The evening started out with the Cut Rate Auto Parts and their 20 lap feature. Tom Hecker of Spanaway took the early lead, with the battle for second between Kirk McGinnis of Renton and Ocean Shore's driver Jeff Daniel was the race to watch. Daniel moved into second, while Cory Sweatman of Aberdeen moved into third. The caution flag flew on lap 2 for McGinnis, after hard contact with the front stretch wall. Hecker led Daniel and Sweatman to the green flag, as Hecker had no room for mistakes with Daniel stalking him. The fourth and fifth position saw Austin and Shane Kerrigan, both of Aberdeen, battle for position for a handful of laps. On lap 9 Sweatman made a charge at Daniel for second, eventually taking the spot a few laps later.
Sweatman wasted no time on hunting down Hecker for the lead as lap traffic became a factor. Getting to Hecker's back bumper, Sweatman took the lead on lap 14 coming out of turn four. Sweatman wasted no time going through lap traffic and extending his lead. At the end of the feature, Sweatman picked up his first win of 2018. Hecker, Austin Kerrigan, Hoquiam's Jack Parshall, and Shane Kerrigan rounded out the top five. Heat race winners were Parshall and Austin Kerrigan, with Parshall also picking up fast time.
Sportsman Sprint Cars:
Cory Swatzina of Sedro Woolley took the lead, but quickly saw Bailey Sucich of Granite Falls take over the top spot, bringing Monroe's Jake Helsel with her. Sucich ran the low side of the 3/8 banked clay oval, with Helsel right at her back bumper. Swatzina sat in the third position, with Edmond's driver Devin Barnes having a fourth place battle with Kelsey Carpenter of Burlington. Sucich started to pull away from the rest of the field, making perfect laps on a very dry slick and tricky racetrack. Helsel looked to gain momentum on Sucich as lap traffic became a factor. Helsel looked to gain closer, as Sucich sliced and diced through the lap cars. Sucich led all 25 laps, going green to checkered with Helsel, Carpenter, Barnes, and Kinzer Cox of Cottage Grove, Ore rounded out the top five. Heat race winners were Helsel and Cox, with Swatzina picking up fast time.
Outlaw Tuners:
Normally running a 15 lap feature, the Outlaw Tuners were allowed to run 20 laps. Joseph Palmer of Shelton and Chad Norton of Tenino led the field to the green flag. Palmer quickly saw problems as his hood came up, blocking his view, bringing out the caution. On the restart Norton quickly jumped out front as Tacoma driver Trevor Dugent moved into second. Caution flag quickly came out as Wishkah's Don Briggs Sr. saw contact by Jeremy Jones of Wishkah. Briggs Sr spun, and collected Aberdeen's Tyler Sundstrom, and Palmer. Third time is usually the charm, and Norton jumped back out front as Belfair's Max Sanford moved into the second spot. The battle for third between Nik Sheats of Olympia and Dugent was the race to watch. Dugent took over the third spot, looking to track down the leaders.
The caution flag flew for Maynard Barnum of Raymond and Belfair's Mark Champine, after both made contact on the backstretch. Norton continued to lead the field, as Sanford chased him down. Dugent had Sheats on his back bumper for a handful of laps waiting for a mistake to take back third. Briggs Sr, who was involved in a earlier incident worked his way back up to battle for third, as Jones made it a four car battle. Norton went on to pick up the win. Over Jones, Briggs Sr., Sanford, and Olympia's Devon Harper. Heat race winners were Sundstrom and Harper.
Racing will resume next Saturday night with the 360 Sprint Cars, Shipwreck Beads Modifieds, Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks, and Outlaw Tuners. Gates will open up at 5:30PM with racing at 7PM.
Grays Harbor Raceway
July 14, 2018
Sportsman Sprints:
Fast Time:
2 Cory Swatzina
Heat 1:
- 44 Jake Helsel, 2. 2 Cory Swatzina, 3. 14 Bailey Sucich, 4. 21J Ryan Cully, 5. 33 Bill Rude, 6. 15 Mike Murphy
Heat 2:
- 1K Kinzer Cox, 2. 79K Kelsey Carpenter, 3. 22D Devin Barnes, 4. 06 John Tharp, 5. 66 Brett McGhie
A-Main:
- Sucich, 2. Helsel, 3. Carpenter, 4. Barnes, 5. Cox, 6. Swatzina, 7. Tharp, 8. Cully, 9. McGhie, 10. Rude, 11. Murphy
Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks:
Fast Time:
9 Jack Parshall
Heat 1:
- 9 Jack Parshall, 2. 43 Shane Kerrigan, 3. 14 Jeff Daniel, 4. 5 Tom Hecker, 5. 67 Ryen Haney, 6. 97 Rodger Perry, 7. 19 Taylor Miller, 8. 11 Daryl Brumfield
Heat 2:
- AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 2. 34T Jason Tole, 3. 1s Cory Sweatman, 4. 00 Kirk McGinnis, 5. 57 Mike Mann, 6. 914 Tanner Bridges, 7. 23B Matt White, 8. 42 Scott Fritts
A-Main:
- Sweatman, 2. Hecker, 3. Austin Kerrigan, 4. Parshall, 5. Shane Kerrigan, 6. Tole, 7. Daniel, 8. White, 9. Haney, 10. Fritts, 11. Miller, 12. Perry, 13. Mann, 14. Brumfield, 15. Bridges, 16. McGinnis
Outlaw Tuners:
Heat 1:
- 23 Tyler Sundstrom, 2. 77 Jeremy Jones, 3. 13XXX Don Briggs Sr, 4. 75 Chad Norton, 5. 3 Max Sanford, 6. 17 Blake Turpin, 7. 96 Mark Champine, 8. 713 Don Briggs Jr.
Heat 2:
- 12XXX Devon Harper, 2. 555 Trevor Dugent, 3. 88 Nick Sheats, 4. 7P Joseph Palmer, 5. 17B Mike Hanson, 6. 2s Maynard Barnum, 7. 95 Donny Andrews, 8. 911 Jason McCaslin, 9. 0 Zach Dalrymple
A-Main
- Norton, 2. Jones. 3. Briggs Sr., 4. Sanford, 5. Harper
(Rest of the feature is under review due to a scoring error. As soon as the video footage is looked at the results will be posted)
- Social Media on Jul 16, 2018
- Article Date: 7/16/2018 by Aaron Reed