Cory From Kaleb Hart
Alger, WA – (September 13, 2014) — Skagit Speedway closed its 60th season by crowning four champions on Saturday night. The large crowd saw Jason Solwold, Eric Fisher, Cory Swatzina and Freddie Vela win the championship night main events and then watched as Matt Jensen, Colton Heath, Swatzina and Vela were named the driver point champions for 2014. At the conclusion of the night, Skagit Speedway lit up the night sky with the Scrap-It Steel Recycling Fireworks Show.
The race of the night was in the 360 class. Colton Heath was slated to start on the pole after winning the scramble, but engines issues forced the point leader to scratch, setting up a front row of Eric Fisher and Derek Roberts. Fisher made full use of his opportunity, taking the Michael Harris owned #44h to the lead with Roberts and Justin Youngquist lingering a few car lengths back. The pair had just reached traffic on lap ten when a red for Lawrance Kirkham in turn three would bunch the field and give Fisher clean air to work with. On the restart, Youngquist would blast around Roberts and set sail for Fisher. With traffic approaching again, Youngquist spent the better part of laps 15-20 right on Fisher’s rear nerf. As the cars came around to the back of the field, Fisher used veteran poise to clear the slower cars, forcing Youngquist to change his line up and buying Eric a little breathing room. Once clear, Justin made a late rally on the high side but it was too late as Fisher collected the victory in a thrilling finish. Youngquist took second with Roberts closing late in third. Trey Starks was the fastest of the time trial cars. Despite not starting the main event, Heath had enough points to claim the driver and owner point title in the 360 division, the first for him in a sprint car and first for car owners Alan Larson and Kelly Welch.
Jason Solwold absolutely destroyed the field in the 410 sprint cars. Starting on the outside pole, Solwold ran away and hid from the field to put the Shaylen Raye Motorsports #18 in victory once again at Skagit Speedway. Matt Jensen and Rick Ziehl had a spirited battle for second with Jensen claiming the spot at the checkered flag. The second place finish secured Jensen the driver point championship, while Ziehl’s third place secured the car owner title for Bob and Lori Scott, who used four different drivers in 2014 to claim the championship. Steve Vague won the scramble.
It was tough going early in the Sportsman Sprint Main Event for Cory Swatzina, but the veteran racer made the right moves and picked up the feature win to go with his season title. In a fantastic display of racing, Swatzina and Zach McCabe traded slide jobs around the slick Skagit Speedway 3/10 mile clay oval before Swatzina emerged on top for good on lap three. The field closed on him a couple times with stoppages on lap eight and lap fourteen, but Swatzina finished his championship run but taking the main event by a good number of car lengths. Robbie Price got around McCabe for second. A former tuner division champ, Swatzina won the scramble and was crowned champion for drivers and car owners points in post race ceremonies for the Sportsman Sprints. Trey Starks was the fastest of the time trial cars.
Freddie Vela is now a repeat champion in the Outlaw Tuner Class. Following an injury shortened 2013 campaign, Vela was on a mission all year to reclaim his crown, and he put the exclamation point on his comeback with a 17 lap wire to wire win in the season finale. Becky Boudreau survived a physical battle to claim second place in the main, with Brandon Berg recovering from a spin out to grab third.
410 Sprints
Scramble – Steve Vague, Jason Solwold, Rick Ziehl, Jayme Barnes, Jesse Whitney, Matt Jensen, Barry Martinez, Kevin Smith
Main – Jason Solwold, Matt Jensen, Rick Ziehl, Kevin Smith, Jayme Barnes, Barry Martinez, Jesse Whitney, Steve Vague
Lap Leaders – Solwold 1-25
Point Champion – Matt Jensen
360 Sprints
Fast Time – Trey Starks 12.213
Scramble – Colton Heath, Derek Roberts, Eric Fisher, Justin Youngquist, Mike Bollinger, Bud Ashe, Phil Schemenauer
Main – Eric Fisher, Justin Youngquist, Derek Roberts, Trey Starks, Mike Bollinger, Rod Perkins, Steve James, Greg Hamilton, Phil Schemenauer, Steve Reeves, Zeth Custer, Luke Didiuk, Bud Ashe, Matt Jensen, Lawrance Kirkham
Lap Leaders – Fisher 1-25
Point Champion – Colton Heath
Sportsman Sprints
Fast Time – Trey Starks 12.929
Scramble – Cory Swatzina, Steve Parker, Robbie Price, Zach McCabe, Clayton Sibley, Greg Otis, James Bundy
Main – Cory Swatzina, Robbie Price, Zach McCabe, James Bundy, Trey Starks, Bill Rude, Tyler Fox, Greg Otis, Michael Hodel, Clayton Sibley, Devin Barnes, Ben Gunderson, Ashley Lewellen, Brett McGhie, David Reeves, Joe Lyon, Dan McGrew, Steve Parker
Lap Leaders – Swatzina 1 McCabe 2 Swatzina 3-20
Point Champion – Cory Swatzina
Outlaw Tuners
Scramble – Freddie Vela, Brian Michelson, Brandon Berg, Matt Powers, Becky Boudreau, Clint Meins, Howard Vos, Kevin Reuter
Main – Freddie Vela, Becky Boudreau, Brandon Berg, Clint Meins, Jon Gunderson, Brian Michelson, Howard Vos, Uncle Donnie, Matt Powers, Travis Meins, Kevin Reuter, Red Fritsch, Dalton Taylor, Patrick Adams, Jon Edwards
Lap Leaders – Vela 1-17
Point Champion – Freddie Vela