ELMA, Washington — Dave Cantu’s wife ended up spending her birthday at the race track with her husband on Saturday. Fortunately for Cantu, he made up for it by winning some spending cash – in the form of coins at least – when he won the Pocket Change Challenge main event for the PHRA dwarf cars at Grays Harbor Raceway.
Cantu, from Hillsboro, Ore. nearly lost it at the end when Mitch Meeuwsen made a hard last lap charge that saw the two drivers coming out of the final turn side-by-side, but Cantu won at the finish line by a mere thirty-five thousandths of a second to take his third main event win of the season and complete a sweep of the evening at Grays Harbor Raceway as Cantu also won his heat race and the Bridgetown Electric A-Dash. Combined with the $788 worth of pocket change, the main event win was worth $1,038 for Cantu, while an understandably disappointed Meeuwsen had to settle for the normal $200 second place prize despite his valiant effort.
Before he let it get interesting at the finish, Cantu was almost untouchable during the 30-lap main event. Starting outside the front row thanks to a random invert, the PHRA points leader took the lead on the start and led by as much as almost a full straightaway. Despite a number of restarts bringing his pursuers right back up to his back bumper, Cantu continued to pull away and establish lengthy leads.
Meanwhile, pole sitter Henry Corbin II of Molalla, Ore. ran second early on until he was passed by both Vancouver, Wash.’s Troy Kunas and Meeuwsen, from Forest Grove, Ore. on a Lap 9 restart. Kunas ran in second place for several laps while Meeuwsen, who started 14th after finishing second in the B-Main, had to contend with 13th starting Henry Corbin III, who won the B-Main event after starting that race at the rear of the field. Corbin, also from Molalla, maneuvered past his father Henry II, Meeuwsen and others to move into third place on Lap 12.
It was Cantu, Kunas, Meeuwsen and Corbin III as the top four runners for a number of laps until Corbin and Meeuwsen began to dice some more with each other and then Kunas, while Oak Grove, Ore.’s Mike Miller began to work his way into the mix, while Cantu again created a comfortable distance between himself and his pursuers. Corbin worked past Kunas to take second place and then with 23 laps completed Kunas was battling with Meeuwsen to hold onto to third place when he struck the wall exiting Turn 2 of the big 3/8-mile clay oval and flipped upside down, ending his night.
As they double-filed behind Dave Cantu one last time, Corbin had his choice of the inside or the outside on the restart, but his choice backfired on him as Meeuwsen got the better start and moved into second place. Cantu, however, again motored away on the restart and created a little distance between himself and Meeuwsen. Meeuwsen, however, began to slowly close in as he turned in the fastest lap of the whole night as he turned a lap of 17.062 seconds on Lap 27, particularly quick for a little dwarf car on a track the size of Grays Harbor Raceway.
Cantu, not realizing Meeuwsen was closing, began easing up in the last lap, a move that nearly cost him the pocket change bonus. Meeuwsen made the big dive low into Turn 3 exiting the back stretch while Cantu drifted high. Both drivers came out of Turn 4 side-by-side but Cantu appeared to have the high side to his advantage, using his momentum to nose ahead of Meeuwsen as they reached the finish line.
Corbin III, the reigning PHRA dwarf car champion and winner of three consecutive races going into the evening, finished third to complete an impressive run from the tail end of the B-Main field. Starting 11th in the B-Main and essentially 23rd overall, Corbin moved his way forward to earn the Tracey’s Racing Jewelry Hard Charger bonus.
Miller finished fourth with Corbin II following. Mike Chadwick, who won June’s main event at Grays Harbor Raceway and also won Saturday’s Terry’s Automotive Group B-Dash, finished sixth after coming out of the B-Main as well. Tyler Steenslid, Clay Goben, Jess Turner Sr. and Ronnie Gilmore Jr. rounded out the Top 10.
Corbin III’s win in the 20-lap B-Main event came over Meeuwsen, Chadwick and Ron Love. Heat races went to Cantu, Turner Sr. and Jim Dunn. For dwarf car veterans Turner and Dunn, Saturday was the first time this season for both drivers and each came away with impressive heat race victories.
Cantu won the Bridgetown Electric A-Dash, featuring mostly heat race winners, over Miller, Dunn and Turner. Chadwick’s win in the Terry’s Automotive Group B-Dash came over Brian Hicks, Leo Hachler and Sam Larson.
The Pocket Change Challenge was originally intended to be a dash sponsorship for a race this season, but after the value of the original jar grew so quickly it was decided to award it as a main event prize for the PHRA on the opening night of Grays Harbor Raceway’s annual Big E Weekend. Between March 25th and September 3rd, an unofficial count of 8,836 coins was collected, worth $788.13. Fans, drivers, journalists and photographers, co-workers, family members and even track officials all pitched in some pocket change over the course of the spring and summer.
The next event for the Pacific Hardtop Racing Association is Saturday, September 18th when the PHRA makes its fourth and final visit of the season to Sunset Speedway Park in Banks, Ore. On September 24th and 25th the PHRA will be joined by the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association for a two-night event at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.
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PHRA Dwarf Cars
Pocket Change Challenge
Grays Harbor Raceway
Elma, WA
September 4, 2010
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
24 cars
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 0z Jim Dunn, 2. 90 Henry Corbin II, 3. 69 Ronnie Gilmore Jr., 4. 57 Tristan Wood, 5. 76 Brian Hicks, 6. 73x Al Goldie, 7. 2 Gary Sause, 8. 73 Dave Lewis. First four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 00 Jess Turner Sr., 2. 16 Mike Miller, 3. 68 Eric Bergquist, 4. 81 Charles Millar, 5. 73 Leo Hachler, 6. 45 Sam Larson, 7. 3 Jim Fischer, 8. 33 Ron Love. First four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 63 Dave Cantu, 2. 37 Troy Kunas, 3. 8 Tyler Steenslid, 4. 88 Clay Goben, 5. 24 Mike Chadwick, 6. 28 Mitch Meeuwsen, 7. 72 Todd Peterson, 8. 89 Henry Corbin III. First four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Terry’s Automotive Group B-Dash (4 laps): 1. 24 Mike Chadwick, 2. 76 Brian Hicks, 3. 75 Leo Hachler, 4. 48 Sam Larson.
Bridgetown Electric A-Dash (4 laps): 1. 63 Dave Cantu, 2. 16 Mike Miller, 3. 0z Jim Dunn, 4. 00 Jess Turner Sr.
B-Main (20 laps): 1. 89 Henry Corbin III, 2. 28 Mitch Meeuwsen, 3. 24 Mike Chadwick, 4. 33 Ron Love, 5. 76 Brian Hicks, 6. 75 Leo Hachler, 7. 73x Al Goldie, 8. 3 Jim Fischer, 9. 72 Todd Peterson, 10. 73 Dave Lewis, 11. 48 Sam Larson, DNS – 2 Gary Sause. First eight finishers transfer to A-Main.
A-Main (30 laps): 1. 63 Dave Cantu, 2. 28 Mitch Meeuwsen, 3. 89 Henry Corbin III, 4. 16 Mike Miller, 5. 90 Henry Corbin II, 6. 24 Mike Chadwick, 7. 8 Tyler Steenslid, 8. 88 Clay Goben, 9. 00 Jess Turner Sr., 10. 69 Ronnie Gilmore Jr., 11. 57 Tristan Wood, 12. 3 Jim Fischer, 13. 81 Charles Millar, 14. 76 Brian Hicks, 15. 75 Leo Hachler, 16. 68 Eric Bergquist, 17. 37 Troy Kunas, 18. 0z Jim Dunn, 19. 73x Al Goldie, 20. 33 Ron Love.
Lap leaders: Dave Cantu 1-30
Tracey’s Racing Jewelry Hard Charger: Henry Corbin III, from 11th in B-Main (23rd overall) to 3rd in A-Main.
