ELMA, Washington — Cory Sweatman of Cosmopolis, Chris Beaulieu of Campbell River, B.C., Henry VanDam of Enumclaw and Cliff Gill of Aberdeen were the Tops of the field Saturday night at Grays Harbor Raceway.
Sweatman made a late race pass on Jay Biggs of Aberdeen in the
Cut Rate Auto Parts “Hobby Stocks” 20-Lap feature race. In the process Sweatman bested a couple of the best “Hobby Stock” drivers on the Harbor. Four time defending champion Zack Simpson of Hoquiam and his father Tom.
Beaulieu was finally able to get past Shelton’s Shane Rau with five laps left in the Ship Wreck Beads “Modifieds” 25-lap feature race and then held off the rest of the field on a caution flag restart on the last lap.
VanDam, who is often referred to as the second most popular race car driver from Enumclaw, got past Ricky Fauver from Everett on lap-7 in the Whitney’s Auto Group “360 Sprints” 25-lap feature, had clear sailing to the finish.
It took Gill just three laps to get by Jake Mills of Onalaska in the HiLine Homes “Hornets” 15-lap feature race and after the two of them ran away from the rest of the field.
Hobby Stocks.
The younger Sweatman had the pole at the start of the race, but dad took over the lead on the first lap, and Simpson came right along behind him. The senior Sweatman and Simpson proceeded to duel for the lead, with Simpson narrowing ground in the corners, and Sweatman pulling away on the straight stretches.
Biggs had moved into the third spot just prior to the mid-point of the race with the younger Sweatman dropping back to fourth and Elma’s Ryen Haney rounded out the top five.
Sweatman and Simpson opened the door for the rest of the field when the got tangled up in turn-4 bringing out the caution flag.
On the restart it was Biggs, Cory Sweatman, Eddie blood of Olympia and Zach Fuller of Tacoma at the front of the pack.
Sweatman got by Biggs on the final lap, denying the Aberdeen driver his first feature win, Blood finished third, Tom Hecker of Spanaway fourth and Tim Phillips Spanaway fifth.
Simpson, Hecker, Biggs and Tom Sweatman all picked up wins in the heat races.
Modifieds
Beaulieu is no stranger to the Harbor track. His father Jason won the 2020 Northwest Modified Nationals at GHRW and Chris had a top ten finish.
Shelton’s Shane Rau grabbed the lead on the first lap, followed by Aberdeen’s Joe German, Morgan Criswell of Vancouver, WA. Del Schnitzer of Shelton and Beaulieu.
The Canadian had worked his way into the second spot by lap-7n and set his sights on the front runner.
Rau was able to hold off Beaulieu on a caution flag restart on lap-15 when Criswell spun out, but the Canadian finally made the pass with four laps left in the race.
Beaulieu held on for the win, despite a last lap caution and restart when Jeff Foster of McCleary spun out in turn-2.
Olympia’s Randy took advantage of the restart to vault into the second spot past German, Carl Larson of Castle Rock edged Rau out of fourth on the final lap.
Defending series champion Josh Muller was not in the field as he is currently in Alaska working, and four time series champion, Scott Miller of Shelton failed to make the feature due to engine problems from earlier in the night.
Beaulieu, Rau and Scott Westley were heat race winners.
Sprints
Fauver, a for Northern Sprint Tour champion had the pole at the start with VanDam on the outside, with seven time series champion Jay Cole and another former series champion, Randy VanAagten in the next row.
It quickly turned into a duel between Fauver and VanDam. VanDam got by Fauver 8-laps into the race and was never challenged after that.
Fauver failed to finish when he left the track a couple of laps later.
VanDam was out in front, followed by Cole, Mitch Olson of Puyallup, Reese Goetz of Snohomish, who was making his first start in a sprint car, and Steve Vague of Kirkland.
Things went south for Cole and Olson when the tangled up in turn-2, with Cole ending up on his side, and both drivers were done for the night.
On the restart it was VanDam, the rookie Goetz in second, Vague, third, VanAagten fourth and Mike Gable of Shelton fifth.
The race went caution free from there to the end, and nobody was able to catch VanDam as he crossed the finish line about 100’ in front of Goetz, Vague held onto third, VanAagten fourth and Gable fifth.
Goetz raced last year in the “Midgets” series and plans on pulling double duty this year in both the “Sprints” and the “Midgets”.
Vague and Goetz were heat winners earlier in the night.
Hornets
After Gill took over the lead on lap-4 it was clear running to the finish in the only race of the night that went green-white checkered. Mike Clingen of Ocosta made a late comeback after earlier problems to finish third.
Clingen picked up the win in the heat race.
Top Finishers
Cut Rate Auto Parts “Hobby Stocks” A-Main. 1. Cory Sweatman, Cosmopolis. 2. Jay Biggs, Aberdeen. 3. Eddie Blood, Olympia. 4. Tom Hecker, Spanaway. 5.Tim Phillips, Spanaway. 6. Tom Sweatman, Cosmopolis. 7. Will Madison. 8. Ryen Haney, Elma. 9. Zack Simpson, Hoquiam. 10. Chuck Woodbury, Montesano. Heat 1. 1. Simpson. 2. C. Sweatman. 3. Greg Watkins, Enumclaw. 4. Ross Watkins, South Prairie. 5. Jerry Reitze, Tacoma. Heat 2. 1. Hecker,. 2. Zack Fuller, Tacoma. 3.; Renney Marose, Tacoma. 4. Blood. Heat 3. 1. Biggs. 2. Woodbury. 3. Jack Parshall, Hoquiam. 4. Brian Sheehan, Yelm. 5. Jimmie Solorzano, Shelton. Heat 4. 1. T. Sweatman. 2. Haney. 3. Brian Izzi, Olympia. 4. Koit Honea, Montesano. Top Qualifier: Simpson -18.358. 73.537 MPH.
Ship Wreck Beads “Modifieds” A- Main. 1. Chris Beaulieu, Campbell River, B.C. 2. Randy Ward, Olympia. 3. Joe German, Aberdeen. 4. Carl Larson, Castle Rock. 5. Shane Rau, Shelton. 6. Scott Westley, Centralia. 7. Dave Burns, Bremerton. 8. Jeff Foster, McCleary. 9. David bottoms, Ridgefield. 10. Alan Muenchow, Shelton. Heat 1. Beaulieu. 2. Craig Moore, Seabeck. 3. Ward. 4. Burns. 5. Muenchow. Heat 2. 1. Rau. 2. German. 3. Morgan Criswell, Vancouver. 4. Larson. 5. Zack Simpson, Hoquiam. Heat 3. 1. Westley. 2. Bottoms. 3. Del Schnitzer. 4. Scott Miller, Shelton. 5. Foster. Top Qualifier: Miller. 16.498. 81.828 MPH.
Whitney’s Auto Group “360 Sprints” A-Main. 1. Henry VanDam, Enumclaw. 2. Reese Goetz, Snohomish. 3. Steve Vague, Kirkland. 4. Randy VanAagten, Shelton. 5. Mike Gable, Shelton, 6. Jay Cole, Shelton. 7. Mitch Olson, Puyallup. 8. Rick Fauver, Everett. Heat 1. Vague. 2. Olson. 3. Cole. 4. Gable. Heat 2. 1. Goetz. 2. VanDam. 3. VanAagten. 4. Fauver. Top Qualifier: Fauver. 12.865 104.936 MPH.
HiLine Homes Hornets A-Main. 1. Cliff Gill, Aberdeen. 2. Jake Mills, Onalaska. 3. Mike Clingen, Ocosta. Heat Race. 1. Gill. 2. Clingen.
