COTTAGE GROVE, Oregon — The IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour will be wasting no time time getting back to action, as they race again this Saturday at Cottage Grove Speedway in Oregon. A full program of qualifying, heat races and main events are scheduled for both the 360 sprint cars and the midgets.
For the NWWT's midget car division, it will be their first time back in action in almost a month. They were to race last Saturday at Cottage Grove Speedway, but rainfall cancelled a NorthWest Wingless Tour midget car event for the second time this season. The NWWT sprint cars, meanwhile, dodged a bullet with the weather themselves at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. Seth Bergman bested a 24-car field to win the inaugural Grays Harbor Non-Wing Challenge.
With some teams staying home from Grays Harbor Raceway, fearing a rainout last Saturday, the points standings went through a significant shake-up. Eugene, Ore.'s Kyle Miller entered the evening with a slim nine-point lead, but with a third place finish on Saturday he boosted his lead to 25 points. Gary Davis of Albany, Ore. used his fourth place finish to move up and firmly establish himself in second place behind Miller.
Mark Nichols moved up a spot to fourth place. Sammy Wright's sixth place finish on Saturday moved him from seventh place to fifth. Two other drivers who didn't show up both fell out of the Top 10.
Behind Wright in the point standings is a logjam between sixth place and tenth place. This Saturday's race will shake things up further because of that logjam. Kyler Barraza was fourth place before, but after not competing at Grays Harbor Raceway he fell to sixth place, where he now has company with both Dylan Olsen and Theo McCarty, who like Barraza also have 344 points each.
Nick Tomlinson was sure to have a solid Top 10 finish at Grays Harbor Raceway but was the innocent victim of an accident that happened in front of him while he was running in sixth place on the track. Tomlinson could've been in sixth place all by himself in the standings, but his DNF kept him in ninth place. The logjam, however, is further complicated by Tomlinson as he is only two points back of Barraza, Olsen and McCarty. Mike Romig's fifth place finish at Grays Harbor moved him up to tenth place in the standings, and he is only 11 points back of the three-way tie for sixth place.
With his win on Saturday, Bergman became the fifth different driver to win a IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour main event this season, joining Roger Crockett, Dale Smith, Miller and Barraza, who is the only driver to win twice. A unofficial total of 42 different drivers have taken part in at least one NorthWest Wingless Tour event this year.
In the midget car division, Beaverton, Ore.'s Mitch Hoffses will be trying to hold off Tacoma, Wash.'s Evan Margeson, who won the first three NWWT midget car events before being forced to skip the August 15th race because of work commitments. Taking advantage of Margeson's absence, Hoffses erased Margeson's large lead in the point standings by making it a clean sweep of the program at Cottage Grove Speedway, setting fast time in qualifying before winning his heat race and the main event. Hoffses is the only drivers beside Margeson to win a NWWT midget car main event this season.
Also moving up in the midget car standings on August 15th was Steve Dickenson of Corvallis, Ore. Dickenson now sits in third place and is only a single point behind Margeson for second. St. John's, Ore.'s Tyler Steenslid also moved up to fourth place in the standings. Dallas Melby of Ravensdale, Wash. fell from his second place tie with Hoffses to fifth place in the standings as he was forced to sit out of the event with a hurt engine.
This Saturday's event at Cottage Grove Speedway will be the NWWT's last at the 1/4-mile, high-banked clay oval this season. Cottage Grove Speedway has served as the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour's unofficial home track during its inaugural season.
Ticket prices are $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors, $6 for kids between the ages of six and 11, and children five years of age and younger are free of charge with an adult. Spectator gates open at 4:00 with qualifying scheduled for 5:30 with racing starting around 6:45. The track's local limited sprints, late models, modifieds and street stocks are also on the card.
More information on the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at www.nwinglesstour.com.
IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
360 sprint cars, Top 15 points
1. Kyle Miller, 462
2. Gary Davis, 437
3. Keary Morris, 391
4. Mark Nichols, 379
5. Sammy Wright, 362
6. Kyler Barraza, 344
(tie) Dylan Olsen, 344
(tie) Theo McCarty, 344
9. Nick Tomlinson, 342
10. Mike Romig, 333
11. Dale Smith, 324
12. Jeff Rivers, 293
13. Mark Herz, 270
14. Kyle Mehner, 267
15. Joe Bosso Jr, 260
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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
Midget cars, Top 10 points
1. Mitch Hoffses, 276
2. Evan Margeson, 269
3. Steve Dickenson, 268
4. Tyler Steenslid, 248
5. Dallas Melby, 218
6. Mike Gehringer, 214
7. Doug McVae, 210
8. Glenn Bittrolf, 205
9. Steve Veltman, 184
10. Rob Lindsey, 164
