2007wdra

By Tom Freimann

(Olathe, CO) The Western Dirt Racing Association wrapped up the 2007 Racing season Saturday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway with the 2nd Annual 'Emery Hooker Memorial'. This was a $1500 to win event that was a planned celebration of the man who's love of dirt track racing was shared with everyone he knew around Western Colorado and Eastern Utah. Emery passed away last season at Thunder Mountain Speedway, doing what he loved to do, and being around the friends and family that made dirt track racing a way of life for many. On this night Mother Nature, however, did not cooperate with anyone. The day was a very windy and cool one, with everyone fighting wind gusts in the 40+ m.p.h. range. Track owner Sean Gibbs and his crew prepared the track as best they could, fighting the loose soil and high winds. As race time rolled around, a big storm cloud joined the melee, making everyone wonder if the races would get run or not.
Sixteen WDRA Dirt Late Models came out for the event, and a few of the drivers and car got tangled up in turn 2 during hot laps, with Corey Smith getting the worse of the deal, and his night ending before it really even began. Heat One rolled onto the track with out the 27 of Mike McGinn, who had fuel cell problems during hot laps. The heat was won by the 75B of Jeep Berry, with 2007 Rookie Kyle Hill racing from last beat the 29A of Jason Davis at the line for second by about a foot. Dan Shepherd and Bob Cook rounded out the top 5.
Heat 2 was missing it's Pole Sitter, Curt Daniels, and the car that was to start behind him , Corey Smith. This moved the 05 of Gary DeChant to the pole and shuffled the line up around. Heat Two was won by Gary DeChant, followed by the 40 of Aztec, NM's Jeff Davis. Davis edged out Dean Moore coming out of turn four, and Terry Boushee and Andy Hill rounded out the top five.
The WDRA had planned a great salute to Emery Hooker with the presentation of trophies for the Hooker family, however, the the high winds, cold temperatures and the ever impending threat of rain, the WDRA and Thunder Mountain Speedway simply allowed David Hooker to say a few words, so everyone could get home to a warm dry place. The rain started to fall as the 14 drivable machines took to the track for the main event, and the late models ran some laps to work the moisture in as the rain stopped. The Feature was marred by two multi car wrecks, one on lap two, and the second on lap three. The race ended with 2007 WDRA Points Champion, Jeep Beery, winning yet another feature, and giving the fans a great show. Coming in second was Gary Dechant, followed by the 3C of Curt Daniels, who over came an early race incident and raced from last to third, even though he was one of the cars that wrecked in hot laps and missed his heat race. Fourth place was occupied by Racin Jason Davis in his 29A Rayburn. In fifth was last year WDRA Champion Dean Moore, who over came many adversities this year, both on and off the track, and ended the season in the runner up spot in the points chase. The sixth place spot was filled by Kyle Hill, and in 7th, his first night out in a late model, was Scott Aibner, from Rifle, CO. Rounding out the top ten were Mike McGinn, Jeff Davis and Andy Hill.

The WDRA will be gearing up for a bigger and better season in 2008 and hope to see new fans and drivers join us for some great racing action. The WDRA would like to thank all of the drivers, their families and the fans for their support.
Hope to see you all next year!!

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WDRA Late Models - Feature

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points

1 2 75     Jeep Berry     Grand Junction, Co 50

2 3 05     Gary Dechant     North Glenn, Co 47

3 14 3C     Curt Daniels     Paonia , Co 44

4 5 29A     Jason Davis     Grand Junction, Co 41

5 6 14     Dean Moore     Grand Junction, Co 38

6 4 47     Kyle Hill     Buena Vista, Co 36

7 11 28A     Scott Aibner     Rifle , Co 34

8 15 27     Michael Mcginn     Wellington , Ut 32

9 1 40     Jeff Davis     Aztec , Nm 30

10 10 71     Andy Hill     Cahone , Co 28

11 7 93     Terry Boushee     Aurora , Ca 26

12 8 68     Dan Shepherd     Greeley , Co 24

13 12 49     Ron Lengel     Price , Ut 22

14 9 6     Bob Cook     Helper , Ut 20

15 16 15     Corey Smith     Helper , Ut 0

16 13 28     Michael Wright     Rifle , Co 0

WDRA Late Models - Dash

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points

1 2 40     Jeff Davis     Aztec , Nm 0

2 1 75     Jeep Berry     Grand Junction, Co 0

3 3 05     Gary Dechant     North Glenn, Co 0

4 4 47     Kyle Hill     Buena Vista, Co 0

WDRA Late Models - Heats 2

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points

1 7 05     Gary Dechant     North Glenn, Co 10

2 6 40     Jeff Davis     Aztec , Nm 9

3 2 14     Dean Moore     Grand Junction, Co 8

4 5 93     Terry Boushee     Aurora , Ca 7

5 4 71     Andy Hill     Cahone , Co 6

6 8 28A     Scott Aibner     Rifle , Co 5

7 1 3C     Curt Daniels     Paonia , Co 0

8 3 15     Corey Smith     Helper , Ut 0

WDRA Late Models - Heats 1

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points

1 2 75     Jeep Berry     Grand Junction, Co 10

2 8 47     Kyle Hill     Buena Vista, Co 9

3 5 29A     Jason Davis     Grand Junction, Co 8

4 3 68     Dan Shepherd     Greeley , Co 7

5 4 6     Bob Cook     Helper , Ut 6

6 1 49     Ron Lengel     Price , Ut 5

7 6 28     Michael Wright     Rifle , Co 4

8 7 27     Michael Mcginn     Wellington , Ut 0