InsideGroove - Race Report

LAP 93 PASS NETS SACKETT $4,000 WIN

Eureka, CA --

Oregon's Mike Sackett charged underneath defending race champion Darrell Midgley in turn 3 on lap 93 and paced the final 8 laps to collect an $4,000 win in the Cox Cable Fall Spectacular 100 lap open comp late model feature Sunday afternoon at Redwood Acres Raceway. Sackett was quick to thank Jump Engineering for their help in their team effort and Oregon's Mark Howard for his work in turning the former stock front stub car into a true open comp piece. Prior to the rich win, it had been a weekend of seconds for Sackett as he timed second behind Howard Ford, ran second in the dash to Jimmy Walker and second to track dominator Randy Olson in the fast heat. Victoria, BC's Midgley was making just his second 1999 start and settled for a $2,500 second. He repeated as champion of the Canada 200 at his home track just a couple weeks earlier for $3,000 payday there. Mic Moulton continued his rapid improvement shown in 1999 with a $1,600 third ahead of Oregon's Randy Hvall, who was $1,300. Another Oregon racer, Dale Roth from Roseburg was a $1,200 fifth and Ford settled for a $1,100 sixth. Ford went to the rear on lap 43 after an incident with Olson as they dueled for the lead.

Ford opened the weekend by posting fast time honors with his 15.609 clocking on the 3/8 mile paved oval to just nip the 15.612 effort of Sackett. Tri-State Challenge Series champion Olson was third fast at 15.694 with Tim McCracken, Walker and Moulton all in the 15.7's. The fastest 13 to time were all in the 15's with a 35 car field. Walker won the dash ahead of Sackett and Olson. Olson earned the pole for the 100 lapper with his fast heat win on Saturday night ahead of Sackett, McCracken, Walker and Ford. Midgley ran second in the slow A Main heat behind Jeff Rogers with Oregon's David Miller in third. The 100 lapper had 21 starters as both Bill Ward and Craig Raudman scratched. Raudman was filling in for Donnie Graham, who was on a motorcycle outing. Olson raced into the lead over McCracken and Ford as Sackett slipped to fourth. Walker passed Dane Smith for fifth on lap 7, but dropped out on lap 12. Working lapped traffic, McCracken tangled with a slower car and spun on lap 15 as Roth and Dennis DelBiaggio tangled for a yellow flag with Larry Pries suffering body damage in his tangle with Brad Wasmund. Jim Parnell fell out with both Pries and McCracken losing laps in the pits. Olson now led Ford, Sackett, Smith and Rob Iverson. Larry Bayless was out on lap 28 and Ford began to pressure leader Olson. Ford pulled off an inside pass charging into turn 3 on lap 41 but a tap from Olson at the start-finish line sent Ford sliding into the infield. Olson was sent to the rear to join Ford with Sackett the new leader ahead of Moulton, Smith, Midgley and Iverson. Midgley took third from Smith on lap 52 and Smith lost a lap when he drove through his lap 56 spin. Olson again went to the rear as he pitted on a lap 62 yellow flag. Midgley grabbed second from Moulton on a lap 63 restart as Rogers was now fourth ahead of Hvall. Midgley was able to get underneath Sackett with his Alien Chassis house car on lap 70 to take the lead, but Larry Pries crashed for a lap 72 yellow flag. Sackett's car was faster that Midgley's immediately after green flags, but he couldn't pull off the pass in a contact move on lap 76. Midgley opened up a gap on Sackett before Mark Ingersoll spun on lap 92 to give fellow coastal Oregon resident Sackett another run at Midgley. On lap 93, Midgley left an opening on the bottom and Sackett jumped into it to take the lead in the low groove in turn 3. A tangle between Ingersoll, Rob Iverson and Dennis DelBiaggio forced a lap 95 yellow flag and again allowed Sackett to cool his tires. Sackett was able to maintain his lead on the restart and Rogers made a run at Moulton for third. Olson slipped into the turn 3 wall, but continued. Sackett won ahead of Midgley and Moulton as Rogers got roughed up on the final lap, dropping to 8th behind Hvall, Roth, Ford and David Miller. The top 11 finishers were on the lead lap. The win came after a very frustrating season on the Tri-State Challenge Series for the Sackett-Jump team.

The 50 lap B Main had 12 starters as track champion Darrell Evenson Jr broke on Friday's practice and Roger Sanderson lost engines in both the Saturday and Sunday hot lap sessions. Al Acuna was another B Main scratch and Mike Carver's car was heavily damaged in the Saturday night action. Ingersoll and Pries had won the front row slots for the 50 lapper in their heat Saturday night, but they crashed on the first attempt to start and were forced to race from the rear. Sal Lopez inherited the pole and led the first 27 laps before Pries got by. Pries won over Lopez with Fergy Ferguson taking Hank Hilton on a lap 41 restart to finish third. Hilton was fourth ahead of Ingersoll. John Haxby was running fifth when he crashed into a spun Ferguson on lap 9. Ron Peters ran as high as fourth before he had mechanical problems.

Summary Fast Time-Howard Ford 15.609 Dash-Jimmy Walker, Mike Sackett, Randy Olson. Heat 1-Mark Ingersoll, Larry Pries, Sal Lopez, Hank Hilton, Joe Wilson. Heat 2-Jeff Rogers, Darrell Midgley, David Miller, Dennis DelBiaggio, Bill Ward. Heat 3-Olson, Sackett, Tim McCracken, Walker, Ford. B Main-Pries, Lopez, Fergy Ferguson, Hilton, Ingersoll, Joe Wilson, Mike Van, Rod McCombs, Shawn Andrews, Ron Peters. A Main-Sackett, Midgley, Mic Moulton, Randy Hvall, Dale Roth, Ford, Miller, Rogers, Olson, Brad Wasmund, Ingersoll, Dane Smith, Rob Iverson, Hilton, Lopez, McCracken, DelBiaggio, Pries, Larry Bayless, Jim Parnell, Walker.

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