Kunas'
Northwest Report
by Andrew Kunas
"Quick"
Rick Fauver is fastest at Skagit
Andrew
Kunas
Rick
Fauver showed everyone why he's called "Quick Rick" Sunday night at
Washington's Skagit Speedway.
The
veteran driver out of Everett was out front all 25 laps to win the 410 winged
sprint car feature on the second night of Skagit Speedway's 50th
Anniversary show. Fauver, who won another feature at Skagit in July, dominated
the whole race. The former Northern Sprint Tour champion fended off challenges
on two restarts by White Rock, British Columbia's Toni Lutar, who won Saturday's
night feature.
Fauver
and Lutar ran One-Two the whole race, but the next three positions were
contested all race long. Point leader Jesse Whitney of Silver Lake ran third,
but dropped out on lap seven with problems toward his machine's rear end.
Brad
Pritchard ran third following Whitney's misfortune, with Everett's Jayme Barnes
following. Lap nine saw Kyle Johnson exit the track with mechanical problems
after running seventh. Chad Hillier, the only driver in Skagit's 50-year history
to win championships in all three sprint car divisions, moved around Steve
Kilcup to take the fifth position, while Barnes made one attempt after another
to pass Pritchard in traffic.
Brock
Lemley, a mini-sprint standout at Deming Speedway, brought out the red flag on
lap 23 when he hit the turn one wall and flipped. Fauver had a clear track in
front of him for the final three laps and cruised to the win, followed by Lutar.
Pritchard
fended off Barnes and Hillier in a scramble involving slower cars to take third
place. Barnes and Hillier finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Kilcup, Josh
Edson, and Kirk Fellers finished sixth through eighth.
Butch
Gilbert, a veteran of over 40 years who retired after last season, made a
special appearance for the 50th Anniversary show and finished ninth.
Gilbert was also a charter member inducted in the new Skagit Speedway Hall of
Fame on Sunday night.
Acme's
Brandon Harkness won another 360 sprint car feature, but a wild points chase in
the 360 sprint car division just got even more interesting. Andy Jacobson of
Lake Stevens entered the weekend with a three-point lead on Arlington's Jay
Smith. After Anacortes driver Rod Perkins won Saturday with Smith taking second,
Smith had a six-point lead over Jacobson. Sunday night ended with Jacobson and
Perkins tied for the lead. Neither driver, including the 25-year veteran
Perkins, has won a championship at Skagit.
Smith's
six-point lead disappeared when he crashed hard into turn one on a lap nine
restart. Smith was running third at the time and was in good position to
increase the point lead he had over Jacobson and Perkins at the time.
Harkness
made a lap 22 pass around Cory Chamberlain to take the lead just as the two cars
entered traffic in the 25-lap event. Despite a hot motor, Harkness cruised to
the victory after a lap 24 restart following Brian Scott's flip.
Chamberlain
finished second, followed by Tim Levin, Perkins, and Jacobson. Veteran racer
Alan Munn finished sixth. Josh DeWitt, Brian Kirkpatrick, Travis Jacobson, and
Bob Stevens rounded out the top ten.
Kelsey
Carpenter made a return to victory lane after winning the 20-lap sportsman
sprint feature over point leader Danny Bullock. The whole race saw the front
cars run closely together, in and out of traffic. Carpenter ran third early in
the race, but used traffic to take second place from Kelly Barnett in turn two
on lap ten, and did the same at the same spot on the track to take the lead from
Saturday winner Brad Sweeney on the very next lap.
Bullock,
who has a track-high six feature wins this year, ran fourth but worked his way
to second by lap 15. Bullock, however, didn't have anything for Carpenter and
settled for second place. Sweeney, Barnett, and Steve Parker finished third,
fourth, and fifth. Seth Bergman, making his debut in a sprint car, finished a
respectable tenth.
Fauver
started the evening by setting quick time in qualifying for the 410 sprint cars
with a lap of 11.466 seconds around the 3/10-mile, high-banked, clay oval.
Harkness was the fastest driver in 360 sprint car qualifying.
The
410 and sportsman sprints each ran two heat races. Johnson and Aaron Fell
claimed 410 heat victories while Danny Bullock and Andrea Smith won the
sportsman sprint heats. The four 360 sprint car heats were won by Munn, DeWitt,
Hillier, and Stevens.
Dan
Pierson won an 11-lap B-Main for the 360 sprints. Also transferring to the
A-Main with Pierson was Brian Scott.
It
was a historical night as Harley Sutt, Elbert Lemley, Jim Raper, Don Latting,
Harry Weatherby, Art Hillstead, Floyd Grace, Don Jeters Sr., Alida (Raper)
Francisco, Harold Beitler, Thelma Jeters, Charlie Coffland, Bud Morgan, Johnny
Beitler, Lloyd Armey and Gilbert all became the first inductees into the new
Skagit Speedway Hall of Fame earlier in the evening. All members, or family
representatives, were introduced on the front stretch following the opening
ceremonies.
Among
the inductees are former racers, promoters, and track personnel who were
participants in the happenings at Skagit before 1965. The first race at Skagit
was run on Labor Day in 1954.
Sprint
car racing continue on Saturday, September 11 when the 410, 360, and sportsman
sprint cars take to the Skagit clay.
Skagit
Speedway
Alger,
WA
50th
Anniversary, Night 2
September
5, 2004
410
winged sprint cars
17
cars
Fast
qualifier: 5sp Rick Fauver, 11.466 seconds.
Heat
1 (8 laps): 1. 27 Kyle Johnson, 2. 41B Brad Pritchard, 3. 3 Chad Hillier, 4. 8r
Travis Rutz, 5. 88 Jesse Whitney, 6. 77 Kirk Fellers, 7. 73 Brady Dart.
Heat
2 (8 laps): 1. 15 Aaron Fell, 2. 0K Steve Kilcup, 3. 4x Toni Lutar, 4. 5 Jayme
Barnes, 5. 75 Butch Gilbert, 6. 44 Denny Smith, 7. 10 Brock Lemley, 8. 76e Josh
Edson, 9. V8 Jeff Hodgson.
Feature
(25 laps): 1. 5sp Rick Fauver, 2. 4x Toni Lutar, 3. 41B Brad Pritchard, 4. 5
Jayme Barnes, 5. 3 Chad Hillier, 6. 0K Steve Kilcup, 7. 76e Josh Edson, 8. 77
Kirk Fellers, 9. 75 Butch Gilbert, 10. 10 Brock Lemley, 11. 15 Aaron Fell, 12.
73 Brady Dart, 13. 44 Denny Smith, 14. 27 Kyle Johnson, 15. 88 Jesse Whitney,
16. 8r Travis Rutz, DNS - V8 Jeff Hodgson.
-
- -
360
winged sprint cars
31
cars
Fast
qualifier: 29 Brandon Harkness, 11.965 seconds.
Heat
1 (8 laps): 1. 42 Alan Munn, 2. 0K Steve Kilcup, 3. 29h Brandon Harkness, 4. 69p
Rod Perkins, 5. 8a Brian Ash, 6. 1m Drew MacDonnell, 7. 40 Brock Lemley, DNS -
19 Greg Sandquist.
Heat
2 (8 laps): 1. 5 Josh DeWitt, 2. 56 John Youngquist, 3. 96 Eddie Evans, 4. 3p
Dan Pierson, 5. 17AK Bill Balog, 6. 27 Alex Covert, 7. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick.
Heat
3 (8 laps): 1. 24c Chad Hillier, 2. 10c Cory Chamberlain, 3. 5k Brian
Kirkpatrick, 4. 10L Tim Levin, 5. 4m Dawn-L Morrison, 6. 21 Dan Dunlap, 7. 17h
John Huggins.
Heat
4 (8 laps): 1. 98 Bob Stevens, 2. 01 Brian Scott, 3. 22 Travis Jacobson, 4. 59
Andy Jacobson, 5. 5x Bud Ashe, 6. 69e Nick Engberg, 7. 3s Jay Smith.
Semi-Feature
(11 laps): 1. 3p Dan Pierson, 2. 01 Brian Smith, 3. 8a Brian Ash, 4. 27 Alex
Covert, 5. 56 John Youngquist, 6. 5x Bud Ashe, 7. 40 Brock Lemley, 8. 4m Dawn-L
Morrison, 9. 1m Drew MacDonnell, 10. 21 Dan Dunlap, 11. 96 Eddie Evans, 12. 7k
Danny Kirkpatrick.
Feature
(25 laps): 1. 29 Brandon Harkness, 2. 10c Cory Chamberlain, 3. 10L Tim Levin, 4.
69p Rod Perkins, 5. 59 Andy Jacobson, 6. 42 Alan Munn, 7. 5 Josh DeWitt, 8. 5k
Brian Kirkpatrick, 9. 22 Travis Jacobson, 10. 98 Bob Stevens, 11. 17AK Bill
Balog, 12. 3p Dan Pierson, 13. 01 Brian Scott, 14. 0K Steve Kilcup, 15. 24c Chad
Hillier, 16. 3s Jay Smith, 17. John Huggins, 18. 69e Nick Engberg.
-
- -
Sportsman
sprint cars
17
cars
Heat
1 (8 laps): 1. 31 Danny Bullock, 2. 14 Kelleigh Johnson, 3. 17B Kelly Barnett,
4. 65 Brad Sweeney, 5. 21 Chris Pattenaude, 6. 3v Dave Mead, 7. 01 Seth Bergman,
8. 1 Jimmy Dietz, 9. 47r Gene Quanz.
Heat
2 (8 laps): 1. 15s Andrea Smith, 2. 44 Steve Parker, 3. 13 Glen Reinstra, 4. 79k
Kelsey Carpenter, 5. 29w Steve James, 6. 4k Carl Frannsen, 7. 33j Jared Alseth,
8. 15w Lyle Woods.
Feature
(20 laps): 1. 79k Kelsey Carpenter, 2. 31 Danny Bullock, 3. 65 Brad Sweeney, 4.
17B Kelly Barnett, 5. 44 Steve Parker, 6. 15s Andrea Smith, 7. 15w Lyle Woods,
8. 33j Jared Alseth, 9. 21 Chris Pattenaude, 10. 01 Seth Bergman, 11. 4k Carl
Frannsen, 12. 13 Glen Reinstra, 13. 29 Steve James, 14. 3v Dave Mead, 15. 47r
Gene Quanz, 16. 1 Jimmy Dietz, 17. 14 Kelleigh Johnson.
Skagit
Speedway - Alger, WA
www.skagitspeedway.com
Lutar,
Perkins score first wins of season at Skagit
Andrew
Kunas
Night
One of the 50th Anniversary show saw two drivers claim their first
victories of the season and the points lead change in one division Saturday
night at Skagit Speedway.
Rod
Perkins of Anacortes, Washington took his first feature victory of the season
after leading all 25 laps of the 360 sprint car main event. Arlington racer Jay
Smith's second place finish in the same race coupled with Andy Jacobson's eighth
place finish gave him the lead, by a mere six-point margin, over Jacobson in the
360 sprint car points standings. White Rock, British Columbia's Toni Lutar then
capped the night off with his first win of the year in 410 sprint cars.
Jacobson
entered the evening with a very slim 3-point lead over Smith going into the
weekend. Smith ran fifth early in the feature race while Jacobson started much
further back in the field. Using a lap three restart, Smith passed Greg
Sandquist for the fourth position. Smith then passed Alan Munn for third place
in very heavy traffic on lap 15.
Smith
spent the next four laps working on second place runner Tim Levin, while Perkins
continued working his way through slower cars. On lap 19, Smith made his move on
Levin to take second place.
Perkins
entered very thick traffic, allowing Smith and Levin to close in. Perkins caught
a big break on lap 24 when Tony Menard flipped his machine in turn two. Perkins
had a clear track for the remaining two laps and would hold off Smith and Levin.
Greg
Sandquist and Cory Chamberlain finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and Alan
Munn finished sixth in his first of two main events he would run. Brandon
Harkness, Jacobson, Steve Kilcup, and John Huggins rounded the top ten.
Munn
took the early lead in the 410 sprint car feature when pole-sitter Chad Hillier
got loose exiting turn two and fell far back into the field. Lutar would take
the second position behind Munn. Hillier then spun out in turn four on lap three
for a caution.
Hillier,
running third in the 410 sprint car points standings, had a forgettable night,
finishing last in the 360 sprint car feature and also needing an engine change
for his 410 car by the Huson Bros. Racing team. Hillier spun out again on lap
13, ending his difficult night.
Munn's
night came to an end during the caution after Hillier's second spin, as he
suddenly pulled into the pit area with some unknown problem, giving the lead to
Lutar. Lutar pulled away from Jayme Barnes and Rick Fauver in the open, but came
upon traffic, allowing the other two to close in.
On
the final lap, Barnes made a move in traffic exiting turn four, but Lutar
managed to pull out in front of Barnes at the finish to claim his first win of
the year. Barnes finished second with Fauver, Jeff Hodgson, points leader Jesse
Whitney, Edmonton Gold Cup winner Travis Rutz, and Kyle Johnson following. Josh
Edson and Roy Blumenhagen rounded out the top ten.
Brad
Sweeney won his second feature of the year in a crash-marred sportsman sprint
feature that saw three cautions and two red flags. Kelly Barnett finished
second, followed by Chris Pattenaude, Kelsey Carpenter, and Andrea Smith. Point
leader Danny Bullock struggled to an 11th place finish.
Hodgson
started the evening by setting quick time in 410 qualifying with a time of
11.226 seconds around the 3/10-mile, high-banked, clay oval. Harkness set the
fast mark for the 360 sprints with a time of 11.737 seconds.
Cory
Chamberlain, Tony Menard, Steve Kilcup, and Bob Stevens collected heat race
victories in 360 action, while Bullock, Barnett, and Jared Alseth claimed
checkered flags in the three sportsman sprint heats. The two 410 sprint car heat
races were won by Rutz and Brad Pritchard.
Hillier
won the 360 sprint car B-Main, taking Brian Kirkpatrick to the feature event
with him.
Sixty-seven
total sprint cars were on hand for the first night of Skagit Speedway's 50th
Anniversary season. Numerous champions from Skagit Speedway's first 50 years
were on hand. On Sunday, 16 people will be the first inductees to Skagit
Speedway's Hall of Fame. All three classes will be back at it. Points
accumulated from Saturday and also Sunday's qualifying sessions and heat races
will determine the main event line-ups for all three classes.
Skagit
Speedway
Alger,
WA
50th
Anniversary Show - Night #1
September
4, 2004
UNOFFICIAL
RESULTS
410
winged sprint cars
18
cars
Fast
qualifier: V8 Jeff Hodgson, 11.226 seconds.
Heat
1 (8 laps): 1. 8r Travis Rutz, 2. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 3. 4x Toni Lutar, 4. 5 Jayme
Barnes, 5. 42 Alan Munn, 6. 75 Roy Blumenhagen, 7. 73 Brady Dart, 8. 27 Kyle
Johnson, 9. 10 Brock Lemley.
Heat
2 (8 laps): 1. 41B Brad Pritchard, 2. 5sp Rick Fauver, 3. 88 Jesse Whitney, 4.
0K Steve Kilcup, 5. 76e Josh Edson, 6. 77 Kirk Fellers, 7. 44 Denny Smith, 8. 3
Chad Hillier, 9. 69 John Tharp.
Feature
(25 laps): 1. 4x Toni Lutar, 2. 5 Jayme Barnes, 3. 5sp Rick Fauver, 4. V8 Jeff
Hodgson, 5. 88 Jesse Whitney, 6. 8r Travis Rutz, 7. 41B Brad Pritchard, 8. 27
Kyle Johnson, 9. 76e Josh Edson, 10. 75 Roy Blumenhagen, 11. 77 Kirk Fellers,
12. 44 Denny Smith, 13. 42 Alan Munn, 14. 3 Chad Hillier, 15. 0K Steve Kilcup,
DNS - 10 Brock Lemley, 69 John Tharp, 73 Brady Dart.
-
- -
360
winged sprint cars
29
cars
Fast
qualifier: 29 Brandon Harkness, 11.737 seconds.
Heat
1 (8 laps): 1. 10c Cory Chamberlain, 2. 29h Brandon Harkness, 3. 42 Alan Munn,
4. 5 Josh DeWitt, 5. 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 6. 6m Sean Moran, 7. 44h Michael
Harris.
Heat
2 (8 laps): 1. 12v Tony Menard, 2. 59 Andy Jacobson, 3. 69e Nick Engberg, 4. 19s
Greg Sandquist, 5. 24c Chad Hillier, 6. 1m Drew MacDonnell, 7. 5x Bud Ashe, 8.
56 John Youngquist.
Heat
3 (8 laps): 1. 0K Steve Kilcup, 2. 10L Tim Levin, 3. 17AK Bill Balog, 4. 17h
John Huggins, 5. 3p Dan Pierson, 6. 01 Brian Scott, 7. 22 Travis Jacobson.
Heat
4 (8 laps): 1. 98 Bob Stevens, 2. 3s Jay Smith, 3. 40 Wade Kentch, 4. 69p Rod
Perkins, 5. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 6. 8k Brian Ash, 7. 27 Alex Covert.
Semi-Feature
(11 laps): 1. 24c Chad Hillier, 2. 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 3. 56 John Youngquist,
4. 8k Brian Ash, 5. 3p Dan Pierson, 6. 1m Drew MacDonnell, 7. 27 Alex Covert, 8.
01 Brian Scott, 9. 22 Travis Jacobson, 10. 6m Sean Moran, 11. 7k Danny
Kirkpatrick, 12. 5x Bud Ashe.
Feature
(25 laps): 1. 69p Rod Perkins, 2. 3s Jay Smith, 3. 10L Tim Levin, 4. 19 Greg
Sandquist, 5. 10c Cory Chamberlain, 6. 42 Alan Munn, 7. 29h Brandon Harkness, 8.
59 Andy Jacobson, 9. 0K Steve Kilcup, 10. 17h John Huggins, 11. 5 Josh DeWitt,
12. 98 Bob Stevens, 13. 69e Nick Engberg, 14. 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 15. 12v Tony
Menard, 16. 17AK Bill Balog, 17. 40 Wade Kentch, 18. 24c Chad Hillier.
-
- -
Sportsman
sprints
20
cars
Heat
1 (8 laps): 1. 17b Kelly Barnett, 2. 3v Dave Mead, 3. 13 Glen Reinstra, 4. 15s
Andrea Smith, 5. 21 Chris Pattenaude, 6. 06 Frank Sherman, 7.5x Chuck Ashe.
Heat
2 (8 laps): 1. 33J Jared Alseth, 2. 15w Lyle Woods, 3. 14 Kelleigh Johnson, 4.
4k Carl Franssen, 5. 47r Gene Quanz, 6. 44 Steve Parker, 7. 01 Joe Scott.
Heat
3 (8 laps): 1. 31 Danny Bullock, 2. 65 Brad Sweeney, 3. 79k Kelsey Carpenter, 4.
29t Richard Thornton, 5. 29 Steve James, 6. 1 Jimmy Dietz.
Feature
(20 laps): 1. 65 Brad Sweeney, 2. 17b Kelly Barnett, 3. 21 Chris Pattenaude, 4.
79k Kelsey Carpenter, 5. 15s Andrea Smith, 6. 4k Carl Franssen, 7. 3v Dave Mead,
8. 29t Richard Thornton, 9. 33J Jared Alseth, 10. 47r Gene Quanz, 11. 31 Danny
Bullock, 12. 01 Joe Scott, 13. 15w Lyle Woods, 14. 13 Glen Reinstra, 15. 29
Steve James, 16. 44 Steve Parker, 17. 06 Frank Sherman, 18. 14 Kelleigh Johnson,
DNS - 1 Jimmy Dietz, 5x Chuck Ashe.
My new e-mail address is alkunas@hotmail.com.