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| Western
States Sprint Car Notes by Kerry Fasig |
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July 30, 2004...
The Valvoline USAC Western
States Sprint Car Series made the tow to the state of Washington
for a two race weekend running both Friday and Saturday nights.
Friday nights program was run at South Sound Speedway in Tenino
and Saturdays event was the undercard for the NASCAR Grand
National Series ( formerly the Winston West Series) at the
lighting fast 5/8 mile racetrack at Monroe. Twenty five cars signed in
at South Sound with the western states regulars bringing 16 cars
and the NSRA/ Washington regulars supplying 9.
Thursday evening was an open practice session that many teams used to figure out this new venue and it came as quite a surprise in Friday's first hot lap session that Tim Barber had a engine problem putting him on the trailer for the weekend. Also having problems was Tony Hunt with two separate incidents causing him to get no track time until qualifying. At South Sound we saw
the return on Randy DuBois this time in his own car the familiar
#79 Eagle chassis he ran last year. Randy started this year
in the Scott #7 but after two races a change was needed and Chad
Nichols replaced Randy, the move looked to benefit both driver and
owner as both have run better after the split. Both Rick Brown and
Kris Peterson raced with us at Shasta Raceway Park in Anderson Ca
in May, made both Washington races. Ted Finkenbinder made the tow
up north with Rick Hendrix driving the 3F. Ted is experimenting
with a different injector setup, but still needs to get the bugs
worked out. When qualifying was
all said and done both Greg Taylor and Tony Hunt ran identical
times of 13.544 with Greg timing in before Tony allowing Greg
fast time honors. Michael Lewis was 3rd followed
by Brian McClish, Chad Nichols and Michael Trimble. This tight
little bullring made for some
interesting racing as heat races were won by Rick Brown, Alan
Goetz and Robert Beck. The
semi main was won by McClish over Brian Geiszler and Michael
Trimble. In
the pacific northwest the sun doesn't set until after 9:00 and it
really made a difference when the main event rolled out that you
really saw a different racetrack without sunlight, there were a
few dark spots, but with the sprint cars going so fast around
there it was hardly noticeable. Michael Trimble and Chad Nichols
brought the field down to the green flag and Nichols led the first
lap only to be passed by hard charging Michael Lewis, who took off
and was gone. Everyone thought there would be numerous yellow
flags but that was not the case as the race went green, white,
checkered. Lewis was in lapped traffic right away and handled it
masterfully, Chad stayed close but had to settle for 2nd followed
by Trimble 3rd his best USAC main event finish to date, then Hunt,
and Taylor. McClish, Craig Deaver, Mike Murgoitio, Brad
Bumgarner and 2002 western states main event
winner at Meridian Speedway in Boise, Axle Walker rounded out the
top ten. Lewis closed the gap on point leader Bumgarner from 42
points to 15 points and continues to put the pressure on. Saturday
morning and the 90 minute trip to Monroe was made by everyone
except Tim Barber and Tony Thomas. New arrivals included Don
Powell and JR Ray. Monroe turned out to be quite tricky for some
as Craig Deaver backed it into the turn one wall on his qualifying
lap really doing a number on the tail tank in his number 15X.
Shauna Hogg had a run in with the wall on her qualifying lap. But
Rich, Brian, Jeff and Terry soon had repairs completed for the
main event. Front row starters were Randy DuBois and Rick Hendrix
and Randy grabbed the early lead, leading his
first USAC
main event laps, holding on until Lewis passed him off of turn
four. Michael showed his big track experience he has gained
running in the Silver Crown and Midget series by lapping up to 6th
place at the end of the 40 lapper. McClish finished 2nd for the
second time this season followed by Bumgarner, Hunt and DuBois
came home 5th with his career best USAC main event finish. The
hard charger award went to 6th finishing Shauna Hogg who
started 24th and had a great run, the last car on the lead lap. Lewis moved to within 8 points of Bumgarner
in the points chase, with McClish holding down 3rd and Tony Hunt
moved past Michael Trimble for 4th. The
next race for the western states sprint cars is July 24th at Rocky
Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City Utah I'll update you next
week |
