Fans at Grays Harbor Raceway were treated to a great night of racing featuring the 360 Sprint Cars, Shipwreck Beads Modifieds, Pacific Hard Top Racing Association Dwarf Cars and the Outlaw Tuners.
PHRA Dwarf Cars:
The PHRA Dwarf Cars started the evening off with their feature event. Ryan Martinez or Portland, Ore led the field to the green flag with Gaston, Ore driver Corey Estaban taking the early lead from Martinez. Leo Ward of Happy Valley, Ore moved into the third spot looking to chase down Estaban and Martinez for the lead. Estaban pulled away from the rest of the field as the battle for third position heated up between Ward, and Jess Turner Sr or Kelso.
Estaban continued to lead the field, but Martinez looked to the inside on lap 10 to try and take the lead. Lap 10 saw Martinez take the lead from Estaban. Lap traffic was a huge factor in the feature event, as both Martinez and Estaban maneuvered between while continuing their battle for the lead. Lap 22 saw a caution out for Marty Holmason, as he would spin to a stop in turn four. Estaban who had mechanical issues pulled into the pit area, giving the second spot to Turner Sr. Martinez led the field to the green, giving Turner Sr a shot for the lead, Martinez slowly pulled away and would go on to win the PHRA Dwarf Car feature, Jess Turner Sr., Jimmy Brinster, Leo Ward and John Chrisman rounded out the top five. Earlier in the evening heat race winners were Dylan Chrisman, Ryan Martinez, Corey Estaban and Leo Ward.
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
Port Hardy, BC driver Lawrence O'Connor led the field to the green flag in the Shipwreck Beads Modified feature. Scott Miller of Shelton took the lead away from O'Connor with a great start, while Matt Jenner of Vancouver moved into the third position. Miller continued to pull away from the field, as the battle for fourth, fifth and sixth was the race to watch between Shelton's Kris Asche, and a pair of Aberdeen drivers Austin Kerrigan and Zack Simpson. Asche maintained the fourth spot, with Kerrigan right on his back bumper.
Miller continued to lead the field, as Jenner and O'Connor battled back and forth for the second spot. Lap 18 saw the caution flag fly for a incident in turn one that started with Simpson and Kerrigan side ways and contact between Kerrigan and Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis causing Sweatman to slow drastically with Sam Carlisle of Cosmopolis making hard contact with Sweatman. Miller led the field to the green flag on the restart, with Jenner and O'Connor looking to chase him down. Miller pulled away quickly from the field and would go on to pick up the Shipwreck Beads Modifieds feature event, Matt Jenner, Lawrence O'Connor, Austin Kerrigan and Craig Moore rounded out the top five. Heat race winners were O'Connor, Miller, and Matt Jenner.
Outlaw Tuners:
Willie Wright of Aberdeen, and Wishkah's Don Briggs Jr led the field to the green flag in the Outlaw Tuner feature. Wright picked up the early lead, as George Lovell of Wishkah looked to make a move into the second spot, getting side by side with Briggs Jr. Wright continued to lead but had no room for mistake as Briggs Jr was right on his back bumper. Lap 3 saw Briggs Jr make a pass on Wright for the lead and took the top spot out of turn four.
The red flag would come out for Ryan O'Nasch of Aberdeen as he would get upside down in the middle of turn three after making contact with the tire on the bottom of the raceway. Briggs Jr led Jason Valentine of Aberdeen, and Lovell to the green flag on the restart. Briggs Jr pulled away, with Lovell looking to make a pass, but couldn't get the top spot from Briggs Jr. At the end of the feature Don Briggs Jr picked up his first career Outlaw Tuner feature, Willie Wright, and Jason Valentine rounded out the top three. Willie Wright won the heat race earlier in the evening.
Sprint Cars:
A pair of track champions set the front row of the Sprint Car feature as Shelton's Jay Cole and Evan Margeson of Tacoma led the field to the green flag. Cole took the early lead as Snohomish driver Chase Goetz joined the battle for the second spot. Goetz and Margeson raced side by side for a lap before Goetz took the second position. The caution flag would come out on lap 5 for contact between Matt Jensen of Issaquah and Eagle Point, Ore driver Brent McGrath. The restart saw Cole lead Goetz, but the caution would come out once again, this time for Everett driver Tyler Anderson as he would spin to a stop in turn 4.
After numerous restarts for incidents, Cole continued to lead Goetz and Margeson. Cole extended his lead going through lap traffic making quick use of them to hold off a hard charging Colton Heath of Marysville. Heath worked his way into the second spot from the sixth position. Heath also working through lap traffic started to chase down Cole to try and make a shot at the lead, but ran out of time. At the end of the feature Jay Cole picked up his first win of 2015. Colton Heath, Evan Margeson, Cam Smith and Chase Goetz rounded out the top give. Earlier in the evening heat race winners were Heath, Jensen and Anderson, with Heath also picking up fast time.
Action will resume at Grays Harbor Raceway next Saturday night with something different on schedule. Monster Slam 15, featuring the high flying, fire breathing, monster trucks looking to entertain the fans. Also on the schedule will be the Crusher Stunt Man doing stunts, as well as a roller over contest. Gates open at 5:00 PM with racing at 7:00 PM.
Grays Harbor Raceway
August 22, 2015
Outlaw Tuners:
Heat Race:
- 17 Willie Wright
Feature:
- 11XXX Don Briggs Jr
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
Heat 1:
- 27 Lawrence O'Connor, 2. 12 Zack Simpson, 3. 18X Sam Carlise, 4. 55 Carl Larson, 5. 43K Shane Kerrigan, 6. 6M Shane Rau, 7. 47 Steve Signal
Heat 2:
- 26 Scott Miller, 2. 44 Del Schnitzer, 3. 50K Kris Asche, 4. 58 James Wolfard, 5. 1W Craig Moore, 6. 4R Bill Rowe
Heat 3:
- 6MJ Matt Jenner, 2. AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 3. 11 Tom Sweatman, 4. 6X Don Jenner, 5. 46 Jeremy Miller, 6. 17 Brian Izzi
Feature:
- Scott Miller, 2. Matt Jenner, 3. O'Connor, 4. Austin Kerrigan, 5. Moore, 6. Asche, 7. Don Jenner, 8. Wolfard, 9. Simpson, 10. Larson, 11. Carlisle, 12. Rau, 13. Shane Kerrigan, 14. Jeremy Miller, 15. Izzi, 16. Signal, 17. Rowe, 18. Sweatman, 19. Schnitzer
PHRA Dwarf Cars
Heat 1:
- 66s Dylan Chrisman, 2. 39K Tim Hester, 3. 68 Eric Berquist, 4. 94 Jeremiah Hester, 5. 95 Michael Hester, 6. 4W Brian Taylor
Heat 2:
- 9o Ryan Martinez, 2. 22 Jess Turner, 3. 88s John Chrisman, 4. 88K Clay Goben, 5. 5K Brandon Ross, 6. 7K Goerge Fisher
Heat 3:
- 36 Corey Estaban, 2. 12st Marty Holmason, 3. 81 Charles Millar, 4. 11 Rich Holbert, 5. 53K Doug McVae
Heat 4:
- 75 Leo Ward, 2. 89Z Henry Corbin III, 3. 2 Jimmy Brinster, 4. 3 Jim Fischer, 5. 90Z Henry Corbin II, 6. 8W Dale Knutson
Feature:
- Martinez, 2. Turner, 3. Brinster, 4. Ward, 5. Chrisman, 6. Bergquist, 7. Tim Hester, 8. Corbin III, 9. Holbert, 10. Ross, 11. Corbin II, 12. Millar, 13. Fischer, 14. Fisher, 15. Jeremiah Hester, 16. McVae, 17. Taylor, 18. Holmason, 19. Michael Hester, 20. Knutson, 21. Estaban
Sprint Cars:
Fast Time:
33 Colton Heath
Heat 1:
- 33 Colton Heath, 2. 91 Chase Goetz, 3. 42 Devin Madonia, 4. 97R Jason Reed, 5. 45 Brent McGrath, 6. 57 Bud Ashe
Heat 2:
- 98 Matt Jensen, 2. 17 Cam Smith, 3. 50 Evan Margeson, 4. 33V Henry Van Dam, 5. 21 Robbie Price
Heat 3:
- 24 Tyler Anderson, 2. 9R Reece Goetz, 3. 0J Jay Cole, 4. 22C Trevor Cook, 5. 15 Dan Dunlap
Feature:
- Cole, 2. Heath, 3. Margeson, 4. Smith, 5. Chase Goetz, 6. Van Dam, 7. Madonia, 8. Dunlap, 9. Price, 10. Anderson, 11. Reed. 12. Cook, 13. Jensen, 14. Reece Goetz, 15. Ashe, 16. McGrath
- Steve Beitler on Aug 23, 2015
- Article Date: 8/23/2015 by Aaron Reed