ELMA, Washington — Roger Crockett of Medford, OR. Craig Moore of Seabeck, Reese Goetz of Snohomish and Eddie Blood of Olympia were the tops in their class Saturday night at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma.
Crockett took over the lead from Rick Fauver of Everett on lap-11 of the “360 Sprints” 25-lap feature and then ran away from the rest of the field for the victory.
Moore, a former series champion at Grays Harbor Raceway, survived a caution filled “Modifieds” feature race. The race was scheduled for 25-laps, but was cut short to 18-laps by race officials due to the time limit.
Goetz took just 4-laps to come from six rows back at the start to the top spot in the “Midgets” 20-lap feature and was never challenged after that.
Blood, a former series champion, was back in a Hornet car for the first time in a couple of years, had the pole position at the start, never looked back on his way to the win in the “Hornets” 10-lap feature.
Sprints
Crockett has notched more combined feature wins on the Northern Sprint Tour, Northern Sprint Car Series and the Northwest Region of the American Sprint Car Series than any other driver, used Saturday night for a tune-up for the opening of the ASCS NW region series next Friday night at Grays Harbor Raceway.
Steve Vague of Kirkland jumped in front of pole sitter Dan Dunlap of Renton on the first lap and was able to hold the lead for the first 8-laps.
Rick Fauver, a former NST series champion replaced Vague at the front, but could only hold onto the lead for three laps before Crockett grabbed the lead on lap-11.
Once in front of the pack, Crockett quickly put plenty of distance between him and the rest of the field, taking the checkered flag almost a full straight- away in front of second place Fauver.
Shelton’s Jay Cole came from the back of the field at the start to take third, Goetz, who is doing double duty this year, in both the “360 Sprints” and Midgets finished fourth and Mitch Olson of Puyallup finished fifth.
Cole picked up a win in Heat 1 and JJ Hickle won Heat 2 earlier in the night.
Modifieds
This was the first time in four years that Moore has taken the checkered flag in a “Modified” feature at Grays Harbor Raceway.
His success Saturday night came because he was able to avoid the problems that befell many of the other drivers in the race.
The race had nine caution flags caused by numerous spin-outs and one red flag before the time limit caught up with them.
The race got off to a rough start on the first lap when Randy Ward of Olympia and Dave Burns of Bremerton got tangled up before anybody even made it to turn-2 of the first lap. The red flag had to be thrown so safety crew could separate the two cars. Ward’s right front wheel was lodged inside the left rear wheel well of Burn’s car.
On the restart of the race, Jeff foster of McCleary had the advantage of moving from the third row to the front row as both Ward and Burns had to go to the back.
Foster took of the advantage and took the lead, but was only able to hold onto it for 2-laps when Scott Miller of Shelton took over the top spot.
Miller was able to survive seven caution flag in the ensuing 14-laps, and for the second week in a row he had engine problems and was done for the night.
Joe German of Aberdeen moved from second to first when Miller exited the race, followed by Moore, Shane Rau of Shelton, Zack Simpson of Hoquiam and Chris Beaulieu of Campbell River, B.C.
Moore made the move on German coming out of turn-4 on lap-17 and had the lead when the time limit went into effect. German finished second, Rau third, Beaulieu edged out Del Schnitzer of Shelton for fourth.
German, Beaulieu and Moore all took checkered flags in the heat races. German in Heat 1, Beaulieu Heat 2 and Moore in Heat 3.
Midgets
By the luck of the draw, Goetz had to start eleventh in the field, but that didn’t seem to faze the young (sixteen year old) driver. As was the case last season, it didn’t matter where he started, it usually didn’t take him long to get to the front, as he won five straight races last season in the series.
Rookie Garrett Thomas of McCleary, the son of former series champion Brian Thomas had the pole at the start and was able to hold onto the lead for the first 3-laps before Goetz took over the race.
The race was red flagged on lap-4 when rookie driver Renee Angel of Woodinville laid her car over on its side. It wasn’t a good night for Angel as she also had the same misfortune during qualifying earlier in the night.
The race quickly turned into a five car field in front of the rest of the pack, Goetz out in front, Gaylon Stewart of Everett running second, fellow Snohomish driver and two time defending series champion Seth Hespe third, Aeriel Biggs formerly of Hoquiam and now living in Modoc, CA. fourth and Zak DeBakker of Olympia fifth. Biggs came all the way from the back of the field at the start.
The field was bunched up for a restart on lap-18 when both John Wincewicz of Olympia and Allison Journey of Springfield, OR. got tangled up in turn-4, with Journey ending up with the wheels up.
After the red flag restart the top five all held serve at the finish.
Goetz won Heat 1 and Garret Johnson won heat 2.
Hornets
Blood dusted off his Hornet car and showed why he was a series Champion in the past. Blood also has a “Hobby Stock” which he pilots and usually is in the top five.
Blood had the pole at the start and left no doubt in anybody’s mind that he was not to be defeated this night.
Shane turner of Rochester finished a distant second, Jake Mills of Tenino third, Mike Clingen of Ocosta fourth and Chad Norton of Tenino fifth.
Top Finishers
Whitney’s Auto Group “360 sprints” A Main. 1. Roger Crockett, Medford, OR. 2. Rick Fauver, Everett. 3. Jay Cole, Shelton. 4. Reese Goetz, Snohomish. 5. Mitch Olson, Puyallup. 6. Jared Peterson, Stanwood. 7. JJ Hickle, Quilcene. 8. Steve Vague, Kirkland. 9. Dan Dunlap, Renton. 10. Mike Gable, Shelton. Heat 1. 1. Cole. 2. Peterson. 3. Goetz. 4. Olson. 5. Fauver. Heat 2. 1. Hickle. 2. Henry VanDam, Enumclaw. 3. Crockett. 4. Tyler Anderson, Everett. 5. Vague. Top Qualifier: Fauver. 13.272 101.718 MPH.
Ship Wreck Beads “Modifieds” A Main. 1. Craig Moore, Seabeck. 2. Joe German, Aberdeen. 3. Shane Rau, Shelton. 4. Chris Beaulieu, Campbell River, B.C. 5. Del Schnitzer, Shelton. 6. Matt Scherer, Aberdeen. 7. Randy Ward, Olympia. 8. Zack Simpson, Hoquiam. 9. Scott Westley, Centralia. 10. David Bottoms, Ridgefield. Heat 1. 1. German. 2. Scott Miller, Shelton. 3. Simpson. 4. Carl Larson, Castle Rock. 5. Westley. Heat 2. 1. Beaulieu. 2. l Greg Dineen, Aberdeen. 3. Scherer. 4. Steve Signal, Olympia. 5. Schnitzer. Heat 3. 1. Moore. 2. Jeff Foster, McCleary. 3. Ward. 4. l Dave Burns, Bremerton. 5. Bottoms. Top Qualifier: Miller 17.439 77.413 MPH.
Triple X Racing “Midgets” A Main. 1. Reese Goetz, Snohomish. 2. Gaylon Stewart, Everett. 3. Seth Hespe, Snohomish. 4. Aeriel Biggs, Modoc, CA. 6. Zak DeBakker, Olympia. 6. Jeremy Miller, Montesano. 7. Todd Hartman, Bothell. 8. Allison Journey, Springfield, OR. 9. Garrett Thomas, McCleary. 10. Anika Johanson, Lacey. Heat 1. 1. Goetz. 2. Stewart. 3. Hespe. 4. Journey. 5. Doug Stensgard, Aberdeen. Heat 2. 1. Garret Johnson, Poulsbo. 2. John Wincewicz, Olympia. 3. Johanson. 4. Hartman. 5. Miller. Top Qualifier: Johnson 16.815 80.285 MPH.
HiLine Homes “Hornets” A Main. 1. Eddie Blood, Olympia. 2. Shane Turner, Rochester. 3. Jake Mills, Tenino. 4. Mike Clingen, Ocosta. 5. Chad Norton, Tenino. Heat Race. 1. Blood. 2. Mills. 3. Clingen. 4. Turner. 5. Norton.
