The ASA/NSRA sprints turned out an impressive car count of twenty-six cars at Ephrata Raceway Park, Saturday August the fifth, and with the cars came a packed grandstands. With just a few mere points making the difference between first and tenth every position counted for many drivers. Craig Deaver would enter the night in first place and just thirteen points separated him from Andy Alberding. Alberding went to work quickly trying to cut the point lead down by again qualifying fast time for the last five weeks in a row. Deaver qualified fourth fast, and only allowed Alberding to gain three points. R.J. Fronsman made his 2006 ASA/NSRA debut, and qualified third fast, and Jake the Mad Mann again displayed why he earned himself the nickname. He drove the car in as hard and as fast as he could, pitched it sideways and stood on the gas putting on an impressive smoke show for the fans and earned himself the second qualifying position.
During the B-Dash it was all Jeremy Sabin, he started up front on the pole and never looked back as he cruised his way to his second ASA/NSRA trophy win, he was followed by Matt Hein, and Ralph Deaver. The A-Dash, Craig Deaver started up front and never gave the field a chance, Fronsman was second, followed by the Mad Mann, and Alberding.
The heat races were just another opportunity to make up some points and transfer to the A-main, but that was much easier said than done. Heat one Amanda Macdonald jumped out front and lead the way for Montgomery and Craig Deaver. Macdonald was only able to hold Montgomery off for two laps before he made his move to the outside for the lead, Montgomery would never look back. Behind him Deaver continued to work on Macdonald and passed her a lap later, then Kevin Burck went to work on her and quickly made the pass for the last transfer spot, Macdonald would finish fourth. Heat two had an ugly start, when Dan Fisher tried making a move from the back to the inside of Ralph Deaver, he ran up Deavers left rear tire, meantime the two cars would started up front, Russell Root and Steve Lober both spun around. The restart put Pat Bliss and Ralph Deaver on the front and Bliss made the best of it by quickly moving to the front and running away from the crowd. R.J. Fronsman, made a move to the front and took second from Deaver, then in a nail bitter of a pass Fisher found his way around the outside of Deaver awarding him the final transfer spot. Heat three Brian Smith jumped out front and was showing everyone his tail tank, when Matt Hein made an aggressive move to the inside of turn one, Smith tried shutting the door but Hein stood his ground, the two made slight contact and Hein came out with the lead. Smith dropped to third, but Mike Basher spun to the inside of the track and was forced to the back of the pack, giving Smith second, and Todd Coleman third. On the restart Adam Roduner made a move around Coleman for the third transfer spot and would finish there. In the fourth heat Greg Middendorf jumped out front and ran away from the crowd, Justin Mack dashed to second, and Monte Zema Jr. moved to third. Andy Alberding made a move to the inside of Dixon Helgeson, after Alberding had made the clean pass to the inside, Helgeson drove down into Alberdings right rear snapping his trailing arm. Alberding was forced to the B-main, meanwhile after the caution Middendorf continued to show the field his tail tank, Mack would finish second and Zema took the final transfer spot.
Andy Alberding started on the pole of the B-main with Mann to the outside, but Alberding took off down the front stretch and pulled ahead into turn one. Coleman, Ralph Deaver and Jeremy Sabin were short behind. Alberding would go onto win handily and Mann would never be challenged for second. Coleman would finish in a comfortable third and Deaver was four. Mike Basher moved up a to improve his A-main starting position, Jeremy Sabin, Dixon Helgeson and Amanda Macdonald rounded out the transfer spots.
Greg Middendorf wasted no time using his front row outside starting position to his advantage and moved to the front and starting running from the field. Bliss fell back to second and Kevin Burck was third with a lot of fast guys coming up the field behind him. The man on the move was Craig Deaver, he instantly started his run to the front by passing Roduner and going to work on Dan Fisher. Meanwhile up front Middendorf had run into slower traffic and had nowhere to go as they raced side by side, allowing Burck to run him down. Burck would take the lead, and Middendorf later told me the car started going away and as a result he slipped back fast. At almost the halfway point Adam Roduner made contact with wall in turn two bring out the red flag and allow the teams to adjust the cars. Kevin Burck was pushed off the track before the restart ultimately giving Deaver the lead on the restart. Deaver would never look back from that point on. Matt Hein had the best run of his short ASA/NSRA career. Hein was aggressive, fast and gave up no ground even with some hard charges from R.J. Fronsman. Fronsman would finish third in front of his home crowd reminding the rest of the ASA/NSRA drivers that Fronsman may have taken the year off but he is still a force on the track. Jeff Montgomery, fell back to third in the points, was trying to make up some ground in the points and made a late charge to the front after falling back early in the main. Montgomery would go on to finish fourth. Mack would hold on for fifth, Andy Alberding moved from his thirteen starting spot to fifth when his right rear tire started going away, he would dropped to sixth and hold off some late charges by Pat Bliss who moved back and finished seventh. Ralph Deaver worked from his B-main transfer spot and his start in the back to finish eighth.
Craig Deaver has now won his fourth consecutive race and with his return to Victoria B.C. after the last two years off from the long haul. Deaver is excited about returning to B.C. and has confidence on his side, It obviously takes some luck to win this many in a row, but I think were running really strong too, Deaver said. With now four in a row one must ask the question. Can Deaver be beaten with only three shows left?