Olson sixth, his best Dirt Cup finish
ALK Promotions, June 22
ALGER, Wash. - A year ago, Mitch Olson was very disappointed with his 19th place finish in the 2007 Dirt Cup Race of Champions. This year, he wanted a top-five finish.
He’ll take sixth any day.
It was the Puyallup, Wash. drivers best career finish in the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway. Olson started Saturday’s Dirt Cup Race of Champions in the ninth position, based off points accumulated from preliminary night action on Thursday and Friday, and stayed out of trouble in a crash-marred race to finish in the top ten.
Last year’s runner-up in the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series point standings finished fourth behind eventual Dirt Cup champion Jayme Barnes and California standouts Tim Kaeding and Tyler Walker in Thursday’s 25-lap preliminary feature after leading the first ten laps. Earlier that evening Mitch qualified 20th with a solid 11.959 second lap and finished third in the fifth heat race to transfer to the A-Main. Following Thursday’s races, Olson was ninth in Dirt Cup points.
Friday night saw Olson improve significantly in qualifying. He was eighth fastest out of 50 cars with a time of 11.633 seconds, which slotted him to start inside the second row in the third heat race. He finished second behind Jeff Hodgson to transfer to the A-Main. Olson started ninth and came home 12th, solidifying his place in Saturday’s Race of Champions.
Olson remained ninth in points, putting him inside the fifth row alongside three-time Dirt Cup champion Brent Kaeding. He missed starting in the row ahead of him by only two points.
Piloting the Mike Olson No. 98m Shark-powered KPC sponsored by SC Fuels, Pro-Vac, Olson Bros. Excavating and PRS Group, Mitch ran eighth early in the 40-lap event and moved into seventh later on. Just before a lap 27 red flag, Olson moved by former track champion Jesse Whitney for the sixth spot, where he would stay the rest of the event.
Olson’s finish in part came thanks to his ability to stay out of the carnage that claimed some of the other cars Olson directly competed with, including Brent Kaeding and Aaron Fell, who went for a violent series of flips in turn three late in the race.
Mitch is sitting ninth in the ASCS Northwest Region point standings, and is expected to run the annual Northwest Speed Week, which begins Monday, July 14th at Southern Oregon Speedway in White City.
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Mitch Olson’s sponsors
SC Fuels
Pro-Vac
Olson Bros. Excavating
PRS Group
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Skagit Speedway - Alger, WA: http://www.skagitspeedway.com
ASCS Northwest Region: http://www.ascsnorthwest.com
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