(photo courtesy of Kadi Hurlburt)
After a long hiatus, Banks, Oregon welcomed a familiar sound once again. The roar of the engines, returned to the small rural community for the first time since September of 2019.
In the IMCA Modified division, 19 cars would sign in to the Banks Bullring. Brad Martin would lead the field from the front row for majority of the feature, however a late race caution with 10 laps remaining would prove to be crucial to the finish. On the final restart a driver who was creeping onto the leader prior would get a masterful restart to end the race. That driver would be the Albany ace, Craig Cassell, who was coming off a prior win the week before at the Southern Oregon Speedway. He would show incredible speed late. Cassell would make the pass late and hold on to win the 2021 Season opening main event, over Brad Martin, Blair Shoemaker would make the long haul south of the Washington border to finish 3rd. Mark Carrell and John Gaynor would round out the top 5. Jeremy Martin would join Gaynor and Shoemaker as heat race winners earlier in the evenings action.
In IMCA Stock Car action, we would see a strong field of talented drivers from all over the state. One driver come main event time, was in his own league. Jerry Schram would lead every lap of the 30 lap feature to come home with the win, holding off a strong field behind. Collen Winebarger would come home 2nd, with Kevin Roberts 3rd. David Cronk and Ron Brewster would round out the top 5. Schram and Winebarger would collect heat race wins.
Much like the aforementioned Schram, Joey Tardio knew what he needed in Adventist Health American Classics Main Event action. Tardio would lead all 25 laps. He would have to hold off a couple battles from behind, but each time those battles were short lived. Tardio would come home victorious over Craig Loomis, Jacob Meyers would finish 3rd, with Benny Sauter and Robert Summerhalder rounding out the top 5. Tardio and Meyers would be victorious in heat race action.
In IMCA sport mod action we would see the Corbett hotshoe, Skyler Winebarger, come home with the win. Chris Hallberg would finish 2nd, with Zack Riehl rounding out the evenings podium. Hallberg would win the earlier heat race.
The IMCA Sport Compact division would make its debut to the bullring, with young star Brayden Brookshire leading all 20 laps on way to the main event win. Marissa Gentry would finish 2nd, with Victoria Chandler rounding out the podium. Chandler would win the evenings heat race.
Next race up is June 12, featuring a return to all 5 of these divisions. The program featuring the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, Adventist Health American Classics, IMCA Sport Mods, and IMCA Sport Compacts is set to kick off at 6pm, with front gates opening at 4pm, and hot laps at 5pm prior to the evenings opening ceremonies.