Longton extends points lead at Yakima

Mike Longton made his return to the Northwest Late Model racing scene a highly successful adventure. Longton extended his points lead in the highly competitive division with another win at the ASA sanctioned Yakima Speedway.

Defending Late Model champion, Owen Riddle, lead for exactly half way until the Ford of Longton made a strong inside move to take over the point. With rain in the area, the race was shortened to 50 laps. Eric Richardson from Bakersfield, California ran a hard race and finished a credible second. Steve Thompson of West Richland, had a broken axle that kept him out of competition in the main. Prossers, Scott Walker, set fast time at a blistering 19.132 sec. But the gremilins that have plagued the team all year ruined another evening. A broken brake line ended their night.

Four late model cars were in the pit area that did not start the main event. The car of Thompson, young Zach Moran hit the wall during practice and Marcus Maggard had dry sump pump problems. Portlands Dan Obrist loaded up his car and headed back to Portland when rain started falling and the evening activities looks doubtful. All of the teams and officials worked together to arrange the program in between showers and was able to get the entire program in and the final race was flagged at 10:24.

The Hobby Sportsman main event was run in two sections. The field ran 9 laps before the rains cam. Track officials red flagged the event and ran the Hornets and the Bump to pass cars. When the rains stopped the race was resumed, and all 35 laps were completed. Mel Patnode quickly took over the point and held on for the win.

Owen Berglund won his first main event of the year in the huge Hornet division. Joseph Roberts was victorious in the Youth Hornets and Dennis Clouse won the Bump to Pass.

Next event will be June 14th. The event scheduled for June 6th has been cancelled due to most of the area schools holding graduation that weekend.

Summary
Late Models
Fast time - Scott Walker 19.132 sec.
Dashes - A - Mike Zamora - B - Christopher Kalsch
Main Event - 50 laps - Mike Longton - Eric Richardson - Owen Riddle - Mike Zamora - Duke Langley - Ron Bemis - Christopher Kalsch - Darren Stordahl - Douglas Charles - Ken Olson - Scott Walker - Steve Thompson (DNS) -Marcus Maggard (DNS) - Zach Moran (DNS) - Dan Obrist (DNS)

Hobby Sportsman
Fast Time - John Raney 23.614 sec.
Dashes - A - Jerry Walker Jr. - B - Mel Patnode
Main Event - 35 laps - Mel Patnode - Don Klang - Jeff Stevenson - Terry Osborn - Reece Kastl - Mike Valcich - Barry Mueller - Randy Marshall Jr. -

Youth Hornets
Fast Time - Cord Jackman - 20.229 sec.
Dash - Jeffery Baker Jr.
Main Event - Joseph Roberts - Jeffery Baker Jr. - Cord Jackman - #41 - Kaylub Briskey

Hornets
Fast Time - Dave Peterson - 16.999 sec.
Dashes - A - James Norman - B - Ron Pepper
Main Event - Owen Berglund - Eric Coble - Dave Peterson - Cody Denton - Jake Breashers - Josh Washington - Terry Cook - Josuha Henne - Chris Kohler - Jacob Moran - Morgan Morrison - Tim Breashers - Michael Beck - Milo John - Jay Younker - Sheldon Tudor - Josh Parmitier - Ron Pepper - James Norman - Patrick Sensney - Chris Morrison

Bump to Pass
Fast Time - Donnie Stevens - 17.642 sec.
Dashes - A - Bobby A. Trujillo - B - Barb Belair
Main Event - Dennis Clouse - Merle Mager - Jared Heibert - Donnie Stevens - Mark Belair - Merle Stiltner - Frank Stiltner - Eddie Abrams - Bobby A. Trujillo - Barb Belair - Joe Brisky - #25

Hobby
Tyson Richter - Nathan Voyles