Quesnel local Jarret Bonn won the Wescar main event at the Gold Pan Speedway on Saturday (Sept. 22).
He has been racing in Wescar for five years now and has had a fair amount of success, but this was his first time winning on his home track.
“I’ve had lots of laps here but never any luck,” he said shortly after the race, while standing next to the #51 car that transported him to victory.
“We didn’t qualify well and even when we won in the heat race, the car didn’t feel good, but it all worked out in the end.”
The secret to victory, Bonn said, was keeping in a rhythm.
“You get in that rhythm and you hit your marks,” he said. “Every lap is the same and you don’t get too crazy.”
This was Bonn’s fourth victory on the tour this year, but having missed a race, he came up short on the overall standings.
Eventual overall winner, Kendall Thomas, placed fourth in the race.
While Bonn was pleased with the win, he said he would have preferred if the competition had gone a little differently.
“I like starting in the back, being fast and passing cars,” he said.
“That’s racing, right?”
The winner planned to spend Sunday at the go-cart track cheering on his two young sons, who share their father’s passion for pushing the pedal to the floor.
The Kunka family from Williams Lake fared fantastically at the event, which had to be squeezed into a single day after weather prevented the racers from taking to the track the weekend before.
Arnie Kunka from Williams Lake prevailed in the Tri-City main event and his son Donny came in second in the Wescar main event.
Arnie managed to wrest the lead from Lyall McComber a third of the way into the contest and didn’t look back.
His team raced three cars that afternoon, but he managed to keep his cool in the pressure cooker.
“My son’s in a late model [Wescar] and a street stock and every single car, including my own, is broken today,” he said, looking like he did not believe he had just won. “It’s been total chaos.”
It was only the third race his #27 car had finished all year. Kunka said it had been a terrible season.
With the help of his team, some nifty driving and a little good fortune, he was able to give it a silver lining.
RESULTS
Wescar Main Event
1. Jarrey Bobb
2. Donny Kunka
3. Dave Olson
Overall winner – Kendall Thomas
Tri-City Race Series Main Event
1. Arnie Kunka
2. Tim Westwick
3. Darren Lemky
Overall winner – Darrell Horwath
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