Mother nature once again played nice, even after a little rain shower after qualifying, and allowed Grays Harbor Raceway to get some dirt track racing action in on Saturday night. The 360 Sprint Cars, Shipwreck Beads Modifieds, Northwest Focus Midgets Series, and Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks were on tap on the 3/8 banked clay oval.
Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks:
Ocean Shore's driver Jeff Daniel and Jack Parshall of Hoquiam set the front row of the Street Stocks feature. Parshall took the early lead over Daniel until a caution quickly came out on lap 1 for debris on the front stretch. Parshall led the field to the green on the restart as Daniel and Shane Kerrigan of Aberdeen raced for second. Another fellow Aberdeen driver Cory Sweatman joined in on the battle taking over second on lap 5. Daniel and Kerrigan battled for third, as Jason Tole of Hoquiam and Spanaway driver Tom Hecker set their sights on Kerrigan and Daniel. Tole used the low side of the raceway and took over third from Daniel. A late race caution for Shane Kerrigan spinning in turn one set up a restart with Parshall, Tole, Sweatman.
Tole and Sweatman looked to make a move on Parshall. Sweatman running the high side, took the lead from Parshall on lap 14. Tole quickly moved into the second spot and stayed on the back bumper of Sweatman. Sweatman and Tole raced side by side for a handful of laps until Tole moved into the lead with a few laps to go. Tole would go on to pick up his first win of 2018, with Sweatman, Parshall, Hecker and Montesano driver Scott Fritts rounding out the top five. Fritts and Hecker were also heat race winners earlier in the evening.
Northwest Focus Midgets Series:
28 Northwest Focus Midgets signed in for the evening's event. Tristin Thomas of Burlington took the early lead with Shane Smith of Lynnwood sitting in second. Ross Rankine of Noblesville, IN sat in the third position. Rankine had tough company as Woodinville driver Shane Biles looked to take over the third position until the caution flag flew on lap 7 for Arlington's Ashley Thompson and Jesse Conway of Tacoma sitting the wrong way in turn one. The restart saw Thomas take the lead quickly, as the battle for second between Smith and Rankine was the race to watch. Both drivers raced side by side for a handful of laps with Rankine taking over second, until lap 10 as the caution flag flew for Nate Vaughn slowing to a stop on the front stretch.
Thomas was the driver to beat, as on the restart he quickly jumped back out front. Smith returned to the second position. The top three would spread out as Thomas worked his way through traffic. At the end of the feature, Thomas picked up the win over Smith, Rankine, Lake Stevens driver Eric Turner and Hannah Lindquist of Shoreline. Heat race winners were Nik Larson of Lake Stevens, Smith and Turner, and the B-Main going to Conway.
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
Scott Miller of Shelton and Cosmopolis driver Tom Sweatman set the front row of the Modifieds feature. Both drivers raced side by side for the lead on the opening lap with Sweatman taking the lead until the caution flag flew for Zack Simpson of Aberdeen. On the restart Sweatman led Miller, and Shelton's Brenton Schnitzer to the green. Brian Harding of Oakville took over the third spot from Schnitzer. The battle for the lead started to heat up between Sweatman and Miller, but Sweatman continued to lead. Miller stayed right at the back bumper looking for many ways to get around Sweatman for the lead as the battle for third between Harding and Seabeck's Craig Moore was one of the many races to watch. Lap 8 saw Miller make another pass on the outside and take the lead out of turn two from Sweatman.
A late race caution setup a restart for Sweatman to take another shot at getting the lead back from Miller. Sweatman had tough company as Moore was right there on his back bumper to take over the second spot along with Simpson who slowed earlier in the race. At the end of the Modified feature. Scott Miller picked up his first win of 2018. Sweatman, Moore, Simpson and Schnitzer rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Miller and Sweatman
360 Sprint Cars:
Tyler Anderson of Everett looked to make it 2 for 2, after winning last week's feature. Anderson and Lance Sargent of Spanway set the front row. Anderson took the lead from Sargent. Burlington driver Greg Hamilton sat in the third spot, with Quilcene's JJ Hickle ran in fourth. Hamilton made a move on Sargent for second, taking over the spot with a little content out of turn four. Hickle also moved into third looking to track down Hamilton for second. Anderson continued to lead, working his way through a little bit of lap traffic on a long green flag run. Anderson continued to run the high side of the raceway, and pick up his second career win in a row. Hamilton, HIckle, Sargent, and Snohomish driver Chase Goetz rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Hamilton and Devon Borden of Raymond.
Racing resumes next Saturday night with the first apparence of 2018 of the Washington Modified Tour, and the Sportsman Sprint Cars. Also on hand will be the Shipwreck Beads Modifieds and Outlaw Tuners. Gates open at 5:30 with racing at 7PM.
Grays Harbor Raceway
April 28, 2018
Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks:
A-Main:
- 34 Jason Tole, 2. 1s Cory Sweatman, 3. 9 Jack Parshall, 4. 5 Tom Hecker, 5. 42s Scott Fritts, 6. 43 Shane Kerrigan, 7. AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 8. 97 Rodger Perry, 9. 14 Jeff Daniel, 10. 23B Matt White
Northwest Focus Midgets Series:
A-Main:
- 9T Tristin Thomas, 2. 44 Shane Smith, 3. 7s Ross Rankine, 4. 29T Eric Turner, 5. 3H Hannah Lindquist, 6. 9s Sawyer Lind, 7. 31 Shane Biles, 8. 88 Riley Vaillant, 9. 00 Alden Ostrom, 10. 41 Ashley Thompson, 11. 46 Guy Tow Sr, 12. 5 AJ Fugitt, 13. 75i Chris Greene, 14. 16 Nik Larson, 15. 04 Matt Loving, 16. N8 Nate Vaughn, 17. 12 Jesse Conway, 18. 21J Ryan Cully, 19. 92T Katie Jackson
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
A-Main:
- 26 Scott Miller, 2. 11 Tom Sweatman, 3. 51 Craig Moore, 4. 12 Zack Simpson, 5. 87K Brenton Schnitzer, 6. 28 Brian Harding, 7. 714 Zach Fuller, 8. 8 Steve Bulpitt, 9. 38 Josh Richardson, 10. 98 Dan Kinnaman, 11. 6M Alan Muenchow, 12. 41 Tim Phillips
360 Sprint Cars:
- 24 Tyler Anderson, 2. 96 Greg Hamilton, 3. 3 JJ Hickle, 4. 33s Lance Sargent, 5. 91 Chase Goetz, 6. 17 Cam Smith, 7. 6A Kyle Miller, 8. 0J Jay Cole, 9. 66 John Keller, 10. 15 Jeff Dunlap, 11. 8B Devon Borden, 12. 8X John Stuart, 13. 22X Trevor Cook
- Social Media on Apr 30, 2018
- Article Date: 4/30/2018 by Aaron Reed