Ed Evans
The final act of the 2008 drag racing season played out last weekend at the Terrace regional airport. The season long points series was decided in the last runs on Sunday.
Saturday’s action included Prince Rupert’s Kham Shantz making it to the semi-finals in ‘King of the YXT’. Lined up against Kris Barnett in his altered, Shantz cut a 5.05 light (.500 is a perfect reaction time) But Barnett pulled out a 5.04 light. As Shantz ran him down, his car lost power and nosed over 10 feet from the finish line, giving Barnett the win. Shantz’s problems took him out race Sunday, and put him out of the points series.
The only rain to fall on the weekend was on Saturday. The rainfall was short and dried up fast, but it put the ‘Gamblers’ race on hold due to time restraints. The full ‘King of the YXT’ was run however, with Chris Bie of Terrace in his ’70 Chevelle winning it all.
Sunday was clear and warm as the full slate of racing was held. Early on in eliminations, Prince Rupert’s John Giesmar, on his way to a second place finish in ‘Bike/Sled’, took out the points leader, John Saffonoff, in the first round. This left the field open for the point’s series in ‘Super Pro’. This one went down to the wire, with Kris Barnett from Terrace in his yellow altered, taking the win over Chris Bie, who had a rare red light in the final. This gave Barnett the win for the weekend and the win in the ‘Super Pro’ points series.
The ‘Pro’ points series was also down to the finals with Hazelton’s John Gryba winning the Sunday race to take home the points series over Kitimat’s Harley Bell.
The ‘Jr. Dragster’ points winner was decided before the weekend as Lou Ribiro from Kitimat had too big of a lead for anybody to catch him. It was a good thing he had that lead as he twisted both axles and could not run.
Now that the season is over, I would like to thank all of the volunteers and organizers in Terrace and Houston, for without their dedication we would not be able to race at all.
Terrace Results
Saturday August 30
King of the YXT
Chris Bie
Junior King of the YXT
Alaina Archibald
Sunday August 31
Junior Dragster Class
1st Place – Natasha Ray
2nd Place – Alaina Archibald
3rd Place – Tanner Daum
Pro Class
1st Place – John Gryba
2nd Place – Chris Sterling
3rd Place – Matt Fulcher
Super Pro Class
1st Place – Kris Barnett
2nd Place – Chris Bie
3rd Place – Harold Daumont
Sled/Bike Class
1st Place – Kevin Enmark
2nd Place – John Giesmar
3rd Place – Jim Braid
To view the photo’s of the races check out the websites www.princerupertautoclub.com or www.terracedrags.ca
Photo: Laurence Wilkins from Queen Charlotte City makes a run against a wheel standing Chris Bie in Terrace last weekend. Bie won ‘King of the YXT’ Saturday but had a red light in the Super Pro finals Sunday
Photo: Ed Evans
