News from the Source

The sun was shining bright and it was a very hot evening for the Summer Thunder Sprint Series, Northwest Focus Midgets Series, and the Shipwreck Beads Modifieds. A great field of cars in all three classes saw some wild action on the 3/8 banked clay oval.

Northwest Focus Midgets Series:

Katie Jackson of Bothell took the early lead in the Northwest Focus Midgets Series feature. The red flag quickly came out for Brian Hayes of Mt. Vernon after a violent crash in turn three. Hayes did exit the car under his own power. On the restart Jackson took the early lead. Shane Biles of Woodinville sat in the second spot, looking to chase down Jackson for the lead. Tyler Thompson of Arlington sat in third. Burlington driver Tristin Thomas looked to the high side getting by Thompson for third and looked to go after Biles and Jackson. Thomas looked to the low side down the backstretch and took the lead on lap 4. A second red flag saw a three car incident in turn two involving Granite Falls driver Nick Evans, Shane Smith of Lynnwood and Glenn Bittrolf of Springfield, Ore. All drivers were uninjured and did walk away.

Tristin Thomas led McCleary's Garrett Thomas and Jackson to the green flag. Thompson and Jackson battled for third allowing the top two drivers to pull away. Garrett Thomas looked to inside out of turn four with just a few laps left. Both drivers raced side by side for a few laps before Tristin Thomas took the lead back on the final lap and went on to pick up the checkered flag. Garrett Thomas, Tacoma's Jonathan Jorgenson, Biles and Jackson rounded out the top five. Heat race winners were Garrett Thomas, Michael Millard of Bremerton, and Shoreline driver Nik Larson. Tristin Thomas was fast time.

Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:

Campbell River, BC driver Chris Beaulieu took the early lead in the 25 lap Shipwreck Beads Modified feature. Kevin Smith of Sedro Woolley ran in the second position for the first few laps before Cosmopolis driver Tom Sweatman took over the position. The yellow flag flew on lap 2 for a 5 car pile up in turn four. All drivers escaped uninjured. Beaulieu continued the lead on the restart as Sweatman sat in second. Smith took over the second spot from Sweatman for a few laps until Sweatman took the position back. A three car battle behind the top three saw Alan Muenchow of Shelton, Kyler Moore of Seabeck and Port Hardy, BC driver Lawrence O'Connor battle for the fourth position. Lane Zerbin of Campbell River, BC also joined in on the battle after starting deep in the field.

Beaulieu continued to lead, slowly pulling away from the rest of the field as Sweatman and Kyler Moore looked to chase him down. Caution flag flew on lap 9 for Muenchow spinning in turn one, collecting Shelton's Del Schnitzer. Beaulieu had tough company behind him with Sweatman, Moore and Zerbin. A three car battle for third saw Doug Davenport of Vernonia, Ore join in on the battle. Zerbin moved his way into second, and a handful of laps later raced side by side for the lead with Beaulieu. Zerbin took the lead out of turn four on lap 16. Kyler Moore moved into the second position past Beaulieu looking to chase down Zerbin for the lead. With just a few laps to go, Zerbin and Moore raced side by side for the lead, as lap traffic became a factor. Moore took the lead out of turn two on the final lap, both drivers split a lapped car as Zerbin looked to the outside out of four. A drag race to the checkered flag saw Zerbin pick up the win over Moore, Beaulieu, Davenport and O'Connor. Heat race winners were Beaulieu, Smith, and O'Connor with Zerbin picking up the B-Main.

Summer Thunder Sprint Series:

Chase Goetz of Snohomish and Tayler Malsam of Sammamish set the front row of the 30 lap feature for the Summer Thunder Sprint Series. Goetz took the early lead. Malsam sat in second as Roger Crockett of Medford ran third. Crockett moved past Malsam for second, but the caution flag flew for Spanaway's Lance Sargent. Crockett with nose wing damage had to go to the work area, giving up the second position. Goetz led the field down on the restart as Malsam and Lake Steven's driver Austen Wheatley battled for second. Wheatley wasted no time taking over the position and set his sights on Goetz. Lap 5 saw Wheatley take the lead and quickly pull away.

A handful of restarts allowed Malsam and the rest of the field a shot at Wheatley for the lead. Henry Van Dam of Enumclaw took over the second spot from Malsam. Wheatley continued to pull away from Van Dam. Jason Solwold of Burlington moved into the third position with Malsam back in fourth. Wheatley continued to lead, running the high side and slowly pulling away from Van Dam, Solwold and Malsam every lap. At the end of the 30 lap feature, Austen Wheatley picked up the win. Van Dam, Solwold, Colton Heath fo Marysville, and Crockett rounded out the top five. Heat race winners were Sargent, Van Dam, and Chase Goetz. Medford, Ore driver Garen Linder was fast time.

Racing action returns tonight for the Craftsman World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series presented by Lucky Eagle Hotel and Casino. Also on hand will be the Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks. Gates open at 5PM with racing at 7PM.

Grays Harbor Raceway
September 3, 2017

Northwest Focus Midgets Series:

Fast Time:
9T Tristin Thomas

Heat 1:

1. 14 Garrett Thomas, 2. 9T Tristin Thomas, 3. 2J Jonathan Jorgenson, 4. 92T Katie Jackson, 5. 92 Chad Jones, 6. 3B Brian Hayes, 7. 11T Ray Stebbins

Heat 2:

1. 19 Michael Millard, 2. 24 Nick Evans, 3. 04 Matt Loving, 4. 41 Tyler Thompson, 5. 8X Otto Jorgenson, 6. 57 Hailey Bower, 7. 11 Evan Margeson

Heat 3:

1. 16 Nik Larson, 2. 31 Shane Biles, 3. 44 Shane Smith, 4. 98 Glenn Bitrolf, 5. 25 Randy Hodel, 6. 2A Renee Angel, 7. 34s Lee St. Paul

A-Main:

1. Tristin Thomas, 2. Garrett Thomas, 3. Jonathan Jorgenson, 4. Biles, 5. Jackson, 6. Larson, 7. Loving, 8. Jones 9. Thompson, 10. Angel, 11. Otto Jorgenson, 12. Stebbins, 13. Millard, 14. Smith, 15. Bitrolf, 16. Evans, 17. Hodel, 18. Bower, 19. St. Paul, 20. Hayes

Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:

Heat 1:

1. 91X Chris Beaulieu, 2. 11 Tom Sweatman, 3. 72 Brandon Berg, 4. 51 Craig Moore, 5. 34 Gene Miller, 6. 8 Steve Bulpitt, 7. 86 Dave Howard, 8. 3 Cory Sweatman, 9. 97 Tyson Blood

Heat 2:

1. 7K Kevin Smith, 2. 14K Kyler Moore, 3. 31 Don Martin, 4. 45 Tiana Berkeley, 5. 8D Doug Davenport, 6. 44 Del Schnitzer, 7. 12 BJ Wild, 8. 81 Lane Zerbin, 9. 28 Brian Harding

Heat 3:

1. 75C Lawrence O'Connor, 2. 6M Alan Muenchow, 3. 26 Scott Miller, 4. 34T Jason Tole, 5. 17X Cody Erskine, 6. 714 Zach Fuller, 7. 47 Steve Signal, 8. 46 Dan Kinnaman

B-Main:

1. Zerbin, 2. Schnitzer, 3. Harding, 4. Wild, 5. Blood, 6. Signal, 7. Fuller, 8. Cory Sweatman, 9. Howard, 10. Bulpitt, 11. Kinnaman

A-Main:

1. Zerbin, 2. Kyler Moore, 3. Beaulieu, 4. Davenport, 5. O'Connor, 6. Tom Sweatman, 7. Smith, 8. Scott Miller, 9. Harding, 10. Wild, 11. Blood, 12. Tole, 13. Erskine, 14. Berkeley, 15. Gene Miller, 16. Craig Moore, 17. Berg, 18. Muenchow, 19. Schnitzer, 20. Martin

Summer Thunder Sprint Series:

Fast Time:
22 Garen Linder

Heat 1:

1. 8JR Lance Sargent, 2. 8R Austen Wheatley, 3. 18 Jason Solwold, 4. 22 Garen Linder, 5. 9R Reece Goetz, 6. 21P Robbie Price, 7. 24 Tyler Anderson, 8. 5 Brian Boswell

Heat 2:

1. 33V Henry Van Dam, 2. 8P Jared Peterson, 3. 26 Tayler Malsam, 4. 59 Eric Fisher, 5. 33 Colton Heath, 6. 97R Jason Reed, 7. 8B Devon Borden

Heat 3:

1. 91 Chase Goetz, 2. 7N Roger Crockett, 3. 22X Jayme Barnes, 4. 17 Cam Smith, 5. 0J Jay Cole, 6. 22R Mike Romig, 7. 15 Jeff Dunlap

A-Main:

1. Wheatley, 2. Van Dam, 3. Solwold, 4. Heath, 5. Crockett, 6. Malsam, 7. Fisher, 8. Reece Goetz, 9. Cole, 10. Smith, 11. Price, 12. Anderson, 13. Romig, 14. Chase Goetz, 15. Dunlap, 16. Reed, 17. Boswell, 18. Sargent, 19. Barnes, 20. Borden, 21. Linder, 22. Peterson

• Social Media on Sep 04, 2017
• Article Date: 9/4/2017 by Aaron Reed