ALGER, Washington -- The 2007 Skagit Speedway season opener was full of surprises. A great crowd was treated to excellent racing conditions and even more excellent racing on the track. Feature wins were captured by Brock Lemley in the 410 Sprint division, Henry Van Dam in the Budweiser 360 Sprint division, defending champion Kevin Smith in the Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprints and Chris Erickson in the Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornets.
With new bathrooms, Roscoe the Racinʼ Dog and plenty of festivities in the main entry area race fans were treated to a show, before the show at the Haggen Food and Pharmacy season opener. Stephanie Rose of the KMPS-FM Waking Crew was there to great people as were the Full Throttle Girls presented by Hawaiian Tropics.
Setting fast time for the 410 class was 2005 champion Barry Martinez. Martinez clocked in at 11.656 leading 7 other drivers into the 11 second bracket. Defending champion Travis Jacobson won the first heat and Brock Lemley won the second heat. In the 25-lap A Main event Josh Edson took off like a rocket and had a half second lead on the field when disaster struck on lap 15. With no one in front or behind him, Edson spun in turn 2 bringing out the first yellow flag. Travis Rutz inherited the lead and was being chased by Lemley who had dogged him during the first 3/5ths of the race. On lap 20, Lemley passed Rutz for the lead dive bombing hard into turn three and running the bottom like some famous Skagit Superstars of years past. Memories of Marc Huson and Butch Gilbert come to mind. Rutz dropped out after swapping the lead with Lemley for a lap when his car balked coming out of turn 2 with fuel/engine woes. On the restart Lemley was chased by Martinez with Steve Kilcup, Jayme Barnes and Tayler Malsam rounding out the top 5 finishers.
The Budweiser 360 Sprints were led in qualifying by Rutz with a stout 11.999 clocking. Picking up the four heat race wins were Rutz, Rod Perkins, Brian Kirkpatrick and Dan Pierson. By finishing in first and second in the B Main event, Nick Evans and Mitch Olson earned their way into the last two starting positions of the A Main. The A Main could be called the Henry and Travis Show. Henry Van Dam who has had his share of bad luck on opening day over the years at Skagit Speedway held his ground and withstood some furious charges from Travis Rutz to lead all 25 laps of the A Main. Van Dam and Rutz battled in and out thru traffic with Henry taking the low road and Travis taking the high side weaving towards what looked to be a photo finish. Late in the race, Rutz car bobbled and Jason Bloodgood who had trailed only slightly behind the two leaders zipped under to take the second spot away. Van Dam wins, followed by Bloodgood, Rutz, Bob Stevens and defending class champion Steve Kilcup. The race was stopped twice for flips by Nick Evans and Tayler Malsam.
For defending Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprint champion Kevin Smith the 2007 season started off as well as 2006 did with Kevin winning the main event. Smith led all 20 laps comfortably with just one red flag stoppage for Marcus Schutte and his wild, flipping episode down the front stretch on lap 7. Chasing Smith to the line were Eric Fisher, Todd Rork, Jarrid Zimmerman and Steve James. Zimmerman had his best finish ever in the 0z car. Heat race winners were Mike Melwicks and Todd Rork.
There were 30 Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornets on opening night at Skagit Speedway. Many new cars and new paint schemes dotted the Hornet Nest. Greg Hibma and Mike Powers, Sr. were the heat race winners. The main event saw 4 lead changes featuring 3 different cars. Bill Tomer led the first 6 laps before Chris Erickson took over in heavy traffic on lap 7. Eric Vickery took the lead from Erickson also in heavy traffic just three laps later before Erickson got the lead back again in what looked like Seattle Freeway traffic on lap 12 to pull away for the victory. For Erickson it was his first ever Outlaw Hornet victory at Skagit Speedway. Rounding out the top five were Vickery, Scott Naylor from his 13th starting position, Clayton Delano and Tomer.
Racing continues Saturday night April 28th at Skagit Speedway with all four divisions in action. For more information check the website at www.SkagitSpeedway.com .
Skagit Speedway Results 4/21/07
410 Sprints
Fast time: 66 Barry Martinez 11.656
Heat 1: 40 Brock Lemley, 66 Martinez, 18 Steve Kilcup, 83 Josh Edson, 31 Danny Bullock
Heat 2: 7j Travis Jacobson, 26 Tayler Malsam, 69 John Tharp, 8r Travis Rutz, 75 Roy Blumenhagen
Main: 40 Brock Lemley, 66 Martinez, 18 Kilcup, 9 Jayme Barnes, 26 Malsam, 83 Edson, 7j Jacobson, 31 Bullock, 75 Blumenhagen, 8r Rutz, 69 Tharp, 17 Barnett
Budweiser 360 Sprints
Fast time: 8r Travis Rutz 11.999
Heat 1: 8r Travis Rutz, 98 Bob Stevens, 26 Malsam, 19 Greg Sandquist, 24 Nick Evans
Heat 2: 69p Rod Perkins, 4 Robby Vaughn, 18 Kilcup, 7 Josh DeWitt, 7o Roger Oudman
Heat 3: 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 10cCory Chamberlain, 8 Evan Funk, 38 Jason Bloodgood, 23 Seth Bergman
Heat 4: 3 Dan Pierson, 33v Henry Van Dam, 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 73 Danielle Huson, 66 Jason Cocking
B Main: 24 Nick Evans, 98M Mitch Olson, 23 Bergman, 21p Chris Pattenaude, 21 Kris Frazer, 9 Jared Peterson, 51 John Farrell, 22 Blake Cook, 2r Paul Roleau, 7o Oudman, 1 Steve Vague
A Main: 33v Henry Van Dam, 38 Bloodgood, 8r Rutz, 98 Stevens, 18 Kilcup, 98m Olson, 10c Chamberlain, 69p Perkins, 19 Sandquist, 4 Vaughn, 7k Kirkpatrick, 7 DeWitt, 8 Funk, 26 Malsam, 5k Kirkpatrick, 3 Pierson, 73 Huson, 24 Evans
Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprints
Heat 1: 1m Mike Melwicks, 0z Jarrid Zimmerman, 59 Eric Fisher, 90 Martin Koetje
Heat 2: 22 Todd Rork, 75 Kevin Smith, 13gr Glen Reinstra, 29 Steve James, 72 Marcus Schutte
Main: 75 Kevin Smith, 59 Fisher, 22 Rork, 0z Zimmerman, 29w James, 13gr Reinstra, 5v Jeff Voter, 30 Matt Van Der Sys, 14 Kelleigh Johnson, 72 Schutte, 1m Melwicks, 90 Koetje
Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornets
Heat 1: 19 Greg Hibma, 58 Clayton Delano, 44 Josh Hanson, 3 Scott Naylor, 7 Travis Meins
Heat 2: 40 Mike Powers Sr., 43 Chris Erickson, 41 Wendy Johnson, 26 Mike Powers Jr., 39 Tyler Ketchum
Main Event: 43 Chris Erickson, 66 Erik Vickery, 3 Naylor, 58 Delano, 856 Bill Tomer, 19 Hibma, 44 Hanson, 7 Meins, 40 Powers Sr., 26 Powers Jr., 100% Luther Wilson, 41 Johnson, 04 Matt Powers, 68 Ben Gunderson, 2b Tracy Wilson, 32 Bernie Bates, 6% Jesse Eldridge, 20 Freddy Valas, 66s Larry Kwik, 24 Mike Ploeg, 57 James Bundy, 64 Adam Holtrop, 9p Stacey Day, 03 Howard Vos, 10 Jerry Birdsey Jr., 25 James Sims, K9 Karl Dahl
