Loomis Wins First Street Stock Race Of ‘13
By Ben Deatherage
Banks, Oregon- Craig Loomis of Vancouver, Washington was on top of the competition in the Street Stocks Saturday night on April 20th for the first race of the year at Sunset Speedway Park. Loomis for the past two years has been the champion at the Banks bullring ¼-mile clay oval and this year is looking for a three-peat. The driver of the Buzz’s Equipment Trailers/City Sprint Delivery/Liberty Welding #01 Camaro also won his second consecutive Season Opener for the Street Stock division.
In the early goings Marc Farrar of Sherwood appeared to be the car to beat in his AFT Racing #5 Camaro. Loomis would track him down and when Farrar got a little loose out of a corner Loomis would pounce on the opportunity. Loomis would show the field the rest of the way for the win.
“It’s really nice to get that points lead early and hopefully from here on out we can maintain it,” said Loomis afterwards, “the track prep was very nice and the night went pretty smooth. I have to give a special thanks to my crew Traci Walck, Steven Neusom, Timmy Corpron, Ben Crase, and Bob Fors for helping me out this weekend.”
Robert Summerhalder of Portland would place his Radical Rearends/McCutcheon Fence/Van Raden Industries #32 Camaro in second followed by the #3 of Earl Claypool from Hillsboro, who recovered from an early race incident, would end the night in third. The balance of the top five would consist of the #44 of Nick Bessette from Battle Ground, Washington in fourth and Forest Grove’s Tony Catalano in fifth in his #19 entry. Both Loomis and Catalano would be heat race winners while earning the victory in the trophy dash was John Ireland from Banks in the #88 machine.
Street Stocks return to Sunset Speedway Park on Saturday April 27th. Also on hand for the evening will be the Northwest Extreme Late Model Series, IMCA Modifieds, PHRA Dwarf Cars, and Women’s. For more information log on to www.sunsetspeedwaypark.com.
Race Summary
2013 Season Opener
Saturday April 20th, 2013
Sunset Speedway Park
Banks, Oregon
Street Stocks
15 Entries
Heat Race Winners: Tony Catalano (1), Craig Loomis (2)
Trophy Dash Winner: John Ireland
A-Feature: 1. Craig Loomis, 2. Robert Summerhalder, 3. Earl Claypool, 4. Nick Bessette, 5. Tony Catalano, 6. Brian Rhoden, 7. Marc Farrar, 8. Rod Lowe, 9. Andrew Johnson, 10. Tom Lauzon, 11. Roger Hubbard, 12. Ben Sauter, 13. Kent Dollarhyde, 14. Johnny Adams, 15. John Ireland