MORE TO RACE FOR: NWWT MIDGET PURSE INCREASES FOR OCT. 3RD FINALE

NORTHWEST WINGLESS TOUR

Source — NWWT Publicist/ak

Date Posted — September 24, 2009

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ARLINGTON, Washington — For Mitch Hoffses and Evan Margeson, things will come down to the wire for the inaugural IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour midget car championship, as only five points separate the two drivers. Now, just to make things more interesting, the NWWT is throwing in more money for the October 3rd season finale at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore.

With the increasingly popular NWWT 360 traditional sprint cars getting much of the press this year, the sometimes struggling midget division has been in their shadow all season despite the dominating performances by Evan Margeson and the solid season turned in by current points leader Mitch Hoffses. Things, however, are looking up for the midgets as there has been much recent interest in the division, with many teams expected to be at Willamette Speedway on October 3rd to close the inaugural season for the NWWT.

With that happening, the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour has decided the midget teams deserve a little extra money to race for. All drivers who start the main event on Saturday, October 3rd will receive no less than a $50 bonus from the NWWT, with some getting $75 and the top five finishers each earning an extra $100. This makes the event $175 to start and $600 to win.

Much of the money comes thanks from the businesses who sponsored June's NWWT Summer Shootout. The Friday, June 5th event, the only other NWWT event scheduled at Willamette Speedway this year, was cancelled after severe weather and heavy rain made the 3/10-mile clay oval unsafe for racing. The second night of the Summer Shootout at Cottage Grove Speedway was completed without any weather issues, but the NWWT and Summer Shootout director Keith Steenslid elected to only pay half of the money on June 6th with the intent of taking the rest of the money and paying it out at another event later in the season. It was decided on Wednesday that it would be going to the midgets.

The top five finishers will each earn an extra $100. Sixth through tenth will receive $75 each. Eleventh place on back will each earn $50 from the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour.

Bridgetown Electric, Competition Motorsports, Herz Precision Parts, Tire Factory of Oregon, Maxline Custom Cases, JS Perrot Company, R.G.C. Enterprises and Chapman Auto were all sponsors of the NWWT's Summer Shootout weekend. Neither sponsor pulled their money after the rainout at Willamette Speedway on June 5th and stayed on in support of the Summer Shootout finale the next night at Cottage Grove Speedway. With the second half of the money being used on October 3rd, they will all be listed as sponsors for the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour midget car division in the Willamette Fall Classic.

As happened for last year's open competition event at Willamette Speedway, several of the teams who race with Ford Focus motors at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. will be venturing down, and the news of the increased pursed already has some of them excited. Last year, the Grays Harbor visitors did extremely well as half of the Top 10, including winner Jeff Bell and two others in the Top 5, had Ford Focus motors under the hood.

Bell is expected to return. Planning to race also is possibly the hottest Ford Focus midget racer in the country, Seth Hespe. Hespe won five races at Grays Harbor Raceway this year including the final three points races to capture the championship by two points. Allison Journey, a 17-year-old starlet out of Springfield, Ore. who also won a race this year, is also scheduled to race. Others Ford Focus midget races who are expected to or are hoping to come down include Ariel Biggs, Jeremy Miller, Tony Carabello and Annika Johansen.

Cole Peard, the Quincy, Calif. youngster who finished second in his NWWT debut on September 12th at Cottage Grove Speedway, is said to be coming back up for the October 3rd event. Early next week, a more complete roster of midget car teams expected to compete will be released.

Meanwhile, despite winning four NWWT midget main events this year, Margeson will be playing catchup against Hoffses. The Tacoma, Wash. driver had a 51-point lead after winning his third race in as many starts, but was was forced to give up the points lead when he had to skip the August 15th race at Cottage Grove Speedway due to work commitments. Hoffses, out of Beaverton, Ore. earned a clean sweep that night and completely erased Margeson's lead and made a 11-point lead of his own. Margeson responded with another clean sweep of his own in his return on September 12th, but only shaved six points off the lead Hoffses still holds after his fourth place finish.

In Margeson's favor next weekend is that he's yet to be beaten in the NWWT when he races. In Hoffses's favor, he's almost always not far behind Margeson on the track. Should Hoffses finish second to Margeson in everything (qualifying, their heat race and the main event), Margeson will only have taken off three points and Hoffses would win the title by two points unofficially.

October 3rd's Willamette Fall Classic will feature both the 360 traditional sprint cars and the midget cars of the NorthWest Wingless Tour, which will also be joined by the PHRA dwarf cars to make an excellent open wheel show for dirt track fans in western Oregon.

More information on the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.

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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour

Midget car division - Willamette Fall Classic main event payout

1. $600

2. $400

3. $300

4. $275

5. $250

6. $205

7. $200

8. $200