|
Shane Stewart wins NSCS Fred Brownfield Memorial
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
ELMA, Wash. - Shane Stewart and Mike Doyle have become one of the most scary good driver/owner combinations in 360 sprint car racing this year, and they proved it further on Saturday night, when Stewart scored a $10,092 victory in the inaugural Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge at Grays Harbor Raceway.
The Oklahoma driver, a hired gun picked up in July by Doyle, got his second win in as many nights and has won five main events in eight starts with the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series, including July's $10,000-to-win Skagit 360 Nationals. This was also in addition to a $10,000 victory in the Knoxville 360 Nationals in Iowa. They later put in a 410ci motor and won the World of Outlaws event for another $10,000 at Grays Harbor less than three weeks ago.
"When it's your year, it's your year," a jubilant Stewart said after letting out a big "Woo!" when he accepted the large check on the front stretch following the event. "This car has been exceptional all year."
Despite the cash, hardware all the attention on himself, the night was about Fred Brownfield to Stewart, who was among 54 drivers who were racing this weekend in honor of the former track promoter and founder of the NSCS's predecessor, the Northern Sprint Tour.
"I didn't know Fred very long, but what I was able to learn was that he was a great man, a family person," said Stewart, who raced with Brownfield's National Sprint Tour last year.
Brownfield was killed in an on-track accident when he was struck by a modified as he was lining up cars at the same track in June 2006. The race, originally known as the Evergreen State Sprint Challenge, was re-named for him and was originally scheduled for July 20 and 21. The remains of a western Pacific Ocean typhoon, however, had made its way across the Pacific and struck western Washington, forcing the postponement of the event until this weekend.
Several member of Brownfield's family, including widow Debbie and most of their grown children, were in attendance as were several former NST officials and staff members. Brownfield's daughter Jessica Kellogg gave the A-Main drivers the initial green flag and also showed Stewart the checkered flag. Brownfield's grandson Seth Hespe drove a pair of memorial laps around the track during opening ceremonies and was also on the track to lead the four-wide parade lap in the long familiar No. 92, which was Brownfield's car number for most of his driving days.
Stewart started the No. 1 Shaver-powered Maxim inside the front row for the 40-lap event as a result of his dash victory as was the case the night before. Like the night before, Stewart did not the take the lead right away, as British Columbia's Travis Rutz bolted into the top position from his outside front row starting spot. Rutz, who entered the evening third in NSCS points, led four laps until he was chased down by Stewart on lap five. Stewart, using the high side going through the turns on the 3/8-mile, high-banked clay oval, passed Rutz exiting turn four. Stewart never looked back from there.
Three laps after losing the lead, Rutz found himself up over the cushion in turn four, allowing Tacoma, Wash.'s Shawn Rice to move into second. A lap later, Rutz lost third to NSCS point leader Roger Crockett of Medford. Crockett, who leads the NSCS with seven A-Main victories in the Henderson Motorsports No. 7N Eagle, caught Rice for second on lap 14.
Stewart, meanwhile, worked his way through slower traffic, almost with ease. Lap 13 saw Stewart make a spectacular move, splitting both J.J. Hickle and Brock Lemley going through turns three and four. After a spin by Oregon's Rob Held on lap 15, Stewart had four lapped cars between himself and Crockett for the restart.
"I knew I had a good car and I had to pick (off) my lapped cars right," Stewart said. "This was our race to win, and I can't thank my crew enough."
Rutz, who had three straight top-five finishes in NSCS competition going in, moved back by Rice for third on that restart. Rutz, however, had his right rear tire going down late in the race. After being passed by Rice again for third, Rutz pulled to a stop in turn four when the tire in question shredded on lap 36.
Rutz took advantage of the caution that resulted, changed the tire and came back out as the tenth and final car on the lead lap. In the last five laps Rutz passed both former track champion Jay Cole and Iowa visitor Joe Beaver to finish eighth in the Rutz Racing No. 8 Triple X.
Crockett, never able to catch Stewart, settled for second with a tire going down at the end. Rice, as he did Friday night, finished third in the RAM Racing No. 76 Rocket.
"I was pretty lucky to finish," said Crockett, who padded his point lead over Mitch Olson. Crockett knew his finish helped him in season points, but he was quietly disappointed.
"I'm happy to finish second, but that's not why we're here. It would've meant a lot more to us to win this," said Crockett, who in another scary good driver/owner combination with Roger Henderson, winning seven out of 17 NSCS races and scoring several top five finishes.
Rice, who is still looking for his first touring victory, was satisfied with his weekend.
"This race is what I've been gearing up for all year. The wins haven't come but the consistency has," said Rice, who has finished in the top-ten four times and the top-five three straight times in five NSCS races at Grays Harbor Raceway.
Seattle area driver Tayler Malsam, who started fifth, ran in the top ten the entire race and finished fourth in the Rudeen Racing / Malsam Motorsports No. 26 Maxim. A night after he crashed through the wall in turns three and four, California's Jonathan Allard started the A-Main tenth and finished fifth in the Main Racing No. 35a JEI. Snohomish, Wash.'s Seth Bergman, who entered the night fifth in points, finished sixth in his family's No. 23a Eagle.
Mitch Olson, out of Puyallup, Wash. came from his 13th starting position to finish seventh in the Mike Olson No. 98m Rocket. Cole, the six-time Grays Harbor Raceway champion, came out of the B-Main and finished ninth in his own No. 0J Maxim. Beaver, a regular at Knoxville Raceway, earned his second top-ten finish in as many nights in his first visit to Grays Harbor Raceway when he rounded out the top ten in the Beaver Racing No. 53 Maxim.
Former NST champion Bill Nutter, who started third, finished 11th after cutting down a left rear tire and spinning on the initial start. Reigning Grays Harbor Raceway champion Glenn Borden Jr. of Raymond, Wash. finished 17th and Alberta visitor Tyler Pinceman was 18th. Skagit Speedway 410 sprint car champion Brock Lemley pulled to the infield in the closing laps and was scored 19th. Allard's older brother Stephen, this year's track champion at Silver Dollar Speedway in California, was scored 20th after rolling his car over in a lap 17 accident.
Stephen Allard, who drove the No. 33v Rocket for the injured Henry Van Dam, won the 15-lap B-Main event, taking Lemley, Jared Peterson and Cole with him to the A-Main. Earlier in the evening Derek Ingalls won the 10-lap C-Main, transferring with Tyler Spath to the B-Main.
Stewart's victory in the six-lap dash, which featured the top six point scorers from Friday's preliminary events and Saturday's qualifying session and heat races, came over Rutz, Nutter, Rice, Malsam and Crockett.
Hespe, who is in his first year racing full-sized 360 sprint cars, finished fifth in the second heat and finished fifth in the C-Main after running as high as third.
Points for the weekend were tallied following the heat races, and main events were lined up accordingly, meaning the top four finishers in each of the four heat races didn't automatically transfer like they would usually do in a typical NSCS show. Idaho's Joe Ramaker in Heat 1, Stephen Allard in Heat 2 and Everett, Wash.'s Jayme Barnes in Heat 3 were all winners who still had to race in the B-Main. Only Heat 4 winner J.J. Hickle of Quilcene, Wash. was locked into the A-Main based on points.
Forty-seven teams returned to compete in Saturday's finale, and it was Crockett who paced the field in qualifying, wowing the crowd with consecutive record breaking runs. Crockett bested Rice's old record of 12.313 seconds with a first run of 12.208 seconds and then an even better time of 12.143 seconds. Crockett's average speed on that second lap was 111.175 miles per hour. Crockett was the only driver to break Rice's old record.
The NSCS will close its inaugural season on September 28 and 29 at Central Washington State Fair Raceway in Yakima. Both nights will see the double-points system in effect. More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at http://www.racenscs.com.
- - -
Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge
Grays Harbor Raceway
Elma, WA
September 15, 2007
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
47 cars
Fast qualifier: 7N Roger Crockett, 12.143 seconds (New Track Record, average speed 111.175 mph).
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 98 Joe Ramaker, 2. 76 Shawn Rice, 3. 7N Roger Crockett, 4. 5h Brad Holmes, 5. 91 Derek Ingalls, 6. 9p Jared Peterson, 7. 68 Rob Held, 8. 15 Dan Dunlap, 9. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 10. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 33v Stephen Allard, 2. 8 Travis Rutz, 3. 4x Chris Adams, 4. 7D Josh DeWitt, 5. 92 Seth Hespe, 6. 4c Charlie Cash, 7. 12p Randy Pierce, 8. 23a Seth Bergman, 9. 72 Glenn Borden Jr., 10. 08 Steve Vague.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 24 Jayme Barnes, 2. 26f Shane Forte', 3. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 4. 40 Brock Lemley, 5. 0J Jay Cole, 6. 3N Bill Nutter, 7. 53 Joe Beaver, 8. KR14 Tyler Spath, 9. 4r Robby Vaughn, 10. 7t Jeff Thompson.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 7h J.J. Hickle, 2. 35a Jonathan Allard, 3. 1 Shane Stewart, 4. 98m Mitch Olson, 5. 99 Randy VanAagten, 6. 4 Nick Engberg, 7. 99p Tyler Pinceman, 8. 26 Tayler Malsam, 9. 55 Andy Jacobson, 10. 87 Kyler Barraza.
Points earned in Saturday's qualifying session and heat races are added to point totals from Friday's events to determine main event line-ups, except first three rows of A-Main.
C-Main (10 laps): 1. 91 Derek Ingalls, 2. KR14 Tyler Spath, 3. 99 Randy VanAagten, 4. 55 Andy Jacobson, 5. 92 Seth Hespe, 6. 7t Jeff Thompson, 7. 4c Charlie Cash, 8. 15 Dan Dunlap, 9. 87 Kyler Barraza, 10. 12p Randy Pierce, 11. 22c Blake Cook, DNS - 5k Willie Croft, 22 Geoff Beck, 34 John Wincewicz, 66 Barry Martinez. Top two finishers transfer to B-Main.
Dash (6 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 8 Travis Rutz, 3. 3N Bill Nutter, 4. 76 Shawn Rice, 5. 26 Tayler Malsam, 6. 7N Roger Crockett. Finish determines first six starting positions of A-Main.
B-Main (15 laps): 1. 33v Stephen Allard, 2. 40 Brock Lemley, 3. 9p Jared Peterson, 4. 0J Jay Cole, 5. 24 Jayme Barnes, 6. 7D Josh DeWitt, 7. 4r Robby Vaughn, 8. KR14 Tyler Spath, 9. 26f Shane Forte', 10. 08 Steve Vague, 11. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 12. 91 Derek Ingalls, 13. 98 Joe Ramaker, 14. 65 Brendan Boyce, 15. 5h Brad Holmes, 16. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 17. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 18. 4x Chris Adams. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
A-Main (40 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 7N Roger Crockett, 3. 76 Shawn Rice, 4. 26 Tayler Malsam, 5. 35a Jonathan Allard, 6. 23a Seth Bergman, 7. 98m Mitch Olson, 8. 8 Travis Rutz, 9. 0J Jay Cole, 10. 53 Joe Beaver, 11. 3N Bill Nutter, 12. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 13. 4 Nick Engberg, 14. 7h J.J. Hickle, 15. 68 Rob Held, 16. 9p Jared Peterson, 17. 72 Glenn Borden Jr., 18. 99p Tyler Pinceman, 19. 40 Brock Lemley, 20. 33v Stephen Allard.
Lap leaders: Travis Rutz 1-4, Shane Stewart 1-40
- - -
NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
http://www.racenscs.com
|
