Pace: Shelby Thompson gears up to defend Apple Cup title

For 50 years Yakima Speedway has held the region’s premier event to kick off stock car racing – the Apple Cup. Billed as a battle of drivers in several divisions aiming to get their new year off to a grand start, entering its golden anniversary the race’s premier 150-lap event will feature several Spokane-based drivers aiming to keep the Cup here at home.

The Northwest Super Late Model Series 150 showcases Spokane’s Shelby Thompson who will be out to defend his race win from a year ago while also continuing his mastery of Yakima’s tricky half-mile. Thompson who had the race won in 2014 only to run out of fuel less then a lap to the checkered flag, came back last spring to dominate the late going of what was a 200-lap main event.

“(Yakima’s) a place you’ve got to have patience while also making sure you don’t get caught up in the mess of somebody who doesn’t always use their head,” Thompson said. “Our Western Rail Chevrolet has been strong down there for the last two seasons and we’re ready to keep that momentum up this weekend.”

The memory of running out of fuel two years ago was dismissed with his win last spring, he added.

“We went into that race telling ourselves we had to come right out of the box and win the thing to make the fuel deal be something we never had to talk about again. To win the race and be on the t-shirt with guys like Derrike Cope, Garrett Evans, Pete Harding and other greats is awesome. People know we’ve won it now and it makes everything we’ve done to be a winning team worthwhile.”

Thompson’s teammate, Braeden Havens, is also looking forward to competing this weekend at Yakima as he sets out to earn the 2016 NWSLMS championship.

“We haven’t run for a championship at a track or series in a few years and the (NWSLMS) series has a great points fund put together that we’d like to be part of when they wrap up this fall,” said the past Inland Northwest Super Stock Association champion. “We’ve put together a solid team led by crew chief Travis Sharpe that should get us to the front in a lot of races this year. In 2015 this group won races and contended for a bunch more. We finished sixth in (Northwest) series points and that’s with missing a few races to run in NASCAR events. There’s no doubt we’ll be a challenger to the championship based on the success Killer “B” Racing has had the last few years.”

Also looking to bring home an Apple Cup this weekend in the NWSLMS event will be Nicole Behar and series Rookie of the Year contender, Dirk Bennett.

Behar is making the trip home after relocating to North Carolina to drive for David Gilliland Racing. The East Valley High School graduate will be racing this weekend behind the wheel of her familiar No. 33 Custom Welding Toyota late model.

Bennett made selected starts last season on the NWSLMS in preparation for his 2016 Rookie of the Year campaign. Fielding a new car built by Tri-Cities based Kustom Fab, Bennett is excited to get his first season underway.

“I am really looking forward to gaining more seat time and continuing to learn about these cars and building off the experience from last year. We had no race experience before last season so it was a bit of a struggle, but we always had fun. We are really excited and look forward to being much more competitive.”

This weekend’s events include season openers for the Northwest Super Late Model Series, Columbia River Legend Series, West Coast Late Models and the Northwest Pro 4 Alliance. Racing gets underway on Saturday with qualifying in all four divisions followed by trophy dashes and positioning heats. Sunday’s finales take the green flag at noon. For more information log onto yakimaspeedway.us

Doug Pace can be reached at dpace@nwinfo.net