Don Klang captured his first win of the 2003 season in the Hobby Stock division while Greg Kulhman bested Ken Olson in the Better-All Auto Sales Super Stock class.
Former late model champions Dean Owens and Ron Dexter led the field to the green flag and put on a spirited battle for the lead off turn No. 2. Owens held the inside line, but had a mechanical failure in the right front which collected Dexter, sending his Chevrolet into a flip off turn No. 3. Dexter and Owens would escape injury, but both of their race cars were down for the evening.
Evans assumed the lead under the caution period and broke out to a furious pace over fast time winner, Scott Walker. Bennett moved by Walker on lap 37 and caught Evans as lap 40 began.
Over the next three laps the veteran Evans and the young gun Bennett thrilled the crowd with a great side-by-side duel before Bennett cleared Evans on lap 43.
Evans spun his Chevrolet off turn No. 3 near lap 50, but was able to recover back to fourth place by lap 60. Longton started in third place and held his ground throughout the evening, finally moving to second place when Walker got loose exiting turn No. 2 and spun off turn No. 3 battling Bennett for the lead.
Longton was never able to reel Bennett in during the final 10 laps and settled for second place. While it was not Bennett’s first career win, to beat some of the best late model drivers at Yakima Speedway was very special.
“This feels so good, I owe it all to every sponsor on my car; Zeb’s and Rainbow Enterprises. Jim and Pam Miller, they know that they won this race for me by helping me out in a big way,” Bennett said. “About lap 20 to 30 this thing started missing. I don’t know if it was an exhaust leak or what but I thought we were done. I was watching my gauges so much, and then we were able to close up on Mike.Under the last caution I was praying that this thing didn’t miss because I knew Mike was going to try and get all over me, but the car did not miss.”
The 19-car Hobby Stock class provided a thrilling race with several side-by-side duels and two drivers consistently sliding sideways coming off turn No. 4 as they battle for the top-3.
Based on a complete invert of the field, fast time winner Don Klang started shotgun on the field. Jesse Vincent and Jim Zorrosua led the field to the green flag. By lap four Ted Wilburn Jr. moved to the front of the pack with Thomas Benscoter grabbing second place by lap seven and last week’s winner Buck Noel Jr. moving to third place on lap seven.
Joel Olson started in 17th position on the field, but quickly moved to third place in turn No. 1 by lap 10. Klang moved up from the rear of the field to take over the lead off turn No. four as lap 12 came to a close.
Over the final 18 laps, Olson and Jeff Mullins raced side-by-side and matched each other slide for slide as the cars were loose exiting turns No. 2 and 4. While neither driver would completely lose control, Klang was able to move out to a comfortable lead and never looked back in grabbing his first victory of 2003. Olson held off Mullins late to take runner-up honors.
In the Better-All Auto Sales Super Stock division, Greg Kulhman set a new track record with a lap of 20.625 in qualifying. The field was separated by less than a second in the late afternoon qualifying session.
As the result of a complete invert, Kulhman started in sixth place for the 25-lap main event. Jack Mondor and Shawn Mathews led the field to the green with Mathews assuming the lead by the completion of lap one.
By the end of lap two, Ken Olson moved to the lead with Kulhman taking the top spot at the end of lap three. Olson would fall back as the handling went away on his Chevrolet. Kulhman had said earlier in the day he would break the track record, and backed up his performance with a dominating run in the main.
Kulhman built a lead of over ten car-lengths during the middle portions of the event and won his first race of the season by half a straight way. Olson finished second followed by Mathews, Kriss Clark, Erick Hargraves and Mondor.
Unofficial Yakima Speedway Finishing Orders For April 19, 2003-
NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Late Model finishing: 1) Travis Bennett 2) Mike Longton 3) Garrett Evans 4) Ken Olson 5) Bryan Weiner 6) Scott Walker 7) Ron Bemis 8) Jack Eby 9) Dan Obrist 10) Bill Mills 11) Bob Dexter 12) Mel Shenyer 13) Christopher Kaltsch 14) Troy Trammell 15) Dean Owens 16) Ron Dexter
Fast Time- Scott Walker, 18.877 seconds
Better-All Super Stock finishing order:
1) Greg Kulhman 2) Ken Olson 3) Shawn Mathews 4) Kriss Clark 5) Erick Hargraves 6) Jack Mondor
Fast Time- Greg Kulhman, 20.625 seconds (track record)
Yakima Speedway Hobby Stocks finishing order:
1) Don Klang 2) Joel Olson 3) Jeff Mullins 4) Ted Wilburn Jr. 5) Neal Smith 6) Buck Noel Jr. 7) Mark Harrah 8) Mike Maddox 9) Ross Ogan 10) Don Sowder 11) Ron Morton 12) Jim Zorrosua 13) Chad Pittman 14) Dave Denton 15) Jesse Vincent 16) Dave Changala 17) Bobby Trujillo 18) Ron Hall 19) Thomas Benscoter
Fast Time Winner- Don Klang, 24.903 seconds