MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Demo Derby held the second half of its events Wednesday night with more drivers, dirt and another round of demolition. 

“It’s always easier on the second day because everybody is going with the flow already” said Aaron Schrodt, organizer for the Moses Lake Demo Derby. “Everybody did great, we had a couple roll roll-overs, but everybody was safe.” 

Michael Koon came out as the final winner of the derby being the last car standing in the demolition event. He said the one thing going through his mind at the end of the event was to win it all and not let his nephews down who were in the audience. 

“We knew it was going to be a battle coming in,” said Koon. 

He and his friend Seth Dompier took second and first, respectively, during night one’s demolition event and said he wanted to see how long they could last during the second night.  

Koon got into doing the demo derby through his father, Tim, who participated in the derby during the 80’s and just barely retired around five years ago. Koon said he started driving with his father soon after and has been part of the demo derby for the past 20 years.  

He said he hopes that the family tradition of being in the demo derby will pass on to his nephews once they are old enough to participate. 

“They’re glued to it,” said Koon. “They help paint the cars usually... they had all the handprints on it (Tuesday) night.” 

Koon said he wanted to thank Fred and Bob’s construction for sponsoring his car.  

The derby began with a charity lawnmower race where each racer represented a local nonprofit and every mower featured a donation collection spot. They were given $600 for each charity. 

A special tribute was also held early on where Moses Lake Roundup inducted Vern Hellewell as the first member of the Moses Lake Demo Derby Hall of Fame. They thanked him for his years of dedication to both the demo derby and the community.  

The derby featured plenty of veterans to the sport, but also had an influx of new drivers looking to get into the sport. The Powder Puff races had multiple first-year demo derby drivers, including Kenna Morrison, who won first place in her race. 

“My dad (Brad Morrison) has been doing the demo forever and I just wanted to do it because I just finally turned 16 so I can drive,” she said. 

A group of four drivers, sisters Cadence Moeller and Mackenzie Moeller, Gavin Hickman, and Ryan Jorgensen, all participated in different events throughout the demo derby. For Hickman and the two sisters, this year was their first time participating in the demo derby. 

“The car wasn’t running the greatest for the first couple days, but I finally got it to run good for one race and I’m happy with it,” said Hickman.  

During Wednesday night’s events, Cadence and Mackenzie had the opportunity to race against each other. 

“I was terrified, I actually cried a little bit,” said Cadence. “But once I got in, it was actually fine.” 

The group all got into the demo derby through Jorgensen who said he’s been racing for a couple years now. 

“I told them, ‘let’s get a car built,’ and we got a car built in like 12 hours,” he said. 

“We’ve always come to the demo derbies to support people,” said Mackenzie. “We just always thought it was really fun to do, just were too nervous to, but we did it and it was really fun so I think we’re probably going to continue doing it.” 

Shepherd Prentice, 19, and his brother Roan, 18, both participated in events during the demo derby with Shepherd earning first in the Figure 8 race and second in Heat Race #4 and Roan earned first in Heat Race #5 and Australian Pursuit #4. 

“It was sick,” said Roan. “It was hot in there; my car was overheating from the start so I was just trying to get them out as quick as possible.” 

“In the figure 8 I was just trying to hit as many people as I could and it worked out for me, I ended up winning,” said Shepherd. 

Shepherd said he had always had an interest in participating in the demo derby so he decided to buy a car and start participating in the derby last year. 

“My parents didn’t want me to do it at first so I just bought a car and then they just kind of got on board with it and then Roan started doing it the year after me,” he said. 

The most successful part of the demo derby this year was that there were no major injuries to any of the drivers outside of the dirt biker, Jimmy Lamastus, who broke his leg during Tuesday’s events. The derby has implemented rules and has made many changes to how the cars can be decorated for the sake of safety at the event. 

“Our main goal is to keep everyone safe and go back home to their family,” he said. 

The demo derby has been great for bringing the community together by welcoming anyone who wants to participate, Schrodt said. 

“It’s a group of people that want to put a show on and welcome anybody who wants to join and be part of the show,” he said. 

Schrodt said the thing he enjoys the most about organizing the demo derby every year is getting to interact with the people in the community.  

“It’s just a really good group of people to have fun with and be able to race,” he said. “It’s just an overall great environment.” 

Demo Derby Night Two Winners 

Event, Name, Number 

Best Looking Car, Jeremy Brown, 10 

Lawn Mower Race, Jeff Cobb 

Heat Race #1, Julio Bravo, 187 

Heat Race #2, Kody Eilers, 34 

Heat Race #3, Tim Myers, 93 

Heat Race #4, Carter Ball, 157 

Heat Race #5, Roan Prentice, 71 

Heat Race #6, Korey Calley, 73 

Heat Race #7, Kameron Dockins, 734 

Heat Race #8, Cael Cox, 24 

Heat Race #9, Steve Martinez, 68 

Heat Race #10, Jeremy Brown, 10 

Figure 8, Shepherd Prentice, 111 

Powder Puff #1, Kenna Morrison, 444 

Powder Puff #2, Breana Daniels, 181 

Powder Puff #3, Nicki Baker, 55 

Powder Puff #4, Diana Schaible, 711 

Powder Puff #5, Aidan Brumet, 444 

Aussie #1, Jeremy Brown/Jacob Munck, 10/119 

Aussie #2, Chad Palmer, 99 

Aussie #3, Cameron Zabala, 2 

Aussie #4, Roan Prentice, 71 

Aussie #5, Hans Roberts, 91 

8/12 Winners Race, Tyler Marchand, 172 

8/13 Winners Race, Cael Cox, 24 

Demo Derby, Michael Koon, 117 

    Michael Koon and his family stand in front of his car with the first place trophy on top after winning the demolition event at the Moses Lake Demo Derby. Koon said he has been participating in the event for about 20 years and hopes to get his nephews involved once they are old enough.
  

    Kenna Morrison, 444, speeds to the front of the pack during the Powder Puff #1 event. Morrison had just turned 16 and this was her first year racing.
  

    The driver of car 731 drives into the back tire of car 807 to throw them off course during one of the heat races during day two’s events at the demo derby.
  

    In the lawn mower charity race, Jeff Cobb rides along the track on his rig, that he geared up to be much faster than what a typical mower would go. While each of the other racers had five laps, Cobb was given an extra lap that he had to drive to accommodate for his speed.
  

    Vern Hellewell waves the checkered flag during the first Heat Race to kick off day two of the demo derby. Hellewell was also just prior to this event honored as the first inductee into the Moses Lake Demo Derby Hall of Fame.
  

    Shepherd Prentice squeezes through a pileup of cars during Heat Race #4. He earned second in his Heat Race and first in the Figure 8 race.