:403 8. #5 Mitch Hoffses; 13:437 9. #11 Troy Globe; 13:437 10. #45 Brian Crutcher; 13:702 11 #12 Steve Hughes; no time 12. #98 Pat Bliss; wrecked
"B" Dash; Hoffses, Gatrell, Globe, Hora.
"A" Dash; Margeson, Petter, Tupling, Livernash.
First Heat; Hoffses, Gatrell, Hora, Crutcher, Globe.
Second Heat; Petter, Margeson, McKenzie, Livernash, Tupling.
Main Event; 1. Hoffses, 2. Petter, 3. Gatrell, 4 Livernash, 5. McKenzie, 6. Globe, 7. Hora, 8. Tupling, 9. Margeson
Point Standings
1. Snake Livernash 849
2. Pat Bliss 804
3. Evan Margeson 799
4. Kris McKenzie 705
5. Troy Globe 675
6. Cole Tupling 660
7. Ben Petter 615
8. Mitch Hoffses 540
9. Steve Hughes 451
10. Brian Crutcher 401
11. Bobby Dempsey 256
12. Billy Bell 219
13. Kevin Koepke 153
14. Spence Gatrell 132
--. Steve Hora 117
--. Jeremiah Franklin 105
--. Dave Pirie 101
15. Skeet Flake 52
Rookie of the Year: This evening saw Kris McKenzie increase his lead in the "Rookie" title chase as he gained points on all the other contenders.
1. Kris McKenzie 705
2. Cole Tupling 660
3. Steve Hughes 451
4. Brian Crutcher 401
5. Bobby Dempsey 256
6. Billy Bell 219