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(Alger, WA) 6/2/12 by
Kelly Hart
With threatening skies all around the race facility Skagit
Speedway once again got in a full night of racing action making it now 9
straight weeks without a rainout in the Pacific Northwest. Track owner Steve
Beitler said, “We have been truly blessed. In the time I have owned the track
we have never gotten past the first 9 dates without losing one to rain. This
has been fantastic. For our drivers to get this many races in before Dirt Cup
is unprecedented.”
On the track the action was hot as usual with fast times in
the 410 division of 11.515 seconds by Eric Fisher and a 11.775 clocking from
Alan Munn in the 360 Sprint class.
Racing in the 410 division was paced by the heat race wins
of Mitch Olson and Kevin Smith. Mitch Olson took off with the lead from his
starting position of 4th. From outside the second row Olson made a
huge move to lead the first lap. Through the pack came fast timer Fisher who
moved from 8th starting to take over the lead on lap 6 underneath
Olson in turn two. Coming down to take the white flag Fisher got tangled up
with a lapped car and did a complete 360 past the flagstand with Olson taking
over the lead. Shane Valliant spun in turn 2 bringing out the caution handing
the lead back to Fisher. Fisher held on through the green, white, checkered
restart to take his second consecutive 410 Sprint car main event. Solwold
finished third with Trey Starks fourth and Chad Hillier fifth. Starks and
Hillier made runs from deep in the field to move up in the final order.
For the 360 Sprints Kelsey Carpenter and Justin Youngquist
won the heat races. The main event started off on a sour note with Mack Brown
flipping hard in turn 3 bringing out the red flag. On the restart it was all
Youngquist who held off a fast charging Trevor Turnbull at the finish line.
Over the last two laps Youngquist was slowing as he could not steer the car
with a broken steering gear just getting to the finish line seconds in front of
Turnbull.
In the Sportsman Sprint division Steve Parker and Clayton Sibley
won the heat races. It looked to be a wire to wire victory for defending
champion Derek Roberts as he went into the white flag lap with a nice sized
lead over Cory Swatzina, but lapped traffic would again play a role on the
night as Roberts had to slow hard getting into turn 3 to avoid a spinning car
and spun himself as well. That handed the lead to Swatzina who finished the
final two laps in the lead followed by Dylan Dunham and Skyler Pawlowicz. A
couple notes, Zach McCabe finishing fifth came from the back of the pack after
spinning while in second place to finish a strong 5th. Point leader
Steve Parker finished ninth after stopping for a mechanical issue early in the
race.
A season long battle is shaping up between defending
champion Freddie Vela and runner-up Rick Young as one or the other has won most
of the main events already this season. On this night Young struggled while
Vela cruised to the 17 lap main event win. Heat races were won by Young and
Matt Powers. The battle of the night was the run for second in the main with
Matt Ploeg and Matt Powers fighting wheel to wheel over the last dozen laps
with Ploeg besting Powers for the runner-up spot.
Next Saturday night June 9th at ASA Member Track
Skagit Speedway features the “Prelude To The Dirt Cup” with all Sprint Cars and
Outlaw Hornets competing along with the USAC Midgets in the Foothills Toyota
Tundra Racing series. Grandstands open at 5:30pm with racing at 7:00pm. Driving
directions and other information is available at www.SkagitSpeedway.com .
RESULTS
410 Sprints
Fast time Eric Fisher 11.515
Heat 1 Olson, Solwold, Jorgenson, Fisher, Lemley
Heat 2 Smith, Whitney, Jacobson, Martinez, Starks
410 Main Eric Fisher, Olson, Solwold, Starks, Hillier, Ryan,
Smith, Heath, Martinez, Anderson, Valliant, Lemley, Whitney, Jorgenson, Edson
Lap leaders
Hard Charger Eric Fisher +7 positions gained
360 Sprints
Fast time Alan Munn 11.775
Heat 1 Carpenter, Price, Starks, Munn, Anderson
Heat 2 Youngquist, Turnbull, Brown, Jacobson, Smith
Main Justin Youngquist, Turnbull, Carpenter, Starks, Price, Munn,
Rutz, Smith, Ashe, James, Jacobson, Anderson, Brown
Lap leaders Youngquist 1-25
Hard Charger Trey Starks +5 positions gained
Sportsman Sprints
Heat 1 Parker, Dunham,
Swatzina, Meyers, Oudman
Heat 2 Sibley, McCabe, Gunderson, Roberts, Schroder
Main Cory Swatzina, Dunham, Pawlowicz, Sibley, McCabe, Bundy,
Clark, Myers, Parker, Schroder, Roberts, Brooke, Oudman, Gunderson, Mead, Lewellen,
Rude
Lap leaders Roberts 1-18, Swatzina 19-
Hard Charger James Bundy +10 positions gained
Outlaw Hornets
Heat 1 Powers, Meins, Vos, Vela, Berg
Heat 2 Young, Ploeg, Ballenger, Adams, Edwards
Main Freddie Vela, Ploeg, Powers, Young, Edwards, Vos, Boudreau,
Meins, Bailey, Thibert, Ballenger, Toth, Berg, Adams,
Lap leaders Vela 1-17
Hard Charger Becky Boudreau +6 positions gained