Hot: Jaycees Demo Derby closes the fair

The heat of a warm summer's night was certainly intense. But it wasn't nearly as an intense as the heat inside the Great Northern Fair Arena on Sunday night.

As always, the annual Jaycees Demolition Derby closed out the Great Northern Fair, and Sunday's demolition derby closed the 2010 Great Northern Fair with plenty of fireworks.

A capacity crowd of 1,736 fans watched 10 drivers reach the championship heat in Sunday night's derby. And of those 10 drivers, two stood out. Ryan Erickson, the 2009 derby champion battled Ben Mader for the 2010 championship.

The duo went at each other for nearly another 15 minutes after the other eight drivers were put out of the competition.

Both Erickson and Mader had their moments where they were able to be aggressive, but it was the relentless Erickson who outlasted Mader and everybody else in the field. And when Mader finally put his red flag up, which signals a driver and his car are officially out of the competition, Erickson had his second- straight Jaycees Demolition Derby final. The win also gave the calcutta victory to Friends and Family of Ryan Erickson.

Erickson reached the championship round by finishing in the top two in Heat No. 3. The other driver from the heat was Andy Owens. Mader made his way to the finals out of Heat No. 4, along with Jake Brown. Heat No. 1 saw Jim Brandon and Jestin Brown reach the finals, while Heat No. 2 was won by Jim Albertson and Sheldon Molyneaux.

Jestin Brown wound up finishing third in the championship round.

The night's excitement also featured one of the best Herby Derbies in recent years. There were 12 cars entered in the Herby, an event that puts an emphasis on smaller cars. Each car has only three minutes of time in which to make contact with another car, so the action is fast-paced.

And when the dust settled on the 2010 Herby Derby, Rob Harkins was the last man standing, while Josh Haas finished in second place.