Driver Appreciation Night Produces Some Great Action In Front Of Packed House
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Nikki Gamell)
In addition to the Northwest Extreme Late Model Series being on tap at Sunset Speedway Park there would be six other divisions in competition on Saturday August 23rd for Driver Appreciation Night. Those six classes included the IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks, Northwest Extreme Modifieds, Pure Stock/Womens, Dwarf Cars, and 4-Bee’s.
Seizing the lead on lap five in the IMCA Modified main event was Jerry Schram of Vancouver, Washington and the car to beat. Schram, in his Schram Brothers Excavating/Century III Stables #16 Hughes, would pace the field for the rest of the distance to win his first race of the year.
The Rauch Racing #X3 Victory of Chris Quinn, and also from Vancouver, Washington, would finish in second for car owner Erika Rauch, while Jacksonville’s Mark Wauge would place third in the Schram Brothers Excavating/Century III Stables #16X Shaw for car owner Jerry Schram. The rest of the top five would comprise of Doug Lockwood from Aloha was fourth in his Aloha Station Tavern/Perfection Automotive/Ross Electric/Curtis Trailers #66 Shaw while the #10E of Clark Tenney was fifth.
In the Street Stocks Tony Catalano of Forest Grove would grab the lead late in the feature. Catalano, who started tenth in his Meyers Auto Body/DVC Machine #19 Monte Carlo, made the right moves around Tigard’s Marc Farrar on lap twenty to win and stay out in front to win his second race of the year.
The A.F.T. Racing Engines/Aftermarket Enterprises #5 Camaro of Marc Farrar was second while Sheridan native Mike Lockwood would place his Wildwood Welding/Riverside Manufacturing #43 Camaro in third. Johnny Adams from Portland was fourth in the Gartner Racing/Elwood Racing/Sweere’s Trucking #70 Camaro with Robert Summerhalder, also from Portland and piloting the Shattercrystal.com Game Codes/McCutcheon Fence/A.F.T. Race Engines/Van Raden Industries #32 Camaro, fifth.
In the Northwest Extreme Modifieds Aloha’s Randy O’Connor would show dominance. O’Connor, in the Prime-X Contracting #38 entry, obtained the lead on lap fifteen and blazed the trail the rest of the way. O’Connor would score his second consecutive main event win of his career.
The Hope House/Ri Ky Roofing and Sheetmetal/Kaptain's Kraft Custom T-Shirts #11 Pro of Brandon Potter out of St. Helens was second while Tigard’s Oscar Luckman in the Privateer Racing #96 Dirt Works by Jerry Hoffman was third. The rest of the top five would be made up of the Advocare/Perfection Automotive/Duncan Automotive #00 machine of Brandon Penney from Vernonia in fourth and Tony Hendon in his Hendon Racing #31 was fifth.
The Pure Stock and Womens divisions would be combined together and produce a great car count and some good racing. Gabrielle Hollinger of Banks would start up front and finish up front as she would lead every single lap. It would be the second victory of the season for Hollinger and her All-In Property Investments/Duncan Automotive/Avenue Title Company/Jeremy Martin Racing #60 Firebird team.
Vancouver, Washington’s Bert Pegg was second in the Pegg Boys Racing/Kenton Station/Pfeifer's Mobile Concrete/Local Glaziers #17 Firebird while the Pure Addiction Diesel Performance/S&R Motorz/Courtesy Auto Body #7 Camaro of Forest Grove native Trevor LaBarge was third. Ken Schave, of Brush Prairie, Washington was fourth, drove his Creekside Mortgage #05 Nova to a fourth place finish while the Rogers Repair Service #33 Monte Carlo of Jim Peterson was fifth.
The Auto Truck Wholesale/Van Raden Industries/St. John’s Tire Factory #9 M&M of Ryan Martinez from Portland was extremely quick in the Dwarf Cars. Grabbing the lead on the sixth circuit Martinez would keep himself out in front to win his third victory at Sunset and sixth win overall between SSP and Cottage Grove.
The PSP Powdercoating/FinishLine Technology/Shake and Bake Racing #8 M&M of St. Helens’ Chris McCleary ended up in second and behind him in third was Guy Tow Sr. of Rainier in his Two Guys Racing/Ron Greer Trucking & Excavating/Hicks Family Racing #46 M&M. Creswell native Kevin Hicks was fourth in the Wright Shop/Hicks Family Racing/B-Rad Motorsports #78 Phillpott while The Wright Shop/Hicks Family Racing/B-Rad Motorsports #77 B-Rad of Brad Hicks, also of Creswell was fifth.
The 4-Bee’s would witness another stellar performance from John Gartner. Gartner, of Portland and in his Gartner Racing/Ram Light Truck/ACE Car Detailing/Foot Print Designs #48 Mitsubishi Eclipse, got to the front on lap seven and went on to win his fifth win of 2014.
Jeremy Hughes of Portland in his Hughes Racing #10 would wind up second and coming home in third was Nick Henry from North Plains piloting the Henry Racing/Joe’s Autobody and Paint/Social Lies Pub and Grill #22 Dodge Neon. Jake Henry of North Plains in his Henry Racing/Joe’s Autobody and Paint/Social Lies Pub and Grill #77 Toyota Celica was fourth followed by the Van Raden Industries/Sweere’s Auto Body/Rabourn Performance/Keevan Motorsports #5.0 machine of Mike Keely from Hillsboro in fifth.
Sunset Speedway Park will be quiet during Labor Day Weekend but will return to action on Saturday September 6th for the Topless Modified Mayhem presented by Dancin’ Bare. Classes in action include Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Dwarf Cars, and the 4-Bee’s. For more information log on to www.sunsetspeedwaypark.com.
Race Summary:
Driver Appreciation Night
Saturday August 23rd, 2014
Sunset Speedway Park
Banks, Oregon
IMCA Modifieds
A Feature: 1. 16-Jerry Schram; 2. X3-Chris Quinn; 3. 16X-Mark Wauge; 4. 66-Doug Lockwood; 5. 10E-Clark Tenney; 6. 09-Robert Duncan; 7. 62-Cody Jones; 8. 96-Oscar Luckman; 9. 2G-Brad Gentry; 10. 63-Mike Swere; 11. 8-Rob Ireland; 12. 68-Bubba Foster; 13. 00-Kent Dollarhyde; 14. 37-Steve Suckow
Northwest Extreme Modifieds
A Feature: 1. 38-Randy O'Connor; 2. 11-Brandon Potter; 3. 96-Oscar Luckman; 4. 00-Brandon Penney; 5. 31-Tony Hendon
Street Stocks
A Feature: 1. 19-Tony Catalano; 2. 5-Marc Farrar; 3. 43-Mike Lockwood; 4. 70-Johnny Adams; 5. 32-Robert Summerhalder; 6. 3-Earl Claypool; 7. 83-Doug Scott; 8. 02-Rod Lowe; 9. 7-Doug Pitsch; 10. 87-Shawna Long; 11. 00-Terry Mason; 12. 37-Freya Smith; 13. 14-Brian Roden; 14. 01-Dave Clancy; 15. 96-Danny O'Neil; 16. 18-Roger Hubbard
Pure Stocks/Womens
A Feature: 1. 60-Gabrielle Hollinger; 2. 17-Bert Pegg; 3. 7-Trevor LaBarge; 4. 05-Ken Schave; 5. 33-Jim Peterson; 6. 02-Marcie Treat; 7. 79-James Baker; 8. 22-Jimmy Biggs; 9. 58-Terry Houck; 10. 24-Cori Vandercoevering; 11. 53-Scott Hoodenpyl; 12. 25-Michael Vandercoevering; 13. 66-Kendall Lee
Dwarfs
A Feature: 1. 9-Ryan Martinez; 2. 8-Chris McCleary; 3. 46-Guy Tow Sr.; 4. 78-Kevin Hicks; 5. 77-Brad Hicks; 6. 51-Dan Coutts; 7. 33-Bill Lamm; 8. 3-Jessica Eaton
4-Bee's
A Feature: 1. 48-John Gartner; 2. 10-Jeremy Hughes; 3. 22-Nick Henry; 4. 77-Jacob Henry; 5. 5.0-Mike Keely; 6. 32-David Weaver; 7. 97-Joe Loy; 8. 38-Jason Gilman; 9. 7-Gary Jones; 10. 21-Travis Koch; 11. 82-Bo Jones; 12. 98-Thomas Calhoun; 13. 53-Lonnie Jackson