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NSCS Notes & Tidbits for September 7 & 8
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
LEBANON, Ore. - Here's some of what will be watched and kept track of this weekend when the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series makes its final visit of the season to Oregon, racing tonight at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon and Saturday at Cottage Grove Speedway near Eugene.
* - The NSCS has raised the stakes. As will the two-day finale in Yakima, Wash. later this month, tonight and tomorrow's events in Oregon will award double-points, and that includes doubling show-up points also. While Medford's Roger Crockett holds a solid 60-point lead over Puyallup, Wash.'s Mitch Olson, one bad night by Crockett could put Olson right up by Crockett at the top of the standings by the end of the weekend.
For Olson, however, one bad night by him when Crockett does well could devestate Olson's championship dreams. Crockett has won a series-leading six times this season, including both events at Willamette Speedway this season and one of the two events at Cottage Grove. Olson finished second to Crockett once at each of the tracks on Memorial weekend. Olson has won twice this season, but is looking for his first win in Oregon.
Aside from prestige, there is money involved in the championship chase. The NSCS championship winning team will score $10,000. Second place will get $5,000.
* - Central Point, Ore.'s Bill Nutter has not won all year but has held the third place position in the NSCS point standings most of the year, currently sitting 161 points behind Crockett. If Nutter were to score this weekend, he may be in the perfect place to do it as he has seen much success at both Willamette and Cottage Grove over the years. Nutter is a former Cottage Grove Speedway champion and won a Northern Sprint Tour race at Willamette last year.
Nutter, however, has company behind him. Just 48 points back behind Nutter sits British Columbia ace Travis Rutz, who regained fourth place in the standings on August 26 at Grays Harbor Raceway when Robby Vaughn failed to make the A-Main. Rutz has had an up and down season with the NSCS this season, not scoring a victory so far this season. After his third place finish in the season opener at Grays Harbor on April 28, Rutz has gotten top ten finishes but no more top fives.
Rutz saw at least two leads in NSCS main events disappear this season. On May 12 at Skagit Speedway, Rutz had a sizeable lead until he tangled with the slower car of Danielle Huson. On June 30 at Grays Harbor, Rutz had just taken the lead from Shane Forte', only to lose it when contact was made between the two later on that same lap, which resulted in Rutz spinning and being struck by another car. At the Skagit 360 Nationals in July, Rutz had come out of the B-Main and roared to third place in the A-Main before damaging his motor and falling out.
Rutz, however, has slowly turned things around outside of the NSCS. Last Saturday, Rutz scored his third victory of the year with the Alberta Sprint Tour (the third also coming in a co-sanctioned race with the Big Sky Sprint Tour) at Electric City Speedway in Montana. He also won the Gold Cup race in Edmonton, Alberta in July.
Of course, those who were at Cottage Grove in May 2005 will never forget Rutz's jaw-dropping performance that night, lapping everyone but second place finisher Nutter en route to the NST victory. Rutz will look to continue turning the ship back forward on the NSCS front this weekend in Oregon.
* Rutz may have climbed back to fourth in points, but Vaughn sits only 15 tallies back. In fact, only 103 points seperate Rutz and Evan Funk, who sits eighth in the standings. Only 20 points seperate sixth place Seth Bergman and seventh place Derek Ingalls. Funk is only two points behind Ingalls. With this weekend's races being double-points, positions three through eighth could easily swap.
* Jay Cole sits ninth, 129 back of Funk, but if he wants to hold on to a top ten spot in the NSCS point standings he'll have to work for it as the next six drivers in line are within 75 points of him. His closest pursuer, John Farrell in tenth, is 22 back.
* Vaughn continues to lead the NSCS Rookie of the Year chase, holding a 88-point advantage over Funk. Both drivers have struggled at Willamette and Cottage Grove this season, including Vaughn virtually destroying his car at Willamette in May. Vaughn, however, recovered to finish third at Cottage Grove two days after that crash.
Farrell is the third rookie in the overall NSCS top ten in points, 139 back of Vaughn. With the double-points scenario in effect this weekend, Farrell could get back into the race with a solid weekend, if Vaughn and Funk were to struggle.
Two other rookies of note are J.J. Dishneau in 17th and Danielle Huson, who 22nd despite missing two races.
At stake along with the honors for top rookie is a custom seat from Butlerbuilt.
* When Bill Nutter missed the NSCS A-Main event at Grays Harbor on August 26, the list of drivers who have made every NSCS feature (13 to date) shrank to two: Crockett and Olson. Each had to go through the B-Main at least once this season. Both drivers will count on keeping their A-Main qualifying streaks alive the rest of the season. With the double-points in effect neither driver, especially Olson, can afford to miss an A-Main this weekend, nor championship weekend in Yakima.
The two drivers who'd like to keep their number of A-Mains missed at just one are Nutter and Rutz. They used to be the third and fourth remaining cars to have qualified every night. Before Nutter, Rutz missed his only A-Main on July 27 at Skagit.
* A-Mains have been difficult for everyone to qualify for this year, partially because of large fields, as the NSCS has had fields of 40-plus cars nine times out of 13. In fact, an astounding 72 drivers have earned points as NSCS members, while countless other non-members and hired guns (members or not) have come to race with the NSCS, whether for Northwest Speed Week or a single show. The average car count for the NSCS this year is about 44.
* Who will show up at Cottage Grove? Outside of the Skagit 360 Nationals, which had 68 teams show up, Cottage Grove has had the largest car count for a regular NSCS event, 51 during Northwest Speed Week in July.
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More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at http://www.racenscs.com.
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NSCS final 2007 trip to Oregon
September 7 - Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, OR
September 8 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR
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NSCS Top 15 points
1. Roger Crockett, 1310
2. Mitch Olson, 1250
3. Bill Nutter, 1049
4. Travis Rutz, 1011
5. Robby Vaughn*, 996
6. Seth Bergman, 930
7. Derek Ingalls, 910
8. Evan Funk*, 908
9. Jay Cole, 779
10. John Farrell*, 757
11. Brock Lemley, 723
12. J.J. Hickle, 713
13. Shane Forte', 710
14. Rob Held, 708
15. Randy Pierce, 704
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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
http://www.racenscs.com
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