By Dolan Lannan

July 24, 2010 East Wenatchee, Washington: Saturday was a super hot day at the Wenatchee Valley Super Oval and Evan Margeson was equally hot, dominating the competition. Margeson in Harold and Verda Beal’s Pink Ford Beast was one of the last to take the track for qualifying and took fast time.

First-time midget driver Joel Burrier in Rod Churchill’s Nissan Challenger had motor troubles. Kevin Koepke’s run of bad luck continued, breaking a shaft in the rear end during qualifying and ending his evening in Allen Dixon’s beautiful car. Jimmy Screeton flew in from California to pilot Glen Seidelman’s Gaerte Hawk to win the first trophy dash, starting on pole and increasing his lead to the checkered over Mitch Hoffses, Tony Seidelman and late arriving Bob Pratt in Keith Davidson’s Focus Ellis. The dash saw Pat Bliss lead while fourth starting Margeson got on his bumper almost immediately but could not find a way around. Bliss in the Tom Maples Pink Ford Beast was smooth all the way. Bliss and Margeson were followed by Snake Livernash in the Livernash Esslinger Beast and Mark Atkinson in the Esslinger Beast.

Tony Seidelman in the Dick Voss 45 brought the field to the green in the heat race. Screeton took the lead from his outside front spot while Bliss moved up quickly four spots to second. Margeson moved from eighth to third on lap three and got by Bliss on the fifth go round. Margeson got underneath Screeton on the next lap and the two were side-by-side for almost two laps until Margeson was able to lead into turn one. He went for the win followed by Bliss, who got by Screeton on the final lap.

At the start of the feature, Seidelman got a little sideways out of turn four. Hoffses in the Karl Hoffses 5 could not avoid nudging and caused Seidelman to spin in front of the pack. Somehow, everyone missed him and things went much smoother on the complete restart. Screeton won the drag race to the first turn. By the end of the first lap, Petter in his Esslinger Beast had moved to second followed by Hoffses and Bliss.

Margeson started eighth, moved to second on the sixth lap and one lap later, Screeton fell to hard-charging Margeson, who rapidly drove away. Petter worked on Screeton, who he passed on the tenth circuit. Bliss got by Screeton two laps later and was solidly third when he had suspension failure on lap 17, bringing the yellow flag. Pratt also pulled into the pits. Margeson again distanced himself. Mark Atkinson moved from seventh on lap 15 to fourth on the restart after going outside Livernash and Hoffses. He got by Screeton on lap 21 and gradually closed on fast and smooth Petter. He was able to challenge the spot but faded just a bit in the last couple of laps. At the finish, Margeson help a comfortable lead over Petter, Atkinson, Screeton, Livernash and Hoffses, the latter of whom had severely blistered right rear tires.

Qualifications: 1 Evan Margeson 12.549; 2 Mark Atkinson 12.651; 3 Pat Bliss 12.664; 4 Scott Livernash 12.678; 5 Ben Petter 12.725; 6 Mitch Hoffses 12.877; 7 Jimmy Screeton 12.929; 8 Tony Seidelman 13.215. NT Kevin Koepke, Bob Pratt, Joel Burrier

B-dash) Screeton, Hoffses, Seidelman, Pratt

A-dash) Bliss, Margeson, Livernash, Atkinson

Heat (10 laps) Margeson, Bliss, Screeton, Hoffses, Livernash, Atkinson, Seidelman, Petter, Pratt

A-main (35 laps) 1 Evan Margeson (Beal 50), 2 Ben Petter 22, 3 Mark Atkinson 23, 4 Jimmy Screeton (Seidelman 4), 5 Snake Livernash 13, 6 Mitch Hoffses 5, 7 Pat Bliss (Maples 98), 8 Bob Pratt (Davidson 60), 9 Tony Seidelman (Voss 45) DNS Kevin Koepke (Dixon 44), Joel Burrier (Churchill 79) WMRA Midgets