Sweatman Holds off Simpson
Miller Regains Points Lead.
Clevenger Buzzes’ to another Win.
Swanstrom Thunders to Victory on Final Lap.
By Jack Fordyce
Grays Harbor Raceway, Elma, WA.
Long time asphalt driver, tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis, held off Hoquiam’s Zack Simpson for the final 16-laps of the 25-lap “Hobby Stocks” A Main and a victory Saturday night at Grays Harbor Raceway. Shelton’s, Scott Miller regained the top spot in the season points’ lead in a wire to wire 25-lap “Modifieds” A Main.
Rochester’s’ Jeff Swanstrom made a final lap pass on fellow Rochester driver Scott Zahn for the win in the Rolling Thunder “Big Rigs” 25-lap feature. Olympia’s Rory Clevenger took advantage of mechanical problems by Aberdeen’s Cliff Gill in the “Hornets” 12-lap A Main for another series victory.
Modifieds
Three former series track champions were in the first two rows, Miller, defending champion Josh Muller of Montesano and Craig Moore of Seabeck, with St Helens, OR. driver Todd Hardesty on the pole. Hardesty barely made it into the feature race after he collided with the wall at the track during his heat race earlier in the evening, but was able to get repairs done in time for the feature.
Miller quickly jumped out in front followed by Muller, Moore, Shawn Dorie of St Helens and Joe German of Aberdeen, as Hardesty despite frantic repairs faded from the front of the pack. Miller and Muller battled for the front spot with Miller able to hold off the defending champion, while Dorie and Moore swapped places a number of times. With 10-laps left in the race, Miller had established a lead over Muller, Dorie, Doug Davenport of Veronia, OR. and Lawrence O’Connor of Port Hardy, B.C. Dorie had edged Muller out of second with just four laps left in the race when the race turned sour for both Muller and Davenport a lap later. Both exited the race under the caution with mechanical problems and ended up finishing 16th and 17th. Miller held off Dorie for the win, Moore regained the third spot, Jim Oien Jr. of McCleary fourth and O’Conner fifth.
Miller’s victory regained him the top spot in the point’s race over Muller 863 to 836. The two drivers have been battling for the championship all season, as Miller is trying to regain the title he lost to Muller last season.
Miller, Muller, Dorie, Moore and O’Connor are all slated to race in the Pete Muller Race of Champions next Friday night in the opening night of the two day Northwest Modified Nationals at Grays Harbor Raceway.
Fellow Shelton driver, Shane Rau, led a pack of twelve cars for 12-laps in the B Main to gain a transfer to the feature race. Mike Long of Gresham, OR. and Chris Cullen of Portland picked up the final three transfer spots to the feature. Alan Muenchow gained entry into the feature when Scott Westley of Centralia scratched from the feature due to mechanical problems.
Hobby Stocks
Simpson is getting the first real challenge for the season championship in over three years from Sweatman. This is the first year in a number of years that the asphalt driver has devoted the season to the dirt at Elma. In the eight races this season, Simpson and Sweatman are the only two drivers to enter the winners circle. Simpson has five on the year, including the Mid-Season Championship race while Sweatman has the other three, including the last two in a row. Spanaway’s Tom Hecker had the pole with Simpson on the outside and Sweatman and Simpson’s Parshall and Wilder Racing teammate, Jack Parshall of Hoquiam in the next row. Sweatman and Parshall quickly shuffled Hecker back to the fourth spot on the first lap where he was unable to recover for the night. Sweatman took a bead on the leader and finally got by him on lap-10. Simpson challenged him a number of times but was unable to get the deed done, including three straight caution flag restarts on laps 18, 19 and 20 late in the race.
Parshall held onto the third spot, Hecker fourth and Kyle Swenson of Shelton made a late race charge to take fifth.
Big Rigs
With some grinding of gears, a lot of black smoke belching from the exhaust stacks and the blasting of air horns, The Rolling Thunder “Big Rigs” made their second appearance in two years at Grays Harbor Raceway and only their second time on the dirt.
Swanstrom had to come from four rows back at the start and wind his way through the pack before the finish. John Nelson of Rochester had the early lead in the race and would draw the ire of the flagman later in the race. There were no less than six different leaders in the race with seven lead changes before the finish. Brian Wilson took over the lead on the second lap, only to give way to Scott Zahn also of Rochester on lap-4. Zahn was able to hold the lead until giving way to Milton’s Dustin Smith who in turn coughed up the front spot to Centralia’s Dave Barr. Nelson got the quick attention of the Flagman when he was black flagged on lap-16 and wouldn’t leave the track. The race was stopped under the red; the flagman came down out of the flag stand, onto the track, opens the door and climbed up into the cab and brandished the black flag to Nelson so he got the message. Swanstrom gained the lead after the race resumed but coughed it up to Zahn on lap-19 and regained the front spot coming out of turn-4 on the final lap. Zahn finished second, Barr third and another pair of Rochester drivers, Steve Smith and Wilson rounded out the top five.
Hornets
Clevenger began reeling early race leader, Cliff Gill of Aberdeen from the start of the feature. Clevenger was in the second spot by lap-2, followed by Rodney West of Parkland. a cruiser car driven by the driving team of Dana Austin, Olympia/James Hinkley Centralia and Mike Clingen of Ocosta. Gill was able to hold onto the lead through the first 7-laps before he developed mechanical problems. Clevenger took over the lead at that point and was never challenged. austin/Hinkley finished second, West third, Clingen fourth and Gill ended up fifth.
Next week end will be the 11Th Annual Ship Wreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals, with over fifty cars to be on hand.
Gates will open at 4:30 with racing around 6:30 on both Friday and Saturday nights.
Top Finishers
Ship Wreck Beads “Modifieds A Main. 1. Scott Miller, Shelton. 2. Shawn Dorie, St Helens, OR. 3. Craig Moore, Seabeck. 4. Jim Oien Jr. McCleary. 5. Lawrence O’Connor, Port Hardy, B.C. 6. Clint Petty, St Helens. 7. Greg Dineen, Aberdeen. 8. Joe German, Aberdeen. 9. Del Schnitzer, Shelton. 10. Paul Liner, Olympia. B Main. 1. Shane Rau, Shelton. 2. Mike Long, Gresham, OR. 3. Chris Cullen, Portland, OR. 4. Floyd Livingston, Hoquiam. 5. Alan Muenchow, Shelton. Heat 1. 1. Josh Muller, Montesano. 2. Dorie. 3. Doug Davenport, Veronia, OR. 4. Petty. 5. Cullen. Heat 2. 1. O’Connor. 2. Schnitzer. 3. Liner. 4. Moore. 5. David Bottoms, Ridgefield. Heat 3. 1. Miller. 2. German. 3. Oien Jr. 4. Carl Larson, Castle Rock. 5. Randy Ward, Olympia. Heat 4. 1. Matt Scherer, Aberdeen. 2. Dineen. 3. Scott Westley, Centralia. 4. Todd Hardesty, St Helens. 5. Muenchow. Top Qualifier: Muller 16.443 82.102 MPH. Top Points. (Unofficial) Miller 863. Muller 836. Moore 796. Oien Jr. 729. German 727. Schnitzer 720. Larson 681. Hardesty 659. Burns 557. Livingston 556.
Cut Rate Auto Parts “Hobby Stocks” A Main. 1. Tom Sweatman, Cosmopolis. 2. Zack Simpson, Hoquiam. 3. Jack Parshall, Hoquiam. 4. Tom Hecker, Spanaway. 5. Kyle Swenson, Shelton. 6. Brian Izzi, Olympia. 7. Jay Biggs, Hoquiam. 8. Eddie Blood, Olympia. 9. Chuck Woodbury, Montesano. 10. Cory Sweatman, Cosmopolis. Heat 1. T. Sweatman. 2. Simpson. 3. Biggs. 4. Izzi. 5. Woodbury. Heat 2. 1. Blood. 2. Parshall. 3. Hecker. 4. Swenson. 5. Chaz wilder, Elma. Top Qualifier: Sweatman 18.414 73.314 MPH. Top Points (Unofficial) Simpson 890. T. Sweatman 812. Parshall 806. Blood 777. Hecker 762. Izzi 721. Woodbury 673. Biggs 662. Honea 594. Junell 591.
HiLine Homes “Hornets” A Main. 1. Rory Clevenger, Olympia. 2. Dana Austin, Olympia/James Hinkley, Centralia (Cruiser). 3. Rodney West, Parkland. 4. Mike Clingen, Ocosta. 5. Cliff Gill, Aberdeen. Heat 2.
1. Gill. 2. Clevenger. 3. Austin/Hinkley. 4. West. 5. Clingen.
Rolling Thunder “Big Rigs” A Main. 1. Jeff Swanstrom, Rochester. 2. Scott Zahn. Rochester. 3. Dave Barr, Centralia. 4. Steve Smith, Rochester. 5. Brian Wilson, Rochester. Heat 1. 1. S. Smith. 2. Barr. 3. Dustin Smith, Milton. 4. John Nelson, Rochester. 5. Tammy Rodstrom, Federal Way. Heat 2. 1. Mickey Iverson, Rochester. 2. Swanstrom. 3. S. Smith. 4. Zahn. 5. Barr. A Dash. Swanstrom. B Dash. Barr.
