Ron Bennett
For The New Era
Sportsman, Super Sport & Outlaw
Dirt Late Models
Lebanon, Oregon August 21st.
Wet and wild are probably the best words to describe Saturday night?s racing action at Willamette Speedway. With the Fast Four Trophy Dashes and the heat races completed, rain stopped the racing after the completion of the Sportsman C-Main and half way through the Sportsman B-Main. After a brief shutdown, the Sportsman B-Main was completed and the rain returned. With 6 main events remaining on the program, the rain stopped and the drivers once again took to the track to mud-it-in and the program continued. After the Sportsman and Super Sport features were complete, it was apparent that most cars were running at least a second and a half under their qualifying times and that the track was ?scary? fast.
When the 40 lap Outlaw main event rolled on to the track, the crowd knew that this would not be an ordinary run-of-the-mill feature race. Lap one saw front row starters Scott Byrum and John Campos in the lead and lap 2 saw second row starter Russ Sell under Campos for second. Lap 6 saw a six or seven car mid-pack tangle block the track between turns one and two and brought out the red flag. 13th starting Bill Workman pitted with damage and was the first car out of the event. The lap seven restart saw the Byrum/Sell battle continue. Going in to turn 3 on the 13th lap Sell attempted to squeeze under Byrum, contact was made and Byrum hit the turn 3 wall nearly head-on. Byrum, who was seeking his 2nd win of the season, was finished and Sell pitted with damage on the lap 13 restart. Lap 14 saw 10th starting Rob Mayea in the lead followed by John Campos and 16th starting Bob Boyd who had rocketed through the pack in pursuit of Mayea.
Lap 15 saw Boyd pass Campos and begin a hard battle with Mayea that saw the pair run side-by-side and exchange the lead a few times before Boyd clipped the front stretch wall, saved it and then ground to a stop hard against the inner wall. The yellow flew to remove Boyd?s crippled car and the green flew again to start lap 24 with Mayea, 14th starting Trevor Glaser, John Campos, Jerry Schram and 13th starting Randy Boyd filling the top five spots. Lap 29 saw Mayea break an axle tube, quickly move to the outside and begin to fall back. Glaser led lap 30 over a fading Mayea and Jerry Schram took the number two spot. The yellow flew for rain on lap 33 with the red appearing on lap 34 to stop the event six laps short of the 40 lap mark. At the red it was Glaser, Jerry Schram, Randy Boyd, Dan Kingsberry and defending track champ Tory Swayngim in the top five. 6th through 10th went to Steve Moore, John Campos, Rick Hodges, B-Main transfer Mike DeSilva and a badly disappointed Rob Mayea. Lady Luck played no favorites as Mayea, Bob Boyd and Scott Byrum were the top three in points going in to the event and each was sidelined while leading or fighting for the lead.
Most of the starting line-up had run under the fastest qualifying time set by Bob Boyd at 14.677 seconds and were running right on the edge-of-control or out-of-control, depending on who you talked to following the event.
All of the drivers in the 8 main events had faced the fastest, smoothest and dangerously tacky track of the 2004 season and most ran some of the fastest laps of the year in a race that will not soon be forgotten by Willamette Speedway fans. It was the 3rd win of the season for Glaser, who has had a mixed season of high points and low points.
Ron Berry won the Super Sport feature over Ron Burchard, Todd Shandy, Randy Boyd and Mike Scofield. Berry, who is third in Super Sport points, gained some ground on the points leading, Mike Byrd owned, #83 driven by the Boyd brothers and Burchard who currently ranks 2nd in the S.S. point standings.
Sportsman division points leader David Cronk?s win in the Sportsman feature, added to his 200 point lead over Albany veteran Jim Sapp and he is nearing the point where just starting the remaining four points races will give the Cronk Family Race Team a third consecutive Sportsman Division Championship title. David won the 2002 title and brother Lance won the 2003 crown in the same car. Glenn Blanton, Brad Landers, Jim Sapp and Brad Lehto were the top-five in the feature.
Next Saturday night will see all three divisions return in a full program of racing at Willamette Speedway.
Summary: Sportsman division ? 43 entries.
Fast time ? 16.038 ? David Cronk-Portland.
Fast Four Trophy Dash ? David Cronk.
1st Heat race: 1-Jared Steward-Sweet Home, 2-Kendall Lee-Forest Grove, 3-Anne Campbell-Dallas.
2nd Heat race: 1-John Williams-Albany, 2-Billy Slover-Salem, 3-Floyd Thorp-Albany.
3rd Heat race: 1-Derrick Larkin-Hillsboro, 2-Paul Moses Jr.-Stayton, 3-Jason McKerrall-Dayton.
4th Heat race: 1-David Perez-Lebanon, 2-Zac Hales-Scio, 3-Darryl Blanchard-Depoe Bay.
5th Heat race: 1-Fred Lang-Dallas, 2-Dale Holland-Portland, 3-Glenn Blanton-Dallas.
6th Heat race: 1-Bill Tewalt-Lebanon, 2-David Cronk, 3-Jim Sapp-Albany.
C-Main event: 1-Rob Burchard-Albany, 2-Billy Slover, 3-Steve Piefer-Lebanon, 4-Kendall Lee, 5-Jared Steward, 6-Anne Campbell, 7-Christian Keeney-Sweet Home, 8-Bill Ayers-Independence, 9-Jim Kimball-Marion, 10-Gary Archer Sr.-Brownsville, 11-Floyd Thorp, 12-Rachel Miller-Lebanon, 13-Bob Jolley-Gaston, 14-David Bennett-Lebanon.
B-Main event: 1-Darryl Blanchard, 2-Eric Jarnport-Monmouth, 3-Sue Futral-Sweet Home, 4-Kevin Campbell-Dallas, 5-Derrick Larkin, 6-Chris Mott-Salem, 7-Chris Bishop-Lebanon, 8-Scott Nagel-Beaverton, 9-Kye Frick-Sweet Home, 10-David Perez, 11-Zac Hales, 12-Keith Banta-Canby, 13-Jason McKerrall.
A-Main event: 1-David Cronk, 2-Glenn Blanton, 3-Brad Landers-Lebanon, 4-Jim Sapp, 5-Brad Lehto-Lebanon, 6-Gary Archer-Brownsville, 7-Mike Wolff-Scotts Mills, 8-Anthony Hopper-Lebanon, 9-Dale Holland, 10-Bill Tewalt, 11-Fred Lang, 12-Gregg Shandy-Albany, 13-Jason Sommer-Lebanon.
Summary: Super Sport Division ? 20 entries.
Fast Time ? 15.680 ? Glen Hackney-Lebanon.
Fast Four Trophy Dash ? Dean Archer-Halsey.
1st Heat race: 1-Tony Seeley-Salem, 2-Mike Zielinski-Veneta, 3-Bob Kingsberry-Lebanon.
2nd Heat race: 1-Ron Berry-Salem, 2-Bob Day-Lebanon, 3-Randy Barley-Albany.
3rd Heat race: 1-Randy Boyd-Lebanon, 2-Todd Shandy-Albany, 3-Ron Burchard-Philomath.
B-Main event: 1-Tony Seeley, 2-Mike Zielinski, 3-Doug Mott, 4-Bob Kingsberry, 5-Larry Zielinski-Venata, 6-George Fuller-Salem.
A-Main event: 1-Ron Berry, 2-Ron Burchard, 3-Todd Shandy, 4-Randy Boyd, 5-Mike Scofield-Eugene, 6-Dean Archer, 7-Rob Hoefs-Newport, 8-Michael Day-Salem, 9-Bob Day, 10-Bill Storey-Jefferson, 11-Randy Barley, 12-Bill Payne-Albany, 13-Larry Phillips-Salem, 14-Glen Hackney.
Summary: Outlaw Division ? 35 entries.
Fast time ? 14.677 ? Bob Boyd-Albany.
Fast Four Trophy Dash ? Trevor Glaser-Tangent.
1st Heat race: 1-Gary Smith-Lebanon, 2-Kevin Keeney-Sweet Home, 3-Sandy Sanders-Eugene.
2nd Heat race: 1-Mike DeSilva-Springfield, 2-Virgil Bradbury-Aumsville, 3-Jeff Wright-Newport.
3rd Heat race: 1-Casey Vitale-Lebanon, 2-Wayne Sturdevant-Sprongfield, 3-Rick Hazen-Redmond.
4th Heat race: 1-Scott Byrum-Lebanon, 2-Dan Kingsberry-Lebanon, 3-Russ Sell-Brownsville.
5th Heat race: 1-Jimmy Schram-Vancouver, 2-Lynn McDonald-Sweet Home, 3-Rob Mayea-Bend.
C-Main event: 1-Sandy Sanders, 2-Kevin Keeney, 3-Gary Smith, 4-Toby Mohr-Redmond, 5-Clint Mitchell-Redmond, 6-John Ziegler-Lapine.
B-Main event: 1-Casey Vitale, 2-Mike DeSilva, 3-Virgil Bradbury, 4-Jeff Wright, 5-Justin Evans-Salem, 6-Todd Maher-Salem, 7-Mark Carrell-Redmond, 8-Brad Short-Metolius, 9-Billy Workman Jr.-Aurora, 10-Lance Lewallen-Oregon City, 11-Rick Hazen, 12-Wayne Sturdevant.
A-Main event: 1- Trevor Glaser, 2-Jerry Schram, 3-Randy Boyd-Lebanon, 4-Dan Kingsberry, 5-Tory Swayngim-Lebanon, 6-Steve Moore-Scio, 7-John Campos-Redmond, 8-Rick Hodges-Albany, 9-Mike DeSilva (B-Transfer), 10-Rob Mayea, 11-Jimmy Schram, 12-Craig Hanson-Albany, 13-Bob Boyd, 14-Casey Vitale (B-Transfer), 15-Scott Byrum, 16-Russ Sell, 17-Lynn McDonald, 18-Bill Workman-Aurora.