8/18/2015
Grays Harbor Raceway
Vollbrecht, German, & Barr Winners In Front Of Huge Crowd!
The weather was almost perfect at Grays Harbor Raceway and a huge crowd on hand were treated to a great night of racing featuring the Shipwreck Beads Modifieds, Northwest Focus Midgets Series, and the Rolling Thunder Big Rigs.
Northwest Focus Midget Series:
Looking for two in a row, Shorline driver Michael Vollbrecht led the field to the green flag in the 20 lap Northwest Focus Midget Series feature. Nick Evans of Granite Falls took the early lead from Vollbrecht going down the front stretch. Vollbrecht look to the inside of Evans out of turn four to take the lead and was successful. Ryan Cully of Alger ran in the third position with McCleary's Garrett Thomas in fourth. Vollbrecht started to pull away as Cully and Evans battled for the second position.
The first caution of the feature came out on lap 15 for Ray Stebbins of Seattle spinning to a stop in turn two. On the restart Vollbrecht got a great restart, as Cully looked to the outside of Evans for second. Evans got the position back, but the yellow flag flew once again, this time for Nik Larson of Graham as he slowed to a stop in turn two. Vollbrecht once again led the field to the green, giving Evans and Cully another shot for the lead. Vollbrecht getting another great restart started to pull away from the rest of the field and would go on to win his first Northwest Focus Midget Series feature at Grays Harbor Raceway, and two wins in a row in the series. Evans, Cully, Garrett Thomas, and Seth Hespe rounded out the top five. Earlier in the evening Vollbrecht and Evans picked up heat race wins, with Vollbrecht picking up a clean sweep with fast time.
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
Carl Larson of Kelso and Brian Izzi of Hoquiam led the field to the green flag in the 25 lap Shipwreck Beads Modified feature. Larson took the early lead, with Raymond's Bill Rowe moving into the second spot. Rowe didn't take long to work his way to the back bumper of Larson. Cosmopolis driver Tom Sweatman moved into the third position. Larson continued to lead, as Rowe looked to the outside to try and make a pass for the lead. The first caution of the feature would be for Don Martin of Yakima on lap 3. On the restart, Larson led Rowe, and Sweatman to the green flag. Contact between Aberdeen's Austin Kerrigan and Rowe brought out the caution as Rowe made contact with one of the tires on the backstretch.
Larson led the field to the green flag, but saw trouble on lap 4, as contact between Larson and Sweatman in turn two, causing Larson to spin into the infield brought out another caution giving up the lead to Aberdeen driver Zack Simpson. Simpson led the field to the green flag with Shelton's Kris Asche, Scott Miller of Shelton, and Wishkah driver Joe German chasing him down. Asche took the lead from Simpson out of turn two on the low side of the raceway. A battle between Asche, Simpson, Miller and German had the fans up on their feet making a four car battle for the lead. Lap 17 saw a three car battle for the lead between Asche, Miller and German, Asche continued to lead but one mistake could cost the top spot. On a late race restart, German look to the outside of Asche for the lead in turn three, German running the high side of the raceway took the lead from Asche. At the end of the 25 lap feature Joe German would hold on and pick up the feature, Miller, Austin Kerrigan, Asche and James Wolfard rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Graham Cook, Scott Miller and Joe German.
Rolling Thunder Big Rigs:
Tammy Rodstrom of Edgewood led the field to the green flag in the Rolling Thunder Big Rigs 25 lap feature, although it was Brian Wilson of Rochester getting the jump, Rodstrom looked to the inside of Wilson in turn two, and got the lead back down the backstretch, Wilson then took the lead back from Rodstrom out of turn four. Dustin Smith of Tacoma would get sideways in turn two, almost getting into the wall and the race continued under green. Lap 4 saw a battle for the lead between Wilson and Rochester driver Scott Zahn, along with Centralia's Dave Barr looking to make it a three truck battle for the lead. Zahn took the lead from Wilson, and started to pull away from the field.
A late race incident saw Zahn spin in turn two, collecting Mike Gibbons of Rochester doing major damage to the front end of Gibbon's truck. A late race restart saw a battle between Barr, Zahn and Wilson, Zahn looked to the outside of Barr, both drivers raced side by side down the backstrech coming to the white flag. Zahn slipped up in turn one, and Barr pulled away picking up the Rolling Thunder Big Rigs feature event. Zahn, Wilson, Rodstrom, and Leo Norris rounded out the top five. Heat race winners earlier in the evening were Brian Wilson and Mike Gibbons.
Racing will resume next Saturday night with the 360 Sprint Cars, Shipwreck Beads Modifieds, Outlaw Tuners, and the final appearance of the season for the Pacific Hard Top Racing Association Dwarf Cars. Gates open at 5:30 PM with racing starting at 7:00 PM.
Grays Harbor Raceway
August 15, 2015
Northwest Focus Midget Series:
Fast Time:
4 Michael Vollbrecht
Heat 1:
- 4 Michael Vollbrecht, 2. 3 Seth Hespe, 3. 14 Garrett Thomas, 4. 19 Thomas Walker, 5. 92 Doug Anderson, 6. 39R Kenzi Thomas, 7. 43 Lee St. Paul
Heat 2:
- 24 Nick Evans, 2. 21J Ryan Cully, 3. 13A Aly Pyles, 4. 16 Nik Larson, 5. 2A Renee Angel, 6. 14D Doug Davidson, 7. 98 Ray Stebbins, 8. 9T Tristin Thomas
Feature:
- Vollbrecht, 2. Evans, 3. Cully, 4. Garrett Thomas, 5. Hespe, 6. Anderson, 7. Walker, 8. Kenzi Thomas, 9. Angel, 10. St. Paul, 11. Pyles, 12. Davidson, 13. Stebbins, 14. Larson
Shipwreck Beads Modifieds:
Heat 1:
- 75C Graham Cook, 2. 44 Del Schnitzer, 3. 66W Aaron Weston, 4. 4R Bill Rowe, 5. 47 Steve Signal, 6. 6M Shane Rau
Heat 2:
- 26 Scott Miller, 2. AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 3. 11 Tom Sweatman, 4. 17 Brian Izzi, 5. 43K Shane Kerrigan, 6. 18X Sam Carlisle
Heat 3:
- 75X Joe German, 2. 50K Kris Asche, 3. 12 Zack Simpson, 4. 55 Carl Larson, 5. 58 James Wolfard, 6. 31 Don Martin
Feature:
- German, 2. Scott Miller, 3. Austin Kerrigan, 4. Asche, 5. Wolfard, 6. Sweatman, 7. Simpson, 8. Izzi, 9. Signal, 10. Carlisle, 11. Weston, 12. Schnitzer, 13. Rowe, 14. Cook, 15. Larson, 16. Martin, 17. Shane Kerrigan, 18. Rau
Rolling Thunder Big Rigs:
Heat 1:
- 27 Brian Wilson, 2. 9 Tammi Rodstrom, 3. 48 Tom Rayton, 4. 88 Leo Norris
Heat 2:
- 76 Mike Gibbons, 2. 06 Scott Zahn, 3. 10 Dave Barr, 4. 7 Mickey Iverson, 5. 17 Dustin Smith
Feature:
- Barr, 2. Zahn, 3. Wilson, 4. Rodstrom, 5. Norris, 6. Gibbons, 7. Rayton, 8. Iverson, 9. Smith
Article Credit: Aaron Reed
Submitted By: Steve Beitler
