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Kyle Miller scores first NWWT win, extends points lead
Andrew Kunas, NWWT Publicist
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - Kyle Miller has made it no secret that he loves racing sprint cars, and even more he loves racing without the wings. On Saturday, Miller got a reason for loving non-wing racing even more, as he scored his first career IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour feature victory at Cottage Grove Speedway.
Miller, out of Eugene, had good runs all season and, despite not yet winning a race, carried a slim two-point lead over Keary Morris going into the event. Making timely passes and getting timely yellow flags, Miller legitimized his being the points leader and creating some much needed breathing room between himself and his pursuers with just three points races remaining.
Miller's win, his second overall win this year, came aboard the Scott Miller No. 10 Springer-powered XXX. Miller also won a limited sprint car event at Cottage Grove Speedway with the wings on earlier this season.
Albany, Ore.'s Gary Davis, who entered the night third in the point standings, took the lead on the initial start but only led two laps before Lebanon, Ore.'s Jeff Rivers got him on a Lap 3 restart. Davis yielded the second spot to Miller on the next lap.
Rivers, driving the John Rivers No. 45 Chevy-powered Rocket, held off Miller in the early going as they raced on open track, where passing was difficult as they used the bottom of the track in the turns. It was on Lap 13 when they reached traffic Miller was able to take advantage. As Rivers was slowed up, Miller first went high to gain some ground and in Turn 4 went low, using his momentum to get by Rivers to the inside entering the front stretch.
Rivers fought back and regained the lead for just a moment as Miller had his turn getting held up by slower cars, but Miller caught a break as the yellow flag came out and the line-up reverted to the last completed lap, giving Miller the lead back. From there, Miller was never seriously challenged again the rest of the way.
"We worked really hard. It's nice for it to finally pay and get a win," said Miller, who acknowledged he caught a break with the yellow flag that gave him the lead back. "It was a fun race. I just wish we had more green flag laps. Jeff and Gary both had good cars, and we had a yellow go our way."
Rivers held on to take second place, his best finish of the season. It was the second time Rivers and Miller raced for the lead in a NWWT main event, and the outcome was the opposite from their race on May 23rd, which saw the two crash out together, including Rivers going for a wild series of flips. Though he was back racing a couple of weeks after the accident, Rivers has still not fully recovered as he still experiences pain in his body, most notably a bum right knee.
"It was a blast, to come back from our crash (to finish 2nd). I had fun racing with Kyle," said Rivers, who is in his first year racing non-wing cars. "We had motor problems at the end, got tight, (but) it's a blast. We're getting (wingless) figured out."
Davis would finish third in the Bob Farwell No. 30 Chevy-powered XXX, continuing his run of Top 10 finishes this year. Morris, out of Brush Prairie, Wash. finished fourth in his own No. 11x Chevy-powered Eagle after racing with Theo McCarty and Dale Smith throughout the race. McCarty took the fifth position in the Roy Crouch No. 24 Maxim. Smith, who won the last IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour event on July 18th, finished sixth in his brother Marvin's No. 41 Rodgers-powered Rocket.
Mike Romig, who started 14th, finished seventh in his own No. 22 Rayburn-powered Eagle. Joe Bosso Jr. drove from the 19th starting position to finish an impressive eighth in the Bosso Racing No. 69 S&J-powered Gambler. Mark Herz finished ninth in his own No. 28 Howard-powered F5 and Kyle Mehner drove from 17th to round out the Top 10 in the Don Mehner No. 7k Gaerte-powered DRS.
By taking the green flag in the main event, 20-year-old Raquel Ivie became the first female driver in the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour's short history. Tagging the back of the field and starting 21st, Ivie stayed out of trouble and drove to a fine 12th place finish. Only Romig, who moved up 11 positions, advanced further from his original starting position.
Like Ivie, local limited sprint car racer Zach Spaulding also took his wings off and tagged the back of the field, driving to a 14th place finish.
Miller paced the 22-car field in qualifying with a lap of 13.433 seconds around the 1/4-mile, high-banked clay oval. Heat race victories went to Nick Tomlinson, Sammy Wright and Kyler Barraza, all three of whom had problems in the feature. Barraza spun out twice and Tomlinson crashed out. Wright slid off the track and was freight trained by the rest of the field but came back to finish 11th.
The next event for the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour's sprint car division is on September 5th, when the tour makes its Washington debut with the 1st Annual Grays Harbor Non-Wing Shootout at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, which has never seen non-wing sprint cars before. More than 30 cars are expected to take part in the event, which will be the NWWT's biggest of its inaugural season.
More information on the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.
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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
Remaining 2009 schedule
September 5 - Grays Harbor Raceway - Elma, WA (Grays Harbor Non-Wing Shootout)
September 12 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR
September 26 - Non-Wing Nationals at Cottage Gove (non-NWWT event)
October 3 - Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, OR (Lebanon Fall Classic)
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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
Cottage Grove Speedway
Cottage Grove, OR
August 15, 2009
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
22 cars
Fast qualifier: 10 Kyle Miller, 13.433 seconds
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 16 Nick Tomlinson, 2. 69 Joe Bosso Jr., 3. 7k Kyle Mehner, 4. 18 Mike Carrothers, 5. 75 Gary Barnes, 6. 2 Mitch Holte, DNS - 1 Raquel Ivie, 24z Zach Spaulding.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 1w Sammy Wright, 2. 11x Keary Morris, 3. 64 Mark Nichols, 4. 7 Dylan Olsen, 5. 2k Sterling Kane, 6. 22 Mike Romig, 7. 55 Mike Baker.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 87 Kyler Barraza, 2. 30 Gary Davis, 3. 41 Dale Smith, 4. 45 Jeff Rivers, 5. 10 Kyle Miller, 6. 24 Theo McCarty, 7. 28 Mark Herz.
Feature (25 laps, time): 1. 10 Kyle Miller, 2. 45 Jeff Rivers, 3. 30 Gary Davis, 4. 11x Keary Morris, 5. 24 Theo McCarty, 6. 41 Dale Smith, 7. 22 Mike Romig, 8. 69 Joe Bosso Jr., 9. 28 Mark Herz, 10. 7k Kyle Mehner, 11. 1w Sammy Wright, 12. 1 Raquel Ivie, 13. 7 Dylan Olsen, 14. 24z Zach Spaulding, 15. 55 Mike Baker, 16. 64 Mark Nichols, 17. 2 Mitch Holte, 18. 75 Gary Barnes, 19. 2k Sterling Kane, 20. 87 Kyler Barraza, 21. 16 Nick Tomlinson, DNS - 18 Mike Carrothers.
Lap leaders: Gary Davis 1-2, Jeff Rivers 3-12, Kyle Miller 13-25
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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
http://www.nwwinglesstour.com
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Ivie makes wingless debut, finishes 12th with NWWT
Andrew Kunas, NWWT Publicist
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - Raquel Ivie's 2009 season hasn't been the most friendly one for the 20-year-old sprint car racer out of Eugene. A couple of hard crashes left Raquel and her family rebuilding cars and her confidence a little shaken. Then came Saturday night's program at Cottage Grove Speedway, which was hosting the IXL NorthWest Wingless Tour.
Already racing their limited sprint car in weekly competition at Cottage Grove, the Ivie family felt it was a good idea to have their daughter remove the wings and race with the NWWT for some additional seat time. Raquel admits she wasn't so sure about it at first. Those wingless cars look like they're quite a handful.
Now she's glad she did it, and not just for the distinction of being the first female to compete with the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour in its short history.
After her limited sprint car duties were done, Ivie's team went about removing their wings as the prepared to tag the back of the field for the NWWT main event. The team didn't go without help, as a few people from the NWWT, including fellow competitor and former sprint car champion Keary Morris, helped them with setting up their car to make it more ready for wingless competition.
Ivie never ran even a hotlap session without the wings prior to Saturday's main event. Starting 21st, Ivie pleasantly surprised everyone as she stayed out of trouble the entire 25-lap distance, while many other drivers spun out or crashed. Ivie rode around to a 12th place finish with the small motor, nine spots up from her posted starting position. Only Joe Bosso Jr., the 19th starter, moved further up as he gained 11 positions to finish eighth.
"It was pretty fun," Ivie said. "It was pretty much run the bottom, ease it (around the turns), gas it on the straightaways."
"I was little timid about it at first because of how wild they are, but I'm glad I did it. It was fun. I liked it better than I thought it would."
After the races Ivie, a former Roseburg indoor 250cc kart champion, expressed her desire continue racing without the wings. They now plan to run the September 12th NWWT event at Cottage Grove Speedway as well as the October 3rd season finale at Willamette Speedway. Cottage Grove will also host its Non-Wing Nationals, a non-NWWT event, on September 26th.
Ivie and her family are unsure if they will be able to, but they are hoping to secure sponsorship to travel with the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour to Washington on September 5th for the highly anticipated inaugural Grays Harbor Non-Wing Shootout at Grays Harbor Raceway, which has never hosted wingless sprint cars before.
With her run on Saturday, Ivie got some valuable seat time and earned some respect from her fellow racers, and the NWWT hopes she'll become a mainstay on the tour next year.
More information on the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.
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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
360 sprint car division
Remaining 2009 schedule
September 5 - Grays Harbor Raceway - Elma, WA
1st annual Grays Harbor Non-Wing Shootout
September 12 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR
October 3 - Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, OR
Lebanon Fall Classic
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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
http://www.nwwinglesstour.com
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