By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (May 2, 2011) – The American Sprint Car Series Northwest Region is set to fire off the 2011 season with a pair of events at a pair of Washington clay ovals this weekend.
The series lifts the lid on the 2011 season on familiar turf Friday night before moving on to new ground on Saturday.
Elma’s Grays Harbor Raceway, an ASCS Northwest staple, hosts the opener, with Alger’s Skagit Speedway hosting an ASCS event for the first time in track history on Saturday night.
Burlington, Washington’s Jason Solwold became the third different Northwest champion in as many years under the ASCS banner by edging 2009 titlist Roger Crockett by just 11 points for the 2010 crown. Jayme Barnes was the ASCS Northwest champion in 2008.
While Solwold nipped Oregon’s Crockett for the title last year, Enumclaw’s Henry Van Dam, Tacoma’s Mitch Olson and Snohomish shoe Seth Bergman, who has gone National, rounding out the top five.
The balance of last year’s top ten included Jayme Barnes (Marysville, WA), 15-year-old Trey Starks (Puyallup, WA), Logan Forler (Eatonville, WA), T.J. Hartman (Puyallup, WA) and Garen Linder (Central Point, OR). Like Bergman, Forler is also on the Lucas Oil ASCS National circuit in 2011.
Friday’s action at Grays Harbor Raceway gets under way at 6:30 p.m., with Saturday’s green flag at Skagit Speedway flying at 7:00 p.m.
The high-banked, 3/8-mile Grays Harbor Raceway clay oval is located in Elma, WA, 21 miles west of US 101 on SR 8 to the junction of US 12, then 0.2 miles north, then 0.6 miles east on Elma-McCleary Road. For more information, contact the track at 360-482-4374.
The high-banked, 3/10-mile Skagit Speedway clay oval is located in Alger, WA off I-5 Exit 232, then 0.1 mile east, then 4.9 miles north. For more information, contact the track at 360-724-3567.
The 2011 ASCS Northwest slate of events includes 21 nights of action at seven tracks throughout Washington and Oregon.
The 2011 season marks the 20th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, with approximately 200 nights of competition at tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.