Alger, WA – In what was a sunny day and warm night at Skagit Speedway, drivers found multiple grooves of racing throughout the night which made for a spectacular night of racing for both fans and drivers! Seth Bergman led the field to the checkered flag on Saturday night in the 360 Sprint Cars, as did Cory Swatzina in the Sportsman Sprints, Cliff Ballenger in the Outlaw Tuners, and Craig Moore in the Shipwreck Beads Modifieds.
With a 360 field of 23 cars, it was a highly competitive night amongst some of the best drivers in the Northwest. Eric Fisher kicked the night off with an 11.768 second lap to take the MyTrafficMan.net Quick Time award. In the A-Feature, Matt Jensen took the early lead and began to distance himself from the field until a lap 18 tangle with lapped traffic that sent him to the tail of the field. From there, Austen Wheatley took the lead as ASCS National Tour star Seth Bergman closed in, running the low groove of the racetrack. Wheatley continued to lead until lap 21, where the track’s slick conditions got the best of him as the 44W spun in turn two, handing the lead to the 23 car of Bergman. The driver from Snohomish, Washington took home the race win as Colton Heath, Brock Lemley, Austen Wheatley and Derek Roberts rounded out the top five. Heat Race wins went to Bergman, Kelsey Carpenter, and Colton Heath. Justin Youngquist won the B-Main.
In the Cook Road Shell Sportsman Sprint Cars, Cory Swatzina found Victory Lane for the second consecutive week and now leads the field of drivers in the championship chase by 13 points. Subbing for an injured Bill Rude, Bud Ashe led the first few laps of the Sportsman Sprint A-Main until the 46 machine of Zach McCabe found a line on the high side of the racetrack to take the lead from Ashe. McCabe felt pressure from the 2 car of Swatzina who stuck to the low line of the racetrack while McCabe ran the cushion until Swatzina cleared to make the pass coming out of turn two. After a four lap battle for the lead that swapped the head position multiple times, Swatzina used lapped traffic to his advantage to take home the checkers. Zach McCabe, Tyler Fox, Robbie Price and James Bundy rounded out the top five. The MyTrafficMan.net Quick Time award went to Tyler Fox and Heat Race wins went to James Bundy, Robbie Price, and Michael Hodel.
The Shipwreck Beads Modifieds returned to Skagit Speedway for the first time of 2014 on Saturday night and the racing did not disappoint! Defending Skagit Speedway Modified Champion Craig Moore returned to the 3/10 mile oval and showed the field how it is done. After showing up to the track late, Moore was forced to start the A-Main at the tail of the field. Moore spent the first ten laps of the race tracking down Kris Asche and took the helm at lap 11. The defending champion’s son Kyler began running his dad down in the closing laps but didn’t have enough to steal the win from his dad. Kyler finished second, followed by Kris Asche, Leroy Lawhead and James Wolford rounding out the top five. The Heat Race winner was Alan Muenchow. The Shipwreck Beads Modifieds return to Skagit Speedway on May 31!
Cliff Ballenger took home the Outlaw Tuner Main Event win, but after dropping back to as far as fifth on a restart, had to work for the hardware. With multiple caution flags plaguing the first half of the race, the field finally spread themselves out and great racing ensued. With charges from Matt Ploeg, Brandon Berg and Freddie Vela, Ballenger continued to keep his eyes set on the checkers and came home with the win. Freddie Vela, Brandon Berg, Matt Powers, and Brian Michelson rounded out the top five. Heat Race wins went to Ballenger and Clint Meins.
Article Credit: Speedway Staff