From Skagit Speedway
Alger, WA — (June 3, 2012) — With threatening skies all around the race facility Skagit Speedway once again got in a full night of racing action making it now 9 straight weeks without a rainout in the Pacific Northwest. Track owner Steve Beitler said, “We have been truly blessed. In the time I have owned the track we have never gotten past the first 9 dates without losing one to rain. This has been fantastic. For our drivers to get this many races in before Dirt Cup is unprecedented.”
On the track the action was hot as usual with fast times in the 410 division of 11.515 seconds by Eric Fisher and a 11.775 clocking from Alan Munn in the 360 Sprint class.
Racing in the 410 division was paced by the heat race wins of Mitch Olson and Kevin Smith. Mitch Olson took off with the lead from his starting position of 4th. From outside the second row Olson made a huge move to lead the first lap. Through the pack came fast timer Fisher who moved from 8th starting to take over the lead on lap 6 underneath Olson in turn two. Coming down to take the white flag Fisher got tangled up with a lapped car and did a complete 360 past the flagstand with Olson taking over the lead. Shane Valliant spun in turn 2 bringing out the caution handing the lead back to Fisher. Fisher held on through the green, white, checkered restart to take his second consecutive 410 Sprint car main event. Solwold finished third with Trey Starks fourth and Chad Hillier fifth. Starks and Hillier made runs from deep in the field to move up in the final order.
For the 360 Sprints Kelsey Carpenter and Justin Youngquist won the heat races. The main event started off on a sour note with Mack Brown flipping hard in turn 3 bringing out the red flag. On the restart it was all Youngquist who held off a fast charging Trevor Turnbull at the finish line. Over the last two laps Youngquist was slowing as he could not steer the car with a broken steering gear just getting to the finish line seconds in front of Turnbull.
In the Sportsman Sprint division Steve Parker and Clayton Sibley won the heat races. It looked to be a wire to wire victory for defending champion Derek Roberts as he went into the white flag lap with a nice sized lead over Cory Swatzina, but lapped traffic would again play a role on the night as Roberts had to slow hard getting into turn 3 to avoid a spinning car and spun himself as well. That handed the lead to Swatzina who finished the final two laps in the lead followed by Dylan Dunham and Skyler Pawlowicz. A couple notes, Zach McCabe finishing fifth came from the back of the pack after spinning while in second place to finish a strong 5th. Point leader Steve Parker finished ninth after stopping for a mechanical issue early in the race.
A season long battle is shaping up between defending champion Freddie Vela and runner-up Rick Young as one or the other has won most of the main events already this season. On this night Young struggled while Vela cruised to the 17 lap main event win. Heat races were won by Young and Matt Powers. The battle of the night was the run for second in the main with Matt Ploeg and Matt Powers fighting wheel to wheel over the last dozen laps with Ploeg besting Powers for the runner-up spot.
Next Saturday night June 9th at ASA Member Track Skagit Speedway features the “Prelude To The Dirt Cup” with all Sprint Cars and Outlaw Hornets competing along with the USAC Midgets in the Foothills Toyota Tundra Racing series. Grandstands open at 5:30pm with racing at 7:00pm. Driving directions and other information is available at www.SkagitSpeedway.com .
RESULTS
410 Sprints
Fast time Eric Fisher 11.515
Heat 1 Olson, Solwold, Jorgenson, Fisher, Lemley
Heat 2 Smith, Whitney, Jacobson, Martinez, Starks
410 Main Eric Fisher, Olson, Solwold, Starks, Hillier, Ryan, Smith, Heath, Martinez, Anderson, Valliant, Lemley, Whitney, Jorgenson, Edson
Lap leaders
Hard Charger Eric Fisher +7 positions gained
360 Sprints
Fast time Alan Munn 11.775
Heat 1 Carpenter, Price, Starks, Munn, Anderson
Heat 2 Youngquist, Turnbull, Brown, Jacobson, Smith
Main Justin Youngquist, Turnbull, Carpenter, Starks, Price, Munn, Rutz, Smith, Ashe, James, Jacobson, Anderson, Brown
Lap leaders Youngquist 1-25
Hard Charger Trey Starks +5 positions gained
Sportsman Sprints
Heat 1 Parker, Dunham, Swatzina, Meyers, Oudman
Heat 2 Sibley, McCabe, Gunderson, Roberts, Schroder
Main Cory Swatzina, Dunham, Pawlowicz, Sibley, McCabe, Bundy, Clark, Myers, Parker, Schroder, Roberts, Brooke, Oudman, Gunderson, Mead, Lewellen, Rude
Lap leaders Roberts 1-18, Swatzina 19-
Hard Charger James Bundy +10 positions gained
Outlaw Hornets
Heat 1 Powers, Meins, Vos, Vela, Berg
Heat 2 Young, Ploeg, Ballenger, Adams, Edwards
Main Freddie Vela, Ploeg, Powers, Young, Edwards, Vos, Boudreau, Meins, Bailey, Thibert, Ballenger, Toth, Berg, Adams,
Lap leaders Vela 1-17
Hard Charger Becky Boudreau +6 positions gained