ALGER, Washington -- Jimmy Trulli got his first Skagit Speedway feature victory in his first visit to the Washington dirt track Friday night, and it was a big one.
The Placerville, California driver held on to win the 25-lap preliminary feature of the Bob’s Burger & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals presented by Auto Trader. After a lap four restart, Trulli spent 19 laps fending off Cottage Grove, Oregon racer Danny Horner in traffic and even survived a scare on lap 21 when the two cars made contact on the front stretch and Horner hit the wall.
Trulli, a competitor on the California Civil War Series, unofficially earned enough points with the victory to be locked into the A-Scramble Saturday night, which will determine the top six starting positions in the A-Main race.
“I like it,” Trulli said about Skagit Speedway. “I just had to get a few laps in and figure it out.”
Trulli, who had dealt with engine problems earlier in the evening, got the big break he was waiting for on lap 23, when the caution flag was thrown for Acme, Washington’s Brandon Harkness, who stopped in turns one and two. The caution cleared the track for Trulli, who drove to victory while Horner lost the second position to Lynnwood, Wash. racer Barry Martinez.
“I was happy,” said Trulli about seeing the lap 23 caution flag. “I was happy for the first one that cleared me up of traffic, but the last two I didn’t want to see.” Trulli also had to hold on for one more restart after another caution on lap 24.
Horner’s car did not escape the lap 21 contact with the wall unscathed, suffering damage to the rear of the car.
“I knew time was running low and I was hoping to squeeze through before (Trulli) came up further, and I just didn’t make it,” Horner said about the contact with Trulli and the front stretch wall. “I knocked the rear end out of it. We kind of limped it a little bit after that.”
Martinez, who currently leads the 410 sprint car point standings at Skagit Speedway, came from the eighth position to finish second. Horner, a former limited sprint champion at Cottage Grove Speedway, finished third in his first visit to Skagit in a number of years.
“(Track) was pretty good,” said Martinez. “Dry slick, top to bottom, and it was a racy track and we were pretty good up against the fence.”
Martinez earned the second most points out of anyone, locking him into the A-Scramble also.
“I think we have a good shot at winning this thing,” Martinez said about his chances for a win Saturday.
Brent Kaeding, the legend out of Campbell, Calif. finished fourth, followed by Clear Lake, Wash.’s Marc Huson, who won the inaugural 360 Nationals event in 1990. Huson started the race in the 15th position. His unofficial point total, thanks to his run in the A-Main, was tops in the field, locking him into Saturday’s A-Scramble.
Six-time Cottage Grove 360 sprint car champion Dale Smith, also making his first visit to Skagit Speedway in a number of years, finished sixth after running as high as third. Steve Kilcup, Travis Rutz, Brian Scott, and Wayne Williams rounded out the top ten.
Harkness, who set fast time in qualifying with a time of 11.842 seconds around the 3/10-mile clay oval, finished 14th while defending track champion Andy Jacobson of Lake Stevens finished 17th after losing his driveline and two-time 360 Nationals champion Rick Fauver of Everett finished 19th after having a Watts link knocked loose.
Nick Engberg won the 12-lap C-Main and Harkness won the 15-lap B-Main. Winning ten-lap heat races were Martinez, Dan Pierson, Jared Ridge, and Huson.
Fifty-two cars were on hand for the first of two nights of racing at Skagit Speedway. Saturday night, the top six cars in points tallied from Friday’s action are locked into the A-Scramble. Kaeding, Kilcup, and Scott are locked in along with Trulli, Martinez, and Huson.
There will be no three-peat for Fresno, California’s Steve Kent, who won the last two 360 Nationals and the 1999 race. Kent, who usually runs 410 sprint cars, was unable to secure a 360 cubic inch motor for the event and did not come.
Bob’s Burger & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals preliminary Skagit Speedway – Alger, WA August 12, 2005
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
52 cars
Fast qualifier: 29 Brandon Harkness, 11.842 seconds.
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 66 Barry Martinez, 2. 59J Andy Jacobson, 3. 18 Steve Kilcup, 4. 75 Dale Smith, 5. 3N Billy Nutter, 6. 29 Brandon Harkness, 7. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 8. 35a Adam Main, 9. 7o Roger Oudman, 10. 13c Colton Heath, 11. 14k Kelleigh Johnson, 12. 6 Jayme Barnes, 13. 99e Alex Hantell. Top four finishers transfer to the A-Main.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 3p Dan Pierson, 2. 76 Shawn Rice, 3. 69 Brent Kaeding, 4. 01 Brian Scott, 5. 40 Brock Lemley, 6. 69p Rod Perkins, 7. 33v Henry Van Dam, 8. 78t Kelsey Carpenter, 9. 4D Brady Dart, 10. 15 Dan Dunlap, 11. 23 Richie Peterson, 12. 21P Chris Pattenaude, 13. 7J J.J. Hickle. Top four finishers transfer to the A-Main.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 12 Jared Ridge, 2. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 3. 22 Travis Jacobson, 4. 75h Danny Horner, 5. 98 Bob Stevens, 6. 71 Drew Church, 7. 57 Bud Ashe, 8. 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 9. 10c Cory Chamberlain, 10. 5sp Rick Fauver, 11. 23b Seth Bergman, DNS – 1m Drew MacDonnell, 5x Chuck Ashe. Top four finishers transfer to the A-Main.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 73 Marc Huson, 2. 68 Wayne Williams, 3. 10L Tim Levin, 4. 8r Travis Rutz, 5. 26 Darren Stewart, 6. 7m Peter Murphy, 7. 90x Doug Machado, 8. 69e Nick Engberg, 9. 57c Chris Schmelze, 10. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 11. 75k Karl Blumenhagen, 12. 44h Michael Harris, DNS – 20 Robby Vaughn. Top four finishers transfer to the A-Main.
C-Main (12 laps): 1. 69e Nick Engberg, 2. 7J J.J. Hickle, 3. 71 Drew Church, 4. 57 Bud Ashe, 5. 35a Adam Main, 6. 23 Richie Peterson, 7. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 8. 14k Kelleigh Johnson, 9. 13c Colton Heath, 10. 15 Dan Dunlap, 11. 75k Karl Blumenhagen, DNS – 1m Drew MacDonnell, 21p Chris Pattenaude, 44h Michael Harris. Top two finishers transfer to the B-Main.
B-Main (15 laps): 1. 29 Brandon Harkness, 2. 69p Rod Perkins, 3. 7m Peter Murphy, 4. 5sp Rick Fauver, 5. 26 Darren Stewart, 6. 40 Brock Lemley, 7. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 8. 3n Billy Nutter, 9. 78t Kelsey Carpenter, 10. 6 Jayme Barnes, 11. 69e Nick Engberg, 12. 33v Henry Van Dam, 13. 7o Roger Oudman, 14. 57c Chris Schmelze, 15. 4D Brady Dart, 16. 7J J.J. Hickle, 17. 98 Bob Stevens, 18. 10c Cory Chamberlain, DNS – 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 90x Doug Machado. Top four finishers transfer to the A-Main.
A-Main (25 laps): 1. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 2. 66 Barry Martinez, 3. 75h Danny Horner, 4. 69 Brent Kaeding, 5. 73 Marc Huson, 6. 75 Dale Smith, 7. 18 Steve Kilcup, 8. 8r Travis Rutz, 9. 01 Brian Scott, 10. 68 Wayne Williams, 11. 7m Peter Murphy, 12. 22 Travis Jacobson, 13. 76 Shawn Rice, 14. 29 Brandon Harkness, 15. 69p Rod Perkins, 16. 12 Jared Ridge, 17. 59J Andy Jacobson, 18. 10L Tim Levin, 19. 5sp Rick Fauver, 20. 3p Dan Pierson.
Skagit Speedway – Alger, WA
www.skagitspeedway.com
