From Kaleb Hart
Alger, WA — (May 3, 2015) — Fans walked out of Skagit Speedway on Saturday night marveling at yet another fantastic 360 Sprint Car main event, as Robbie Price won the second leg of the 2015 Summer Thunder Sprintcar Series presented by Here 2 Wire and Finishline Graphics. Joining Price in victory lane were Garrett Thomas in the Northwest Focus Midget Series
At the outset of main event for the Summer Thunder Sprintcar Series, Chase Goetz took the lead and looked to build an insurmountable advantage. The young driver from Snohomish, WA quickly caught the back of the field and began his march through slower traffic, with Price and JJ Hickle in hot pursuit. Traffic made things hairy for Goetz, who committed to running low on the speedway. Price, the Cobble Hill, BC teenager, would use the slower cars to his advantage as he closed the gap on Goetz and pressured him in and around the soon to be lapped cars. On lap 28, Price made his move, using the outside groove in turn two to nose ahead of Goetz coming out of the corner. Sticking to the high side of the track, Robbie couldn’t continue his momentum through the turn, allowing Goetz to regain the lead off the bottom as the exited corner four. Goetz moved up track to try and clear the slower car ahead of him, while Robbie dived low, nosing ahead again out of turn two and now looking to strand Goetz high. The move paid off, as Goetz encountered the same issue on the top of three and four, allowing Price to surge further ahead and claim his second straight win at Skagit Speedway and first with the Summer Thunder Sprintcar Series. Goetz’ great run ended with him second and JJ Hickle, the quick qualifier on the night, was third. Colton Heath, Skylar Gee and Steve Reeves won the heat races.
Patience paid off for Garrett Thomas in the NW Focus Midget Series. Thomas stalked race leader Michael Millard while waiting for him to make a mistake on a tricky track in the A Main. That mistake came on the exit of turn four on lap 16, when Millard left too much of the bottom groove, allowing Thomas to take away the inside line moving into turn one. Thomas completed the pass in turn two and streaked away for his first Skagit Speedway win and second of the year with the series. Tristin Thomas (no relation) took second late from Millard who settled for third. Dougie James and Ryan Cully were the heat race winners.
Summer Thunder Sprintcar Series
Fast Time – JJ Hickle 11.806
Heat 1 – Colton Heath, Cam Smith, Justin Youngquist, JJ Hickle, Bud Ashe, Steve Parker, Phil Schemenauer, Steve James
Heat 2 – Skylar Gee, Reece Goetz, Eric Fisher, Robbie Price, Jason Solwold, Michael Bollinger, Cale Brooke, Trevor Cook
Heat 3 – Steve Reeves, Nate Vaughn, Brock Lemley, Derek Roberts, Chase Goetz, Steve Dyer, Luke Didiuk
Main – Robbie Price, C Goetz, Hickle, Solwold, Gee, Smith, Youngquist, Roberts, Reeves, Ashe, Bollinger, Schemenauer, Brooke, Didiuk, R Goetz, Cook, Parker, Lemley, James, Dyer, Heath, Fisher
Lap Leaders – C Goetz 1-29 Price 30
Northwest Focus Midget Series
Heat 1 – Dougie James, Tristin Thomas, Nick Evans, Mike Vollbrecht, Hannah Lindquist, Doug Davidson, Ray Stebbins
Heat 2 – Ryan Cully, Garrett Thomas, Michael Millard, Al Goldie, Renee Angel, Thomas Walker, Nik Larson
Main – Garrett Thomas, T Thomas, Millard, Evans, Cully, Lindquist, Walker, Larson, Angel, Goldie, Davidson, Vollbrecht, James
Lap Leaders – Millard 1-16 Thomas 17-20