As the regular season point races start to dwindle, the stars start to shine at Skagit Speedway. On Chamber of Commerce Night presented by Skagit State Bank defending 410 Sprint car champion Barry Martinez won the Northwest Auto-Max 410 main. Brock Lemley came back from winning the Clay Cup championship at Deming Speedway last weekend to win the Budweiser 360 division main. Winning for the first time in over 4 years, was Justin Knowles in the Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprints. Matt VanDerSys won the Wilson Auto Broker Outlaw Hornet main event.
Pacific Northwest racing veteran Toni Lutar of White Rock, British Columbia led the first 14 laps of the Northwest Auto-Max 410 main event before exploding a left rear tire coming out of turn two. Martinez had been running the cushion and slicing thru the field closing in on Lutar in traffic and had taken over 2nd position just a few laps earlier. Danny Bullock and John Tharp finished second and third. Point leader Travis Jacobson was fourth with another consistent top five, fifth place finish for Brad Pritchard. Heat race wins went to Steve Kilcup, Kirk Fellers and Brock Lemley. Brandon Harkness set fast time with a lap of 11.897 during time trials.
The Budweiser 360 Sprints started their evening with Travis Rutz setting fast time at 12.222 seconds. Winning the three heat races were Martinez, Lemley and Cory Chamberlain. In the main event rookie Blake Brigge held down the point for the first 11 laps before Lemley caught him and passed him in heavy traffic. From lap 12 to the finish of the 25 lap race, it was all Lemley with Travis Jacobson picking up second place in his first race in the Kirkpatrick 7k 360 car, third went to Jason Bloodgood. Point leader Steve Kilcup was fourth with Andy Jacobson finishing fifth.
Just a few weeks ago, Justin Knowles was airborne in turn 3 with his Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprint preparing for a very hard landing. That crash about destroyed his car, and Knowles is still stiff and sore from the wreck. But the pilot of the #69 sprinter looked anything but hurting in winning his first Sportsman Sprint main in over 4 years. Knowles smoothly negotiated the 3/10th mile clay oval leading all 20 laps to pick up the well deserved win. During winner interviews after the races, Knowles thanked his crew chief Father and family, as well as the crew for putting the car back together and giving him the opportunity to win. Point leader Kevin Smith got close a few times, but couldn’t pass Knowles and had to settle for second, his best finish in a few weeks. Third through fifth place went to Eric Fisher, Kelleigh Johnson and Martin Koetje. Winning for the first time ever at Skagit Speedway as Dave Mead in the first heat and Kevin Smith won the second heat.
Clean sweeping the Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornet races was Matt VanDerSys. VanDerSys won both his heat race and the 17-lap main event by large margins. For VanDerSys it was his first ever win at Skagit Speedway. Stacey Dahl showed the men the fast way around the track to win the second heat race.
Friday and Saturday, racing continues this week at Skagit Speedway with the return of the USAC/CRA non-wing 410 Sprint Cars. On Friday they are joined by the Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornets and on Saturday the Deming 1200cc Mini Sprints join the action. Gates open at 6:00 p.m with racing scheduled both nights to start at 7:30 p.m. SKAGIT SPEEDWAY RESULTS 7/22/06 NORTHWEST AUTO-MAX 410 SPRINTS
Fast time: 29 Brandon Harkness 11.897
Heat 1: 18 Steve Kilcup, 5sp Shawn Rice, 41b Brad Pritchard, 17 Kelly Barnett, 7j Travis Jacobson
Heat 2: 77 Kirk Fellers, 4x Toni Lutar, 66 Barry Martinez, 76e Josh Edson, 23 Steve Parker
Heat 3: 40 Brock Lemley, 69 John Tharp, 9 Jayme Barnes, 31 Danny Bullock, 24 Nick Evans
Main: 66 Barry Martinez, 31 Danny Bullock, 69 JohnTharp, 7j Travis Jacobson, 41b Brad Pritchard, 40 Brock Lemley, 8r Travis Rutz, 5sp Shawn Rice, 29 Brandon Harkness, 77 Kirk Fellers, 18 Steve Kilcup, 76e Josh Edson, 24 Nick Evans, 75 Butch Gilbert, 4x Toni Lutar, 17 Kelly Barnett, 25 Adriana Klein, 20 Ryan Benoit, 9 Jayme Barnes, 23 Steve Parker, 1 Jimmy Deitz
BUDWEISER 360 SPRINTS
Fast time: 8r Travis Rutz 12.222
Heat 1: 66 Barry Martinez, 8 Blake Brigge, 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 8r Travis Rutz, 18 Steve Kilcup
Heat 2: 10c Cory Chamberlain, 38 Jason Bloodgood, 7k Travis Jacobson, 42 Alan Munn, 79k Kelsey Carpenter
Heat 3: 40 Brock Lemley, 3 Dan Pierson, 4 Robby Vaughn, 69p Rod Perkins, 98 Bob Stevens
Main: 40 Brock Lemley, 7k Travis Jacobson, 38 Jason Bloodgood, 18 Steve Kilcup, 59 Andy Jacobson, 4 Robby Vaughn, 3 Dan Pierson, 10c Cory Chamberlain, 42 Alan Munn, 44 Michael Harris, 79k Kelsey Carpenter, 59j Jim Hard. 5x Chuck Ashe, 8 Blake Brigge, 67 Colton Seddon, 69p Rod Perkins, 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 8r Travis Rutz, 13gr Glen Reinstra, 66 Barry Martinez, 57 Bud Ashe, 98 Bob Stevens
COOK ROAD SHELL SPORTSMAN SPRINTS
Heat 1: 3v Dave Mead, 22 Todd Rork, 90 Martin Koetje, 59 Eric Fisher, 29w Steve James
Heat 2: 75 Kevin Smith, 69 Justin Knowles, 89 Lake Gemmer, 14 Kelleigh Johnson, 47 Boyd Starr
Main: 69 Justin Knowles, 75 Kevin Smith, 59 Eric Fisher, 14 Kelleigh Johnson, 90 Martin Koetje, 22 Todd Rork, 3v Dave Mead, 9 Paul Burdick, 29w Steve James, 72 Marcus Schutte, 06 Frank Sherman, 8 Matt LeHay, 89 Lake Gemmer, 47 Boyd Starr
WILSON AUTO BROKER OUTLAW HORNETS
Heat 1: 30 Matt VanDerSys, 8 Ken Higby, 29 Brett Lloyd, 3 Scott Naylor, 26 Mike Powers, Jr.
Heat 2: 9p Stacey Dahl, 58 Clayton Delano, 100% Luther Wilson, 11m Bill McMeekin, 12 Matt Cozza
Main 1: 30 Matt VanDerSys, 11m Bill McMeekin, 58 Clayton Delano, 29 Brett Lloyd, 40 Mike Powers, Sr., 91 Rich Eldridge, 7 Travis Meins, 9 Jake Smart, 100% Luther Wilson, 6% Jesse Eldridge, 99 Jerry Birdsey, Jr., 39 Tyler Ketchum, 26 Mike Powers, Jr., 25 James Sims, 41 Wendy Johnson, 04 Matt Powers, 03 Howard Vos, 9p Stacey Dahl, 8 Ken Higby, 3 Scott Naylor, 3p Marty Friend, 19 Greg Hibma, 24 Mike Ploeg, 12 Matt Cozza, 66s Larry Kwik, 44 Josh Hanson
