ELMA, Washington — Garren Linder of Central Point, OR. made the trip up I-5 to Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma Saturday night and came away with his first Grays Harbor Raceway feature win in the “360 Sprints” 25-lap race.
" Moore, Goetz and Blood all Get Second Wins of Season"
Craig Moore of Seabeck, Reece Goetz of Snohomish and Eddie Blood of Olympia, all picked up their second feature wins of the season at GHRW.
Moore took over the lead just past the mid-point of the 25-lap “Modifieds” feature and ran away from the field.
Goetz started well back in the field and worked his way to the front mid-way through the 20-lap “Midgets’ feature.
Blood had no problem in the “Hornets” as he led from start to finish in the 10-lap feature.
Sprints
Linder used the night as a tune-up for the Memorial Day weekend triple header for the ASCS Northwest region. Friday night they are at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, OR. moving to GHRW on Saturday and Sunday.
Seven time season champion, Jay Cole of Shelton looked like he was well on his way to another feature win at the Elma clay oval.
Cole grabbed the lead from Steve Vague, Kirkland, on the second lap, with Linder in third, Kelly Miller, Sterling, Alb. Fourth and Henry VanDam, Enumclaw fifth,
Linder picked up two spots when Vague and Mitch Olson, Puyallup got tangled up in turn four on lap-9, with Vague ending up on his side and out of the race.
Linder took advantage of a caution flag restart on lap 22 when Miller got up close and personal with the wall in turn two.
Linder took the lead on the restart, and then was able to hold onto the front spot on another caution flag restart on the next lap.
Cole finished second, Olson came back through the field for third, 2010 series champion, Seth Bergman, Snohomish, finished fourth and Randy VanAagten, Shelton, fifth.
Reece Goetz, Snohomish, continues to impress the fans. The rookie picked up a win in heat 1, and JJ Hickle, Quilcene won heat 2.
Modifieds
It’s been eleven years since Randy Ward of Olympia has won a feature race at GHRW. The last time Ward took a checkered flag in a main event was in 1999 when he won the season championship in the “Hobby Stocks”.
Saturday night looked like he might break the drought, but it wasn’t in the cards.
Ward had the pole at the start of the race and was able to hold onto the lead through no less than five caution flag restarts before Moore made a three car pass on lap-17 for the lead.
Ward had the lead in front of Joe German, Aberdeen, with Lawrence O’Connor, Port Hardy, B.C. Jeff Foster, McCleary, and Chris Beaulieu, Campbell River, B.C. all vying for positions behind the two leaders.
Moore didn’t have an easy night of it. He had worked his way all the way into second by lap-9 when had over heating problems.
He was able to solve the problem during a caution and get back out on the track with out losing a lap, but he had to go to the back of the pack.
Moore had worked his way back into fourth when he made his move to the front on lap-17, passing O’Connor, German and Ward in one fell swoop for the lead.
O’Connor finished second, German third, Beaulieu fourth and Zack Simpson, Hoquiam got by Ward on the last lap for fifth.
O’Conner, Dave Burns, Bremerton, and Scott Miller, Shelton won heat races.
Midgets
It took Goetz six laps to come from eighth to second, and another six laps to get the lead.
Allison Journey, Springfield, OR. took the lead from the outside of row 1 from pole sitter Annika Johanson.
Johanson rolled her car in turn four just four laps into the race, bringing out the red flag. Johanson was checked out by the track safety crew and was all right except for a bruised pride.
On the restart it was Journey, defending series champion, Seth Hespe, Snohomish, Goetz, rookie Garrett Thomas, McCleary and Ariel Biggs, Lone Pine, CA. in the top five.
Thomas brought out a caution flag on lap-11 when he had mechanical problems and he was done for the night.
Journey and Biggs got tangled up in turn-2 on lap-13, bringing out another caution flag, and Journey was done for the night when she spun out in turn-2 a lap later.
Goetz had the lead on the last restart on lap-14, followed by Todd Hartman, Bothell, Biggs, Hespe and Jeremy Miller, Montesano.
Goetz had no problems from there to the finish, with Biggs finishing second, Hespe third, Miller fourth while Gaylon Stewart, Everett made a late race charge for fifth.
It was the second race in a row that Biggs has had to come from the back of the pack to finish second.
Biggs and Miller each picked up a win there heat races.
Hornets
Blood, a former series champion this night as he only had to contend with a short field of cars.
He ran away from the four car field in the feature,
Chad Norton, Tenino, got by Mike Clingen, Ocosta on the final lap for second, and Leaa Abos finished fourth.
Blood also ran away from the field in the heat race.
Top Finishers/Top Points.
Whitney’s Auto Group “360 Sprints” A Main. 1. Garren Linder, Central Point, OR. 2. Jay Cole, Shelton. 3. Mitch Olson, Puyallup. 4. Seth Bergman, Snohomish. 5. Randy VanAagten, Shelton. 6.Henry VanDam, Enumclaw. 7. Reece Goetz, Snohomish.8. Trey Starks, Puyallup. 9. Tyler Anderson, Everett. 10. Eddie Evans, Everett. Heat 1. 1. Goetz. 2. Olson. 3. Linder. 4. VanAagten. 5. Cole. Heat 2. 1. JJ Hickle, Quilcene. 2. VanDam. 3. Bergman. 4. Kelly Miller, Sterling, Alb. 5. Jeff Dunlap, Renton. Top Qualifier: VanAagten. 13.611 99. 184 MPH. Top Points. Goetz-684. VanDam-672.5 Cole-662. Olson-659. Vague-602. Hickle-442. VanAagten-447. Fauver-414. Gable-367. Anderson-347.
Ship Wreck Beads “Modifieds” A Main. 1. Craig Moore, Seabeck. 2. Lawrence O’Connor, Port hardy, B.C. 3. Joe German, Aberdeen. 4. Chris Beaulieu, Campbell river, B.C. 5. Zack Simpson, Hoquiam. 6. Randy Ward, Olympia. 7. Jeff foster, McCleary. 8. Del Schnitzer, Shelton. 9. Chris Cullen, Portland, OR. 10. Dave Burns, Bremerton. Heat 1. 1. O’Connor. 2. Beulieu. 3. German. 4. Shane Rau, Shelton. 5. Schnitzer. Heat 2. 1. Burns. 2. Matt Scherer, Aberdeen. 3. Alan Muenchow, Shelton. 4. David Bottoms, Ridgefield. 5. Scott Westley, Centralia. Heat 3. 1. Scott Miller, Shelton. 2. Moore. 3. Foster. 4. Ward. 5. Steve Signal, Olympia. Top Qualifier: Moore. 17.489 77.191 MPH. Top Points. Moore-745. Beaulieu-738. German-706. Ward-646. Rau-609.5 Foster—598.5 Miller-585. Burns-584.5 Schnitzer-578. Bottoms-672.5
Triple X Racing Ford Focus “Midgets” A Main. 1. Reece Goetz, Snohomish. 2. Ariel Biggs, Lone Pine, CA. 3. Seth Hespe, Snohomish. 4. Jeremy Miller, Montesano. 5. Gaylon Stewart, Everett. 6. Zack DeBakker, Olympia. 7. Todd Hartman, Bothell. 8. Allison Journey, Springfield, OR. 9. Garrett Thomas, McCleary. 10. Annika Johanson, Lacey. Heat 1. 1. Biggs. 2. Goetz. 3. DeBakker. 4. Hartman. 5. Hespe. Heat 2. 1. Miller. 2. Stewart. 3. Thomas. 4. Doug Stensgard, Aberdeen. 5. Journey. Top Qualifier: Goetz. 17.190 78.534 MPH.
HiLine Homes “Hornets” A Main. 1. Eddie blood, Olympia. 2. Chad Norton, Tenino. 3. Mike Clingen, Ocosta. 4. Leaa Abos, Olympia. Heat Race. 1. Blood. 2. Norton. 3. Clingen. 4. Abos.
Cut Rate Auto Parts “Hobby Stocks” Points. Biggs-247. Hecker-245. C. Sweatman-241.5. T. Sweatman-232. Simpson-223. Woodbury-208. Haney-207.5. Madison-202. G. Watkins-192.5. Parshall-191.
