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Stewart wins sixth NSCS feature
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
YAKIMA, Wash. – Shane Stewart would likely be lying if he said he didn’t like racing with the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series, considering he’d just won his sixth race in nine starts with this series.
Stewart, who calls Oklahoma home, won his third straight NSCS feature event Friday night at Central Washington State Fair Raceway. Even though he’s run only half the race on the NSCS schedule, Stewart is second among all drivers with those six total NSCS main event victories, one behind point leader Roger Crockett of Medford.
Stewart started the scheduled 25-lapper outside the front row with dash winner Travis Rutz on the pole. After a yellow flag on the initial start, Rutz took the lead on the second attempt but lost it to Stewart on lap two when he got into the loose stuff in turn two of the large 3/8-mile clay oval. Stewart would lead 19 laps to win the time-shortened 20-lap feature in front of a crowd of fairgoers who watched the winged 360 sprint cars help open the annual Central Washington State Fair.
Without a full-time promoter, the track had sat dormant since last year’s Northern Sprint Tour finale. Extensive work was done to the track and facility during the week, but the track was still rough and took its toll on race cars. Because of the late hour at a fairgrounds facility, the feature was cut to 20 laps following a rash of yellow and red flags that plagued the first half of the event.
Finishing was a difficult enough task but was most important in gaining a finish Friday. Stewart, winner of the Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge two weeks ago, drove smoothly around the track aboard the Mike & Janie Doyle No. 1 Shaver-powered Maxim. It was his eighth top-five finish in nine starts. His worst finish with the NSCS is seventh, coming at Skagit Speedway in July.
The fourth-starting Crockett, driving the Henderson Motorsports No. 7N Bailey Bros. Eagle, did the same thing and finished second, his 13th top-five finish in 18 starts. Crockett entered the night with a 124-point lead over Puyallup, Wash.’s Mitch Olson. Crockett unofficially lengthened it to 220 as Olson crashed out of the B-Main, failing to make a NSCS A-Main for only the first time.
Crockett, now the only driver to have made all 18 NSCS features, now unofficially only needs 15 points to clinch the inaugural NSCS championship on Saturday. The maximum a driver can earn on a double-points night is 234, which includes show-up points.
Snohomish, Wash.’s Seth Bergman started the Steve Bergman No. 23a Wesmar-powered Eagle 19th for the A-Main after transferring out of the B-Main. Merely surviving the carnage on the track resulted in Bergman’s sixth top-five finish of the season and fourth in his last five races. Bergman was, at first, 11th after three cautions came with just two laps down. Another restart later, there were still only two laps completed, but Bergman fourth himself in sixth after the six cars immediately in front of him all tangled together, with two of them going upside-down. Bergman passed three more cars to move into the top three, but could not chase down Crockett and Stewart.
Robby Vaughn, also out of Snohomish, this season’s top Rookie of the Year contender, finished fourth for his fourth top-five finish of the season in the Jeff Jansma No. 4r Becker. Six-time Grays Harbor Raceway champion Jay Cole finished fifth in his own No. 0J Maxim.
Former Washington resident Travis Cram, who now resides in Knoxville, Iowa, returned to Washington and raced at Central Washington State Fair Raceway for the first time, driving the Ingalls Racing No. 92 Shark-powered entry to a sixth place finish after being caught up in the earlier six-car crash. Steve Vague, who transferred to the A-Main as an alternate after another car scratched, finished seventh in his own No. 08 Rocket with future ARCA racer Tayler Malsam finishing eighth in the Rudeen Racing / Maslam Motorsports No. 26 Maxim. J.J. Dishneau finished ninth in the Michael Newman No. 9j and Rob Held rounded out the top ten in his own No. 68 J&J.
Rutz, entering the night third in points and running fourth in the feature at the time, was one of the six cars in the lap three tangle in turn one and was one of the two cars going upside down. Rutz made repairs in the pit area and returned to finish 12th. Kevin Kirkpatrick, making his first start of the year, qualified for the A-Main and finished 13th. Upcoming standout Colton Heath finished 14th and Idaho’s Joe Ramaker was 15th.
Former NST champion Bill Nutter of Central Point, Ore. was caught up in an accident early in the race also and was unable to continue due to damage. Nutter was scored 19th.
Rick Fauver won the 15-lap B-Main, earning him his qualifying time back and placing him in the eighth starting position for the A-Main. Fauver, however, crashed his car on the warm-up lap, which allowed Vague to also transfer out of the B-Main. Shane Forte’, Bergman and Jayme Barnes also transferred.
Rutz’s victory in the six-lap dash came over Stewart, Vaughn, Crockett, Ramaker and Dishneau, setting the first six starting positions for the A-Main. Heat race victories went to Rutz, Stewart, Cole and Eddie Evans. Rutz’s win was his fourth in heat race action this season, leading all NSCS drivers.
Olson paced the 39-car field in qualifying with a time of 16.144 seconds around the rough 3/8-mile slightly-banked clay oval. Olson failed to transfer out of his heat race after dueling with Vaughn for the final transfer position. Olson was leading the B-Main early when he spun out, and later rolled his car upside down after contact with Rod Perkins.
Five more new drivers raced with the NSCS for the first time, bring the tour’s unofficial total number of different drivers who have competed in at least one NSCS event to 137. The series had its second Iowa representative in Cram and its fourth Montana driver in Phil Dietz, who won this year’s Big Sky Sprint Tour championship, appear on Friday night. The series is averaging 42.5 cars per event in its inaugural season.
The NSCS closes its inaugural season tonight with it second show at Central Washington State Fair Raceway. Qualifying is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. and racing is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at http://www.racenscs.com.
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Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
Central Washington State Fair Raceway
Yakima, WA
September 28, 2007
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
39 cars
Fast qualifier: 98m Mitch Olson, 16.144 seconds
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 8 Travis Rutz, 2. 68 Rob Held, 3. 3N Bill Nutter, 4. 4r Robby Vaughn, 5. 98m Mitch Olson, 6. 76 Shawn Rice, 7. 23a Seth Bergman, 8. 39c Danielle Huson, 9. 98x Bob Stevens, 10. 71 Mike Atkins. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 26 Tayler Malsam, 3. 7x Kevin Kirkpatrick, 4. 4x Chris Adams, 5. 3c Daniel Cernich, 6. 08 Steve Vague, 7. 18 Steve Kilcup, 8. 5sp Rick Fauver, 9. 5h Brad Holmes, 10. 99e Alex Hantell. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 0J Jay Cole, 2. 7N Roger Crockett, 3. 98 Joe Ramaker, 4. 13c Colton Heath, 5. 9x Jayme Barnes, 6. 72 Phil Dietz, 7. 4 Nick Engberg, 8. 15 Dan Dunlap, 9. 12p Randy Pierce, 10. 7D Josh DeWitt. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 96 Eddie Evans, 2. 91 Derek Ingalls, 3. 92 Travis Cram, 4. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 5. 26f Shane Forte’, 6. 69 Rod Perkins, 7. 42 Doug Peters, 8. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 9. 7 J.J. Hickle. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Dash (6 laps): 1. 8 Travis Rutz, 2. 1 Shane Stewart, 3. 4 Robby Vaughn, 4. 7N Roger Crockett, 5. 98 Joe Ramaker, 6. 9j J.J. Dishneau. Finish determines first six starting positions of A-Main.
B-Main (15 laps): 1. 5sp Rick Fauver, 2. 26f Shane Forte’, 3. 23a Seth Bergman, 4. 9x Jayme Barnes, 5. 08 Steve Vague, 6. 12p Randy Pierce, 7. 72 Phil Dietz, 8. 98x Bob Stevens, 9. 9k Danny Kirkpatrick, 10. 3c Daniel Cernich, 11. 69 Rod Perkins, 12. 39c Danielle Huson, 13. 15 Dan Dunlap, 14. 98m Mitch Olson, 15. 4 Nick Engberg, DNS – 5h Brad Holmes, 7D Josh DeWitt, 7H J.J. Hickle, 18 Steve Kilcup, 42 Doug Peters, 71 Mike Atkins, 76 Shawn Rice, 99e Alex Hantell. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main. Steve Vague also transfers due to A-Main car dropping out.
A-Main (20 laps, time): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 7N Roger Crockett, 3. 23a Seth Bergman, 4. 4r Robby Vaughn, 5. 0J Jay Cole, 6. 92 Travis Cram, 7. 08 Steve Vague, 8. 26 Tayler Malsam, 9. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 10. 68 Rob Held, 11. 26f Shane Forte’, 12. 8 Travis Rutz, 13. 7x Kevin Kirkpatrick, 14. 13c Colton Heath, 15. 98 Joe Ramaker, 16. 9x Jayme Barnes, 17. 4x Chris Adams, 18. 91 Derek Ingalls, 19. 3N Bill Nutter, 20. 96 Eddie Evans, DNS – 5sp Rick Fauver (crashed on warm-up lap).
Lap leaders: Travis Rutz 1, Shane Stewart 2-20
NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
http://www.racenscs.com
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