Scott Walker showed the field the quick way around the Yakima Speedway half mile oval in capturing his first WMRA feature, sponsored by Apex Graffix.  Walker, driving the family owned Shy’s Pizza, Hall Chevrolet, Les Schwab Tire, Stealth/Gaerte took the lead on lap twenty-six to take the checkered over Spence Gatrell in the Ridgecrest Homes, ProFab Racecars Hawk/Gaerte.  Current point leader Rick Moss was third in the HVB Racing Beast/Pink Ford.

Under threatening skies, Evan Margeson and Steve Spoor brought the nineteen car field down for the green with Spoor taking the advantage through the first and second turns.  Moss was able to get under both Kenny Wood and Skeeter Flake before they got to turn three on the opening lap to move up to the third position.  The order after the first lap was Spoor, Margeson, Moss, Flake and Kenny Wood.  Walker was able to move up from his seventh starting position with an outside pass of Dallas Melby with Gatrell following right on his tail.  On lap two, fast qualifier, Brian Olson, was able to pass Melby and move into eighth from his eleventh place starting position.  The top three were running nose to tail and were opening a small advantage over Kenny Wood when on lap four, Flake, Walker and Gatrell were able to pass Wood.  Over the next few laps, it appeared as if Spoor was a little slower than Margeson as the top eight were running nose to tail.  On lap seven, Moss was able to get under Margeson down the front straight.  On the same lap, Walker made the pass for fourth from Flake down the back straight.  On lap nine, Ken Muth stalled on the pit access lane to bring out the first caution of the night.  The restart order was Spoor, Moss, Margeson, Walker, and Flake with Kenny Wood, Gatrell, Olson, Melby and Breanna Lopez rounding out the top ten.  Spoor got a great restart with Walker all over the back of Moss looking for an opening.  On lap ten, Kenny Wood began slowing with motor problems.  On lap eleven, Walker, Moss and Spoor raced three wide through turn two with Walker taking the lead as the yellow came out for Kenny Wood who was coming to a stop in turn four with ignition problems, negating the pass.  Spoor had lost his power steering but was going to do everything possible to hold back the pack.  As the green waved, Moss was able to make the pass through the first turn with Walker also getting by Spoor down the back straight.  On the following lap, Margeson, Gatrell and Olson were able to get past Spoor moving the early leader back to sixth.  Moss was running his normal low line that appeared faster through turns one and two with Walker using a little higher line that was quicker in three and four.   On lap fourteen, Olson moved into the top five with an inside pass of Spoor.  The running order after fourteen was Moss, Walker, Margeson, Gatrell and Olson.  Spoor, Melby, Ken Ferris, Lopez and Tony Seidelman rounded out the top ten.  There were two distinct races on the track with Moss and Walker battling for the lead and positions three through ten running nose to tail.  Melby got past Spoor for sixth on lap fifteen.  On lap sixteen, Ferris went around the outside to pass Spoor entering turn three when Lopez and Spoor made contact with Spoor spinning.  On the restart, Moss moved to a two car length lead through the first and second turns as Ferris was able to get under Melby for sixth.  The positions remained the same for the next few laps as Walker had again moved up to Moss’ tail.  On lap twenty, Ferris called it a night when he lost his power steering.  Two laps later, Lopez and Melby made contact entering turn one with Melby going off the track to bring out the caution.  On the restart, Kevin Wood, Mark Torres and Spoor tangled in turn three.  Unfortunately for Spoor, he was through due to the two spin rule.  Torres called it a night with front suspension damage.  Kevin Wood was restarted but came to a stop one lap later with a small engine fire and was also done for the night.  The running order for the restart was Moss, Walker, Margeson, Gatrell and Olson with Lopez, T. Seidelman, Flake, Rob Lindsey, Stuart Birkenbine and Nick Seidelman the only other drivers on the lead lap.  On the restart, Walker appeared to be faster than Moss but couldn’t find an opening.  On lap twenty-four, Gatrell went under Margeson for third down the back straight.  On lap twenty-five, Walker appeared to have the opening he was looking for but the hole closed as the leading pair entered turn one.  Exiting turn four on the same lap, Moss moved up a half a car length allowing Walker the space he needed to pass for the lead entering the first turn.  One lap later, Gatrell shot past Moss down the back straight to take second and Olson moved under Margeson for fourth through turn three.  As Walker and Gatrell took the white flag, Margeson and Lopez made contact entering turn three with Lopez coming to a stop off the track outside turn four.  The yellow came out along with the checkered in the thirty lap feature.  The win was especially sweet for the entire Walker team as they had to battle just to make the feature.  During his qualifying run, the u-joint failed and took out the driveline, torque tube and ball housing.  With the offer of parts from several teams, the car was ready for the main with just minutes to spare.

The night got off to a fast start as Gatrell went out and set a new track record.  Not to be outdone, Lopez lowered Gatrell’s record by nearly a tenth of a second.  Olson lost his brakes on his first qualifying attempt and ended up outside of turn two.  After repairs were made, Olson came back with only one qualifying lap and lowered the track record to 18.302.  The SpeedMart dashes were won by Lindsey over T. Seidelman and Ferris over Lopez.  A steady shower forced cancellation of the heat races.  Matt Stone broke a rocker arm and Tony Carabello broke a rear end in practice ending their night early.

RESULTS:

Qualifications:  Brian Olson (71) 18.302 NTR, 25 Breanna Lopez (25) 18.404, Spence Gatrell (8) 18.497, Ken Ferris (28) 18.582, Scott Walker (34) 18.616, Dallas Melby (9) 18.622, Rick Moss (50) 18.745, Skeeter Flake (17) 18.830, Kenny Wood (93) 18.962, Steve Spoor (23i) 18.973, Evan Margeson (11) 19.026, Stuart Birkenbine (02) 19.089, Tony Seidelman (44) 19.155, Rob Lindsey (23) 19.375, Nick Seidelman (4) 19.378, Kevin Wood (95) 19.564, Ken Muth (14) 19.787, Mark Torres (45) 20.124, Alan Norton (69) 22.435, Matt Stone (10) NT, Tony Carabello (5) NT.

SpeedMart B Dash:  Lindsey, T. Seidelman, Margeson, Birkenbine.

SpeedMart A Dash:  Ferris, Lopez, Gatrell, Olson.

Apex Graffix Main (30 laps):  Walker, Gatrell, Moss, Olson, T. Seidelman, Margeson, Lindsey, Flake, Birkenbine, N. Seidelman, Lopez, Norton, Melby, Kevin Wood, Torres, Spoor, Ferris, Kenny Wood, Muth, Stone DNS, Carabello DNS.

Point Standings:  (Unofficial):  Rick Moss 724, Spence Gatrell 626, Breanna Lopez 575, Evan Margeson 565, Dallas Melby 564, Rob Lindsey 559, Scott Walker 522, Steve Spoor 519, Tony Seidelman 514, Nick Seidelman 490, Skeeter Flake 476, Ken Ferris 449.