From cloudy skies to scorching sun, South Sound has seen its share of extreme weather conditions this season. On Saturday, South Sound saw one of the hottest days all year. The combination of 90-degree temperatures and the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Tour brought great crowds to the high-banked oval. If the heat was what brought them in, it was the action on the track that kept them in their seats, or standing on them.
Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis started the night off by getting the Bud Pole Award by qualifying with a 13.95. Greg Bennett of Monroe and Gary Lewis of Bothell each won a trophy dash but all the excitement came in the “Pepsi” 125-lap main event. Former track champion Wes Rhodes of Olympia led the first 90 laps of the race before being overtaken on a restart. Gary Lewis and Chris Hart of Yakima got into each other causing one of the many yellows. Jerry Fink of Woodinville and Greg Bennett got together and Fink took his car hard head on into the wall making a loud boom as he did. Fink was sore and uninjured but his car was demolished. Kurt Meyer of Lakewood and Pete Harding of Surrey, BC tangled and Harding drove on top of Meyer with his front tire in Meyer’s window. Again, no one was injured but cars were towed away broken to pieces. In the end, Tom Sweatman was victorious with Kevin Hamlin of Snohomish on his tail. Wes Rhodes was third, followed by Joe Benedetti of Auburn and Troy Conrad of Puyallup in fifth.
Bad luck came for the leaders of the Top Notch Trailer Street Stocks main event. After leading for 14 laps, and winning a heat race earlier in the night, Jim Jussila of Centralia had power steering problems causing him to surrender the lead to Dan Woodward of Renton. Woodward, who also won a heat race, led for the next 10 laps until he got tangled in some lapped traffic and careened into the wall. Jim Swanson of Rochester was next up and held on for the remaining 11 laps to win his second main of the season. Swanson also won the trophy dash for the night. Following for second in the main was David Knittle of Lacey, Nick Behn of Rochester, JJ Hamilton of Centralia and Scott Zahn of Rochester for the top-five.
In the Northwest Legends, we had great clean racing with no yellows needed in the 35-lap main. Pro division winner Duane Swanson of Seattle led for 25 laps making this his second win of the season at South Sound. Billy Weber of Tacoma was the Semi-Pro winner with Bob Kronenberg of Olympia winning in the Masters division. Swanson also won a trophy dash and a heat race during the night. Dave VanAmburg of Ferndale and Louis Grant of Sumner also won trophy dashes in their divisions while Rob Hawton of Auburn and Weber won heat races in theirs.
We had a first different winner all season in the Bandoleros. Bradley Shaw of Kent was the first to knock Craig Derksen of Langley, BC out of the winner’s circle. Shaw won the trophy dash of the night and Derksen won the heat and main. Second in the main was Shaw followed closely by Mitchell Ferderer of Spanaway, Justin Jackson of Arlington and Justin Glade of Tacoma to round out the top five.
Coming next week to South Sound Speedway is the Kruzer Open. Kruzer are cars where the driver has the brake pedal and the passenger has the gas pedal. The visiting Street Stocks from Portland will join them. The Top Notch Trailer Street Stocks, Hinkle Homes Pure Stocks and Nascar Sportsman will also be on hand for this full night of action. You can check out ticket prices, results and point standings at www.southsoundspeedway.com.
Race Results
August 11
Raybestos Brakes Northwest Tour Fast Time: Tom Sweatman 13.95
Dash 1: Greg Bennett, Rick Suran, John Bender, Wilber Bruce
Dash 2: Gary Lewis, Kevin Hamlin, Joe Benedetti, Tom Sweatman
Main: Tom Sweatman, Kevin Hamlin, Wes Rhodes, Joe Benedetti, Troy Conrad, Chris Hart, Shane Biles, Wilber Bruce, Rick Suran, John Bender, Gary Lewis, Bob Presley, Greg Bennett, Ray Wallace, Matt Hall, Garrett Evans, Steven Howard, Kurt Meyer, Pete Harding, Ralph Hubbert, Jerry Fink Street Stocks Fast Time: Scott Zahn 16.29
Dash: Jim Swanson, David Knittle, Nick Behn, Scott Zahn
B-Heat: Jim Jussila, Steve Ford, John Owenby Jr., Mike Saylors, Dave McCaslin, David Patrick, Don Ray
A-Heat: Dan Woodward, JJ Hamilton, Nick Behn, Jim Swanson, Brad Borton, Scott Zahn, David Knittle, Joe Swanson
Main: Jim Swanson, David Knittle, Nick Behn, JJ Hamilton, Scott Zahn, Brad Borton, John Owenby Jr., Joe Swanson, Steve Ford, Jim Jussila, Dave McCaslin, Dan Woodward, Mike Saylors, Don Ray, David Patrick
NW Legends Fast Time: Billy Weber 16.12
Pro Dash: Duane Swanson, Mike Munger, Garrett Haxby, Richie Spooner
Semi-Pro Dash: Louis Grant, Billy Weber, Tracy Warren, Tony Carabello
Masters Dash: Dave VanAmburg, Roger Parman, Bob Kronenberg, Rick Silva
Heat 1: Billy Weber, Richie Spooner, Charl Matteson, Brian Weiner, Bob Kronenberg, Rick Silva, Scott Braun
Heat 2: Rob Hawton, Mike Munger, Dave VanAmburg, Jim Hyatt, Garrett Haxby, Tracy Warren, Tony Carabello
Heat 3: Duane Swanson, Roger Parman, Alec Bashaw, Aaron Bellanca, Robert Hornbeck, Louis Grant
Main: Duane Swanson, Billy Weber, Mike Munger, Richie Spooner, Louis Grant, Bob Kronenberg, Roger Parman, Rob Hawton, Dave VanAmburg, Brian Weiner, Rick Silva, Tony Carabello, Aaron Bellanca, Scott Braun, Jim Hyatt, Robert Hornbeck, Alec Bashaw, Garrett Haxby
Bandoleros Fast Time: Craig Derksen 17.18
Dash: Bradley Shaw, Craig Derksen, Mitchell Ferderer, Justin Jackson
Heat: Craig Derksen, Bradley Shaw, Mitchell Ferderer, Justin Jackson
Main: Craig Derksen, Bradley Shaw, Mitchell Ferderer, Justin Jackson, Justin Glade
