Auto racing Apple Cup makes its Tri-City Raceway debut this weekend
About six months after Tri-City Raceway made its comeback to host the Fall Classic with a roaring success, the West Richland track has its next major event this upcoming weekend.
The 53rd Annual Bonney’s Bronson Tractors Apple Cup, presented by Legends Casino Hotel, will be held Saturday, April 2, and Sunday April 3, at the Tri-City Raceway at Red Mountain Event Center.
Gates open both days at 9:15 a.m., with racing starting at 1 p.m. each day.
As of Monday night, tickets were available at the Red Mountain Event Center website, as was some parking.
But many fans will have to park offsite and take the free shuttles provided to the race track.
It was something the RMEC group learned last fall, when there just wasn’t enough parking available.
Some of the top drivers from up and down the west coast will be competing, and some of those drivers will be at the track this Friday from 1 to 2 p.m. for an autograph session.
Here is the weekend schedule:
On Saturday, Pro Late Models will start, followed by the Bettarel Hobby Stocks, Part 1. Ending the day will be the Speed Tour Modifieds.
On Sunday, the Super Late Models open the day’s racing, followed by Mini Stocks. Part 2 of the Bettarel Hobby Stocks will complete the weekend’s event.
This will be the first of at least four major events scheduled out at the facility this year. On July 3-4, the Thunder on the Mountain event, featuring the Malicious Monster Truck Tour, will be held.
On Aug. 6-7, it’s the Night of Thrills, featuring Bump To Pass Nationals.
And the 35th Annual Fall Classic will be held Oct. 1-2.
Speaking of racing, Hermiston Raceway gets its season going April 30 with the season kickoff.
It will be the first of 12 scheduled race dates this year at the Oregon track.
More sports
▪ Richland High junior Landon Charlton, who played running back and linebacker this past season for the Bombers, has gotten an offer to play for Montana Tech after he graduates in June of 2023.
▪ H1 Unlimited officials announced last Friday that the APBA Gold Cup — unlimited hydroplane racing’s most important event — will be held in late June in Guntersville, Ala.
The race is set for June 25-26, and it will lead off the 2022 season.
At least seven unlimiteds have already committed to racing in Alabama, but their could be more.
The Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities is set for July 29-31.
▪ Redshirt senior Ellie Smith (Southridge) ended her women’s college basketball career at Idaho State by starting in 29 of the team’s 31 contests.
Smith averaged 6.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and had 23 blocked shots (tops for the team).
The Bengals, who finished the season with a 19-12 record, were the top seed in the Big Sky Conference tournament. But they lost to No. 8-seed Northern Colorado in the first round.
The Bengals then were selected to play in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT), and lost to Wyoming 76-73 to see their season end.
▪ Senior defensive back Colten Chelin (Kamiakin) of Whitworth was a second-team selection for the D3football.com’s 2021 All-Region 6 football squad.
Chelin had 31 tackles, 2 interceptions, 9 pass breakups, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble.
Teammate and defensive back Atticus Templeton (Kennewick) had 23 tackles this past season for the 7-3 Pirates. Templeton also had 5 pass breakups and two forced fumbles.
Senior long snapper Dhylan Worster (Kamiakin) was named Special Teams Player of the Year at the football team’s annual awards banquet.
▪ North Idaho sophomore guard Cooper DeWitt (Chiawana) finished the men’s basketball season by averaging 13.7 points, second best on the 20-7 Cardinals.
DeWitt — who is headed to IUPUI next fall — also averaged 4.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals. He was named second-team all-East Region squad.
▪ On March 25, pitcher Amanda Smith (WWCC) tossed a 3-hit, 5-inning shutout in Eastern Oregon’s 9-0 softball win over Providence.
Smith struck out 4 batters and raised her record to 10-2.
▪ Lisa Hart (Sunnyside) is now the associate head coach for the University of Nebraska women’s tennis team.
Hart, who was the women’s head tennis coach at Washington State University for 18 years, left for Nebraska — her alma mater — last summer.
When she played at Nebraska, Hart had 74 career tennis wins as a student-athlete.
▪ Former Tri-City Americans defender Juraj Valach has signed a one-year contract extension to keep playing for Slovan Bratislava, a team in Slovakia in the Extraliga, according to the MacBeth Report.
Now 33, Valach has 2 goals and 12 assists in 46 games this season.
Valach played one season for the Americans, in 2006-07, when he had 7 goals and 23 assists in 58 games.
▪ Sophomore Michael Rojas (Othello) was a member of the 18-2-2 University of Washington men’s soccer team last fall that made it all the way to the NCAA Division I championship game (which the Huskies lost, 2-0, to Clemson).
Rojas played in four games, getting one start, and scored a goal last season.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 12:55 PM.