Hespe and Van Dam Pick Up First Wins Of Season.
Miller and Simpson Two in a Row. By Jack Fordyce
Grays Harbor Raceway
Elma, WA. Seth Hespe of Snohomish and Henry VanDam of Enumclaw each picked up their first feature wins of the season at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma Saturday night and Zack Simpson of Hoquiam and Scott Miller of Shelton are both undefeated for the season.
Hespe took over the lead from pole sitter Dustin O’Brien just before the mid-point of the “Midgets” 20-lap feature and cruised to the checkered flag.
VanDam had the pole at the start of the 25-lap “360 Sprints” feature and lost the lead to Shawn Rice of Tacoma on the first lap but regained the lead at the mid-point of the race.
Simpson led from the green flag to the checkered flag in the ‘Hobby Stocks” 20-lap feature in a normal Saturday night drive for the defending champion.
Miller, in his quest to regain the title that he lost to Montesano’s Josh Muller last year passed early race leader Chris Beaulieu of Campbell River, B.C. just three laps into the race and then had to hold off Muller for the win.
Fans didn’t’ dare leave their sits for any extended period of time on this Saturday night as the first two main events of the night, the “Midgets” and the “360 Sprints” went green white checkered with no cautions. The third main of the evening, the “Hobby Stocks” had only one caution and a red flag.
Midgets
This was O’Brien’s first appearance at Grays Harbor and he intended to make the best of it. He held of Hespe, defending champion in the series for seven circuits around the track before Hespe was able to get around him for the lead.
Once he had the lead Hespe quickly distanced himself from the rest of the pack.
While Hespe was well out in front, O’Brien, Springfield, OR. driver Allison Journey, Everett’s Gaylon Stewart and Bothell’s Todd Hartman were all trading positions in the top five, not realizing that rookie driver Reece Goetz was quickly moving through the field from his last place start.
Goetz had climbed to the fifth spot by lap-8 and had moved into second by lap-14 but didn’t have enough to catch Hespe. Journey finished third, Stewart fourth and O’Brien faded to fifth.
Sprints
Neither VanDam or Rice are strangers to the front of the pack as both drivers have won numerous races at Grays Harbor in the past along with ASCS NW Region races.
It quickly turned into a five car race as the front five of Rice, VanDam, Shelton’s Jay Cole, opening night winner Seth Bergman of Snohomish and Tacoma’s Mitch Olson separating themselves from the rest of the field.
VanDam wrested the front spot from Rice on lap-13 and then proceeded to put some distance between him and the rest of the front five as he weaved his way through lapped traffic.
Bergman made a late race pass on Rice for the second spot at the finish, Cole was able to hold onto fourth and Olson finished fifth in a race that only took six minutes and twenty-five seconds from start to finish.
Hobby Stocks
Like the first two main events of the night the “Hobby Stocks” was a fairly quick event, only marred by a red flag early in the race when Cory Sweatman of Cosmopolis had a fir in the engine compartment and track officials red flagged the race so fire crews could get to him and put it out. Sweatman restarted and race and finished the race.
Simpson quickly grabbed the lead from his third place starting spot followed by Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis, Hoquiam’ Jack Parshall, Aberdeen’s Jay Biggs and Eddie Blood from Olympia.
Parshall got by Sweatman half-way through the race but couldn’t’ get past his team-mate from Parshall and Wilder racing
Top Finishers/Top Points
Triple X Racing “Ford Focus Midgets” A Main. 1 Seth Hespe, Snohomish. 2. Reece Goetz, Snohomish. 3. Allison Journey, Springfield, OR. 4. Gaylon Stewart, Everett. 5. Dustin O’Brien, Snohomish. 6. Garrett Johnson, Poulsbo. 7. Jeremy Miller, Montesano. 8. Todd Hartman, Bothell. 9. Ariel Biggs, Hoquiam. 10. Annika Johanson, Lacey. Heat 1. 1. Hespe. 2. Miller. 3. G. Stewart. 4. Hartman. 5. Bailey Studer, Montesano. Heat 2. 1. Goetz. 2. Johnson. 3. Journey. 4. Biggs. 5. O’Brien. Fast Time: Gaylon Stewart. 17.568 76.844 MPH. Top Points (Unofficial). Hespe 118. Journey 107. G. Stewart 106. Goetz 105. O’Brien 99. Johnson 98. Miller 96. Hartman 93. Biggs 90. Johanson 87.
Whitney’s Auto Group “360 sprints” A Main. 1. Henry VanDam, Enumclaw. 2. Seth Bergman, Snohomish. 3. Shawn Rice, Tacoma. 4. Jay Cole, Shelton. 5. Mitch Olson, Tacoma. 6. Glenn Borden Jr. Raymond. 7. JJ Dishneau, Maple Valley. 8. JJ Hickle, Quilcene. 9. Steve Vague, Kirkland. 10. Shane Broers, Sedro Wolley. Heat 1. Vague. 2. VanDam. 3. Hickle. 4. Rice. 5. Cole. Heat 2. Bergman. 2. Josh DeWitt, Snohomish. 3. Trey Starks, Puyallup. 4. Olson. 5. Borden Jr. Fast Time: Cole. 14.058 96.031 MPH. Top Points (Unofficial). Bergman 229. VanDam 220. Cole 213. Rice 200. Borden Jr. 196. Hickle 187. DeWitt 187. Dishneau 181. Vague 179. Olson 178.
Cut Rate Auto Parts “Hobby Stocks” A Main. 1. Zack Simpson, Hoquiam. 2. Jack Parshall, Hoquiam. 3. Tom Sweatman, Cosmopolis. 4. Derek Junell, Key Center. 5. Eddie Blood, Olympia. 6. Tom Hecker, Spanaway. 7. Koit Honea, Montesano. 8. Jay Biggs, Aberdeen. 9. Greg Watkins, Enumclaw. 10. Keith Knowlton, Bremerton. Heat 1. 1. Sweatman. 2. Hecker. 3. Blood. 4. Parshall. 5. Honea. Heat 2. 1. Simpson. 2. Junell. 3. Kyle Swanson, Shelton. 4. Biggs. 5. Brian Izzi, Olympia. Fast Time: Sweatman. 19.241 70.163 MPH. Top Points (Unofficial). Simpson 238. Parshall 223. Sweatman 214. Junell 211. Blood 199. Hecker 191. Honea 182. Izzi 173. Knowlton 171. Woodbury 156.
Ship Wreck Beads “Modifieds” A Main. 1. Scott Miller, Shelton. 2. Josh Muller, Montesano. 3. Morgan Criswell, Vancouver, WA. 4. Greg Dineen, Aberdeen. 5. Todd Hardesty, St Helens, OR. 6. David Wolfard, Seabeck. 7. Jim Oien JR. McCleary. 8. Del Schnitzer, Shelton. 9. Alan Muenchow, Shelton. 10. Steve signal, Olympia. Heat 1. 1. Muller. 2. Randy Ward, Olympia. 3. Jon Swiglo, Chehalis. 4. David Burns, Bremerton. 5. Craig Moore, Seabeck. Heat 2. 1. Miller. 2. Joe German, Aberdeen. 3. Dineen. 4. Signal. 5. David Bottoms, Ridgefield. Heat 3. 1. Wolfard. 2. Muenchow. 3. Oien Jr. 4. Carl Larson, Castle Rock. 5. Criswell. Fast Time: Muller. 18.038 74.842 MPH. Top Points (Unofficial). Miller 234. Muller 210. Wolfard 201. Schnitzer 185. Dineen 184. Signal 181. Burns 179. Moore 177. Oien Jr. 175. Hardesty 171.
