Matt Hein wins back-to-back NSRA championshipsWhen 21-year-old Matt Hein won three races and earned his first Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association last year, he instantly became the man to beat in 2009. The Roseburg, Oregon driver, however, was just fine with that role and would race his way to his second consecutive NSRA championship this year. This Saturday in Portland he will be recognized by the NSRA at its annual banquet.Driving the Hein Racing No. 98 Shaver-powered Beast sponsored by Coastline West Insulation, Motor Rebuilders, Tonka Excavation LLC, Long’s Building Supplies, C&R Striping Company and Oregon Tool & Supply, Hein earned a pair of victories, his fourth and fifth career NSRA triumphs, and used several other strong finishes to secure his second title, and even did a little dirt racing, picking up a second place finish with the NorthWest Wingless Tour for Smith Motorsports at Willamette Speedway on October 3rd.Hein opened the 2009 campaign with a win at Meridian Speedway in Idaho on May 29th. With his fourth place finish at the same track the next night, Hein had a two-point edge over former NSRA champion Jeff Montgomery and was the overall winner of the track's annual Diamond Cup event.Hein returned to action on June 13th at his hometown Douglas County Speedway, where he finished second to Oregon open wheel legend Rick Brown in the NSRA's Casey Diemert Classic, further increasing his points lead.Three times this season, Matt climbed into the Smith Motorsports No. 6 sprint car to do some dirt racing without the wings. He first went out on May 23rd to race with the new NorthWest Wingless Tour at Cottage Grove Speedway, and came away with an impressive seventh place finish in the main event in his debut. He later made his first appearance at Coos Bay Speedway on July 4th and came away with a Top 5 finish there with the United Sprint Car Association.On July 18th Matt climbed back into his family's No. 98 pavement sprint car as the NSRA resumed action with its first event at Spokane Raceway Park in eastern Washington in two years. Matt very quickly got reacquainted with the pavement as he broke Spokane Raceway Park's all-time track record with a lap of 15.113 seconds around the very fast half-mile oval, averaging a whopping 119 miles per hour in speed. After starting eighth, he needed only 13 laps to take the lead in the main event and eventually led by half a lap - his car was that good. He was cruising to what was looking like an easy victory when a tire cut down, sending him spinning around and crashing into the wall to end his night.Thankfully for Hein, he did not lose very many points off his lead in the NSRA standings as Montgomery was having problems as well at Spokane. Two weeks later at Ephrata Raceway Park, also in eastern Washington, Matt opened the month of August by earning his first win at Ephrata in the prestigious Rebel Jackson Memorial race.On August 14th and 15th, Matt and the team took the ferry ride to Canada's Vancouver Island for annual Daffodil Cup event at Western Speedway in British Columbia's capital of Victoria. Qualifying and heat races all happened on Friday with invitational races and the Daffodil Cup main event taking place on Saturday. He won the "Battle of the Border" race, which featured the three fastest Canadian qualifiers and three fastest American qualifiers from Friday in a race against each other, and then in the main event Hein would take a fine fifth place finish to further extend his points lead.Hein returned to his home track, Douglas County Speedway, for the Don Hein Memorial on August 29th and after setting quick time in qualifying he finished fourth in the feature race to maintain his points lead over Montgomery. On September 12th, Hein returned to Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington for the third running of the Rory Price Memorial. Both Hein - for a crash - and Montgomery fell out of the race, but because of a pair of disqualifications Hein was still credited with a ninth place, keeping alive his streak of Top 10 finishes and gaining a few more points on Montgomery.The teams of the NSRA returned to Meridian Speedway for the two-night season finale on September 25th and 26th. Hein set fast time in qualifying on Friday but suffered his first finish outside the Top 10 in a main event this season when he was caught up in a multi-car incident early in the race. Despite finishing 14th, Hein earned enough points to clinch the 2009 NSRA championship with Saturday's race still remaining.On Saturday night, the 26th, with nothing but pride to race for, Hein was again the fastest qualifier. In the main event he worked his way up to take the lead. In a spirited battle with Cory Lockwood, both drivers tangled together and spun out. Hein rejoined the field at the tail end and worked his way back up to earn a seventh place finish to close his second consecutive NSRA championship run.The following Saturday, Hein climbed back into the Smith Motorsports No. 6 non-wing dirt sprint car and made his first appearance at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Oregon. Hein led most of the way in a crash-filled NorthWest Wingless Tour main event until a slip up allowed Shane Forte' to get by him. Forte' led just one lap before another crash led officials to throw the checkers at the late hour. For Hein, the runner-up finish was his best career effort on a dirt track.At 21 years of age, Matt Hein is one of the top pavement sprint car racers on the west coast, having multiple main event victories to his credit along with the 2008 and 2009 Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association championships. Matt would like to thank all of his sponsors and fans for their great support this year. For more information on Matt and his race team, including photos, apparel and race schedule, check out Matt's website at www.heinracing.com.- - -
Matt Hein's sponsors
Coastline West Insulation
Independent Motor Rebuilders
Tonka Excavation LLC.
Long's Building Supply
C&R Striping Company
Cam Cat Tractor
Oregon Tool & Supply
Dirksen & Sons Oil
Double R Powder Coatings
Shaver Race Engines
Kaeding Performance
Bell Helmets
Douglas Welding Supply
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Matt Hein
www.heinracing.com |
