7/20/2015
Grays Harbor Raceway
Johnson, Parshall, and Briggs Sr Feature Winners on Hot Night!
With temperatures pushing 95 degrees, the weather was a huge turn around compared to last weekend at Grays Harbor Raceway. The Sportsman Sprints, Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks, and Outlaw Tuners were on hand this past Saturday night.
Outlaw Tuners:
A pair of Aberdeen drivers, Willie Wright and Ryan Onasch set the front row of the 20 lap feature event, Wright led the field to the green flag and quickly took the lead. Spanaway's Timmy Phillips moved into the second position, before making contact with Wright out of turn four bringing out the yellow flag on lap 1. Wright led the field to the green flag on the restart, as the battle for second was the race to watch between Don Briggs Sr of Wishkah, Aberdeen's Jason Valentine, and Ocean Shores driver Dale Vacknitz Sr.
Briggs Sr took the lead from Wright on lap 6, but the red flag would come out for Humptulips driver Tyler Sundstrom after making hard contact with the tractor tire near a light pole in the infield. Sundstrom walked away from the accident. Briggs Sr led the rest of feature event picking up his first career feature at Grays Harbor Raceway, Jason Valentine and Willie Wright rounded out the top three.
Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks
Jack Parshall of Hoquiam had been looking for a win all season long. Starting on the front row with Ryen Haney of Elma, Parshall led the field to the green flag taking the early lead. It wouldn't take long for Shane Kerrigan of Aberdeen to move into the second spot, but the caution flag would fly for Nick Bramer of Spanaway spinning to a stop in turn 3. Parshall took the lead on the restart, with Haney running second, but the yellow came out once again, this time for Spanaway's Tim Phillips who made contact with the backstretch wall.
The Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks feature was plagued with many caution flags from incidents on the raceway, but that didn't stop the field from exciting the fans on a handful of long green flag runs. Parshall, with no room to make mistakes had Kerrigan, Hoquiam's Jason Tole, and Tom Hecker of Spanaway beating on his back bumper to try and take the top spot. At the end of the 20 lap feature, Jack Parshall picked up his first feature event of 2015, finally knocking the father/son Kerrigan team from the top spot. Shane Kerrigan, Jason Tole, Oakville's Brian Harding, and Austin Kerrigan of Aberdeen rounded out the top five. Parshall also picked up quick time, with the heat races going to Shane Kerrigan, Mike Knox Jr of Tacoma, and Ryen Haney.
Sportsman Sprints:
Sean Johnson of Tulalip and Sedro Woolley driver Trevor Cook set the front row for the 25 lap Sportsman Sprint feature, Johnson took the early lead from Cook, with Kevin Kirkpatrick of Bellingham moving into the third spot. The caution flag would fly for Cook as he would spin, also involved was Joe Lyon of Arlington, and Snohomish driver Brett McGhie, making contact with each other, McGhie continued on. On the restart Johnson pulled away slightly as Kirkpatrick moved into the second spot after the caution involving Cook. Edmond's Devin Barnes running in the fifth position spun in turn one, doing a complete 360 and continued on.
Johnson pulled away from the rest of the field, getting through lap traffic in a very smooth manner, until a late race caution for Cook as he slowed to a stop in turn three on lap 21. Johnson had another great restart as Lance Sargent of Spanaway would be there to pick up on any costly mistake from Johnson. Lap 23 seen another caution for Barnes as he spun to the infield with a broken front axle. Sargent had one last chance at Johnson to take the lead, but at the end of the feature Sean Johnson picked up the win, Lance Sargent, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Tyler Fox of Bow, and Camano Island driver Kyle Secord rounded out the top five. Sean Johnson picked up quick time earlier in the evening with Kevin Kirkpatrick and Joe Lyon winning the heat races.
Racing will resume next Friday and Saturday night with the 16th Annual Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals presented by Finishline Graphics, featuring the top modified drivers in the Northwest looking to pick up the big win. Also on hand will be the Pacific Hard Top Racing Association Dwarf Cars for the Dwarf Cars Nationals. Gates will open at 5:30 PM, and racing will start at 7PM both nights.
Article Credit: Aaron Reed
Submitted By: Steve Beitler
