With the sun shining bright, and the temperature in the low 80's, Grays Harbor Raceway fans were treated to a great field of 360 Sprint Cars, Shipwreck Beads Modifieds for the Washington Modified Tour, and also on hand were the Outlaw Tuners.
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
20 Shipwreck Beads Modifieds were on hand for the first Washington Modified Tour race at Grays Harbor Raceway. The 25 lap feature would see Redmond, Oregon driver Mark Carrell on the front row with Wishkah's Joe German. Carrell would lead the field down to the green flag. Carrell and German would be side by side down the backstretch, with German taking the lead on lap one. Carrell would get side by side and take the lead from German a lap later. The first caution would come out on lap three for Raymond driver Bill Rowe as he would spin in turn four. Carrell would lead the field to the green flag on the restart, as Port Hardy, BC driver Lawrence O'Connor would move into the second position. Just as the green flag would fly, the yellow would come out again, this time for German who was running third, as he would slow in turn three. Carrell would lead O'Connor and last week's winner Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis to the green flag on the restart. Sweatman would move into the second spot getting by O'Connor. Carrell would pull away from Sweatman just enough to feel comfortable, but the racing to watch was all over the field, with numerous battles for positions.
After a handful of cautions, Carrell would continue to lead Sweatman, with O'Connor looking to make a pass on the high side on Sweatman for the second position. Two grooves would show on the 3/8's banked clay oval, allowing drivers to make their moves on the high or low side of the raceway. Carrell would run the low side, with Sweatman in chase. O'Connor, and a pair of Shelton drivers Kris Asche and Scott Miller would put on an exciting battle for the fourth and fifth positions. On lap ten, Asche, James Wolfard of Bremerton, and Kelso driver Carl Larson would put on a three car battle for the fifth spot. Attempting to make it three wide at times. Asche would maintain the position, while Larson and Wolfard would battle for sixth.
Lap twenty-two would see the caution come out after a long green flag run, this time for Kevin Smith of Mount Vernon and Asche, both drivers making contact on the backstretch. Asche would have major damage on the front of his car, putting an end to his night. Carrell would lead the field down on the final restart with Sweatman, O'Connor, and Shelton's Scott Miller to the green flag. Carrell would get a great restart, as Sweatman and O'Connor would battle for second. Sweatman would work his way quickly to the back bumper of Carrell. Sweatman and Carrell would come off turn four side by side, with Carrell picking up the win. Sweatman, O'Connor, Miller, and Larson would round out the top five. Heat race winners were Sweatman, O'Connor and German.
360 Sprint Cars:
With another great field of 360 sprint cars, the fans of Grays Harbor Raceway were treated with some high caliber Northwest drivers. Burlington's Jason Solwold and 2014 Summer Thunder Sprint Series Champion Colton Heath of Marysville would lead the field down for the 25 lap feature. Solwold would take the lead from Heath, on the start, but it wouldn't take long for Heath to get side by side with Solwold. Heath on the low side, Solwold running the cushion of the raceway, would be a very exciting battle for the lead. For a handful of laps Heath and Solwold would be back and forth battling for position. The first caution of the evening would come out on lap two, for 2014 Northwest Focus Midget Series Champion Chase Goetz of Snohomish who would spin to a stop in turn three. On the restart Heath would lead the field down to the green flag with Solwold and Jared Peterson of Stanwood chasing him down. Heath would get a good lead on Solwold, as Peterson would try to the lowside of the raceway and race side by side with Solwold for the second position. Peterson would get by Solwold for second, but the yellow would come out for debris in turn one on lap four.
Heath would get another great restart, but this time Solwold would stay on his back bumper. The battle for the fourth and fifth position between Puyallup's Trey Starks and 2014 Grays Harbor Raceway Champion Evan Margeson of Tacoma would be one of the many exciting battles on the raceway to watch. Starks would maintain the fourth spot, and look to the back bumper of Peterson for third. Solwold would start to reel in Heath on the long green flag run, as the high side of the raceway would be the place to run. Solwold with a lot of momentum would get side by side with Heath and make the pass on Heath for the lead on lap eight. Solwold would pull away from Heath, but it didn't take long for lap traffic to be a factor. Solwold would maneuver his way through the traffic, getting a bigger lead on Heath. The first red flag of the evening would come out on lap seventeen for Jason Reed of Elma who would go for a violent ride in turn three, and into the fence, he would quickly get out of his car, and would be ok.
Solwold would lead the field down to the green flag, and never look back, Starks would make a move on Peterson for third on the restart, but Peterson would get the position back a lap later. At the end of the feature, Solwold would take the checkered flag, Heath, Starks, Peterson and Quilcene's JJ Hickle would round out the top five. Heat race winners were Snohomish driver Jared Ridge, Starks and Hickle. Cam Smith of Mill Creek would pick up fast time.
Outlaw Tuners:
Aberdeen's Willie Wright would look to make it three feature wins in a row in the Outlaw Tuners division. Wright would start in the third row, and make it three wide at the green flag with two Aberdeen drivers Jason Valentine and Cory Sweatman. Ryan Onasch of Aberdeen would lead the way with Wright taking over the second spot. With a class that usually goes caution free, the yellow would come out for Onasch as he would slow to a stop on lap three. Wright would lead Sweatman and Valentine down for the restart, Wright would continue to lead with Sweatman, Valentine and Onasch battling for the second, third and fourth position.
Sweatman would try and get to the back bumper, but couldn't make the pass on Wright for the lead. Wright would win his third straight Outlaw Tuners feature event for the 2015 season. Sweatman, and Valentine would round out the top three. Valentine would pick up the heat race earlier in the evening.
Racing will resume next Saturday night at Grays Harbor Raceway with the first visit of the season for the Northwest Wingless Tour/Oregon Double Shot Series wingless sprint cars. Also on hand will be the Northwest Focus Midget Series, Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks, and the Outlaw Tuners. Gates will be open at 5:30 PM, with racing at 7:00 PM.
- Steve Beitler on May 11, 2015
- Article Date: 5/11/2015 by Aaron Reed