By Andrew Kunas
Burlington, WA … The second night of the Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway delivered a finish as thrilling as the first, as Justin Sanders got his fourth NARC sprint car victory of the season Friday night with a last lap pass to get the $10,000 win.
The reigning NARC “King of the West” champion started the 30-lap feature inside the second row and ran in third place for most of the race, while Washington sprint car great Jason Solwold led the opening six laps from the pole position. A bobble by Solwold exiting Turn 4 on the seventh circuit allowed Australian star James McFadden to get by to take the lead.
McFadden, who started fourth, led from there and encountered traffic at times before timely cautions would clear the track for him. In one instance, Solwold was able to challenge McFadden and nearly passed him, but McFadden held on to the top spot. In the closing laps, Sanders found a groove, making the pass around Solwold for second with just three laps left. He then immediately went after Sanders.
Coming around Turns 3 and 4, Sanders made the bottom of the track work, getting a run down the front stretch at the white flag. McFadden went low in Turns 1 and 2, but Sanders went top side and drove around him to take the lead entering the back stretch on the final lap. McFadden tried to run low into Turn 3, but Sanders barely slammed the door shut as they entered the turn, and McFadden couldn’t find a way back by as Sanders took the victory in front of a thrilled Skagit Speedway crowd.
“I think the bottom was going away in 1 and 2. Solwold got to James and got him searching, and I think it slowed up enough up there and I just airmailed it up top in 1 and 2,” Sanders said. “I’m out of breath. I drove that thing as hard as I could. I just kinda put something together in those last five laps and like I said I just drove it as hard as I could. I’m in awe that I pulled that off.”
Sanders, the 2023 Dirt Cup winner, again praised his team, including owner Demo Mittry. This continued the strong run Sanders had been on recently aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC after a roller coaster spring. In the last couple of weeks, Sanders won the David Tarter Memorial at Silver Dollar Speedway on June 7th, then finished Top 10 each night in NARC’s Fastest Five Days in Motorsports last week, including three podium runs, and then getting fourth in the Thursday Dirt Cup preliminary before scoring the Friday victory. With the win, Sanders was fourth in overall points after the two preliminary nights in the special Dirt Cup points format and locked himself in Saturday’s pole shuffle.
McFadden, while disappointed with letting one slip away, still had a strong bounce back night after getting upside down twice in Thursday’s main event, taking second place aboard the American Rock & Rent-sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21t Kistler-powered Maxim. This continued his overall strong performance since jumping into that car over a week over, having won four of the five races in the Fastest Five Days.
Tanner Holmes came from the tenth starting position and moved into the Top 5 as the race progressed. He eventually was in fourth place and in the last laps got Solwold to finish third aboard the Legacy Builder Supply-sponsored Holmes Racing No. 18t Rider-powered Triple X. After his fifth place run on Thursday and being second overall in points after the two preliminary nights, Holmes also locked himself into Saturday’s pole shuffle.
Solwold, the many-time Skagit Speedway champion and former World of Outlaws feature winner, finished fourth aboard the KarMart USA-sponsored Shaylen Raye Motorsports No. 18 Parker-powered Triple X. Joel Meyers Jr finished fifth aboard the Dirt Dudes Excavating-sponsored Willie Kahne No. 4 Shaver-powered Triple X.
Trey Starks came from 12th to finish sixth and was top overall in the Dirt Cup points, and locking into the pole shuffle as a result. Coming from 15th to finish seventh, Shane Golobic also locked into the shuffle. Jesse Schlotfeldt came from 16th to finish eighth, followed by Scott Bogucki. Landon Brooks came out of the B-Main and advanced 13 positions from 23rd to finish tenth and earn the Williams Roofing Hard Charger Award.
Dominic Gorden won the Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier, taking Justin Peck, Brooks and Dominic Scelzi with him to the Friday preliminary main event. Luke Didiuk won the C-Feature.
Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Camden Robustelli, Justin Youngquist, Gorden, Cam Smith and Brent Marks. Jesse Schlotfeldt paced the 44-car field in Automotive Racing Products Qualifying, touring the 3/10-mile clay oval in 11.250 seconds.
The 53rd Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup concludes Saturday with the main event paying $100,026 to win. Points from Thursday and Friday will be combined to largely set up lineups for Saturday’s races. Starks, Holmes, Golobic and Sanders are locked into the pole shuffle and will be joined by the winners of the four qualifier races.
Hoosier Racing Tires Feature (30 laps): 1. 2x Justin Sanders (3), 2. 21t James McFadden (4), 3. 18t Tanner Holmes (10), 4. 18 Jason Solwold (1), 5. 4 Joel Meyers Jr (7), 6. 55 Trey Starks (12), 7. 17w Shane Golobic (15), 8. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt (16), 9. 78 Scott Bogucki (11), 10. 21L Landon Brooks (23), 11. 88n D.J. Netto (9), 12. 26f Eric Fisher (2), 13. 19 Brent Marks (13), 14. 121 Caeden Steele (17), 15. 95 Justin Youngquist (20), 16. 1c Colton Heath (8), 17. 21p Robbie Price (6), 18. 42 Sye Lynch (14), 19. 24d Danny Sams III (19), 20. 10 Dominic Gorden (21), 21. 41 Dominic Scelzi (24), 22. 35km Tyler Thompson (18), 23. 26 Justin Peck (22), 24. 2xm Max Mittry (5).
METTEC Titanium Lap Leaders: Jason Solwold 1-6, James McFadden 7-29, Justin Sanders 30
Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 21L Landon Brooks, 23rd to 10th (+13)
Automotive Racing Products Fast Qualifier (44 cars): 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt, 11.250 seconds
Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 27c Camden Robustelli, 2., 18t Tanner Holmes, 3. 21L Landon Brooks, 4. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt, 5. 24d Danny Sams III, 6. 1m Mike Brown, 7. 1c Colton Heath, 8. 15 Nick Parker, 9. 95r Dan Reynold.
Kimo’s Tropical Carwash Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 95 Justin Youngquist, 2. 7b Sean Becker, 3. 4 Joel Meyers Jr, 4. 121 Caeden Steele, 5. 14 Mariah Ede, 6. 42 Sye Lynch, 21p 7. Robbie Price, 8. 77 Levi Klatt, 9. 0 Ashleigh Johnson.
WEDG High Performance Karts Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 10 Dominic Gorden, 2. 2k Gauge Garcia, 3. 17w Shane Golobic, 4. 78 Scott Bogucki, 5. 9a Luke Didiuk, 6. 26f Eric Fisher, 7. 91 Chase Goetz, 8. 24 Tyler Anderson, 9. 29k Levi Kuntz.
Winters Performance Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 17 Cam Smith, 2. 18 Jason Solwold, 3. 21t James McFadden, 4. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 5. 45 Cory Eliason, 6. 2xm Max Mittry, 7. 88n D.J. Netto, 8. 17c Chris Bullock, 9. 09 Greg Otis
Beacon Wealth Strategies – Raymond James Heat 5 (10 laps): 1. 19 Brent Marks, 2. 35km Tyler Thompson, 3. 2x Justin Sanders, 4. 26 Justin Peck, 5. 55 Trey Starks, 6. 51 Dustin Gehring, 7. 29 Bud Kaeding, DQ’d – 94TH Braden Chiaramonte (finished 1st, did not scale).
C-Feature (10 laps): 1. 9a Luke Didiuk, 2. 09 Greg Otis, 3. 94TH Braden Chiaramonte, 4. 29k Levi Kuntz, 5. 0 Ashleigh Johnson, 6. 17c Chris Bullock, 7. 51 Dustin Gehring, 8. 95r Dan Reynold. First four finishers transfer to B-Feature. Johnson and Bullock also transfer due to scratches.
Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier (15 laps): 1. 10 Dominic Gorden, 2. 26 Justin Peck, 3. 21L Landon Brooks, 4. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 5. 91 Chase Goetz, 6. 17 Cam Smith, 7. 45 Cory Eliason, 8. 2k Gauge Garcia, 9. 27c Camden Robustelli, 10. 77 Levi Klatt, 11. 94TH Braden Chiaramonte, 12. 14 Mariah Ede, 13. 7b Sean Becker, 14. 15 Nick Parker, 15. 9a Luke Didiuk, 16. 29k Levi Kuntz, 17. 1m Mike Brown, 18. 0 Ashleigh Johnson, 19. 17c Chris Bullock, 20. 09 Greg Otis, DNS – 24 Tyler Anderson, 29 Bud Kaeding. First four finishers transfer to A-Feature.