On May 30 the Vintage Modifieds arrived for the first of two season events at the Wenatchee Valley Super Oval. Because this is a beautiful facility and has great fan support WVSO is on of the group’s favorite stops. With temperatures in the high 90s the drivers were prepared for a hot night of racing. Track conditions were of course slick and hot, but no major malfunctions occurred during the two hot lap sessions. What was expected to by all to be a crazy “wreck-fest” ended up being almost caution flag free but still very exciting.

Defending champion Jim Jones once again laid down the fast time of the event at 14:330 seconds, just slightly faster than Dave Trapp’s great effort.

On this night two trophy dashes were run. The B dash was won from the back row by the super fast Chrysler of Charlie West, Jr. Mike Clother and Robert Rux led off the A dash and ran side-by-side until the concrete retaining wall reached out and bent Rux’s car. The only caution flag of the evening flew to allow removal of Rux’s car, which would be repaired before the heat races. Clother led the remaining laps to take the trophy.

Sophomore driver Josh Petersen was on the pole for the B heat. Josh Wyne in his Ford powered car was on the outside. Wyne led the first lap followed closely by Charlie West Jr. who took over the lead after two laps. Cagey veteran Eric McClain worked his way from the back of the 6 car field but was unable to catch West who had taken a half lap lead by the end of the race. West won his second race of the evening with McClain in hot pursuit. Ike Hoskinson and Wyne held on for 3rd and 4th respectively.
Bobby Wheeler Jr. had the pole position for the A heat. Bob Fulmer, John Mustered and Clother surrounded him. On the second lap Fulmer spun his tires, got loose and made side contact with Wheeler sending him to mow the infield grass. No caution flag. Clother chased Fulmer for the remaining 8 laps to finish 2nd with Jones tightly in 3rd place, just ahead of Trapp and Mustered.

Josh Wyne started on the pole for the 40 lap main. Chuck Peterson was to his right and Hoskinson and McClain were just behind him. Bob Fulmer opted to drop to the rear of the field for mechanical reasons moving Clother up to start beside former champion Bobby Wheeler Jr. in the third row. Peterson got off to slow start at the green flag making the inside row the best place to be. Wyne led the first lap easily and took Hoskinson, Wheeler, Mustered and Rux with him. Clother was able to drop down into the 6th position. On lap 6 Hoskinson moved around Wyne to take over the lead, but, one lap later, Wheeler made the pass to became the third leader of the race. From the back of the field Jones was making his way to the front passing Clother with a daring inside move to take over 5th place. By lap 14 Jones was in second place just behind Wheeler. Mustered still maintained 3rd and Clother moved up to 4th. On lap 17 Rux drove his car to the pits with an oil leak. One lap later Jones took the lead from Wheeler. Those two events were probably not related.

Approaching the half way point Dave Trapp’s hopes for a good finish were dashed when his engine started sounding sour forcing him to call it a night, Josh Wyne was in and out of the pits with a stubborn oil leak and Josh Petersen was limping around the track with a near flat right front tire. By lap 22 Fulmer was still working his way from his “back of the pack” start and took over 6th place.

As is his normal style once in the lead, Jones drove away from the field, lapping slower cars and leaving Wheeler, Mustered and Clother is a close battle for runner up honors. That battle lasted 15 laps before Wheeler began slowing. With Mustered just behind him and Clother working the outside in turn 3, Wheeler’s right rear tire gave up causing Mustered to slow and allowing Clother to successfully move from 4th to 2nd in one lucky pass on lap 34. When the race concluded Jones was still in another zip code and won by a half lap but Clother was able to hold on to 2nd just ahead of Mustered. Fulmer had a good run finishing 4th with West, Hoskinson and Peterson in tow. McClain, Wyne and Wheeler rounded out the top 10.

On June 13th the Vintage Mods will be back at South Sound Speedway for a Father’s day special event.