DIRT CUP: Former champ racing tough

| MARK MALIJAN THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

The racing starts today at 7 p.m. with gates opening at 5 p.m.

“Let’s hope things work out tomorrow,” Allard said after the race. “Winning this thing three times sure would be nice.”

Despite the win, Allard ranks just fourth in the points standing, trailing Tyler Walker’s 1,094 points, Jayme Barnes’ 1,089, and Roger Crocket’s 1,086 points. Brock Lemley sits in sixth place in total points with 1,051 points after finishing 10th in the A Main. The top 16 in total points automatically qualify for today’s main event.

“We’re just going to wipe the car down and leave it alone,” Allard said.

A near brawl in the A Main event marred an otherwise clean night of racing. Steve Kilcup and Barry Martinez got in a nasty collision on the 23rd lap coming out of turn No. 4 that left Kilcup’s No. 18 battered. After the crash, Kilcup exited his car and appeared to start punching Martinez while he was still in his car. After a few minutes, crews from both parties were separated.

Lemley was also involved in the crash and he and Martinez were sent to the back of the pack with seven laps to go in the 30-lap race. Brent Kaeding finished second despite catching on fire twice, and Jared Ridge was third.

Engine troubles during the B Main event might have cost Tim Kaeding a chance at a Dirt Cup title this season. Kaeding, one of the most well-known racers at the event, started in the back of the pack after failing to make the call for the start of the race while his car was being repaired. He then bullied his way to a ninth-place finish, only to finish two spots out of the A Main. Kaeding, who started the day fourth in points after finishing second in the A Main on Thursday, will have some work to do to catch the leaders. He snuck into today’s main event in the No. 15 spot.

While Tim Kaeding’s hopes for the day were dashed, Friday’s B Main did nothing to rattle Tayler Malsam’s spirits. The driver of the No. 26R car raced in second place most of the way, but ended up with the checkered flag of the 15-lap event. Second place went to Danielle Huson, while Brandon Johnson took third. The top seven moved on to Friday’s A Main. Malsam qualified for today’s A Main, ranked No. 16 in total points.

“It started pretty good for us here and hopefully we can have a real good finish,” Malsam said. “Tomorrow we just want to win as many laps as we can and hopefully take home a top 10 finish.”

In the C Main event, Mike Sather moved past Johnny Grey with two laps remaining to take the checkered flag. Sather started the race three back from the front and ran in that position for the first seven laps before moving into second when engine troubles forced then-leading J.J. Hickle to the pits. Sather sat in second place until the fourth turn of the 13th lap, moving past Grey coming out of the turn. The top two moved up to Friday’s B Main.

Crocket turned in the fastest lap time at the time trials, roaring to a mark of 11.481 seconds. He bested Travis Rutz, who clocked in at 11.500, and Aaron Fell, who finished at 11.560. Barnes overcame some troubles during his first run of the time trials to put together a run of 11.590, good enough for fifth place.

Of the Whatcom County racers running in this season’s Dirt Cup, Acme’s Brandon Harkness finished sixth in Friday’s C Main and Bellingham’s Kyle Oman was 13th in the same event. Derek Holmwood placed 12th in the B Main. Lemley is the other local racer at the event.

Near-perfect conditions helped keep Friday’s racing almost accident free for the 50 cars out for the event. Californian Dan Simpson was involved in a fender-bender, flipping his No. 4S car at the start of the B Main. And of course there was Kilcup’s flip in the A Main. Other than those major mishaps most of the racing ran caution free.