News from the Source

With temperatures in the low 70's, the racing action at Grays Harbor Raceway was red hot as the 360 Sprint Cars and Northwest Focus Midget Series made their first appearance of 2017. The Shipwreck Beads Modifieds and Outlaw Tuners returned as well. A great field of cars in all divisions saw great racing action!

360 Sprint Cars:
Austen Wheatley of Lake Stevens led the field down to the green flag for the 25 lap feature. Snohomish driver Chase Goetz raced side by side with Wheatley into turn one, while chaos ensued when Mill Creek's Cam Smith spun, keeping the car going and making no contact with anyone else allowing the race to continue. Wheatley continued to lead Goetz until the caution flag flew for Shawn Rice of San Tan Valley, Arizona slowing to a stop in turn two early in the race. Wheatley took the command on the restart with Goetz and Chance Crum of Lake Stevens running third. Wheatley put distance between himself and Goetz until a pair of cautions stacked the field back up, allowing Goetz, Crum, and Reece Goetz of Snohomish a chance for the lead. Late into the feature Wheatley saw lap traffic, which became a factor allowing Chase Goetz to close in on Wheatley, Goetz looked to the outside of Wheatley off of turn four coming to the checkered flag, Wheatley held off a hard charging Chase Goetz by 0.023. Reece Goetz, Jay Cole and Crum rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Reece Goetz and Chase Goetz, with Wheatley taking fast time.

Northwest Focus Midget Series:
After two false starts at the beginning of the Northwest Focus Midget Series feature. Marysville driver Nick Evans took the early lead from Shorline's Hannah Lindquist. Garrett Thomas of McCleary quickly moved into the second position looking to track down Evans. Lindquist had a battle on her hands with Lynnwood's Shane Smith and Nik Larson of Lake Stevens until Larson had issues and was off pace for half a lap. Lindquist held her position with Smith for multiple laps in the third position. Evans continued to lead the field as Jonathan Jorgenson of Tacoma joined in on the battle for third. Evans continued to pull away from the field, catching up to lap traffic and maneuvering his way through the slower cars. A late race caution saw Lindquist spin on the front stretch on lap 23, setting up a green, white, checkered finish. This allowed Thomas, Smith, and Jorgenson a shot at Evans for the lead. Evans was strong on the restart and pulled away quickly from the rest of the field, picking up the win over Thomas, Smith, Jonathan Jorgenson and Nate Vaughn. Heat race winners were Thomas, Smith, and Evans. B-Main winner was Ryan Cully, with Thomas picking up quick time.

Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
Port Hardy, BC driver Graham Cook and Scott Miller of Shelton set the front row for the Shipwreck Beads Modified feature. Just as the green flag flew, the yellow was out for Austin and Shane Kerrigan of Aberdeen, both drivers spinning to a stop in turn one. On the restart Miller jumped to the lead with Cook right on his back bumper. The battle for third between Aberdeen driver Zack Simpson and Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis was one of the many battles to watch. Simpson held his own against a hard charging Sweatman. Contact between Seabeck's Kyler Moore and Brian Harding brought out the second caution, as Harding spun to a stop in turn one on lap 2. A caution filled feature event allowed multiple chances for Simpson, Moore and Sweatman to try and make it around Miller for the lead. Miller went on to pick up the 25 lap feature with Moore, Simpson, Blair Shoemaker, and Sweatman rounding out the top five. Cook, Miller and Simpson picked up heat race wins earlier in the evening.

Outlaw Tuners:

A pair of Tenino drivers set the front row with Chad Norton leading Josh Wharton to the green flag in the 15 lap Outlaw Tuners feature. Wharton took the early lead from Norton, with Cory Sweatman of Aberdeen knocking on the back bumper of Norton. The red flag flew early in the race for Sedro Woolley driver DJ Beaver, getting upside down in the middle of turn one and two. Beaver did walk away from the incident. On the restart Wharton led Sweatman and Aberdeen's Tyler Sundstrom. Sweatman looked to chase down Wharton a handful of times, but Wharton continued to stay out front. Sweatman saw issues late in the feature as he came to a stop in turn one on lap 11. Wharton continued to lead and held off the rest of the field picking up the win. Sundstrom, Norton, George Lovell and Dale Speas rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Norton and Wharton

Next Saturday night will see the first appearance of the Wingless Sprint Series featuring the wingless sprint cars. Also on hand will be the Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks and Outlaw Tuners. After the action on the raceway, the skies will light up with a huge firework show. Gates open at 5:30PM with racing at 7PM.

Grays Harbor Raceway
May 20, 2017

360 Sprint Cars:

Fast Time:
8R Austen Wheatley
Heat 1:

1. 9R Reece Goetz, 2. 17 Cam Smith, 3. 8RX Chance Crum, 4. 8R Austen Wheatley, 5. 9 Shawn Rice, 6. 15R Jake Gilman, 7. 8X John Stuart

Heat 2:

1. 91 Chase Goetz, 2. 24 Tyler Anderson, 3. 33s Lance Sargent, 4. 0J Jay cole, 5. 97R Jason Reed 6. 11X Chris Batalgia, 7. 15 Jeff Dunlap

A-Main:

1. Wheatley, 2. Chase Goetz, 3. Reece Goetz, 4. Cole, 5. Crum, 6. Smith, 7. Reed, 8. Sargent, 9. Dunlap, 10. Gilman, 11. Rice, 12. Batalgia, 13. Anderson

Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
Heat 1:

1. 75C Graham Cook, 2. 44 Del Schnitzer, 3. 97 Tyson Blood, 4. 34 Jason Tole, 5. 43K Shane Kerrigan, 6. 8 Steve Bulpitt

Heat 2:

1. 26 Scott Miller, 2. 11 Tom Sweatman, 3. 14K Kyler Moore, 4. 11s Blair Shoemaker, 5. 4R Bill Rowe, 6. 41 Tim Phillips
   Heat 3:
2. 12s Zack Simpson, 2. 28 Brian Harding, 3. 81 Lane Zerbin, 4. AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 5. 47 Steve Signal, 6. 86 Dave Howard

A-Main:

1. Miller, 2. Moore, 3. Simpson, 4. Shoemaker, 5. Sweatman, 6. Cook, 7. Blood, 8. Tole, 9. Rowe, 10. Harding, 11. Schnitzer, 12. Bulpitt, 13. Shane Kerrigan, 14. Signal, 15. Howard, 16. Zerbin, 17. Austin Kerrigan

Northwest Focus Midget Series:
Quick Time:
14 Garrett Thomas

Heat 1:

1. 14 Garrett Thomas, 2. 8X Otto Jorgenson, 3. N8 Nate Vaughn, 4. 3H Hannah Lindquist, 5. 14D Doug Davidson, 6. 98 Glenn Bitrolf, 7. 19 Thomas Walker, 8. 21J Ryan Cully

Heat 2:

1. 44 Shane Smith, 2. 2J Jonathan Jorgenson, 3. 34s Lee St. Paul, 4. 16 Nik Larson, 5. 2A Renee Angel, 6. 57A Brian Aune, 7. 39 David Mills, 8. 57 Hailey Bower

Heat 3:

1. 24 Nick Evans, 2. 83 Chance Crum, 3. 82 Greg Thornhill, 4. 17 Chris Bullock, 5. 3 Wade Spreckelmeyer, 6. 11T Ray Stebbins, 7. 67 Dave Mead, 8. 41 Ashley Thompson

B-Main:

1. Cully, 2. Walker, 3. Mead, 4. Aune, 5. Stebbins, 6. Mills, 7. Bower, 8. Thompson

A-Main:

1. Evans, 2. Thomas, 3. Smith, 4. Jonathan Jorgenson, 5. Vaughn, 6. Crum, 7. Larson, 8. Bullock, 9. Otto Jorgenson, 10. Davidson, 11. Thornhill, 12. Spreckelmeyer, 13. Bittrolf, 14. Walker, 15. Lindquist, 16. Angel, 17. Cully, 18. St. Paul

Outlaw Tuners:
Heat 1:
75 Chad Norton

Heat 2:
59 Josh Wharton

A-Main:

1. 59 Josh Wharton, 2. 23 Tyler Sundstrom, 3. 75 Chad Norton, 4. 96 George Lovell, 5. 7 Dale Speas, 6. 3 Cory Sweatman, 7. 11 Ryan Onasch, 8. 29 Chris Greene, 9. 0 Zach Dalrymple, 10. 5 Jared Stevens, 11. 33X Miranda Newbill, 12. 50 Brittany Diggle, 13. 17 Jason Valentine, 14. 76 DJ Beaver

• Social Media on May 22, 2017
• Article Date: 5/22/2017 by Aaron Reed