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Menne holds off Crockett to earn NSCS checkers
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
WHITE CITY, Ore. – It was a win that was a long time coming for Dan Menne.
Menne, out of Fort Jones, Calif. worked through thick traffic and held off point leader Roger Crockett to take the win in Saturday's Northwest Sprint Challenge Series event at Southern Oregon Speedway, becoming the fourth different winner so far in the inaugural NSCS season.
The win was special for Menne, as it was a his first with the Northwest's touring 360 dirt sprint car series since his Northern Sprint Tour triumph on August 4, 2000 at the now closed Portland Speedway. The night he won his lone career NST main event at Portland, his wife was home in Fort Jones caring for a sick daughter. This time around, the happily married man with four girls was able to win in front of his family.
"It's great to get a win like this, this time with my family here," Menne said. "My youngest daughter loves the movie Cars and she thinks I just won the Piston Cup."
It may as well have been the fictional Piston Cup for Menne, who had to fend off one of the most dominate drivers on the west coast in the last decade to win it. Menne took the lead on the start of the 30-lap event and comfortably led the first several laps until the yellow flag came out on lap 11, putting the fourth-starting Crockett, twice a winner already in the NSCS this season, on his tail.
Crockett, the four-time former champion out of Medford who entered the evening with an unofficial 58-point led in the standings, immediately challenged Menne for the lead on the restart, getting to the inside as they went around turns one and two. Menne, however, shut the door on Crockett and used the traffic they entered on lap 17 to his advantage, getting around the slower cars while Crockett got held up.
"I definitely felt Roger back there a few times," said Menne. "Roger's been really good and thankfully traffic didn't cause us too much trouble and it all worked out."
Menne, often a regular at Southern Oregon Speedway and a former winner of the Grove Classic at Cottage Grove Speedway, won in his own No. 1a Maxim with a Gaerte motor.
Crockett, whose worst finish in five NSCS events is a fifth place effort at Skagit Speedway on May 11, finished second for the second time in addition to his two victories aboard the Henderson Motorsports No. 7N Eagle with a Bailey Bros. motor. Crockett won Friday's event at Willamette Speedway.
Cameron Park, Calif. visitor Marc Mackay made a surprise visit to Oregon and ran in the top five throughout the main event and eventually finished third aboard the Bill Mackay No. 86 Rocket with a Borello motor.
Finishing a strong fourth but again losing ground to Crockett was Mitch Olson of Tacoma, Wash. in the Mike Olson No. 98m Rocket with a Shark engine. Olson, who came into the evening second in points and finished second at Willamette, qualified well again but failed to transfer out of his heat race. Olson, who scored the victory on May 11 at Skagit, took the checkered flag in the B-Main event and got his time back as a top-two B-Main finisher, which put him in the seventh starting position instead of 19th or 20th, where he would have started if he finished only third or fourth in the B-Main.
Snohomish, Wash. driver Seth Bergman earned his third straight top-ten as he crossed the finish line fifth after starting ninth. Bergman struggled earlier in the season aboard father Steve Bergman's No. 23a Eagle with a Wesmar motor, but had climbed into the sixth position in points entering Saturday's events.
The other feel good story of the evening was rookie driver Robbie Vaughn. Vaughn's team did about 800 miles of driving between Friday's show at Willamette and Saturday's event at Southern Oregon. Vaughn's car was severely damaged during a melee in Friday's B-Main event that saw him and three others cars go upside-down. Vaughn's crew drove home to Mount Vernon, Wash. to put the car back together and then drove back to southern Oregon, reaching the track in time for qualifying.
The hard work paid off as Vaughn was eighth quickest in qualifying and transferred out of his heat race. Because of non-transfers in other heat races, Vaughn qualified for the dash as well and finished second, putting him outside the front row for the feature, where he eventually finished sixth in the Jeff Jansma-owned No. 4r Becker.
Chico, Calif. ace Tyler Spath, who jumped from 26th to 12th unofficially in points after his third place finish at Willamette, backed that up with a seventh place run on Saturday. Six-time Cottage Grove Speedway champion Dale Smith, who started 19th after transferring from the B-Main, finished eighth. Medford's Todd Zeitler and Placerville, Calif. visitor Jimmy Trulli rounded out the top ten.
Former NST champion Billy Nutter of nearby Central Point brought out the red flag on the initial start when he rolled his No. 3N Zeitler with a homebuilt motor in turns three and four. Nutter, who came in unofficially fourth in points, went to the work area and had repairs done. Despite going to the work area again after contact with Travis Rutz on lap 11, Nutter still finished a respectable 11th.
Rutz, the only Canadian driver in the field, started 20th after finishing fourth in the B-Main event and had worked his way up to the 11th position before the contact with Nutter on the back stretch broke his front suspension. Rutz, third in points going in, finished 19th in the Rutz Racing No. 8r Triple X with a Richmond motor. Evan Funk of Mount Vernon came into the evening fifth in points and finished 16th in the main event after failing to qualify on Friday.
Olson's victory in the 15-lap B-Main came ahead of Eugene's Braeden Etchision, Smith, and Rutz. Sutherlin Ore. driver Rob Held, who made the feature and the dash at Willamette, missed the transfer to the A-Main by only one position.
Menne won the six-lap dash race that featured the fastest heat race transfers and set the first six starting positions for the A-Main. Second-finishing Vaughn was followed by Mackay, Crockett, Zeitler, and Nutter.
Funk took the checkers in the first of four ten-lap heat races. Everett, Wash.'s Jayme Barnes, twice a winner in 410 sprint car competition at Skagit Speedway, won the second heat race while Eugene's Kyle Miller, a regular in the limited sprint division at Cottage Grove, got some seat time in a 360 sprint car and won the third heat. Idaho's Randy Pierce, who finished sixth at Willamette, won the fourth and final heat before finishing 17th in the feature.
Crockett set fast time for the fourth time in five NSCS events, pacing the 29-car field in qualifying with a time of 12.353 seconds around the 1/3-mile, semi-banked clay oval. Crockett was also in the dash for the fourth time as well.
The NSCS finishes its Memorial weekend trip to Oregon with Sunday's event at Cottage Grove Speedway, where the series will race three times in 2007. The NSCS returns to Southern Oregon Speedway for its second and final event at that track this season on Monday, July 23 during Northwest Speed Week.
More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series can be found online at www.racenscs.com.
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Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
Southern Oregon Speedway
White City, OR
May 26, 2007
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
29 cars
Fast qualifier: 7N Roger Crockett, 12.353 seconds
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 8e Evan Funk, 2. 7N Roger Crockett, 3. 23a Seth Bergman, 4. 7D Josh DeWitt, 5. 51 John Farrell, 6. 8r Travis Rutz, 7. 8w Vern Wheeler. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 9 Jayme Barnes, 2. 3N Billy Nutter, 3. 1a Dan Menne, 4. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 5. 5v Kyle Hirst, 6. 73 Danielle Huson, 7. 68 Rob Held. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 10 Kyle Miller, 2. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 3. 91 Derek Ingalls, 4. 2z Todd Zeitler, 5. 75 Dale Smith, 6. 98m Mitch Olson, 7. 4c Charlie Cash. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 12p Randy Pierce, 2. KR14 Tyler Spath, 3. 86 Marc Mackay, 4. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 5. 26f Shane Forte', 6. 24 Braeden Etchison, 7. 92 Seth Hespe. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Dash (6 laps): 1. 1a Dan Menne, 2. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 3. 86 Marc Mackay, 4. 7N Roger Crockett, 5. 2z Todd Zeitler, 6. 3N Billy Nutter. Finish determines first six starting positions of A-Main.
B-Main (15 laps): 1. 98m Mitch Olson, 2. 24 Braeden Etchison, 3. 75 Dale Smith, 4. 8r Travis Rutz, 5. 68 Rob Held, 6. 5v Kyle Hirst, 7. 26f Shane Forte', 8. 8w Vern Wheeler, 9. 73 Danielle Huson, 10. 4c Charlie Cash, 11. 92 Seth Hespe, 12. 51 John Farrell. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
A-Main (30 laps): 1. 1a Dan Menne, 2. 7N Roger Crockett, 3. 86 Marc Mackay, 4. 98m Mitch Olson, 5. 23a Seth Bergman, 6. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 7. KR14 Tyler Spath, 8. 75 Dale Smith, 9. 2z Todd Zeitler, 10. 33t Jimmy Trulli, 11. 3N Billy Nutter, 12. 9 Jayme Barnes, 13. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 14. 91 Derek Ingalls, 15. 24 Braeden Etchison, 16. 8e Evan Funk, 17. 12p Randy Pierce, 18. 7D Josh DeWitt, 19. 8r Travis Rutz, 20. 10 Kyle Miller.
Lap leaders: 1-30 Dan Menne
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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
www.racenscs.com
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