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Crockett in prime position for first Dirt Cup victory
Andrew Kunas
ALGER, Wash. – Rainfall is currently delaying the final night of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup, and Roger Crockett is anxious for the threatening rainfall to move through Northwest Washington.
For a good reason also. He is looking for his first victory in Skagit Speedway's Dirt Cup and has found himself in the position to do so.
Should he win, he’ll be the third driver to win both the Dirt Cup and the Skagit 360 Nationals at Skagit Speedway. He’d also be the third different driver to win the Dirt Cup for Henderson Motorsports in the past 19 years, joining Jimmy Sills (1989) and Steve Kent (2001).
Crockett, out of Medford, set fast time in qualifying both Thursday and Friday nights. He stayed out of trouble and was consistent when racing, and as a result he is second in points entering tonight’s finale and will take part in the A-Scramble, which sets the first six starting positions for tonight’s 40-lap Dirt Cup Race of Champions.
The four-time Northern Sprint Tour champion and current Northwest Sprint Challenge Series point leader toured the 3/10-mile, high-banked clay oval in 11.666 seconds on Thursday and 11.317 seconds. Unable to transfer out of his heat race on Thursday, Crockett took the checkered flag in the B-Main and drove from 17th to ninth in the 30-lap preliminary feature, picking up several passing points in the process.
Crockett finished fourth in his heat race to transfer on Friday, started 16th as the result of a complete invert of the heat race transfer cars based on time. He picked up more passing points as he eventually moved up to ninth, where he finished for the second straight evening.
Crockett earned 524 points on Thursday and another 529 on Friday, giving him a total of 1,053 points, only eight behind point leader Jonathon Allard. Allard, the two-time defending Dirt Cup champion, is looking for the first three-peat in the 36-year history of the event and will start alongside Crockett in the A-Scramble.
Crockett, who replaced the retiring Steve Kent after last season, previously drove for Henderson and won the Skagit 360 Nationals as a 17-year-old in 1998. With Kent’s three wins in the Skagit 360 Nationals also coming with Henderson Motorsports, Crockett is with one of the elite teams on the west coast and one that has seen much success at Skagit Speedway.
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