From Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (July 6, 2011) – The Sprint Car racing scene is about is about set to go full throttle in the Northwest portion of the United States as the Bully Dog ASCS Northwest Speedweek presented by Contingency Connection fires off Monday, July 11.
The Monday night card in Oregon kicks off six consecutive nights of ASCS Northwest action at four different tracks in Oregon before culminating with a two-night stand in conjunction with the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N National series at Elma, Washington’s Grays Harbor Raceway.
A $6,000 point fund will be in effect for the six-race Speedweek, with the Bully Dog ASCS Northwest presented by Contingency Connection champion collecting a $2,000 winner’s share. The balance of the top five in Speedweek points will receive $1,500 (second), $1,000 (third), $700 (fourth) and $300 (fifth). The remaining $500 goes to the Speedweek Hard Charger. Drivers must compete in all six events to be eligible for the point fund monies.
The week of action begins Monday night at Medford’s Southern Oregon Speedway. From there, Speedweek moves on to Coos Bay Speedway on Tuesday, Cottage Grove Speedway on Wednesday and Lebanon’s Willamette Speedway on Thursday. Those initial four legs of ASCS Northwest Speedweek in Oregon all offer up $2,000-to-win feature events.
The full week of competition concludes with the Fifth Annual Fred Brownfield Memorial at Grays Harbor Raceway on Friday and Saturday, July 15-16. The July 15 preliminary pays $3,000 to win, with the July 16 Speedweek finale a $6,000-to-win affair.
While the Northwest Speedweek crown is on the line, all six events also count towards the 2011 ASCS Northwest championship chase. And, the chase couldn’t be much closer than it currently is, with defending series champion Jason Solwold just four points ahead of 2009 champion Roger Crockett.
Crockett opened the 2011 season with a two-night sweep of Cottage Grove on May 13-14, with Solwold evening the score in the win column with a Grays Harbor sweep on May 28-29.
While Solwold is narrowly ahead of Crockett, Lucas Oil ASCS National contender Seth Bergman of Snohomish, WA, is just 16 points out of the Northwest lead in third, with Henry Van Dam of Enumclaw, WA, and Garen Linder of Medford, OR, rounding out the current top five.
The balance of the current top ten in ASCS Northwest points includes Trey Starks (Puyallup, WA), Mitch Olson (Tacoma, WA), Rick Fauver, Reece Goetz and Jake Waddell (Roseburg, OR).
Bully Dog ASCS Northwest Speedweek presented by Contingency Connection Schedule:
Monday, July 11 – Southern Oregon Speedway (Medford, OR) @ 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, July 12 – Coos Bay Speedway (Coos Bay, OR) @ 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 13 – Cottage Grove Speedway (Cottage Grove, OR) @ 6:45 p.m.
Thursday, July 14 – Willamette Speedway (Lebanon, OR) @ 6:00 p.m.
Friday, July 15 – Grays Harbor Raceway (Elma, WA) @ 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 16 – Grays Harbor Raceway (Elma, WA) @ 6:30 p.m.
The Tracks:
Southern Oregon Speedway (White City, OR) – 3/8-mile, semi-banked clay oval located near Medford off I-5 Exit 30, then 5.6 miles north on SR 62 (Crater Lake Hwy), then 2.3 miles east on SR 140, then 0.4 miles south on Kershaw Road. For more information, contact the track at 541-826-6825, 541-772-6264 or check http://www.sospeedway.com/.
Coos Bay Speedway (Coos Bay, OR) – 3/8-mile, semi-banked dirt oval located 2.1 miles southeast of US 101 on SR 42. For more information, contact the track at 541-269-2474 or check http://www.coosbayspeedway.us/.
Cottage Grove Speedway (Cottage Grove, OR) – ¼-mile, semi-banked clay oval located off I-5 Exit 174, one block south on Gateway, then one block south on North 19th Street, then right for 0.3 miles on Ostrander Lane, then 0.4 miles north on Douglas (next to the fairgrounds). For more information, contact the track at 541-942-7561 or check http://www.cottagegrovespeedway.com/.
Willamette Speedway (Lebanon, OR) – 3/10-mile, high-banked clay oval located off I-5 to SR 34, then 5.4 miles east on SR 34, then 2.2 miles SE on Denny School Road (which turns into Airport Dr.). For more information, contact the track at 541-258-8503 or check http://trophymotorsports.com/willamettespeedway.htm.
Grays Harbor Raceway (Elma, WA) – 3/8-mile, high-banked clay oval located 21 miles west of US 101 on SR 8 to the junction of US 12, then 0.2miles north, then 0.6 miles east on Elma-McCleary Road. For more information, contact the track at 360-482-4374 or check http://www.graysharborraceway.net/.
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.