Bonn brings home WESCAR win
Jarret Bonn knew he had the car to drive him into the winner’s circle at PGARA Speedway. The trick was getting to the end of the 100-lap feature race unscathed. Easier said than done.
The 34-year-old Quesnel driver did eventually get to the head of the class in the WESCAR PGARA 100 but not before he and Dave Olson went for a high-speed spin that sent them both to the back of the pack.
No problem for Bonn. He started the 100-lap race at the back, as all the quickest cars in qualifying do, and it didn’t take him long to get back into the clean air that comes with riding in the lead. That happened at Lap 78 when he made a move on Chris Babcock and there was no catching Bonn the rest of the way.
He hung on to win the seasonopening WESCAR Late Model Touring Series event by about five car lengths over Babcock and took the checkered flag while Austin Ogonoski spun himself a thirdplace finish and his first trip to the WESCAR podium.
“We had a fast car, just a tick off the track record – wish we could have got that, but I started at the back, worked to the front and got into a little altercation with Dave Olson and I had to drive through the pack again,” said Bonn. “We have a good car, the guys work really hard, I work really hard – this is the fifth year doing this and it’s finally coming together.”
Bonn is no stranger to PGARA Speedway. He used to race his street stock in Prince George and won two points championships on the three-eighth mile oval. This is the second year he’s been racing in WESCAR and he and his team started the season in April winning the Penticton Invitational Late
We were nose-to-tail, two-wide, I call it dancing with the devil, and we were doing a good job at it.
— Chris Babcock
Model Sportsman meet. He finished third in the WESCAR series in 2017.
Saturday’s feature produced four caution flags and aside from Sheldon Mayert taking an unavoidable chunk out of the driver’s side front end of Trevor Adelman’s car when Mayert got bumped from behind, everybody else survived the race without damage.
Babcock kept his nose clean and avoided all the spins. The 50-yearold from Fort St. John had enough of a gap to stay out of it when Ogonoski and Kendall Thomas nudged each other coming out of Turn 3 on the last lap.
“We were nose-to-tail, two-wide, I call it dancing with the devil, and we were doing a good job at it, it was bumping and grinding and we pushed through it and it was a great night,” said Babcock. “You’ve got to take your hat off to the guys who came out. Last year we had all the (forest) fires and this year the economy isn’t the greatest and everybody’s pinching their pennies and the traveling is the big thing.
“Last year we didn’t do too bad but we only made two races. This year’s a lot better starting out. We did a lot of work this winter with Korbin and Kendall Thomas at Finish Line Racing, they really stepped up and helped me.”
Ogonoski, the 2017 WESCAR rookie of the year, felt badly about getting into the side of Thomas’s car and was thankful no real damage was done as they both raced for third. WESCAR officials ruled Ogonoski was third when the checkered flag was dropped for Bonn, just as Ogonoski was spinning out with Thomas and they let Bonn’s podium result stand.
“We both went in there clean, Kendall’s a good enough driver where he knew he could leave me enough room and with these cars when you take the inside you really can’t see out the right side of the car and honestly I don’t think he did anything dirty and I don’t think I did anything dirty,” said Ogonoski. “We ran two different lines and I was just there. I hate doing that. It’s OK in hornets but in this it sucks, these guys spend so much time on their cars.”
Ogonoski flies to the races, while Dustin Lengert works out the bugs with his car in Kelowna. He plans to race all five WESCAR points meets, including the July 22 event in Prince George.
Mayert and the other Prince George driver, Warren Bergman, a 72-year-old electrician who’s been racing stock cars off and on since 1970, ended up fourth and fifth respectively in the 10-car order of finish. Bergman ran in first place for 20 laps until Olson caught him for the lead. He’s had the same car, Peter Ernst’s old hobby stock, since 2008, but it looks new with the powder-blue paint job. Last year Bergman was fourth in the feature and second in the B-heat. He says unless he gets a sponsor he’ll stick to running just the Prince George WESCAR races.
“Who the hell wants to sponsor an old guy like me – crash-bang?” Bergman laughed. “I’m sure not doing any good. I thought I’d try it with pretty car. It would be nice to have a fast pretty car.”
In the Prince George Auto Racing Association races that led into the WESCAR event, the 20-lap street stock final main event was shaping up to become a two-car race between Lyall McComber and Darrell Horwath, but it was Shane Murphy who grabbed the spotlight when the two leaders spun themselves while heading down the backstretch with McComber slightly ahead in the final lap.
Forced to line up behind Murphy and Desiree Case on the restart, McComber and Horwath had just one lap to try to get to the front and Horwath lost it again coming out of Turn 2, forcing one more green-white-checker sequence. McComber made a valiant effort trying to pass Murphy on the outside of that final lap but didn’t have enough track left in the sprint to the finish.
Cory Closson took the pro mini main, Warren McCann won the hornet class feature and Nathan Linfitt dominated the day in the mini stocks. He beat his own track record with a 18.742-second qualifying lap and completed the hat trick, winning the dash, heat and main event.