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Back-to-back, Stewart takes non-stop NSCS at the Grove
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - It took until the ninth race of the season, but Roger Crockett now has company in the multi-victory club in the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series.
Bixby, Okla.'s Shane Stewart won his second NSCS main event in as many nights on Tuesday when he outdueled local hero Dale Smith in a 30-lap event that went caution-free at Cottage Grove Speedway. The lead changed hands three times between the two as they battled each other through slower traffic.
Smith, who had earlier won the six-lap dash race to capture the pole position, led early and held the top spot until Stewart got by him. Just a few laps later, Smith put the hometown crowd in a frenzy when he snuck back by him, going low through turns one and two of the 1/4-mile, semi-banked, clay oval. Stewart, however, took advantage of traffic not soon after as Smith was held up by a slower car on the bottom and Stewart motored around on the high side to seal the victory.
"That was a fun race, even if you don't win. It was great, going non-stop," Stewart said. "We were fortunate lapped cars worked our way. Mike Doyle and (crew chief) Paul Silva gave me a great car again."
All 30 laps were completed in only seven minutes and six seconds and it was all done just before the curfew time arrived. It was the exact opposite situation from Monday night at Southern Oregon Speedway, where the feature was called after only 18 laps because of curfew.
Stewart, running what could almost be considered a "true outlaw" schedule this season as he is racing in various rides around the country, is driving the Mike Doyle No. 1 Shaver-powered Maxim as a hired gun in pursuit of the NSCS Northwest Speed Week title, which is worth $2,000 to win.
"Anytime you can win races it's special," Stewart humbly said. "It doesn't matter who it's with, the All-Stars, (World of) Outlaws, or (NSCS). We got lucky again like we did last night. I didn't qualify so great, but we had some top cars not transfer and we got in the dash. I knew we were lucky."
Smith, who is leading the 360 sprint car points standings in weekly competition at Cottage Grove Speedway, settled for second aboard his own No. 75 Shaver-powered Maxim.
"It was fun. I just wish I won it," Smith said. "I picked the wrong groove, should've gone high. If the track were the way it was in dash, we'd have won. The car started off good and it went away, and I got caught up behind a lapped car."
Stewart, who obviously enjoyed the A-Main, was strongly impressed with Smith, who is a six-time former track champion.
"He was tough," Stewart said. "I had a great car, but he's got a lot of laps around here."
Campbell, Calif. veteran Brent Kaeding backed up his runner-up finish on Monday with a third place effort in his own No. 69 Shaver-powered Maxim. The 12-time Golden State Challenge series champion last won at Cottage Grove in 2005.
Tacoma, Wash.'s Mitch Olson entered the evening 65 points behind Roger Crockett in the NSCS point standings, after 20 points were chopped off the prior 85-point lead going into Monday's race. Olson took advntage of an early qualifying time and was third fastest while Crockett drew a late pill and had to go out on a dry and much slower track. Olson gained more ground in points through that and then chipped away at Crockett's lead further by finishing fourth in the Mike Olson No. 98m Shark-powered Rocket.
Medford's Crockett, who has won four NSCS main events this season, successfully transferred out his heat race and was scheduled to start 13th in the A-Main. Crockett, however, spun out in turn two during the warm-up lap and was forced to start at the back of the 20-car field. Despite the set-back and no caution flags to bunch the cars back together to potentially set up more passes for position, Crockett finished eighth in the Henderson Motorsports No. 7N Bailey Bros.-powered Eagle.
The 20-point cut on Monday was the result of Crockett's spin at the end of the curfew-shortened feature that placed him 17th while Olson finished fifth.
After finishing third in his first time racing at Southern Oregon Speedway, Brock Lemley of Bellingham, Wash. got his second top five in as many nights when he finished fifth in the Kentch Bros. No. 40 Triple X. Lemley, a long-time mini-sprint standout at Deming Speedway, won the May 12 NSCS event at Skagit Speedway in Washington.
Jayme Barnes of Everett, Wash. finished sixth in the Donny Krenz No. 24 Springer-powered Triple X. Reigning Golden State Challenge "King of California" Jonathon Allard of Chico took seventh in the Morrie Williams No. 0 Maxim. Behind Crockett were Sultan, Wash.'s Derek Ingalls in ninth in his own No. 91 Shark-powered Rocket and third place points man Billy Nutter of Central Point, Ore. in his own No. 3N Zeitler to round out the top ten.
Fifth-place points man and lead NSCS Rookie of the Year contender Robbie Vaughn of Snohomish, Wash. finished 11th while fast qualifier Chris Schmelzle of Victoria, Brit. Col. finished 12th. Travis Rutz, three points behind Nutter for third in the standings going into Tuesday's event, struggled in the feature and finished 18th. Shelton, Wash.'s Jay Cole, the six-time and defending track champion at Grays Harbor Raceway, finished 20th after cutting down his right front tire and exiting the track early in the event.
Olson failed to transfer out of his heat race, as did Schmelzle. Both started on the front row of the 15-lap B-Main, which Olson won while Schmelzle followed. Finishing 1-2, both were eligable to get their times back in the A-Main line-up behind the dash cars. Schmelzle got to start seventh and Olson eighth. Finishing third and fourth in the B-Main, California's Marc Mackay and Washington's Josh DeWitt transferred also and tagged the back of the A-Main field.
With the curfew time looming after the caution-plagued C-Main was cut short after just four laps, the drivers in the B-Main completed 15 laps without error in just three minutes and 26 seconds, which must have rubbed off on the A-Main drivers. B-Main and A-Main combined, fans saw 45 consecutive green flag laps to close the evening.
Jon Farrell won the C-Main, taking along California's Jimmy Trulli to the B-Main. Trulli made a late pass around J.J. Hickle to take the final transfer spot.
Smith's victory in the dash race, which featured the fastest six qualifiers who transferred out of their heat races, was won over Kaeding, Stewart, Ingalls, Barnes and Lemley. Vaughn, Rutz, Stewart and Nutter each won 10-lap heat races.
Schmelzle's top time in qualifying was 10.950 seconds. The remaining top ten were Kaeding, Olson, Jason York, Lemley, Barnes, Smith, Mackay, Ingalls, and Alberta driver Tyler Pinceman.
Fifty-one cars, the largest field for a Northwest Sprint Challenge Series event this season, were on hand at Cottage Grove Speedway. Seven U.S. states and two Canadian provinces were represented. There would have been an eighth state, but Alaska's Steve Martin reportedly broke down on the way from Medford and was unable to attend.
Northwest Speed Week continues Wednesday at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore. and concluded on Friday and Saturday with the Bob's Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals at Skagit Speedway. 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
Cottage Grove Speedway
Cottage Grove, OR
July 24, 2007
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
51 cars
Fast qualifier: 57c Chris Schmelzle, 10.950 seconds.
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 2. 7N Roger Crockett, 3. 40 Brock Lemley, 4. 91 Derek Ingalls, 5. 57c Chris Schmelzle, 6. 22L Garen Linder, 7. 51 Jon Farrell, 8. 9J J.J. Dishneau, 9. 7t Jeff Thompson, 10. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 11. 5 Todd Sparks, 12. 7r Randy DuBois, 13. 22 Geoff Beck. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 8r Travis Rutz, 2. 26f Shane Forte', 3. 69 Brent Kaeding, 4. 24 Jayme Barnes, 5. 99p Tyler Pinceman, 6. 4c Charlie Cash, 7. KR14 Tyler Spath, 8. 7d Josh DeWitt, 9. 87 Kyler Barraza, 10. 8e Evan Funk, 11. 12p Randy Pierce, 12. 36 Michelle Dodge, DNS - 10 Kyle Miller. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 11d Jeff Delte, 3. 75 Dale Smith, 4. 0 Jonathon Allard, 5. 98m Mitch Olson, 6. 4z Dallas Zuniga, 7. 9h Dean Freitas, 8. 23a Seth Bergman, 9. 56 Nathan Large, 10. 15 Dan Dunlap, 11. 08 Steve Vague, 12. 8w Vern Wheeler, 13. 29 Dan Philpott. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 3N Billy Nutter, 2. 65 Brendan Boyce, 3. 2z Todd Zeitler, 4. 0J Jay Cole, 5. 86 Marc Mackay, 6. 7o Travis Jacobson, 7. 5sp Jason York, 8. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 9. 73 Danielle Huson, 10. 7 J.J. Hickle, 11. 68 Rob Held, 12. 10j Jeremy McCune. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
C-Main (4 laps, time): 1. 51 Jon Farrell, 2. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 3. 7 J.J. Hickle, 4. KR14 Tyler Spath, 5. 12p Randy Pierce, 6. 10j Jeremy McCune, 7. 73 Danielle Huson, 8. 9h Dean Freitas, 9. 7r Randy DuBois, 10. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 11. 5 Todd Sparks, 12. 56 Nathan Large, 13. 87 Kyler Barraza, 14. 36 Michelle Dodge, DNS - 8w Vern Wheeler, 10 Kyle Miller, 29 Dan Philpott. Top two finishers transfer to B-Main.
Dash (6 laps): 1. 75 Dale Smith, 2. 69 Brent Kaeding, 3. 1 Shane Stewart, 4. 91 Derek Ingalls, 5. 24 Jayme Barnes, 6. 40 Brock Lemley. Finish determines first four starting positions of A-Main.
B-Main (15 laps): 1. 98m Mitch Olson, 2. 57c Chris Schmelzle, 3. 86 Marc Mackay, 4. 7d Josh DeWitt, 5. 08 Steve Vague, 6. 5sp Jason York, 7. 99p Tyler Pinceman, 8. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 9. 7o Travis Jacobson, 10. 22L Garen Linder, 11. 23a Seth Bergman, 12. 4c Charlie Cash, 13. 4z Dallas Zuniga, 14. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 15. 68 Rob Held, 16. 8e Evan Funk, 17. 51 Jon Farrell, 18. 7t Jeff Thompson, 19. 22 Geoff Beck, 20. 15 Dan Dunlap. Top two finishers transfer to A-Main and get their times back behind dash cars. Third and fourth place finishers transfer to A-Main and tag back of the field.
A-Main (30 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 75 Dale Smith, 3. 69 Brent Kaeding, 4. 98m Mitch Olson, 5. 40 Brock Lemley, 6. 24 Jayme Barnes, 7. 0 Jonathon Allard, 8. 7N Roger Crockett, 9. 91 Derek Ingalls, 10. 3N Billy Nutter, 11. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 12. 57c Chris Schmelzle, 13. 2z Todd Zeitler, 14. 86 Marc Mackay, 15. 26f Shane Forte', 16. 65 Brendan Boyce, 17. 11d Jeff Delte, 18. 8r Travis Rutz, 19. 7d Josh DeWitt, 20. 0J Jay Cole.
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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
http://www.racenscs.com
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