BERGMAN AND KIRKPATRICK THRILL SKAGIT SPEEDWAY CROWD WITH LATE RACE PASSES

ALGER, Washington -- If you like late race drama, Skagit Speedway was the place for you Saturday night. In the Outlaw 410 Sprints, Mitch Olson jumped out to an early race lead, comfortably leading Eric Fisher and Travis Rutz. Fisher and Rutz both went to the pits with mechanical issues around lap 11, moving Seth Bergman into the chase position. Olson continued to pace the field as Bergman gave chase, slowly closing the distance in lapped traffic. As they came to the white flag, Olson drew up on more lapped cars while Bergman had just cleared the final lapper in between himself and Olson's SC Fuels #98. Bergman pushed the throttle pedal to the floorboard and erased the 4 car length gap between himself and Olson, then as they entered turn three, dove to the extreme bottom of the track and put a slide job on Olson that cleared him by mere inches. Bergman carried the momentum forward and won his first career 410 feature, driving for Mike Anderson in the Tri County Truss #18. Olson finished second and Colton Heath was third in the Roger Oudman owned 7o. Heat race wins went to Cory Chamberlain in the Bob & Lori Scott owned 7s, Toni Lutar in his Northwest Used Auto Parts #4 and JaredRidge in the Snohomish Napa #12. Travis Rutz set quick time in the Rudeen Racing #26 at 11.574.

In the Budweiser 360 Series, Cory Chamberlain paced the field on the opening circuit and opened up a sizeable advantage as the race went on. While Chamberlain cruised around in front, Travis Rutz and Brian Kirkpatrick moved forward through the field and through the lapped cars Chamberlain was putting behind him. Rutz closed in on Chamberlain and showed him a tire on the inside of turn two on lap 17, but Chamberlain managed to slam the door. Chamberlain looked to have the race in hand, but a lap 22 caution for Mack Brown bunched the field up and took lapped cars out of the equation. On the restart, Chamberlain drove hard into turn one, and somewhere between the entrance of one and exit of two cut a tire down. Rutz saw his opportunity and motored to the high side, but little did he know, Brian Kirkpatrick had amassed a huge run down the back straight and managed to pull even with Chamberlain on the inside going into turn three. Rutz and Kirkpatrick made a Chamberlain sandwich off the fourth turn, with BK getting great forward bite off the corner to take the lead. Kirkpatrick flew forward and opened up a couple car length advantage before crossing under the flag stand first to win his second main of the year and extend his points advantage in the class in his Jet City Equipment #5k. Rutz in the Rudeen Racing #26 scored second, with Danny Kirkpatrick bringing home third in the Jet City Equipment #7k. Heat wins went to Steve Kilcup in the Tri County Truss #18 and Shane Broers in the Firedown Graphics #11. Rutz set quick time at 11.988.

The Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornet main came down to a last lap pass once again, as Ken Higby used lapped traffic to his advantage to score another win. Coming out of turn two on the 17th and final lap of the main, Higby chose the high groove as race leader Tyler Ketchum came off the corner low. Encountering lapped traffic, a gap opened for Higby and he shot his Honda Civic through, leaving Ketchum in the lurch. Wade Swatzina and Cory Swatzina followed him through to round out the top three. Heat race winners were Ketchum and Karl Dahl.

The Ford Focus Midgets made an appearance at Skagit Speedway and it was Allison Journey of Springfield, OR leading all 17 laps for the focus legal cars. Brock Lemley and Barry Martinez jumped into "open" motor, Chili Bowl legal cars and raced to the front of the pack but weren't officially scored. Jonathan Jorgenson won the heat race.

The Outlaw 410 Sprints, Budweiser 360 Sprints, Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprints and Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornets will all be in action next week for Round 15 of the Foothills Toyota Tundra Series at Skagit Speedway.

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