SEIDELMAN AND ATKINSON WIN AT EPHRATA RACEWAY PARK
(Ephrata, WA) 9/4/10 by Kelly Hart

With gale force winds blowing all day long at Ephrata Raceway Park the dust was swirling and when it settled Tony Seidelman of Spanaway, WA and Mark Atkinson of Kirkland, WA were the big winners on Topless Night at ERP. A special non-wing open wheel show saw 14 Sprint cars and 9 WMRA Midgets take the green flag at Main Event time on the high-banked asphalt quarter mile. Congratulations also to Chris McCart for winning the Jerry’s Auto Supply BIG CAR Championship. Also race fans watched the West Coast Vintage Racers bring 14 Sprints and Modifieds to the track with the Golden Wheels Midget group showing 8 museum quality cars.

The evening looked like it was going to be the “Jeff Bird Show” as the Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia racer set fast time with a 14.127 lap, won the Trophy Dash and his Qualifying Heat before dominating the first 24 laps of the 30 lap, $1000.00 to win Main Event. Bird had opened up a full straightaway lead and put all but 6 cars down a lap before the car just stopped running coming out of turn four. Seidelman who set second fast time and won the other Qualifying Heat was the next most dominant car and inherited the lead. From the restart it was all Seidelman in the Bob Witte #86 car. Local racers Joe Smith and Mike Fought had a great race for all 30 laps for second and third. Todd Lolkus and Whitney Nolan rounded out the top 5.

Mark Atkinson used his pole position start to hold the point for all 25 laps of the WMRA Main Event. A few times Evan Margeson got to the rear nerf bar but Atkinson used lapped traffic and great restarts to pull away for the win. San Francisco, CA driver Jimmy Screeton drove the Seidelman Family Midget to fast time with a 13.703 second lap. Winning the Trophy Dash was Margeson and Atkinson claimed the Heat Race win.

In the Big Cars McCart won the Heat Race wrapping up the 2010 championship in the process. Fred Moore won the Heat Race and Josh Hector won the Grand Finale Main Event that saw BIG CARS taking turns flying over the motocross track jumps and even saw one car rollover after taking part of jump just off the front stretch. A fitting end to a raucous season of Jerry’s Auto Supply racing at Ephrata Raceway Park.

The West Coast Vintage Racers Main Event winner was Paul Day in his debut night of racing with the club. Day hails from Plains, Montana. While the Golden Wheels Main Event winner was Bob Scott of Seattle, WA.

Ephrata Raceway Park wraps up its 2010 Season Championship Saturday Night September 11th with 360 Sprint Cars, Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks and Youth Hornets battling for points championships. Gates open at 5pm with racing at 7pm.

Wingless 360 Sprints:
Fast time: 55 Jeff Bird 14.127
Dash: 55 Bird, 24 Todd Lolkus, 86 Tony Seidelman, 65 Kevin Burck
Heat 1: 55 Bird, 78 Mike Fought, 26 Cam McLean, 24 Lolkus, 25 Whitney Nolan
Heat 2: 86 Seidelman, 65 Burck, 7 Joe Smith, 22 Henry Tupling, 28 Tom Beierman
86 Tony Seidelman, 7 Joe Smith, 78 Fought, 24 Lolkus, 25 Nolan, 2 Adam Smith, 28 Beierman, 96 Frankie Volz, Sr., 74 Rafael Kurek, 96 Tom Veenstra, 55 Bird, 22 Tupling, 26 McLean, 66 Burck
Lap leaders: 55 Bird 1-24, 86 Seidelman 25-30

WMRA:
Fast time: 4 Jimmy Screeton 13.703
Dash: 50 Evan Margeson, 22 Ben Petter, 13 Snake Livernash, 4 Screeton
Heat: 23 Mark Atkinson, 50 Margeson, 13 Livernash, 7 Bobby Bird, 41 Chris McKenzie
Main: 23 Mark Atkinson, 50 Margeson, 4 Screeton, 22 Petter, 13 Livernash, 7 Bobby Bird, 41 McKenzie, 44 Kevin Koepke, 79 Joel Burrier
Lap leaders: 23 Atkinson 1-25

Jerry’s Auto Supply BIG CARS
Dash: 8 Fred Moore, 84 Josh Hector, 111 Lee Love, 4 Troy Lannoye
Heat: 95 Chris McCart, 8 Moore, 11 Ray Hahne, 36 John Blackburn, 84 Hector
Main: 84 Josh Hector