From Kelly HartAlger, WA — (June 1, 2013) –It was a fast night of racing, both in speed of the cars and speed of the program at Skagit Speedway Saturday night. 34 Sprint cars and 18 Outlaw Tuners saw action with main event wins going to Kelsey Carpenter (360 Sprints), Cory Swatzina (Sportsman Sprints) and Brandon Berg (Outlaw Hornets).
Carpenter found himself in perfect position when race long leader Mack Brown and second place Brock Lemley tangled in heavy traffic coming out of turn two on what should have been the final lap. Both cars went for the same piece of real estate when a lapped car halted forward progress crashing both cars. The lap prior Lemley had passed Brown in what looked to be heavy Seattle drivetime traffic at the north end of the race track only to have Brown return the favor and gather back the front spot at the south end. Carpenter who had been running third inherited the lead and held of Kenny Rutz and Colton Heath for the win. Rutz set fast time at 11.742 seconds around the 3/10th mile clay oval. Rutz and Jesse Whitney won the heats.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Someone very famous wrote those words and it summed up Paul Burdick’s night perfectly. Burdick won his heat and lead the 14 of the last 15 laps before one mistake cost him the lead. Heading into turn one on the white flag lap, Burdick bobbled just enough to let Cory Swatzina past and into the lead. Swatzina led the last three fourths of a lap for the win. Brandon Benson led the first 5 laps before running into a spinning lapped car in front of him in turn four sending him into the fence hard and breaking the right rear. The other heat race winner was Benson who picked up his first ever heat race win at Skagit Speedway.
Brandon Berg has dominate his two Outlaw Hornet wins this season. Berg took off like a rocket on the green flag, turning in a race fastest 17.5 second lap and leaving the field in his wake. Nobody even got close enough to see Berg the rest of the way. Meanwhile behind him Freddie Vela and Rick Young were picking their way through traffic to wind up on the podium at the finish. Vela and Young won the heat races.
On June 8th at ASA Member Track Skagit Speedway it is the return of the Shipwreck Beads Modified Series, along with the USAC Midgets, Outlaw Tuners, 410 and Sportsman Sprints. Spectator gates open at 5:30 pm with racing at 7:00 pm.
RESULTS – starting position in parenthesis
360 Sprints
Qualifying 1. 8r Kenny Rutz 11.742, 2. 33 Colton Heath 11.763, 3. 5 Josh DeWitt 11.785, 4. 88 Brock Lemley 11.906, 5. 79k Kelsey Carpenter, 6. 88w Jesse Whitney 11.953, 7. 50 Michael Bollinger 12.092, 8. 96x Mack Brown 12.130, 9. 24 Tyler Anderson 12.162, 10. 42 Derek Roberts 12.202, 11. 98 Matt Jensen 12.258, 12. 4b Cale Brooke 12.267, 13. 29 Randy Price 12.279, 14. 08 Steve Vague 12.330, 15. 62 Lawrence Kirkham 12.366, 16. 29w Steve James 12.452, 17. 57 Bud Ashe 12.515, 18. 27z Zeth Custer 13.721
Heat 1 1. 8r Rutz (4), 2. 50 Bollinger (1), 3. Carpenter (2), 4. 5 DeWitt (3), 5. 24 Anderson (5), 6. 08 Vague (7), 7. 98 Jenson (9), 8. 4b Brooke (6), 9. 29w James (8)
Heat 2 1. 88w Whitney (2), 2. 33 Heath (4), 3. 96x Brown (1), 4. 88 Lemley (3), 5. 42 Roberts (5), 6. 57 Ashe (7), 7. 29 Price (6), 8. 27z Custer (9), 9. 62 Kirkham (8)
Main 1. 79k Kelsey Carpenter (4), 2. 8r Rutz (8), 3. 33 Heath (5), 4. 24 Anderson (9), 5. 5d DeWitt (6), 6. 88w Whitney (3), 7. 29 Price (12), 8. 08 Vague (13), 9. 50 Bollinger (2), 10. 88 Lemley (5), 11. 96x Brown (1), 12. 4b Brooke (11), 13. 27z Custer (18), 14. 62 Kirkham (17), 15. 42 Roberts (10), 16. 98 Jensen (16)
Lap leaders 96x Brown 1-24, 79k 25
Hard Charger 9r Rutz +6 positions gained
Sportsman Sprints
Qualifying 1. 23 Steve Parker 12.682, 2. 2s Cory Swatzina 12.752, 3. 9a Luke Didiuk 12.831, 4. 33 Bill Rude 12.894, 5. 17 Cory Samuelson 12.913, 6. 46 Zach McCabe 12.954, 7. 8s Clayton Sibley 13.014, 8. 15 Mike Murphy 13.075, 9. 18 Brandon Benson 13.085, 10. 9b Paul Burdick 13.089, 11. 57 James Bundy 13.136, 12. 0 Tyler Fox 13.138, 13. 13a Ashley Lewellen 13.245, 14. 9 Greg Otis 13.266, 15. 8a Ray Parker 13.564, 16. 68 Ben Gunderson 13.361
Heat 1 1. 18 Benson(1), 2. 9a Didiuk (3), 3. 8s Sibley (2), 4. 57 Bundy (5), 5. 23 Parker (4), 6. 17 Samuelson (9), 7. 2c Clark (8), 8. 8a Parker (7), 9. 13a Lewellen (6)
Heat 2 1. 9b Burdick (1), 2. 46 McCabe (2), 3. 33 Rude (3), 4. 2s Swatzina (4), 5. 68 Gunderson (6), 6. 0 Fox (5), 7. 15 Murphy (7), 8. 9 Otis (8)
Main 1. 2s Cory Swatzina (7), 2. 9b Burdick (1), 3. 46 McCabe (4), 4. 23 Parker (8), 5. 9a Didiuk (6), 6. 57 Bundy (9), 7. 8s Sibley (3), 8. 0 Fox (11), 9. 33 Rude (5), 10. 68 Gunderson (10), 11. 2c Clark (14), 12. 9 Otis (17), 13. 13a Lewellen (12), 14. 17 Samuelson (15), 15. 18 Benson (2), 16. 15 Murphy (16)
Lap leaders 18 Benson 1-5, 9b Burdick 6-19, 2s Swatzina 20
Hard Charger 2s Swatzina +6 positions gained
Outlaw Tuners
Heat 1 1. 71 Rick Young (2), 2. 24p Matt Ploeg (4), 3. 72 Brandon Berg (8), 4. 12 Tina Thibert (1), 5. 81 Jon Gunderson (7), 6. K9 Becky Boudreau (5), 7. 1 Andy Dillon (9), 8. 89 Tom Warner (6), 9. 29z Trevor Helms (3)
Heat 2 1. 20 Freddie Vela (1) 2. 77 Clint Meins (6), 3. 23 Cliff Ballenger (2), 4. 03 Vos (4), 5. 50 Jon Edwards (3), 6. 29 Mark E Toth III (7)
Main 1. 72 Brandon Berg (1), 2. 71 Young (5), 3. 20 Vela (12), 4. 24p Ploeg (3), 5. 23 Ballenger (4), 6. 81 Gunderson (9), 7. K9 Boudreau (11), 8. 12 Thibert (7), 9. 29p Patrick Adams (14), 10. 03 Vos (2), 11. 50 Edwards (8), 12. 29b Toth (12), 13. 77mr Meins (6), 14. 1 Dillon (13)
Lap leaders 72 Berg 1-17
Hard Charger k9 Boudreau +4 positions gained