Doug Pace: Yakima Speedway’s Fall Classic provides multiple opportunities

It’s the site of the biggest season opener in Northwest auto racing while also serving as the place race teams gather to wrap up a year – Yakima Speedway.

This weekend the track hosts the 28th annual Fall Classic with drivers competing in the Tri-Track Super Late Model Series 200-lap championship along with twin 75-lap affairs for the West Coast Super Stock Series, the Mini-Stock nationals and the track’s local Hobby Stock class.

One driver with local ties, Mead’s Shelby Thompson, aims to make his two trips to the Central Washington half-mile this year pay off in a big way. Thompson won Yakima’s big spring event, the 49th annual Apple Cup for the TTSLMS competitors, finished runner-up in last year’s Fall Classic and was one lap away from victory in the 2014 Apple Cup. With that kind of success Thompson’s car owner, Todd Havens, made good on his offer to keep sending the Western Rail Chevrolet back to Yakima provided the young gun kept running in the front of the field.

“To have the support of a car owner like Todd Havens is big for me as a driver,” Thompson said. “He believes in what I can do and our team keeps going out to the races looking to perform at our very best. With the Apple Cup win I’d like to join the list of guys who’ve won the race and the Fall Classic in the same season, but we know to make that happen a lot of things have to go our way.”

Fellow Inland Northwest drivers David Garber, Dirk Bennett and Blake Williams will join Thompson in Yakima’s premier main event. All three will look to return the Fall Classic trophy to Spokane as only one local driver, Rick Schultz, has won the race in its 27-year history.

The West Coast division does have a local driver, Ryen Tarr, who rides into the weekend as a defending champion. Tarr thrilled the Saturday crowd last season with a charge to the front in the late going for his victory and capped off the twin 75-lap format with a top-five finish in the overall weekend standings.

Other drivers from the region who will compete in the class include Garret Sawyer and Bill Belton. Both competed in last weekend’s Spokane County Raceway Late Model championship and used the event as a shakedown for Yakima.

“We were glad to run SCR last weekend because we found an issue with our brakes that we had time this week to fix,” Sawyer said. “My dad has won down there in Yakima and ran in the top five two years ago before losing a motor in the car I’m driving now. We’ve got a good motor package for this West Coast division and are excited to see what we can do against all the talent coming for this race.”

The large field will be paired down to a final 40 competitors for Sunday’s main event. As is the case with the other divisions in this year’s Fall Classic, Spokane drivers will be in the hunt for victory.

Drivers from Stateline Speedway and SCR have entered the race with the likes of Rodney Sankey, Brenden Tarr, Joey Nelson, Keaton Tarr, Larry Christen and Brycen Tarr being considered among the favorites.