The weather broke into clearing skies just in time to run the WESCAR OKTire Challenge Series NORTH/SOUTH 100 Lap Shootout. The sixth race in the eight race series stopped at SunValley Motorspeedway in Vernon Saturday. Fans from across the province filled the stands to hear the roar of the engines driven by some of the best from B.C.

Daryl Hanet #10 of Kelowna captured fast time of 19.720 in qualifying with a cheer from the local fans but unfortunately his car was heavily damaged in a heat race and was never able to enter the 100lap feature race.

On lap 1 #17 Leonard Wilnechenko and #11 Tim Kish get together coming off turn 2. Kish literally drives over the front end of Wilnechenko as #17 spins on the high side. This brings out a caution and then a red flag to stop the race. All drivers were okay but a number of cars were caught in the wreck including #65 Cory Kaden, #17X Phil Scarfo, #52 Garnet Grimard, #06 Tim Christy, #72 Dennis Adelman, and #49 Warren Bergman. All suffered minor or cosmetic damage and returned to the race except #17 Wilnechenko., and #65 Kaden.

A complete restart of the field was done because under WESCAR rules one lap had not been completed. The green flag waved to restart the race and #23 Peter Ernst moved into the lead on the completion of lap 1. The race ran under green until lap 73 when a caution flew for debris on the track in turn 3 and #23 Ernst was continuing to lead with a challenge from #27 Arnie Kunka behind him so Ernst received the Lap 73 Leader award of $73 from Competition Automotive in Prince George. The green flag waves again on lap 77 and #27 Kunka challenges Ernst and captures the lead for lap 78 and 79 but Ernst fights back and regains the lead position. Again the caution flag flies on lap 82 because a lead weight from a vehicle laid on the front straight. On lap 86 the restart sees #23 Ernst continuing to lead with Kunka on his back. #0 Brett Young has been in 3rd since lap 15 and has been challenged by WESCAR point leader #5 Bob Williams since lap 21. The race winds up with Ernst taking the checkered flag, Kunka in 2nd and Young in 3rd on the podium. Brett Young also takes home the $50 Cloverdale Paint ÒMost Colourful Move of the raceÓ for his close call and saving his vehicle as he moved through lap traffic during the middle of the race.

Watch for more racing action in the WESCAR OKTire Challenge Series when the teams and their haulers arrive at ThunderMountain Raceway in Williams Lake, B.C. for the 7th race of the series on August 21, 2004. You can hear the last race of the season announced live on 99.3 the Drive from Prince George on September 11, 2004 in the WESCAR OK Tire Challenge Series with Ron St.Clair covering the lap by lap action. Check the website www.wescarracing.com for all the pictures and information on the series.