Austyn Anderson rallied for a run past pole winner Craig Deaver en route to the Cast Iron Winged Sprint Nationals which kicked off the 2010 season at Ephrata Raceway Park.

Courtesy: K. Hart/ERP Media Relations

Opening night at Ephrata Raceway Park saw 43 cars signed into the pits. The feature show was the Cast Iron Winged Sprint Car Nationals presented by Pepsi Cola.   Setting fast time was Craig Deaver of Lake Tapps, WA with a 12.935 clocking. The only competitor in the 12 second bracket. The three trophy dashes were won by Joe Smith of Moses Lake, Kevin Burck of Ephrata and Jeff Montgomery from Victoria, British Columbia . Heat races were captured by Mike Fought of Othello and Burck. In the Main Event, 13 high horsepower winged Sprint Cars thundered under the green flag. Joe Smith led the first 3 laps before 17 year old sprint sensation Austyn Anderson took over. Anderson picked his way through the field for the remaining 47 laps. The race was slowed by just two cautions. One on lap 14 when Jeff Bird hit the front stretch wall and again on lap 34 for a spinning Kevin Witte in turn 2. Craig Deaver was the man on the move and gets the hard charger award for starting 12th and finishing 2nd. Montgomery rounded out the top 3.   A great field of Outlaw Compact Auto Racers battled it out in the 50 lap main event. For the first few circuits Chad Benjamin held the top spot, but eighth starting Jeff Hector was a man on a mission. Hector picked his way through the field and was in the lead by the 4th lap. Hector had a quarter lap lead and was into traffic by the eighth lap and extending his lead. Hector had half the field lapped by lap 21. By lap 40 Hector, Mike Fritz and Jim Perry were the last cars on the lead lap and disaster struck on lap 48 as 4 cars tangled in turn two. This closed the gap between Hector and Fritz. On the restart with a few lapped cars in between the two took off, on the white flag lap, Hector and Fritz tangled in turn two with Perry splitting the difference and rolling around the last half lap for the lead and the win. Heat races were won by Todd Vandiest of Tacoma and Jeff Hector of Ephrata. The Trophy Dashes were picked up by Vandiest, Justin Lovitt of State Line, Idaho and Jim "Guido" Perry from Federal Way.   In the Kim Janke State Farm Agent Youth Hornets fast time was set by Colton Fisher of Ephrata with an 18.112 lap during a 10 lap Grand Prix style qualifying session. Trophy Dash wins went to Kelly Olsick from Soap Lake and Josh Waulters of Quincy. The Heat Race win went to Dylan Adamson of Moses Lake. In the Main Event Dylan Adamson, Josh Waulters and Kelly Olsick put on a great 3 car battle for all fifteen laps. Olsick holding down the lead for the first 6 laps and Adamson the final 9 circuits.   KIM JANKE STATE FARM AGENT YOUTH HORNETS FAST TIME 44 Colton Fisher 18.112 B DASH 72 Kelly Olsick, 32 Chase Kirk, 20 Mykkal Mulalle A DASH 90 Josh Waulters, 00 Dylan Adamson, 99 Tyler Redin, 44 Colton Fisher HEAT 00 Adamson, 72 Olsick, 90 Josh Waulters, 99 Redin, 44 Fisher MAIN 00 Dylan Adamson, 90 Waulters, 72 Olsick, 99 Redin , 32 Kirk, 20 Mullale, 44 Fisher Lap Leaders 72 Olsick 1-5, 00 Adamson 6-15   OUTLAW COMPACT AUTO RACING FAST TIME 88 Jeff Hector 15.688 C DASH 19 Todd Vandiest, 31 Earl Peyton, 44 Charles Larr, 50 Tim Clark B DASH 30 Justin Lovitt, 12 Chad Benjamin, 3 Rod Helmuth A DASH 83 Jim Perry, 88 Jeff Hector, B HEAT 19 Todd Vandiest, 7 Scott Waulters, 33 Kim Lang, 87 Greg Hector, 84 Doug Brown A HEAT 88 Jeff Hector, 5 Eric Angeledes ,30 Lovitt, 2 Mike Fritz, 12 Benjamin MAIN 83 Jim Perry, 2 Fritz, 33 Lang, 5 Angeledes, 88 Jeff Hector, 87 Greg Hector, 08 Jesse Hector, 12 Benjamin, 30 Lovitt, 84 Brown, 31 Peyton, 50 Clark, 19 Vandiest, 21 Dale Creager, 5 Angeledes, 7 Waulters, 92 Molly Helmuth, 44 Larr Lap Leaders 12 Benjamin 1-3, 88 Jeff Hector 4-49, 83 Perry 50   CAST IRON WINGED SPRINT NATIONALS FAST TIME 15 Craig Deaver 12.935 C DASH 7 Joe Smith, 19 Justin Popple, 86 Donnie Kudrna, 96 Kevin Witte B DASH 65 Kevin Burck, 78 Mike Fought, 14 Matt Mansell, 2 Randy Vincent A DASH 33j Jeff Montgomery, 15 Craig Deaver, X Jeff Bird, 27 Craig Deaver B HEAT 65 Burck, 15a Austyn Anderson, 7 Smith, X Bird, 2 Vincent A HEAT 78 Fought, 33j Montgomery, 15 Craig Deaver, 13 Mike Basher, 14 Mansell MAIN 15a Austyn Anderson, 15 Craig Deaver, 33j Montgomery, 27 Ralph Deaver, 78 Fought, 7 Smith, 86 Kudrna, 2 Vincent, 14 Mansell, 65 Burck, 96 Witte, 13 Basher, X Bird, 28 Tom Beierman, 19 Popple Lap Leaders 7 Smith 1-3, 15a Anderson 4-50.

Event for May 8th: Race n' for a Cure fundraiser and the Spud Cup with the Northwest Outlaw Street Stocks will be racing on May 8th with the Ephrata Pioneer Muffler II Pure Stocks, Schaeffer Oil Mini Stocks,  and Jerry's Auto Supply Big Cars.

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