Mother Nature finally took a break from the rain and let some dirt track racing action hit the 3/8 banked clay oval of Grays Harbor Raceway on Saturday night. The Washington Modified Tour, Sportsman Sprint Cars, Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks and the Outlaw Tuners were in action on the season opener.
Washington Modified Tour:
2017 Grays Harbor Raceway Shipwreck Beads Modified champion Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis set the pace for the 25 lap Washington Modified Tour feature. Sweatman jumped to the early lead with Sedro Woolley driver Kevin Smith running second. The first caution of the feature saw Elma's Dan Kinnaman slow to a stop with motor issues. The restart saw Sweatman take the lead once again, this time Port Hardy, BC driver Lawrence O'Connor battled for second with Smith. Seabeck's Kyler Moore and Jeremy Martin of Warren, Ore battle for the fourth position. Sweatman looked to be in command, pulling away slowly from Smith, while Martin, O'Connor and Kyler Moore battled for third. Contact between Smith and O'Connor out of turn two, allowed Martin and Moore to get by O'Connor. Sweatman looked to be the class of the field picking up his first win of 2017. Martin, Kyler Moore, Smith and Scott Miller rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening went to Austin Kerrigan, O'Connor and Smith.
Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks:
Montesano's Scott Fritts and Tom Hecker of Spanaway led the field to the green flag for the 20 lap Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks feature. Just as the green flag waved in the air, the yellow flag appeared for contact between Elma's Ryen Haney, and Ocean Shores driver Jeff Daniel. Fritts led them down after one lap was completed with two veterans right on his back bumper, Jason Tole and Jack Parshall. Both Hoquiam drivers looked for Fritts to make a mistake while Shane Kerrigan of Aberdeen moved into the third spot from Tole. Fritts continued to lead on a long green flag run before a caution on lap 8 for Tole spinning in turn one. Due to many incidents a green, white, checkered restart setup a wild finish as Parshall looked to the inside lane of Fritts making a drag race to the checkers. Fritts would hold on to pick up his first career Grays Harbor Raceway feature. Parshall, Shane Kerrigan, Tole, and Austin Kerrigan rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Tole, Parshall and Hecker with Tole picking up fast time.
Sportsman Sprints:
The first of two visits of the Sportsman Sprint Cars took to the 3/8 banked clay oval with Bill Rude of Mt. Vernon and Burlington driver Kelsey Carpenter set the front row of the 20 lap feature. Carpenter took the early lead and didn't waste no time pulling away from the field as Rude had tough company of Michael Millard of Bremerton looked to try and find away around Rude for second. The first caution of the feature saw Derek Roberts of Monroe spinning to a stop in turn one on lap 12. Carpenter brought the field to the green flag on the restart and quickly pulled away from Rude and Millard as both drivers battled for second. Edmonds driver Devin Barnes tried to make it a 3 car battle for second as well. Lap 19 saw the red flag come out for Roger Oudman of Sedro Woolley. Oudman went for a wild ride in turn four. He did exit the car and was ok. Carpenter looked unstoppable, pulling away on the final restart and picking up the win. Millard, Rude, Bailey Sucich, and Barnes rounded out the top five. Heat races went to Carpenter and Barnes, with Roberts picking up fast time.
Outlaw Tuners:
Cory Sweatman of Aberdeen led the field to the green flag but saw tough company of Josh Wharton of Tenino taking the lead quickly with Wishkah driver George Lovell moving into the second spot. Wharton's night came to an early end with mechanical issues coming out of turn four giving the lead to Lovell with Sweatman right at his back bumper. Sweatman took the lead from Lovell and slowly pulled away from the rest of the field. Matthew Anderson of Roy brought out the caution for a spin on the front straightaway early in the race allowing the field to stack up, giving Lovell a chance to take the lead back from Sweatman, on the restart, Lovell and Sweatman made contact, causing a melee in turn four bringing out another caution. On the final restart, Sweatman continued to lead, pulling away from the field rather quickly and taking the checkered flag. Don Briggs Sr, Andy Jacaway, Tyler Sundstrom and Zach Dalrymple rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Sweatman and Lovell
Racing will resume next Saturday night with the 360 Sprint Cars, Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks and Outlaw Tuners. Gates open at 5:30PM with racing beginning at 7PM.
Grays Harbor Raceway
May 6, 2017
Washington Modified Tour (Shipwreck Beads Modifieds):
Heat 1:
- AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 2. 11 Tom Sweatman, 3. 26 Scott Miller, 4. 3 Cory Sweatman, 5. 87 Tyler Walker, 6. 28 Brian Harding, 7. 47 Steve Signal, 8. 34 Gene Miller
Heat 2:
- 23EH Lawrence O'Connor, 2. 14K Kyler Moore, 3. 43K Shane Kerrigan, 4. 14 Craig Moore, 5. 97 Tyson Blood, 6. 45 Tiana Berkeley, 7. 40 Mike Knox, 8. 10XX Dan Butenschoen
Heat 3:
- 7K Kevin Smith, 2. 12s Zack Simpson, 3. 99 Jeremy Martin, 4. Del Schnitzer, 5. 58 James Wolfard
A-Main:
- Tom Sweatman, 2. Martin, 3. Kyler Moore, 4. Smith, 5. Scott Miller, 6. Craig Moore, 7. Harding, 8. Schnitzer, 9. Walker, 10. Shane Kerrigan, 11. Berkeley, 12. Knox, 13. Signal, 14. Butenschoen, 15. Wolfard, 16. O'Connor, 17. Austin Kerrigan, 18. Blood, 19. Simpson, 20. Gene Miller, 21. Cory Sweatman, 22. Kinnaman
Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks:
Fast Time:
34 Jason Tole
Heat 1:
- 34 Jason Tole, 2. 42s Scott Fritts, 3. 67 Ryen Haney, 4. 19 Taylor Miller, 5. 12 Doug Brwster, 6. 42R Daryl Brumfield
Heat 2:
- 9 Jack Parshall, 2. AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 3. 4X George Madison, 4. 01 Zeb Conrad, 5. 11X Ross Watkins, 6. 3D Shannon Redle
Heat 3:
- 5 Tom Hecker, 2. 43 Shane Kerrigan, 3. 14 Jeff Daniel, 4. 22X Kelly Fugate, 5. 57 Mike Mann, 6. 00 Kirk McGinnis, 7. 3 Rodger Perry, 8. 23 Nick Bramer
A-Main:
- Fritts, 2. Parshall, 3. Shane Kerrigan, 4. Tole, 5. Austin Kerrigan, 6. Haney, 7. Hecker, 8. Madison, 9. Daniel, 10. Mann, 11. Brumfield, 12. Brewster, 13. Fugate, 14. Miller, 15. Courts, 16. Conrad, 17. Redle, 18. Perry
Sportsman Sprints:
Fast Time:
42 Derek Roberts:
Heat 1:
- 79K Kelsey Carpenter, 2. 14B Bailey Sucich, 3. 42 Derek Roberts, 4. 7o Roger Oudman, 5. 9J Bert Johnson
Heat 2:
- 22D Devin Barnes, 2. 33 Bill Rude, 3. 23 Michael Millard, 4. Chip Clark
A-Main:
- Carpenter, 2. Millard, 3. Rude, 4. Sucich, 5. Barnes, 6. Johnson, 7. Roberts, 8. Clark, 9. Oudman
Outlaw Tuners:
Heat 1:
11 Cory Sweatman
Heat 2:
96 George Lovell
A-Main:
- 11 Cory Sweatman, 2. 13XXX Don Briggs Sr., 3. 10 Andy Jacaway, 4. 23 Tyler Sundstrom, 5. 0 Zach Dalrymple, 6. 7 Dale Speas, 7. 96 George Lovell, 8. 8. Amber Tock, 9. 29 Matthew Anderson, 10. 59 Josh Wharton, 11. 33X Jason Parmalee, 12. 8X Melvin Welch
- Social Media on May 08, 2017
- Article Date: 5/8/2017 by Aaron Reed