LEMLEY, MARTINEZ AND SMITH WIN AT SKAGIT

Under a full orange moon and clear skies the racers at Skagit Speedway put on a great show for the big crowd. Weather conditions were sunny and hot and racing action on-track was even hotter. o

The 410 Sprints showed how ready they are for the 36th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup in just two weekends. Veteran driver Toni Lutar from White Rock, British Columbia returned from a half season at the famed Knoxville Raceway and set fast time with an 11.763 second lap. Jared Ridge won the first heat and Danny Bullock won the second heat race. At the drop of the green flag on the 25-lap main event, Steve Kilcup was flying. Kilcup really worked up a good size lead when from seemingly out of nowhere, Barry Martinez ate up a bunch of ground and flew by into the lead. Martinez led the last 16 laps and claimed his first win of the season. The 2005 410 division champion seems to be cranking things up as we get closer to Dirt Cup, Kilcup, Travis Rutz, Lutar and current point leader Brock Lemley rounded out the top 5. o

Leading the Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprint point chase is defending champion Kevin Smith who won tonightʼs 20-lap feature. Smith and second place in points Eric Fisher won their heat races. The main event featured a wild flip at the end of the back stretch as the race leader at the time Paul Burdick helicoptered into the back stretch catch fence while enjoying a very comfortable lead. Smith running second at the time inherited the lead and was not seriously challenged the rest of the way. Good run on the evening for rookie Matt Vandersys finishing second, Fisher was third, with Devin Madonia fourth and last weeks winner Kelleigh Johnson fifth. o

Last weekʼs feature winner Travis Jacobson is getting his new Budweiser 360 Sprint ride figured out as he set fast time with a 12.276 second lap to pace the 26 car field. Brock Lemley jumped in the #38 car normally driven by points leader Jason Bloodgood as Bloodgood was recovering for the effects of a wreck the previous night at Deming Speedway and won his heat race. Lemley was driving the #38 for owners points and owner John Beard who holds the 360 owners points top spot. The other heat race winners were Cory Chamberlain and Greg Sandquist. In what would turn out to one of the more bizarre main events of the young season, the winner turned out to be Lemley. Late race cautions cause numerous restarts as drivers struggled to get hold of the track surface. Then, a bank of lights went out engulfing turn 4 in total darkness. Quickly thereafter a second bank of lights went out ending the evening. The track is still seeking answers for the light failure, the first of itʼs kind since being installed years ago. Checkered flags fell at lap 21 with Lemley leading, followed by Steve Kilcup, Travis Jacobson, Rod Perkins (from 16th starting) and Jason Cocking. o

The light failure cost the Wilson Auto Broker Outlaw Hornets their main event, which will be added to another race sometime in the future. Heat race wins earlier in the night went to Travis Meins and Pirate Bill McMeekin. o

Next Saturday night Skagit Speedway hosts the Franz Family Bakery Dirt Cup Tune-up race, with 410ʼs and 360ʼs combining into one class, the Sportsman Sprints and the Outlaw Hornets in their last race before this years Dirt Cup. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. with racing at 7:30 p.m.