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Brownfield Memorial next for NSCS
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
ELMA, Wash. – On July 20 and 21 it rained like there was no tomorrow in western Washington, as the remains of a typhoon that struck Japan a week earlier had made its way all the way across the Pacific Ocean and struck the Pacific Northwest. It was almost like it was November or December instead of July.
Victimized was the inaugural Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge at Grays Harbor Raceway. The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series event suffered a rare July rainout and was postponed. The NSCS and Grays Harbor Raceway management re-scheduled the event for this weekend, September 14 and 15. Like it was before, the event named for the track's late promoter will pay $10,092 to win and $492 to start on Saturday night.
Roger Crockett of Medford carries a 66-point lead going into the event at the track where he is batting 1.000 in NSCS competition, winning all three races the series held there this season, including the inaugural NSCS event. Crockett has won seven out of 15 races this season, including last Saturday's event at Cottage Grove Speedway in Oregon.
As good as he has been driving for Henderson Motorsports this season, Crockett is clearly one of the favorites to score the big victory this weekend, but he will not be alone. More than 50 winged 360 sprint cars are expected to cram the pit area behind turns three and four.
Shane Stewart of Bixby, Oklahoma is scheduled to be back in the Northwest, driving for Mike and Janie Doyle again. Stewart won three out of five races, including the $10,000-to-win Skagit 360 Nationals, en route to the NSCS Northwest Speed Week title in July. A week after that success, Stewart and scored the Knoxville 360 Nationals victory in Iowa driving the same car. Stewart came back to Washington almost three weeks ago for the World of Outlaws event at Grays Harbor, scoring Doyle's first World of Outlaws victory as a car owner in a thriller over Joey Saldana and Craig Dollansky.
Mitch Olson has two NSCS victories, both coming at Skagit, but hasn't won at Grays Harbor this year. Olson, who sits second in the points behind Crockett, won three events at Grays Harbor in weekly competition last year, and hopes to score his first Grays Harbor victory of the season this Saturday night. Olson had a pair of top ten finishes in Oregon this past weekend.
Oregon's Bill Nutter and British Columbia's Travis Rutz are third and fourth in points and have yet to score victories in NSCS competition. Both drivers, however, have won at Grays Harbor in the past and are threats to win this weekend.
Seth Bergman, last year's Northern Sprint Tour Rookie of the Year, passed this year's leading NSCS Rookie of the Year candidate Robbie Vaughn for fifth place in the standings last week when he earned finishes of second and third. Bergman is driving a brand new car and has yet to finish outside the top five in three starts. Derek Ingalls continues to hold down the seventh position and Evan Funk, second in rookie points, is eighth.
Brock Lemley, winner of two NSCS events, including last Friday's event at Willamette, is expected to attend. The newly crowned Skagit 410 sprint car champion won a NST event at Grays Harbor in August 2004. Lemley is piloting one of the top sprint cars in the Northwest and also should be a threat to win.
Last year's Golden State Challenge champion, Jonathan Allard, is expected to return to Washington for this weekend's event. Allard's brother Stephen and fellow California standout Willie Croft are expected as well. Glenn Borden Jr., newly crowned Grays Harbor Raceway champion, will race also. Making one of the longest tows is Iowa's Joe Beaver, who is a regular at the Knoxville Raceway.
More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at www.racenscs.com. Grays Harbor Raceway's website is at www.graysharborraceway.net.
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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
www.racenscs.com
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