From Kaleb Hart
Skagit, WA — (April 18, 2015) — Season 61 at Skagit Speedway kicked off Saturday night with Robbie Price emerging triumphant in the evening’s main event for the 360 Sprint Cars. Joining Price in victory lane was Tayler Malsam in the 410s, Lance Sargent in the Sportsman Sprints, Lawrence O’Connor in the Modifieds and Freddie Vela in the Outlaw Tuners.
Price, the Cobble Hill, BC teenager, his first career sprint car win came courtesy of a big move on lap two. Greg Hamilton set out to the initial lead from the pole, but before the full field made the first lap, Hamilton tipped over in turn one, causing a complete restart. Colton Heath and Eric Fisher occupied row one after reshuffling the lineup and it was Heath holding the point after lap one. Price saw his opening come in turn four of the second lap, as Heath exited turn four high and Price found incredible drive through the bottom groove to make what ended up being the race winning pass. Robbie would hold Colton off through heavy traffic to score the win, with Heath settling for second and Cam Smith running third. Trey Starks was the fastest car in qualifying. Heat winners were Price, Heath and Steve Reeves.
Another teenager looked primed to score his first sprint car win at Skagit Speedway, as Skylar Gee took early control of the 410 feature and opened up a nice sized advantage. As the race developed, Gee’s advantage would narrow, as Tayler Malsam and Austen Wheatley closed in on him while trading moves for second. Malsam eventually seized control as Wheatley retired from the race and began work on Gee. Tayler found just enough room on the inside of turn four on lap 21 to pick up the lead and park the Rudeen Racing #26 in victory lane, followed by Gee second and Robbie Price in third. Wheatley was the quick qualifier and heat race winner.
Even in his wildest dreams, Lance Sargent never imagined driving his sportsman sprint to victory lane in his very first race. Following an eventful 25 lap A Feature, his crew had to pinch him to convince him it wasn’t a dream, as the Spanway, WA rookie took the lead with just two laps to go en route to his first win. Kenny Rutz set the early pace, but tragedy struck him early as a collision with a lapped car ended his evening on lap seven. Paul Burdick took over from there and endured multiple race stoppages and challenges from would be contenders until Sargent emerged from the pack to try his hand. With Paul up high, Lance used the bottom to make his moves, and unfortunately, the two made contact coming out of turn four that resulted in Burdick flipping. Lance inherited the lead and took the win just a few laps later, making the dream come to fruition. Tyler Fox was second and Ben Gunderson was third. Heat wins went to Burdick, Rutz and Roger Oudman.
Lawrence O’Connor and Mark Carrell engaged in a war in the Shipwreck Beads Modifieds, and at the conclusion of 25 hard fought laps, it was O’Conner take the win in a photo finish at the line. O’Connor took the lead on lap seven from Graham Cook and held it till lap 15 when Carrell powered past him on the bottom. Lawrence didn’t give up, finding traction up high, retaking the lead for the final time on lap 19 on his way to the win. Carrell settled for second with Kris Asche taking third. O’Connor and Carrell were the heat winners.
The Outlaw Tuners ran the cleanest main event of the night, and as the final flag flew, it was division champ Freddie Vela going wire to wire for the opening night win. Matt Powers and Cliff Ballenger had a spirited race for second, with Powers besting Ballenger on the final lap as Cliff had a right rear tire going flat. Jon Gunderson and Brandon Berg won the heats.
410 Sprint Cars
Fast Time – Austen Wheatley 11.308
Heat 1 – Austen Wheatley, Matt Jensen, Skylar Gee, Tayler Malsam, Jason Solwold, Robbie Price, Steve Reeves, Trey Starks, Kelsey Carpenter
Main – Tayler Malsam, Gee, Price, Solwold, Starks, Wheatley, Jensen, Reeves, Carpenter
Lap Leaders – Gee 1-20 Malsam 21-25
360 Sprint Cars
Fast Time – Trey Starks 11.857
Heat 1- Steve Reeves, Skylar Gee, Eric Fisher, Reece Goetz, Colton Akerstrom, Cory Samuelson, Trey Starks
Heat 2 – Robbie Price, Justin Youngquist, Luke Didiuk, Greg Hamilton, Chase Goetz, Steve James, Brock Lemley
Heat 3 – Colton Heath, Cam Smith, Phil Schemenauer, Mike Bollinger, Bud Ashe, Nate Vaughn, Derek Roberts, Lawrance Kirkham
Main – Robbie Price, Heath, Smith, C Goetz, R Goetz, Fisher, Lemley, Gee, Reeves, Akerstrom, Bollinger, Didiuk, James, Schemenauer, Roberts, Vaughn, Samuelson, Ashe, Youngquist, Hamilton, Starks
Lap Leaders – Heath 1 Price 2-25
Sportsman Sprints
Heat 1 – Roger Oudman, Steve Parker, Devin Barnes, Tyler Fox, Geoff Needham, Brett McGhie, Julian Fuentes
Heat 2 – Paul Burdick, Lance Sargent, Clayton Sibley, Dave Mead, Ben Gunderson, Dan McGrew, Sean Johnson
Heat 3 – Kenny Rutz, James Bundy, Michael Hodel, Bill Rude, Joe Lyon, Victoria Cantu, Lee Hornbeck
Main – Lance Sargent, Fox, Gunderson, Bundy, McGhie, Cantu, Parker, Mead, Rude, Barnes, Burdick, Lyon, Sibley, Hodel, Hornbeck, Rutz, Fuentes, Oudman, Needham, McGrew, Johnson
Lap Leaders – Rutz 1-7 Burdick 8-23 Sargent 24-25
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds
Heat 1 – Lawrence O’Connor, Alan Muenchow, James Wolfard, Tyler Ketchum, Louis Nutter, Tom Warner, Becky Boudreau
Heat 2 – Mark Carrell, Graham Cook, Kris Asche, Mel Decker, Aaron Weston, Steve Signal, Brandon Nutter
Main – Lawrence O’ Connor, Carrell, Asche, Wolfard, Cook, Weston, Decker, Muenchow, Warner, Ketchum, Signal, Boudreau, L Nutter, B Nutter
Lap Leaders – Cook1-6 O’Connor 7-14 Carrell 15-18 O’Connor 19-25
Outlaw Tuners
Heat 1 – Jon Gunderson, Cliff Ballenger, Ben Wilton, Jack Desrosier, Jason Butenschoen, Matt Ploeg
Heat 2 – Brandon Berg, Freddie Vela, Matt Powers, Howard Vos, Dan Butenschoen, Dalton Taylor
Main – Freddie Vela, Powers, Ballenger, Wilton, Vos, Gunderson, Desrosier, D Butenschoen, J Butenschoen, Taylor, Berg
Lap Leaders – Vela 1-17