Fifteen competitors signed up to make the long haul north for the ASC event scheduled in Portland on August 27th and 28th, but only thirteen were on the grid after one was forced to drop for business reasons, and one car was unable to find a trailer to fit in going to PIR. Among those making the quest were Ken Stinnett, the Carvajal Motorsports staff and drivers, M & R Racing, Mike Speakman, Kevin OConnell, David Arnheiter, Jeff Glowniak, and the Portland based teams of Chris Evans Race Cars and Don Nutting.
The series was guest of the Cascade Sportscar club. This was the first time ASC has run on the 1.9 mile road course that host CART, the American LeMans series, and several other high profile events, such as the prestigious Rose Cup. Friday was a day long test day for all competitors, however, many of the ASC crews chose to test Thursday as well, allowing the teams to get the cars dialed in very well.
There was no practice on Saturday or Sunday, only qualifying and racing. On Saturday, the M & R Racing team, with Robert Davis behind the wheel set the fastest qualifying time, 1:18:575, followed by Scott Ivie, Ken Stinnett, Gary Bockman and Robert Gritten. With the exception of the M & R Racing, all of the drivers in the fast five were driving Chris Evans new ASC race cars. As the group gridded up, ready to take the green flag for the race, the tensions were high, as were the expectations. Scott Ivie, driving the # 47 America Wholesale Mortgage Dodge Intrepid, was leading the series in points and wanted to maintain that lead. M & R Racing was in second place with an eye on first. Robert Davis brought the field to the green, only to have the carburetor secondaries fail to respond and watched the rest of the field go around him, leaving him in the rear, struggling. As the fastest in the field battled for position, Gary Bockman, driving the # 4 EMF Ford Taurus, managed to take the lead. Scott Ivie and Ken Stinnett followed, with Kevin OConnell, Chris Evans, Steve Carvajal, and Robert Gritten pressing hard. Jeff Glowniak soon found the pack and passed Carvajal. Gritten suffered a flat tire as pulled off of the track, out of the race. OConnell soon suffered the same fate and was forced to retire. Mike Speakman had mechanical problems and also was out of the race. The top four cars, Bockman, (who has won the Rose Cup, events during the Cart event, and is the Cascade Race director), Ivie, Stinnett, and Chris Evans, all pulled slightly ahead, as Carvajal and Glowniak followed a couple of seconds behind. Bockman managed to hang on to the lead, and Stinnett tried a pass on Ivie, going into the Festival Curves which resulted in contact with Ivie, allowing Evans to slip past into the second position. Ivie recovered first and was able to maintain the third place position to the checkered flag.
Top Five
Gary Bockman
Chris Evans
Scott Ivie
Ken Stinnett
Jeff Glowniak
Sunday, the ASC series ran a qualifying race once again, inverting the finish from the Saturday race. This put Robert Gritten, driving the # 10 EMF Ford Taurus, on the pole for the q-race. However, the race was won by Kevin OConnell, followed by M & R Racing, Gritten, Bockman, and Scott Ivie making the top five for 13 lap qualifier.
The Sunday main event started with a fast dash to turn three, (ASC elected to bypass the chicane on the first lap for all races), only to have Bockman and Ivie make contact, spinning Ivie off of the track and into the barricade, out of the race. Bockman was able to continue. Robert Davis was able to get to the front, driving cleanly, and kept the lead for the rest of the race. Robert Gritten, Glowniak, Bockman, and Stinnett fought the rest of the race for position after OConnell was again flatted a tire and was out of contention. Carvajal also had a flat tire and was able to limp into the pits to have the crew change tires, putting him 4 laps behind. At the checked flag, M & R Racing won the event, followed by Gritten, Glowniak, Bockman, and Stinnett. Gritten was later disqualified because his crew was forced to use a new tire for lack of a used one, which is against the rules, moving Glowniak into second.
Top Five
M & R Racing
Jeff Glowniak
Gary Bockman
Ken Stinnett
Don Nutting
All in all, it was a terrific race weekend for all involved. A cocktail get together hosted by series regular, Alan Huston, was enjoyed by all, as was the dinner B-B-Q put on by Carvajal and Evans on Saturday night. Everyone making the long trek to Portland had a great time and look forward to returning to the track next year.
ASC has the next event September 9 11 at Thunderhill in Willows, CA, a track that never fails to provide incredible excitement for the roaring V8s of the American Stockcar Challenge!
