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  1st Place: #2 - Ron Larson | |
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| 2006 OK Tire Challenge Series Champion, Bob Williams |
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WESCAR OKTIRE Challenge Series - Cheiftan Auto Parts 100 Results:
September 9, 2006,
PGARA Speedway Park - Prince George, BC
The week before the PGARA speedway hosted a Hit-to-Pass event and the result was a slippery track for the WESCAR drivers to practice on. After two rounds of practice the Brett Young #0 Monte Carlo had found a fast groove on the cleaner track recording a 17.003 second lap. During qualifying the #0 Young car was able to improve from the practice sessions with the cooler autumn air and eclipsed his spring track record of 16.850 with a lap of 16.751 seconds. With the #0 second in the points coming into the evening, 14 points back of the points leader #5 Bob Williams, the evening looked promising.
Two weeks ago at Hythe Motorspeedway in Alberta the #2 Regency Chrysler Dodge driven by Chase Larson of Quesnel made hard contact with the backstraight wall. Young Chase was uninjured but the car suffered extensive damage. In the time from the last race the crew of the Larson car made the necessary repairs and arrived late in the afternoon Saturday unloading just in time to qualify. Their qualifying result with dad Ron Larson driving put them on the outside pole position with the complete inversion of the field. The WESCAR drivers took to the track for the running of the Chieftan Autoparts 100 forming their three-wide salute to the fans. When the green flag dropped Ron Larson jumped out to the lead and stretched his lead over the pack by up to 8 seconds. A caution flag flew around lap 45 allowing the field of cars close in on Larson. As the green flag waved again #2 Dodge retained the lead with challenges from #52 Napa Monte Carlo of Garnet Grimard and the #5 TurtleWax Monte Carlo of Bob Williams. The opportunity Brett Young saw earlier in the evening of possibly winning a championship vanished as he retired his car to the pit with a damaged radiator from on track contact with the #26 Wayne French car. The #71 Dave Olson challenging for the Red Bluff Pub Rookie of the year also saw his opportunity disappear when he entered the pit on lap 52 with a damaged powersteering system from an alternator that had come loose.
As the white flag flew #2 Larson continued to lead with the #5 Williams 1.5 seconds back and the #52 Grimard on his back bumper, the #38 Lee Thomas was in 4th with #43 Dallas Mayert chasing close behind. The checkers flew for #2 Ron Larson on the last lap with no change in the running order. On the front straight trophies were handed out to the top three runners in the Chieftan Autoparts 100 and the 2006 OKTire championship trophy was presented to #5 Bob Williams as his crew showered him with champagne. As Bob pulled away from victory lane he pulled the #5 Turtlewax car nose first against the front wall and smoked his tires much to the delight of the many WESCAR faithful fans in attendance. The Red Bluff Pub Rookie of the year honors unofficially will go to the #43 Dallas Mayert.
In a post race technical inspection all cars passed except the race winner #2 Larson and the champ contender #38 Thomas. A disheartening finish to the evening for two gentlemen drivers of the WESCAR OKTire Challenge Series.
Watch for more racing action in the WESCAR OKTire Challenge Series when the teams and their haulers return to speedways around B.C. and Alberta in 2007. All of us in the WESCAR family give a big thanks to all the sponsors that support the WESCAR series and to all the fans that follow the series as we tour the tracks on the WESCAR schedule. A special thanks goes to all the fans that donated money upon receiving a 2006 WESCAR program at race events. All the money will be going to the B.C. Childrens Hospital. Watch the papers and this website for the news on the amount collected at the 7 series races. Check back to the www.wescarracing.com website often for further off-season reports and pictures from the WESCAR awards banquet held in November. Thanks again and we will see you in 2007.
1. #2 Ron Larson DQ; 2. #5 Bob Williams; 3. #52 Garnet Grimard; 4. #38 Lee Thomas DQ; 5. #43 Dallas Mayert, ; 6. #6 Sheldon Mayert; 7. #23 Peter Ernst, ;
8. #26 Wayne French; 9. #71 Dave Olson, ; 10. #0 Brett Young; // Fast Qualifier: #0 Brett young, 16.751 seconds//Margin of victory, 1.586 seconds//
WESCAR Final points as of Sept 9,2006, (official)
Car Driver Points
1. 5 Bob Williams 273
2. 0 Brett Young 241
3. 23 Peter Ernst 219
4. 52 Garnet Grimard 194
5. 38 Lee Thomas 191
6. 6 Sheldon Mayert 188
7. 43 Dallas Mayert 153
8. 71 Dave Olson 129
9. 02 Ron Larson 91
10. 92 Darcy McKewon 55
11. 14 Ian Black 46
12. 33 Bill McNabb 42
13. 19 Kary Rogers 33
14. 22 Chris Babcock 30
15. 18 Korbin Thomas 25
16. 39 Dave Rounds 25
17. 20 Gary Shillington 16
18. 7 Dennis Adelman 13
19. 88 John Beaumont 12
20. 26 Wayne French 11
WESCAR OK Tire Challenge Series/media rep.