Lakecity drivers finished second and third Saturday when the WESCAR Late Model Touring Series put the rubber down at Thunder Mountain Speedway.
Williams Lake’s Ryley Seibert and Korbin Thomas, formerly of Williams Lake and now living in Kelowna, placed second and third, respectively, in the province-wide series on Memorial Race night at TMS — a day to honour racers who have passed away.
Penticton’s Mark Berriau took the checkered flag on the evening.
Seibert, who has been busy working as the superintendent building a racetrack near Oliver, said he had little time to prepare for the race.
“Between my last race at Agassiz and this one, paving was underway at Area 27 [racetrack],” he said. “I had no time to prep the car.”
Seibert’s crew of Mike Ernst and Matt Gertzen stepped in to gear up for the Williams Lake race.
“They did amazing work to repair the body and complete the maintenance,” Seibert said. “I got there Friday and all I had to do was put the setup on the car.”
Saturday evening saw Seibert in and out of the top position in the speed charts, and he started fifth with only .15 seconds between him and one pole position.
“We ran the heat race and, although we had speed I wasn’t happy with how the car was driving,” he said, noting he and his crew took advantage of a rain delay before the main event and changed the entire setup, replacing the front sway bar, rear spring and rear roll centre.
“We threw everything at it,” he said.
Unapproved changes meant a revised 14th-place start, but long green flags gave Seibert time to battle his way to the second-place finish.
“After a season of mechanical bad luck, I’m very happy to have this confidence boost for the team going into the final round of the championship,” he said.
Seibert and his crew sit third in the points standings to date.
“It’s an extremely long shot to pull off enough points in the final race to win the title,” he said. “We’re in a good place to defend our current third, and we have a chance at a second-place championship run.”
The WESCAR Late Model Touring Series championship is Sept. 17 in Quesnel.
“My team is ready,” Seibert said.
“We’re looking forward to a great race.”
Local classes including bone stock, pro mini and street stock were also in action during the evening, where drivers again battled for points in the overall season standings.
The top three in each division and race are as follows:
Bone Stocks
B Dash: 1.) Jordan Lang; 2.) Mark Grant; 3.) Tristan Waslen
A Dash: 1.) Gordon Bettles; 2.) Andrew Walters; 3.) Brian Bettles
Heat: 1.) Gordon Bettles; 2.) Brian Bettles; 3.) Andrew Walters
Main: 1.) Gordon Bettles (6:41.866); 2.) Shawn Knott (6:49.530); 3.) Brian Bettles (6:53.633)
Pro Mini
A Dash: 1.) Terry Braman; 2.) Allen Roberts; 3.) Marius Dunford
Heat: 1.) Allen Roberts; 2.) Tim Roberts; 3.) Marius Dunford
Main: 1.) Allen Roberts (4:33.924); 2.) Marius Dunford (4:39.950); 3.) Tim Roberts (4:41.908)
Street Stock
B Dash: 1.) Arnie Kunka; 2.) Dean Freeman; 3.) Garnett Grimard
C Dash: 1.) Bob Lowen; 2.) Corey Price; 3.) Garnett Schiller
A Dash: 1.) Donnie Kunka; 2.) Tim Graham; 3.) Tim Westwick
B Heat: 1.) Corey Price; 2.) Garnett Grimard; 3.) Arnie Kunka
A Heat: 1.) Dean Freeman; 2.) Cole Byrd; 3.) Byron Hesselgrave
Main: 1.) Tim Graham (14:01.790); 2.) Arnie Kunka (14:02.065); 3.) Byron Hesselgrave (14:09.566)
Drivers will now prepare for the Points Final Championship coming up Saturday, Sept. 10 at TMS. Qualifying begins at 5 p.m., with racing to kick off at 6 p.m.
The following day, Sept. 11, wraps up the racing season at TMS with the Day of Destruction featuring a hit to pass, smoke show, trailer and boat races and king of the hill. The Day of Destruction begins at noon with qualifying laps, followed by racing at 1 p.m.
