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Stewart wins NSCS Brownfield preliminary
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist...
ELMA, Wash. - Less than three weeks after beating the World of Outlaws at Grays Harbor Raceway, Shane Stewart came back to Elma and again found victory lane, this time in the preliminary event of the inaugural Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge.
For Stewart, who calls Oklahoma home, it was his fourth victory in seven starts with the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series driving for Mike and Janie Doyle. Following his WoO victory in 410 sprint cars, it was his first win in a 360 sprint car, on the 3/8-mile, high-banked clay oval. Stewart and Doyle earned $1,200 for their efforts.
Stewart, who won three out of five races to win the NSCS Northwest Speed Week title in July, started the 25-lap event on the pole in the No. 1 Shaver-powered Maxim and took the lead on the first two attempts to start the race. After two red flags, however, Puyallup, Wash.'s Mitch Olson made the third start the charm and took the lead.
Olson entered the night 66 points behind Medford's Roger Crockett in the NSCS point standings and was in position to gain ground on Crockett, who had to come out of the B-Main for only the second time this season and started eighth. Olson led 19 laps in the Mike Olson No. 98m Rocket, withstanding repeated challenges by Stewart and using slower cars to his advantage.
Crockett, who finished fifth in the Henderson Motorsports No. 7N Eagle, may have gotten his biggest break of the year regarding the points chase, as Olson noticeably began to struggle to get through the turns on lap 18. On lap 20, Stewart made his move, passing Olson on the high side going through turn two. On lap 24, Olson came to a stop in turn two with a shredded right rear tire that resulted in other damage to the rear of the car, ending his night. Scored 16th, Olson's promising run instead resulted in losing more ground.
Stewart would lead the final six laps to score the victory over British Columbia's Travis Rutz.
"It was good race between me and Mitch," Stewart said. "My third start wasn't as good as my first two and he got around me. His car got a little free toward the end and this car never stopped going forward. The slicker (the track) got, the better I was."
Rutz started the feature fourth and ran third until inheriting second when Olson's night ended. Rutz's attempt to make a run on Stewart on the final restart on lap 24 failed, but the 19-year-old scored his best finish of the year in NSCS competition in the Rutz Racing No. 8 Richmond-powered Triple X entry. His runner-up was also his third consecutive top-five finish.
"I'm feeling really good," said Rutz, who unofficially moved past Bill Nutter into third in the standings. "To even run with Shane is something to be proud of. I wasn't going to stress over one position. I just wanted to roll it into the trailer. It's all about tomorrow."
What Rutz was referring to was the point system for the Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge, virtually identical to the old Evergreen State Sprint Challenge. Points from Friday's event will added two points accumulated during Saturday's qualifying session and heat races to determine main event line-ups.
Another driver feeling good about his chances at Saturday's $10,092 first prize is Tacoma, Wash.'s Shawn Rice, who finished third in the RAM Racing No. 76 Shark-powered Rocket.
"I gotta feel good, coming in third tonight," Rice said. "Maybe we get a we a good draw and hopefully be in the top five, top three in points. I feel like I put myself in a pretty good position."
Snohomish, Wash. driver Seth Bergman's good run in his brand new race car continued as he scored his fourth top-five finish in as many starts that car, three of them with the NSCS. Running fifth with two laps remaining, Bergman drove his family's No. 23a Wesmar-powered Eagle past Crockett for the fourth position, despite not having properly functioning brakes.
Quick qualifier Tayler Malsam, who expects to run the full ARCA schedule in 2008, finished sixth in the Rudeen Racing / Malsam Motorsports No. 26 Maxim, followed by Nutter in his own No. 3N Zeitler.
The long-tow award went to Knoxville, Iowa's Joe Beaver, a relative of the Brownfield Family. Beaver, a regular at Knoxville Raceway, made his first racing appearance at Grays Harbor Raceway a good one, finishing eighth after starting 11th in his No. 53 Ostrich-powered Maxim.
The fourth and final red flag of the A-Main came as the checkered flag was being waved. Nick Engberg and Jonathan Allard, the last two cars out of ten on the lead lap, were involved in a scary accident that saw Allard, the former Golden State Challenge champion out of California, flip upside down and go through the wall between turns three and four. Allard emerged from his car, reportedly unharmed.
Engberg and Allard were scored as the first two cars a lap down, with Engberg earning ninth in the Ken Engberg No. 4 Rocket and Allard tenth in the Main Racing No. 35a JEI.
Placerville, Calif. visitor Jimmy Trulli finished 12th and Alberta's Tyler Pinceman was scored 14th. Grays Harbor Raceway champion Glenn Borden Jr. of Raymond, Wash. finished 15th after being involved in an earlier accident with Robby Vaughn and Steve Kilcup. Vaughn, the leading NSCS Rookie of the Year candidate, was scored 18th and Kilcup, who recently claimed his second straight Skagit Speedway championship, was credited with 19th. Brock Lemley, who won the 410 sprint car title at Skagit, was scored 20th after flipping upside down at the start of the event.
Crockett won the 15-lap B-Main event and a a result got his qualifying time back, putting him in the eighth starting position behind the six dash cars in the A-Main. Engberg, Nutter and Lemley also transferred with him. Danny Kirkpatrick won the 10-lap C-Main over California visitor Stephen Allard and former track champion Jay Cole. Cole also transferred to the B-Main after Idaho's Joe Ramaker scratched. Cole finished fifth in the B-Main and was also the alternate for the A-Main, but did not get the same luck he got earlier.
Stewart's dash victory, featuring the six fastest qualifiers who transferred out of their heat races, came over Stewart, Rice, Rutz, Bergman and Malsam. The top qualifiers all struggled in their heat races, as six of the top eight fastest drivers in qualifying failed to transfer. Bergman, the 12th fastest qualifier, was the final driver to get in the dash.
Victories in heat race competition went to Pinceman, Jonathan Allard, Borden and Trulli. Two non-qualifiers races were also run. Seth Hespe, grandson of the late Brownfield, won the first event and Derek Ingalls, who came into the night seventh in NSCS points, took the checkers in the second race.
Malsam paced the 54-car field, the third largest for the NSCS this season, with a time of 12.339 seconds in qualifying, only a two one-hundredths of a second off Rice's track record time.
The NSCS continues racing Saturday with a $10,092 winners paycheck on the line. After qualifying and heat races, a break in the action will take place as points from Friday and early Saturday will be tallied. Sixteen cars will be locked into the A-Main, with the top six also being locked into the dash. More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at http://www.racenscs.com.
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Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge
Grays Harbor Raceway
Elma, WA
September 14, 2007
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
54 cars
Fast qualifier: 26 Tayler Malsam, 12.339 seconds
Non-qualifier 1 (6 laps): 1. 92 Seth Hespe, 2. 12p Randy Pierce, 3. KR14 Tyler Spath, 4. 87 Kyler Barraza, DNS - 13 Chadd Noland, 34 John Wincewicz, 73 Danielle Huson. Note: 13 Chadd Noland crashed on warm-up lap and was unable to continue.
Non-qualifer 2 (6 laps): 1. 91 Derek Ingalls, 2. 4c Charlie Cash, 3. 22c Blake Cook, 4. 15 Dan Dunlap, 5. 54 Mike Gable, DNS - 5sp Rick Fauver, 51 Jon Farrell.
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 99p Tyler Pinceman, 2. 8 Travis Rutz, 3. 18 Steve Kilcup, 4. 26 Tayler Malsam, 5. 24 Jayme Barnes, 6. 7t Jeff Thompson, 7. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 8. 26f Shane Forte', 9. 0J Jay Cole, 10. 9p Jared Peterson. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 2 (10 laps):1 . 35a Jonathan Allard, 2. 1 Shane Stewart, 3. 76 Shawn Rice, 4. 4r Robby Vaughn, 5. 66 Barry Martinez, 6. 4x Chris Adams, 7. 4 Nick Engberg, 8. 5k Willie Croft, 9. 33v Stephen Allard, 10. 98 Joe Ramaker. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 72 Glenn Borden Jr., 2. 68 Rob Held, 3. 98m Mitch Olson, 4. 53 Joe Beaver, 5. 7N Roger Crockett, 6. 40 Brock Lemley, 7. 65 Brendan Boyce, 8. 32s Shawn Smith, 9. 5h Brad Holmes, 10. 55 Andy Jacobson. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 2. 08 Steve Vague, 3. 23a Seth Bergman, 4. 7h J.J. Hickle, 5. 3N Bill Nutter, 6. 99 Randy VanAagten, 7. 7D Josh DeWitt, 8. 22 Geoff Beck, 9. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 10. 38 Jason Bloodgood. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
C-Main (10 laps): 1. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 2. 33v Stephen Allard, 3. 0J Jay Cole, 4. 66 Barry Martinez, 5. KR14 Tyler Spath, 6. 7t Jeff Thompson, 7. 12p Randy Pierce, 8. 4c Charlie Cash, 9. 87 Kyler Barraza, 10. 92 Seth Hespe, 11. 91 Derek Ingalls, 12. 15 Dan Dunlap, 13. 22c Blake Cook, 14. 99 Randy VanAagten, 15. 54 Mike Gable, 16. 32s Shawn Smith, 17. 55 Andy Jacobson. Top two finishers transfer to B-Main. 0J Jay Cole also transfers due to scratch from B-Main field.
Dash (6 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 98m Mitch Olson, 3. 76 Shawn Rice, 4. 8 Travis Rutz, 5. 23a Seth Bergman, 6. 26 Tayler Malsam. Finish determines first six starting positions of A-Main.
B-Main (15 laps): 1. 7N Roger Crockett, 2. 4 Nick Engberg, 3. 3N Bill Nutter, 4. 40 Brock Lemley, 5. 0J Jay Cole, 6. 9p Jared Peterson, 7. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 8. 7D Josh DeWitt, 9. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 10. 33v Stephen Allard, 11. 24 Jayme Barnes, 12. 4x Chris Adams, 13. 26f Shane Forte', 14. 5h Brad Holmes, 15. 5k Willie Croft, 16. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 17. 22 Geoff Beck, 18. 65 Brendan Boyce, DNS - 98 Joe Ramaker. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
A-Main (25 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 8 Travis Rutz, 3. 76 Shawn Rice, 4. 23a Seth Bergman, 5. 7N Roger Crockett, 6. 26 Tayler Malsam, 7. 3N Bill Nutter, 8. 53 Joe Beaver, 9. 4 Nick Engberg, 10. 35a Jonathan Allard, 11. 68 Rob Held, 12. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 13. 7h J.J. Hickle, 14. 99p Tyler Pinceman, 15. 72 Glenn Borden Jr., 16. 98m Mitch Olson, 17. 08 Steve Vague, 18. 4r Robby Vaughn, 19. 18 Steve Kilcup, 20. 40 Brock Lemley.
Lap leaders: Mitch Olson 1-19, Shane Stewart 20-25
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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
http://www.racenscs.com
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