By Lonnie Wheatley
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (June 13, 2010) – Gary Taylor made the trip from Oklahoma to Montana well worthwhile with a triumphant return to American Sprint Car Series victory lane after topping Sunday night’s 30-lap ASCS Northwest main event at Electric City Speedway.
The Washington state native now residing in Tulsa, OK, earned this one as well, battling past both Jason Solwold and Roger Crockett to take the top spot in Nubby Peterson’s Ostrich-powered Apple Valley Backhoe No. 23n Rocket-chassis.
A past Rocky Mountain Region champion and top-ten Lucas Oil ASCS National competitor in 2008, Taylor worked around Saturday night winner and defending ASCS Northwest champion Crockett in the final rounds to snare his 12th career overall ASCS feature triumph.
Taylor and Crockett were chased to the stripe by May 29 series season opener winner Solwold, with Seth Bergman and Mitch Olson rounding out the top five.
Brock Lemley was sixth, with Henry Van Dam, T.J. Hartman, Kelly Miller and Joe Ramaker completing the top ten.
Taylor, Olson, Ramaker and Lemley topped heat race action for Sunday night’s 36-car field, with Shane Broers and Trevor Kirkland winning the twin “B” Mains.
ASCS Northwest Results from Electric City Speedway:
Heat One: 1. 23n-Gary Taylor, 2. 19-T.J. Hartman, 3. 9k-Brent Kronfuss, 4. 44-Kelly Miller, 5. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 6. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 7. 37-Trevor Kirkland, 8. 7m-Jayme Barnes, 9. 23b-Colin Baker.
Heat Two: 1. 98-Joe Ramaker, 2. 55-Trey Starks, 3. 11-Roger Crockett, 4. 7x-Paxton Lambrecht, 5. 73-Danielle Huson, 6. 28-Joe Perry, 7. 88-Calvin Stumpf, 8. 77-Russ Yeager, 9. 17m-Karalyn Miller.
Heat Three: 1. 98m-Mitch Olson, 2. 23-Seth Bergman, 3. 96-Mack Brown, 4. 12a-Casey Adams, 5. 22-Garen Linder, 6. 16-David Miller, 7. 17-Cam Smith, 8. 31-Colton Akerstrom, 9. 99-Joe Stumpf.
Heat Four: 1. 40-Brock Lemley, 2. 5d-Josh DeWitt, 3. 39c-Jason Solwold, 4. 08-Shawn Rice, 5. 72-Phil Dietz, 6. 38-Jerry Brown, 7. 11w-Shane Broers, 8. 27dd-David Hoiness, 9. 21-D.J. Brink.
First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 11w-Shane Broers, 2. 16-David Miller, 3. 38-Jerry Brown, 4. 7x-Paxton Lambrecht, 5. 17-Cam Smith, 6. 88-Calvin Stumpf, 7. 17m-Karalyn Miller, 8. 27dd-David Hoiness, 9. 73-Danielle Huson, 10. 21-D.J. Brink.
Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 37-Trevor Kirkland, 2. 22-Garen Linder, 3. 7n-Jayme Barnes, 4. 72-Phil Dietz, 5. 23b-Colin Baker, 6. 12a-Casey Adams, 7. 28-Joe Perry, 8. 77-Russ Yeager, 9. 99-Joe Stumpf. DNS: 31-Colton Akerstrom.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 23n-Gary Taylor, 2. 11-Roger Crockett, 3. 39c-Jason Solwold, 4. 23-Seth Bergman, 5. 98m-Mitch Olson, 6. 40-Brock Lemley, 7. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 8. 19-T.J. Hartman, 9. 44-Kelly Miller, 10. 98-Joe Ramaker, 11. 55-Trey Starks, 12. 08-Shawn Rice, 13. 37-Trevor Kirkland, 14. 9k-Brent Kronfuss, 15. 16-David Miller, 16. 99j-Jake Ossenfort, 17. 96-Mack Brown, 18. 11w-Shane Broers, 19. 5d-Josh DeWitt, 20. 22-Garen Linder.
ASCS Northwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Roger Crockett 422, 2. Jason Solwold 415, 3. Brock Lemley 389, 4. Mitch Olson 366, 5. Seth Bergman 348, 6. Jayme Barnes 329, 7. T.J. Hartman 328, 8. Shawn Rice 306, 9. Henry Van Dam 297, 10. Colin Baker 286.