Burnin' Up the Track In Quesnel!

Sunday, June 17, 2007 07:00 PM

-by Douglas Waller

Winner Peter Ernst holds the trophy, while son Mike drives the car (photo submitted by Douglas Waller)

The fans gathered on blankets and lawnchairs on the sloping terraced hills of Quesnel’s Goldpan Speedway for the 3rd 100 lap race of the OKTIRE Challenge Series.

The Fort St. John driver behind the wheel of the #38 Pontiac Grand Prix lived up to his nickname again as Lightning Lee Thomas set the fast qualifying time of 15.210 surpassing the existing record of 15.211 set a year ago by Brett Young of Prince George.

After being involved a horrific wreck involving 4 cars at PGARA speedway May 26, 2007 the Bobby Williams #5 Turtlewax Monte Carlo came back strong to win his 15 lap heat race and B-dash. The #23 Peter Ernst Fountain Tire Chevy won the A-dash, once again showing his prowess at his home track.

The green flag rippled throught the cool evening air to begin the OKTIRE 100 feature race of the evening. The #92 McCarthy GM Chevy driven by Darcy Mckewon of Terrace, B.C. showed early that he can run strong near the front by chasing the leader Bobby Williams in his #5 Turtlewax Chevy. On lap 34 the first caution waved for the #52 Garnet Grimard Northshore Auto Chev involved with the leader #5 Williams spinning in turn 3. Another yellow flag flew on lap 41 shortly after a restart when all the cars were in a tight pack and the #5 got caught up with the #71 Dave Olson. Another caution came out on lap 78 when the #92 Mckewon Chevy tangled with #22 Ford Taurus of Chris Babcock from Fort St. John. This sent both cars to the back of the pack with a very disgruntled Mckewon behind the wheel. While these late race cautions took place along with a couple of red flags due to debris on the track the #23 Fountain Tire Chevy of Peter Ernst worked his way to the front with #38 Lee Thomas and rookie #2 Chase Larson of Quesnel in his Regency Chrysler Dodge following close behind or even beside during restarts. The #23 used his experience and crew assistance to conduct perfect restarts holding off the advance attempts of the two other drivers #38 Thomas & #2 Larson. The late race restarts made for an exciting end to an occasional freight train race. The #23 Ernst was able to successfully stay ahead of the #38 & #2 and that is the way they passed under the checkered flag held by WESCAR flagman Lyall McComber. This was the first podium top 3 finish for the young, curly red- haired rookie Larson and conducted himself like a veteran in the post race trackside interview.

The next race in the series will be at Williams Lake’s Thunder Mountain Speedway June 30, 2007 during the Williams Lake stampede weekend.

Check the website www.wescarracing.com for all the pictures, schedule and news in the OKTire Challenge Series.

OKTire 100 Race results

Place Car Driver
1. #23 Peter Ernst ;