2015 Will Be Sixth Season For NELMS
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Alyssa Jones)
Cottage Grove, Oregon- For the last five years the Northwest Extreme Late Model Series has been dazzling dirt track fans every time the race track. Collecting a wealth of talented drivers that include some of the best in the entire region the tour will be in action for the sixth season in 2015. As NELMS enters it's new season we take a brief look at some of the drivers that have had the honor to be named champion as well as a look at the updated series all-time win list. Looking at the list there have been sixty-nine races with fifteen different drivers picking up a win.
But before we look into the win list we want to recognize one of the rising stars of the sport and that is the defending champion Brad Martin. The Warren youngster may not have visited victory lane last year but he did post an impressive nine top five finishes in main event action. What is even more impressive is out of the nine top fives, eight of them were second place finishes. 2015 will see Brad chauffeuring an IMCA Modified leaving the throne empty for the taking.
“Last year was a great season winning the Late Model series championship,” commented champion Brad Martin, “the only that wasn't great was the not winning part but it still was a memorable season. We had a lot of fun.”
Greg Walters of Banks is a dominant force when it comes to the Northwest Extreme Late Model Series not just in the championship category, with three, but also on the series win list chart. Walters has accumulated a total of thirty-one wins over five seasons including nine in 2014. We mentioned that he has managed to win three championships but what we didn't mention is the two times he has not won the championship he has placed second in the table both times making it his worst finish in points with the series.
2012 champ Jason Wines, currently residing in Bottineau, North Dakota, finds himself second on the all-time win list with his eight victories. Wines would finish second to Walters in the first two seasons of the Northwest Extreme Late Model Series and finally obtained the crown in his third attempt. He relocated to North Dakota a few years ago for work which unfortunately has prevented him from competing with the NELMS group lately.
Corbett's Collen Winebarger has seven wins with the series landing him third on the all-time win list. In fact Winebarger earned the majority of his triumphs in 2013 by having a break out season. In 2014 he won just once but it would be his first ever victory against the Super Late Models at Willamette Speedway.
Over the last five seasons Jerry Schram of Vancouver, Washington has accumulated four wins. Probably the biggest win came in 2012 at Sunset Speedway Park for the Firecracker 100 when he beat out the Super Late Model regulars that ventured up from Willamette Speedway. In 2014 he would post seven top five finishes including a season best second place finish which he managed to do twice.
Finally rounding up the top five on the all-time win list sheet are four drivers tied with one another with three wins apiece. Terry Ferrando of Keizer, Brownsville's Russ Sell, Brady Sell from Salem, and Portland native Joey Tanner all have managed to visit the winner's circle on three occasions with the NELMS throughout the organization's history. In fact Tanner would score a victory last year at the Central Washington State Fair Raceway in Yakima , Washington for car owner Dave Walters.
Trevor Glaser of Tangent is the only driver in series history to have won twice while five drivers have one career victory. Those drivers include Phillip Johnson from Gresham, Bend natives Shaun and Rob Mayea, Albany's Casey Vitale, and Jesse Williamson of Coburg.
Be sure to stay up to date on the latest news regarding the Northwest Extreme Late Model Series by visiting latemodel.nwextremeseries.com. Also don’t forget to “like” the series on Facebook.
Additional Information:
2015 Tentative Northwest Extreme Late Model Series Schedule
April 25th Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
May 9th Cottage Grove Speedway Cottage Grove, OR
May 23rd Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
May 24th Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
May 30th Willamette Speedway Lebanon, OR
June 20th Coos Bay Speedway Coos Bay, OR
June 27th Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
July 4th Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
July 10th Cottage Grove Speedway Cottage Grove, OR
July 11th Cottage Grove Speedway Cottage Grove, OR
July 25th Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
August 8th Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
August 22nd Sunset Speedway Park Banks, OR
September 25th Central Washington State Fair Raceway Yakima, WA
September 26th Central Washington State Fair Raceway Yakima, WA
Former Northwest Extreme Late Model Series Champions
2010- Greg Walters
2011- Greg Walters
2012- Jason Wines
2013- Greg Walters
2014- Brad Martin
Northwest Extreme Late Model Series Win List (2010-2014)
Greg Walters- 31
Jason Wines- 8
Collen Winebarger- 7
Jerry Schram- 4
Terry Ferrando- 3
Brady Sell
Russ Sell
Joey Tanner
Trevor Glaser- 2
Billy Workman Jr.
Phillip Johnson- 1
Shaun Mayea
Rob Mayea
Casey Vitale
Jesse Williamson