Dave Olson started at the front of the pack and he held on to the lead and win the ASA OK Tire Challenge White Spruce Enterprises 100 Saturday night at PGARA Speedway.
It was the fourth win for the 26-year-old driver from Quesnel on the American Speed Association BC circuit, which came under the yellow caution flag when the race was called with 19 laps left to go in the 100-lap main event race.
"I had a bad start in qualifying and spun out, but we fixed her up," said Olson, whose last win the Prince George track came in 2012 during the ASA's stop. "We knew we had a fast car and we started in a good spot [at the front]. With the all the caution flags, I just made sure to stay out front."
The full field of 23 cars, which included Prince George drivers Sheldon Mayert, and Bob Williams, began the night on an inverted starting grid, with the top-10 cars in qualifying starting near the middle and back, while the slowest started near the front.
After Olson's tough time in qualifying, he began at the front and stayed there despite several challenges from Logan Jewel, Matt Stephenson and Korbin Thomas.
The race, presented by Mr. Quick Lube & Oil, which started an hour later than usual due to some last minute repairs at the start and finish line on the track, was filled with yellow flags, forcing drivers to start and restart several times.
The first of five yellow caution flags was waved only 10 laps into the race. The third yellow was waved on the 48th lap, while the fourth came out with 36 laps left. The fifth was waved with 19 laps remaining after several cars near the front tried to improve their position on the back straight-away but couldn't and resulted in several of them losing control and veering off the track. It decreased the field that finished to 14 cars.
A dark cloud hovering above the track that brought rain and and resulted in unsafe driving conditions, forced race officials to call the race early.
Olson was unaffected by the trouble behind him and took the win. When everything else got sorted out, Corbin Thomas of White Rock, winner of the ASA race last year at PGARA, finished second.
Mayert avoided the trouble and wound up finishing in the top 10.
Olson began in Thunder cars and slowly worked his way up to the late model stock cars that run on 350 Chevy engines. His previous ASA wins came on the tracks in Williams Lake and Quesnel.
"I've been racing since I was 14 and seven or eight years on the ASA [formerly ARCA and WESCAR] circuit," said Olson, who's just finishing up his fourth-year heavy duty mechanic apprenticeship at Dunkley Lumber. "I've raced here lots."
Saturday's ASA race was the first of the 2014 circuit, as the season-opener in Williams Lake on May 24 was rained out. That race has been rescheduled for Aug. 23.
The circuit will make two stops in Agassiz July 5 and Aug. 9, and Quesnel on July 19 and Sept. 13.
