InsideGroove - Race Report

JEREMY SHANK WIRE TO WIRE AS PACIFIC COAST XTREME SERIES OPENS

Banks, OR -- Having finished second in both 2003 races at Sunset Speedway, young Oregon racer Jeremy Shank was excited to see six races at the quarter-mile clay oval on the 2004 schedule for the Pacific Coast Xtreme Dirt Car Series. Saturday night, he showed that that excitement was well founded as he paced all 35 laps from his pole position start to score a $1000 win. Shank timed in third quick, won both heat 3 and the dash from the pole before outracing future father-in-law Russ Sell for the rich win. Shank is engaged to R Sell's daughter with an October 2004 wedding planned. Fast timer R Sell won $700 for his second place run in his Audie Swartz built machine and his young son Cody Sell was a $475 third. A late race pass netted Craig Hanson the $400 fourth and Mike Miller was a $300 fifth.

The Pacific Coast Series was founded by Doug Walters in 2003 and Doug Bland purchased a portion of the series in 2004, bringing under his national Xtreme banner and carrying sponsorship dollars from Stacker2. The series has a new format with the addition of time trials, straight up heat races and a dash to determine the starting order for the front two rows in the A Main. Twenty nine cars turned at the Portland OR suburb facility which is set in a city park. R Sell easily set fast time with a 14.532 qualifying lap. M Miller ranked second at 14.833 and Shank, the final car to time, was third at 14.862. Also breaking into the 14's were Darren Coffell at 14.871 and C Sell at 14.949. The Schram Construction team has moved their four car effort over to the Pacific Coast Series in 2004 and Jimmy Schram was sixth quick at 15.016. Three ten lap heat races were lined up straightup off the timed runs and the top four finishers in each advanced into the rich A Main. The series has a new flagman as Russ Voight, a started for 12 laps at Portland Speedway, fills that role. Unlike the California based CarQuest Western Xtreme Dirt Car Series, the Pacific Coast Series is requiring the teams to be entirely on Goodyear tires at the first race. Casey Vitale clipped the wall coming off turn 4 in heat 1 as pole starter R Sell won ahead of Coffell, Bob Jeffery and Hanson. 18 year old rookie Justin King spun in heat 2 and M Miller picked off that win from the pole ahead of C Sell, Josh Eyerly and John Campos. After time trials, the Shank crew discovered problems with their left rear axle tube, but they made repairs in time to win heat 3 from the pole. Spins by Archie Somers and Brad Tanner forced cautions in heat 3 with 2003 champion John Duty climbing from 4th to finish 2nd. Jimmy Schram was third ahead of Greg Walters. The dash consisted of the three heat winners and the fastest qualifier that didn't win a heat. Shank won this race from the pole to sit on the pole for the 35 lapper. R Sell ran second ahead of M Miller and Coffell. This left 17 cars to be divided between two 10 lap B Mains with the top 2 finishers in each advancing into the A Main. The first started with a spin by Dan Miller that collected Jason Johnson and Jerry Schram. D Miller again spun at the white flag as Eric Sayre won from the pole ahead of Vitale, Lance Lewallen, Johnson and Gene Day. Despite clipping one of the infield tires and getting severely toed out, Jason Wines won the second B Main from third starting ahead of 4th starter Jeremy Schram, pole starter Roger Lorenzini Jr and Tanner. Rookie Jason Cox crashed into the back fence on lap 2.

Lorenzini was added to the A Main as the 17th starter with a provisional based on 2003 points. Shank drew a warning for jumping the initial start, but raced into the lead on try 2. Coffell slipped high in turn 1 and Duty tried to move underneath. Duty was hit in the rear by Jeffery and Eyerly. Damage took Duty out of the race with Sayre and Jeffery restarting in the rear after pitting to fix body work damage. With five laps down, Walters clipped an inside tractor tire, putting him airborn and moving the tire into the racing groove. Shank led R Sell, M Miller, Coffell, C Sell and Eyerly. The second caution came on lap 20 as Wines spun and Jeremy Schram spun to miss him. C Sell had moved around Coffell for the fourth spot and Hanson was riding sixth ahead of Jimmy Schram and Walters. Jeffery's spin in turn 3 forced a lap 29 yellow flag.with C Sell having climbed past M Miller for third and Coffell falling back to 7th behind Hanson and Jimmy Schram. Vitale clipped an infield tire in turn 3 with two laps to run, but parked in the infield without a caution as Shank stayed out front for the win. Fifteen of the 17 starters saw the checkered flag with R Sell second ahead of C Sell, Hanson, M Miller, Jimmy Schram, Walters, Coffell, Eyerly and Sayre.

After a practice night at Madras on April 17, the series will race round 2 there on April 24. They return to Banks on May 8th for round 3. National Xtreme official Rick Day and California's Paul Cowan were both on hand to help officiate the first race of 2004 for the Pacific Coast Xtreme Dirt Car Series.

Fast Time-Russ Sell 14.532 Dash-Jeremy Shank, R Sell, Mike Miller. Heat 1-R Sell, Darren Coffell, Bob Jeffery, Craig Hanson, Eric Sayre. Heat 2-M Miller, Cody Sell, Josh Eyerly, John Campos, Roger Lorenzini Jr. Heat 3-Shank, John Duty, Jimmy Schram, Greg Walters, Dan Miller. 1st B Main-Sayre, Casey Vitale, Lance Lewallen, Jason Johnson, Gene Day, Brady Sell, Jerry Schram, Archie Somers, D Miller. 2nd B Main-Jason Wines, Jeremy Schram, Lorenzini, Brad Tanner, Justin King, Curtis Lewallen, Rob Campos, Jason Cox. A Main-Shank, R Sell, C Sell, Hanson, M Miller, Jimmy Schram, Walters, Coffell, Eyerly, Sayre, Lorenzini, Wines, J Campos, Jeremy Schram, Jeffery, Vitale, Duty.

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