Casey Jeske Scores First Cars Tour West Victory, Andrew Riehl Clinches Championship
125 laps at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval served as the nightcap on the inaugural SPEARS Cars Tour West Northwest Pro Late Model season. Those 125 laps for the Jerry Berschauer Memorial, a long time staple of the WVSO Calander for nearly a decade, saw the highest of highs, lowest of lows, and even got turned upside down at one point.
Entering the night, it was a 2 horse race for the title between Corbitt, Oregon's Andrew Riehl, and Tucson, Arizona's Ethan Ebert, just 5 points apart. From the moment cars unloaded, Riehl just seemed to have a step up on not only Ebert, but the whole field. Setting the bar in practice, he carried that over to the qualifying session, scoring his
first career CTNW Pole, while Ebert mustered a 6th place effort. The green flag flew and the young Riehl immediately took the lead, fending off early charges from Casey Jeske and Alan Cress. Cress was the hot hand entering the night, scoring a CTNW win earlier this year at Wenatchee, and also scoring a NWSLM win 3 weeks ago at the ¼ mile. Cress poked his nose out for a couple instances before Jeske was able to work his way by both him and Riehl. The Spokane product won the Stateline Speedway Championship last week scoring 2 wins on the year, and the momentum from that carried over, as he kept Cress and Riehl at bay. Meanwhile, Ebert slowly made his way up to 4th and right on Riehls bumper, needing to pass and rally to the front to try and upend the #69.
(Photo by Amber Taylor, Elevate Racing Media)
On lap 80, everything changed. Contact between Zach Riehl, Andrews brother, and Chad Fitzpatrick triggered a chain reaction which ultimately led to a massive pile up in Turn 3 that saw Chase Gardner wind up on his lid. While the chaos ensued there, the final blow of the Championship occurred, as Z. Riehl, still fighting to save the car from the contact with Fitzpatrick, made a second dose of contact with Ethan Ebert, climbing over the 9 car,
causing heavy damage to both cars. Both cars used the long red flag to make repairs, and made it back out still on the lead lap. However, for Ebert, that signaled the end of his Championship hunt, as the car just wasn’t the same. Jeske pulled away from the restart, scoring his 1st career touring victory. Cress earned 2nd , while Andrew Riehl
scored his 2nd consecutive 3rd place finish to earn the Championship. Quincy, WA’s Mike Knutson, a B Mod winner at Wenatchee this season, scored his first career Top 5 with the Cars Tour, while Ebert managed to bring home a Top 5 with 5th .
The inaugural season of Cars Tour West Competition in the Northwest saw massive car counts, massive crowds, and incredible nights of racing actions with memories to last a lifetime. We will have a season retrospective sometime soon.