2009 Alliance Champ Matt Melby

On behalf of the Northwest Pro4 Alliance staff members,
drivers and fans, we would like to congratulate this
seasons NP4A Champion, Driver of the #8, Matt Melby.
Matt Melby has competed in the Northwest Pro4 Alliance
sinces its inception in 2007.  Racing out of Hood River,
Oregon, Melby has always been a competitive member of
the series but he truely peaked this season. His average
finish in the 4 feature events in 2009 is 3.75, which
includes his win at Stateline Stadium and Speedway.
Rookie of the Year
#45 Steve Schovares








2009 Northwest Pro4 Alliance
FINAL POINT STANDINGS

POS     CAR #DRIVER  TOTAL PTS
1st 8   Matt Melby ... ... ... ...450
2nd 1    Kurt Madsen ... ... ... ... ..427
3rd  16  Rick Thompson ... ... ... .411
4th    10   John Grosvenor ... ... ... ... ...381
5th   72x Eddie Secord ... ... ... ... ... ... .359
6th   80   Travis Allen ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .331
7th   45   Steve Schovares ... ... ... ... ...319
8th   20   John Jackson ... ... ... ... ... ... 312
9th   02   Dan Hale ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..307
10th 41   Kameron McKeehan ... ... ... 306
11th  11   Bud Rumsey ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .297
12th  02   Larry Badoux ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 276
13th  14   Shelby Minor-Ball ... ... ... ... ... .260
14th   3     Tom Keehan ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 243
15th   03   Steve Thompson ... ... ... ... ... .241
   7    Craig Forney ... ... ... ... ... ... ...241
17th    6    Rob Powers ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 236
18th    5    Wayne Dillon ... ... ... ... ... ... ...229
19th   33   Ken Chandler ... ... ... ... ... ... ..214
20th    2    Johnny Rumsey ... ... ... ... ... ...183
21th   83   Rob Golden Jr. ... ... ... ... ... ... 172
  72   Terry Rennick ... ... ... ... ... ... ..172
23rd  21   Jerry Koepping ... ... ... ... ... ...169
24th  6x            Bob Quarterman ... ... ... ... ... .146
25th   9     Bill McAdams ... ... ... ... ... ... ..145
26th  17     Jeff Smith ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 141
27th  26     Jeff Swanson ... ... ... ... ... ... ..139
28th  81     Chet Thorson ... ... ... ... ... ... ..137
29th  12     John Musser ... ... ... ... ... ... ...120
30th  65     Eric Kaas ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 112
  32     Jeff Raver ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...112
32nd 24    Craig Derksen ... ... ... ... ... ... ..90
33rd  18    Chris Celorie ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .80
34th  10f    Jordan Fitch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..76
35th  44     Kevin Koepke ... ... ... ... ... ... ...64
36th  3m    Charles McDonald ... ... ... ... ...53
37th  4az   Ken Morrisette ... ... ... ... ... ... ..42
38th  00     Thor Hansen ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .28
39th  66     Jeff Smyth ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .17
40th  98     Keith Clevenger ... ... ... ... ... ...10
Rookie of the Year
POS   CAR# DRIVERTOTAL
1st45Steve Schovares47
2nd     2bLarry Badoux     40
3rd14     Shelby Minor-Ball39
Rick Thompson Wins at
Wenatchee Valley's Super Oval
Rick Thompson, in the Hi-Way Auto/Ashley
Machine Ford #16 Pro4, held off Mother
Nature and a fast Matt Melby at the
Wenatchee Valley's Super Oval. In his first
Northwest Pro-4 Alliance start, Rick won the
Rockett Brand Racing Fuel 75  in what boiled
down to a last lap dual.
Rain was the main focus as the wet stuff fell
during the early afternoon leading the drivers
and crews of the 32 entries wondering if they
would race.
The rain didn’t matter for Steve Thompson,
Terry Rennick, Kenny Chandler, John Musser
or Rob Golden, as their race cars were early
casualties of the weekend, leaving 27 cars to
do battle. Once the rains stopped the race
program went into high speed mode, as a quick 15-minute hot lap session took place followed by qualifying on a very green track. The Northwest Pro4 Alliance staff lead by Race Director Chris Cunningham and WVSO officials made the
decision to eliminate the trophy dash and the 11-car B-Main and run the full field of 27 cars in the A-main.
Qualifying saw some of the fastest four-cylinder late models in the country assembled at the Super Oval. Seven cars beat the track record of 13:583 set last year by John Grosvenor. Rick Thompson took the Lucas Oil Pole Award and set a new track record with a time of 13:197 (68.197 mph) around the fast quarter-mile oval. Next came Bud Rumsey at 13:325; Kurt Madsen at 13:360; Rob Powers at 13:456; Matt Melby at 13:520; Kameron McKeehan at 13:525; and Grosvenor at 13:576; all under last year’s track record.  The fast qualifier has the honor of pulling the invert number (8, 10 or 12) and Thompson pulled a 12, putting him on outside of the sixth row. Heat races were run with Kevin Koepke and John Jackson and rookie contenter Chet Thorson all walking away with wins in some very close racing. 
A big Thank You is expressed to all of the teams that made the trip to Wenatchee and to all of our rookies who chose to step up and join the series this year.
As the field for the Rockett Brand Racing Fuel 75 took Troy Blantons green flag, the action started with Tom Keehan taking the lead. Keehan, just coming off a win the weekend before at his home track, South Sound Speedway, led until Eddie Secord in the Renegade Racing Grand Prix took over the point. Two red flags and a couple of yellows spotted the75 laps, with the “big one” coming on lap 21. This is when the cars of Johnny Rumsey and Chet Thorson tangled, triggering a big pile up that eliminated the cars of Rumsey and Kevin Koepke and caused damage to several others. The next red flag flew at lap 49, when Wayne Dillon smacked the front strait wall sustaining heavy damage. The remainder of the event ran  smoothly, with Matt Melby putting on a driving school as he carved his way to the front. Meanwhile Eddie Secord and Rick Thompson were doing battle for second. A spin by Shelby Minor-Ball then closed the field to make it a dash to the end. On the restart, Secord, Thompson and Melby made their charge, with Thompson taking the  lead and Melby using a slow car to make his way past the trapped Secord. Melby and Thompson made contact in the final corner, but the driver of the #16, Rick Thompson, hung on for the win. Melby had his career best Alliance finish taking second, while Secord hung on for third. Eric Kaas, John Jackson, Travis Allen, Jerry Koepping, Jordan Fitch, Jeff Jones and Pyrotect Rookie driver, Bill McAdams, round out the top 10.

PRO 4 ALLIANCE GETS
RAVE REVIEWS AT
YAKIMA SPEEDWAY
( Yakima , WA ) 6/21/09 by Kelly Hart
The NW Pro 4 Alliance is a traveling racing group
made up of 4-cylinder LatecModel styled cars from
more than 5 different clubs and independent racers
from all over the country. The Saturday night field
featured over 30 cars with drivers from Florida,
California, Utah, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. It
was a hometown driver however who came away with
the win and second straight feature for the division.
Prosser, Washingtons Rick Thompson  captured the
60-lap Main Event. While the Main Event was slowed
by 6 yellow flags and 3 red flags, the fans got to see plenty of daring passes and side by side racing action all over the half-mile oval. There were 4 lead changes feature 3 drivers with Thompson leading 40 total. Craig Forney looked strong leading the first 28 laps, and Kurt Madsen held the lead for a lap and a half when his car broke loose coming out of the 4th turn and spun wildly into the inside fence sections on the 34th lap with the field closing rapidly. There were many lapped cars and wherever the leaders went they seemed to be running in traffic as the NW Pro 4 Alliance started 26 cars in the mainevent. The night started with Steve Thompson setting a new track record of 20.035 just barely missing breaking into the 19 second bracket. Tom Keehan and Rick Thompson won the Trophy Dashes, John Musser claimed the 20 lap B Main Event.

MATT MELBY WINS NW PRO4 NATIONALS
Post Falls, ID – Matt Melby of Hood River, OR, drove the
VanCleave Ford Fusion to his first ever Northwest Pro4
Alliance win on August 8th on the tight Stateline Stadium
Speedway quarter-mile to claim the 3rd annual Northwest
Pro4 Nationals win. Melby had some tough company as this
event drew the top Pro4 teams in the west. Bud Rumsey of
Prosser, WA, turned in fast time at a 13:76 lap to lead a
27-car field into a very fast night of racing action.
The B Trophy Dash saw Pyrotect Rookie contender Steve
Schovares of Spokane, WA, grab the win, while fellow
Spokane driver Kameron McKeehan showed why he is the
defending Alliance Champ, tooking the A-Dash for the four
fastest cars. Heat race action was fast and exciting as Tom
Keehan of Bonny Lake, WA, won the C-Heat, while Steve
Thompson from West Richland, WA, took the B-Heat, and
Utah’s Kurt Madsen won the A-Heat. All of the heats ran without a single yellow flag. Tough luck took its toll as Johnny Rumsey, Jeff Raver, Eric Kaas and Jerry Keopping all fell victim to engine failures. Pyrotect Rookie contender Shelby Minor-Ball suffered a big oil fire in practice, when a broken oil line forced her crew to work all afternoon to repair the damage, although the ill effects of the fire would haunt her all night. Her crew, led by Steve Kutz, did one heck of a job to represent their new sponsor and engine builder, Nutter Racing Engines, regardless of their poor finish. The B-Main ended early when a hard charging Bob Quarterman of Granit Falls, WA, exploded an engine just as the veteran driver was moving into the final transfer spot. Due to the time needed to clean up the track, Alliance race director, Chris Cunningham, along with Stateline Speedway staff decided to call the race and move the three remaining cars into the A-Main. John Musser of Roy, WA, was declared the winner with Dan Hale of Bonny Lake, WA, second and Hermiston, Oregon’s Larry Badoux third.
The front row for the Northwest Pro4 Nationals saw California’s Eddie Secord and Auburn, WA, driver Craig Forney set the pace for the 75-lap event. With the drop of Alliance flagman Troy Blanton’s green flag, it was Forney showing his muscle taking the lead, only to pass the lead off to Secord when he slipped in turn two, sliding into the infield. Forney would recover nicely and blend into the field and start a charge back up to the front. Secord didn’t have much time to cruise, as Melby planted his silver #8 on Secord’s back bumper and pressured the multi-time Pro4 champ until his bright yellow Grand Prix slid high in turn three, allowing Melby to take the lead. Secord never got the chance to fight back for the lead as engine problems sidelined him. A lap 40 spin by Pyrotect Rookie contender Bill McAdams from Umatilla, OR, brought out the first yellow; and now, by no surprise, Madsen was riding second with local favorites McKeehan and John Jackson of Lewiston, ID, in the top four positions. On the restart, Melby shot out in the lead and found himself in some very talented traffic, as he began lapping some very good cars. Only one other yellow would slow Melby in his run for the checkered flag, and he drove flawlessly to take the win. Madsen would come home second ahead of McKeehan, Jackson and a hard charging Rumsey. Forney would race back to sixth, in front of 2007 Nationals winner John Grosvenor. Travis Allen of Spokane Valley, WA, would hold off Ken Chandler Jr. of Boise, ID, for seventh while Keehan would round out the top ten.
The Northwest Pro4 Alliance will conclude the 2009 Summer of Excitement Series at South Sound Speedway in Rochester, WA, on September 5 & 6 with a double header Championship Weekend to crown the 2009 Champion and 2009 Pyrotect Rookie of The Year.

Madsen Wins the Race;
Melby Wins the Championship
& Mother Nature Wins the War
The Northwest Pro4 Alliance set out to cap off a very
successful season with a double header weekend at
South Sound Speedway only to find out that good old
mother nature had a different idea as she poured
raincdown most of the weekend.With limited practice
on Saturday afternoon the South Sound Speedway
staff saved the track after a short but heavy down
poor allowing 23 of the 27 Pro4 cars to time in.  Bad
luck struck and defending Champ Kameron
McKeehan, Thor Hansen, Keith Clevenger and
Montana’s Jeff Smyth all had mechanical failures
before the racing action got underway.
The Lucas Oil Fast Time Award went to Utah’s Kurt Madsen in the Garrett Doyle Honda out of Palmdale California at a 14:317. Heat race winners were Rick Thompson, Wayne Dillon, Eddien Secord and Bud Rumsey.
The 75 Lap feature started with the cars of Wayne Dillon and Rick Thompson on the front row and with the drop of Troy Blanton’s green flag the racing was on. Dillon would take the early lead but Rick. Thompson would get the lead back just as a four car pile up in turn one would bring out the first of several yellow flags. Both Bud and Johnny Rumsey along with John Jackson would be eliminated from the event, while Dan Hale and Rob Golden would continue.On the restart things look to be off to a good start and then a tap from Steve Thompson sent his brother Rick Thompson spinning off the track out of harms way, Rick Thompson would rejoin the field deep in the pack.
On lap 37 the cars of Travis Allen and Craig Forney made heavy contact resulting in a huge impact with the turn three wall destroying both cars. Allen complained of back and chest pain the talented EMT staff at South Sound Speedway went to work and after 45 minutes had Allen out and on his way to a local hospital for further examination. Later in the night Allen would be released and returned to the track. Shaken but all in one piece Forney walked away from the wreck.
Once racing resumed contact between Matt Melby and S. Thompson would gather up Dillon and end the night for all three. The Honda of Madsen had a busy night as he made his third and final run from the back of the pack after a flat sidelined him briefly. John Grosvenor held the lead with just a handful of laps left but had Ken Chandler Jr. right on his tail, until Madsen made the power move of the night driving by both of them to take the win. Rookie Steve Schovaers and Canadian Craig Dirksen would round out the top five.
Set for the final shot at a championship or just a good point’s finish the teams went to work for Sunday. With a steady rain Sunday morning South Sound Speedway and the Northwest Pro4 Alliance staff new the weekend was over as the event was called at 10AM. The points were counted and Hood Rivers Matt Melby would become the 2009 Northwest Pro4 Alliance Champion and Steve Schovaers would capture the Pyortect Rookie of the Year Title.