Going from mid 90's in temperatures last weekend to mid 60's this weekend the action at Grays Harbor Raceway was hot on Saturday night as the Wingless Sprint Series, Northwest Focus Midgets Series, and the Outlaw Tuners took to the 3/8 banked clay oval.
Wingless Sprint Series:
Rob Lindsey of Sherwood, Ore led the 16 car field to the green flag, with Tacoma's Jonathan Jorgenson right on his tail. The battle for third between Forest Grove's Jake Gilman and Tim Alberding of Salem saw Gilman take over third. Lap 3 saw the first caution as Mark Herz of Sandy, Ore and Portland's Tommy Moreno make contact on the back stretch. Rob Lindsey had tough company as Jorgenson was on his back bumper until lap 5 saw Jorgenson spin in turn one. On the second restart Lindsey slowly pulled away from the field, as Gilman, and Alberding sat in the top three. Lap 7 saw a caution for Jeff Dunlap slowing to a stop in turn three.
Lindsey looked to have a perfect restart and he got it, pulling out front of Gilman, Alberding, and Puyallup's Sterling Kane. Lap 10 saw fourth place running Kane spin in turn four. Gilman looked to the inside line of Lindsey in turn one on the restart, but didn't have the momentum to pull off the pass, allowing Lindsey to pull away by a handful of car lengths. At the end of a caution plagued feature, Rob Lindsey picked up the win, with Gilman, Jonathan Jorgenson, Alberding, and Otto Jorgenson rounding out the top five. Earlier in the night heat race winners were Lindsey and Jonathan Jorgenson, with Lindsey picking up the dash and quick time.
Northwest Focus Midget Series:
Lake Stevens driver Chance Crum led the 21 car field to the green flag during the 25 lap Northwest Focus Midget Series feature. Ryan Cully of Alger took the early lead from Crum and slowly pulled away from the field. Marysville driver Nick Evans moved into the third spot, setting his sights on Cully and Crum. Lap 5 saw Crum and Evans start to reel in Cully, which allowed Evans to race side by side with Crum for the second spot. Nik Larson of Lake Stevens joined in on the battle, looking to the inside of Crum for the third spot. The top four drivers were within car lengths of each other as lap traffic became a factor. Larson took over the third spot, and looked to take the lead off turn four as Cully made contact with a lapped car on lap 10. The first caution of the feature came out a lap later for a four car incident involving McCleary's Garrett Thomas, Shane Smith of Lynnwood, Thomas Walker of McCleary, and Tabitha Stebbins of Seattle.
Larson led Evans and Crum to the green flag on the restart, but caution once again came out for Burlington's Tristin Thomas, spinning to a stop in turn four. Larson look to have another great restart as Evans and Crum battled for the second spot. Michael Vollbrecht of Shoreline looked to the inside of Crum for third, but couldn't make the pass. Lap 15 saw the first red flag of the evening for Tanner Holm of Shoreline, getting upside down in turn four, he walked away from the accident uninjured. Larson looked to be the driver to beat, but a late race issue with his car allowed Evans to get by, and go on to pick up his first career Grays Harbor Raceway win. Cully, Eric Turner, Jacob Brown, and Tristin Thomas rounded out the top five. heat race winners earlier in the evening were Crum, Tristin Thomas, and Cully, with Garrett Thomas picking up quick time.
Outlaw Tuners:
Chad Norton of Tenino and Wishkah's Don Briggs Sr set the front row of the Outlaw Tuners feature. Norton took the early lead, with Briggs Sr, and George Lovell of Wishkah looking to chase him down. A three wide battle for the fifth spot was one of the races to watch between Don Briggs Jr. of Wishkah, Woodland's Cody Scouller, and Tenino driver Josh Whorton. Whorton took over the fourth spot looking to chase down third place Tyler Sundstrom of Aberdeen. First caution came out on lap 5 for Briggs Sr as he was running in the second position, slowing to a stop in turn one.
Norton was the man to beat, getting a great restart, and pulling away from the field. Lovell and Whorton continued to battle for the second spot, as Sundstrom, Briggs Jr, and Scouller made an exciting battle for the third position. At the end of the Outlaw Tuners feature, Chad Norton picked up win number two on the season, Whorton, Lovell, Scouller and Sundstrom rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Norton and Briggs Sr.
Racing resumes next Saturday night with the Wild Wild Modified Speedweek finale, with the Washington Modified Tour. Also on hand will be the Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks. Gates open at 5:30PM, with racing at 7:00PM.
Grays Harbor Raceway
June 11, 2016
Outlaw Tuners
Heat 1:
75 Chad Norton
Heat 2:
13XXX Don Briggs Sr.
A-Main:
75 Chad Norton
Northwest Focus Midget Series:
Fast Time:
14 Garrett Thomas
Heat 1:
- 83 Chance Crum, 2. 23B Jacob Brown, 3. 4 Michael Vollbrecht, 4. 14 Garrett Thomas, 5. 21 Todd Hartmann, 6. 19 Thomas Walker, 7. 2A Renee Angel
Heat 2:
- 9T Tristin Thomas, 2. 24 Nick Evans, 3. 29 Dougie James, 4. 16 Nik Larson, 5. 99 Seth Hespe, 6. 34s Lee St. Paul, 7. 13A Aly Pyles
Heat 3:
- 21J Ryan Cully, 2. 2J Jonathan Jorgenson, 3. 5 Tanner Holm, 4. 29T Eric Turner, 5. 98K Shane Smith, 6. 17 Chris Bullock, 7. 30 Tabitha Stebbins
A-Main:
- Evans, 2. Cully, 3. Turner, 4. Brown, 5. Tristin Thomas, 6. James, 7. Jorgenson, 8. Hespe, 9. Hartmann, 10. St. Paul, 11. Walker, 12. Angel, 13. Vollbrecht, 14. Bullock, 15. Pyles, 16. Larson, 17. Holm, 18. Smith, 19. Garrett Thomas, 20. Stebbins, 21. Crum.
Wingless Sprint Series:
Fast Time:
23 Rob Lindsey
Heat 1:
- 23 Rob Lindsey, 2. 52 Tim Alberding, 3. 89 Sterling Kane, 4. 50 Brad Rhodes, 5. 57 Lindsay Barney, 6. 54 John Butler, 7. 15 Jeff Dunlap, 8. 9 Tristin Thomas
Heat 2:
- 2J Jonathan Jorgenson, 2. 15R Jake Gilman, 3. 8X Otto Jorgenson, 4. 1 Mark Herz, 5. 9J Bert Johnson, 6. 29T Tommy Moreno, 7. 27 Guy Weedman
Dash:
- Lindsey, 2. Jonathan Jorgenson, 3. Butler
A-Main:
- Lindsey, 2. Gilman, 3. Jonathan Jorgenson, 4. Alberding, 5. Otto Jorgenson, 6. Kane, 7. Johnson, 8. Barney, 9. Rhodes, 10. Weedman, 11. Thomas, 12. Dunlap, 13. Herz, 14. Butler, 15. Moreno
- Steve Beitler on Jun 12, 2016
- Article Date: 6/11/2016 by Aaron Reed