ROCHESTER, Washington — Coinforce .com military appreciation was not only an exciting night because of all the hero’s in attendance but also the Limited Late Models were scheduled for a double header on this great night dedicated to our Veterans.
8 points was all that was separating 1st from 3rd in the LLM standings so having two mains in the same night meant there was no room for error. Rod Schultz Jr">Rod Schultz Jr would enter the night as the points leader with 4 points between himself and Billy Weber. Jr would find trouble early in the race and head to his pits to start preparing a backup car for the second main which set the stage for Billy Weber and Rod Schultz Sr to leap frog past Jr to the top two spots in the season standings. Weber took command early and held off a late charge from Sr and Bob Presley making a start in the Limited Late Model division would finish third. Finishing fourth in this race was Tyler Allen who had the most adventurous of days, Tyler graduated from the University of Washington earlier in the day and then had to navigate his way down I-5 and pulled through the back gate just in time to strap into his car and make the 1st main, all of us at South Sound Speedway say congratulations to Tyler Allen on his accomplishment and congrats to all the graduates of all the friends and families of South Sound Speedway.
The second main of the night got off to a rocky start on the first lap, as the field was heading through the first corners Allen and Hinkle would make contact and the field started stacking up, Hinkle was sideways in 2 and there was not much the pack could do but start piling in. A delay for clean up was just enough time for most of the field to make repairs and get back out, the only missing from the original start was JJ Hamilton. Once this one got under way it was an edge of your seat affair that was in doubt right to the checkers. Presley was the one leading the way but Schultz Sr was glued to his bumper and on a couple of occasion had his nose underneath Presley but could not advance past him. Schultz had to also be looking in his mirror because one mistake and Chad Hinkle was ready to pounce on Sr and Presley . As the three of them came out of turn 4 for the last time Sr exited low to make one last run at Presley and Hinkle kept it high hoping to advance past Sr, at the line it was Bob Presley for the win and Sr would hold off the charging Hinkle to pick up another 2nd place finish on this night and Billy Weber would finish 6th which has set up a tie for the points lead with Weber and Shultz Sr both at 320 pts and Jr would fall to third 26 points off the leaders.
In the D&S light Truck and Auto Mini Stock main event Freeman Pruitt was looking to extend his point lead and the night looked to be set up for him as he won his heat race earlier in the evening but the main event would belong to Jon Baglien with Jeff Bracale and Scott Maynard finishing 2nd and 3rd. The best celebration of the night has to go to Tina McMillan who won her first trophy ever in the D&S Light Truck & Auto Mini Stock trophy dash. Tina first had trouble getting out of her car because she was so excited she couldn’t get her belts off, once out of the car it was a whirling dervish of jumps and spins and a few WAHOOOOS mixed in as well. At the conclusion of the night’s races the trophy was proudly on display on top of her car for the whole world to see.
The Tire Dogs Bumble Bees did something you don’t typically see at a racetrack, they ran their trophy dash in reverse with a cone on their hood, The goal being that the last driver with a cone would be the winner, well two drivers crossed the line with cones in place but the first one to cross the line was Doug Baird, impressive and fun was the trophy dash win for Doug Baird. In the main event the Tire Dogs Bumble bees were given a break from their usual obstacle riddled course and were allowed to race it straight up. Ron Schlund Sr made the most of the open track set up and pulled off with the victory while Brian Wilson and Charlie Newman would finish 2nd and 3rd.
Michael Millard-Perales picked up another win in the NW Baby Grands as he extends his point lead. Brad Crawford and Mike Crawford would finish 2nd and 3rd.
