Holm, Thornhill, Carrell, Roden, And Batalgia Earn Spring Challenge Wins On Night Two
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Christine O'Neil)
In the second night of the Spring Challenge presented by 98.7 The Bull at Sunset Speedway Park a massive car count was on hand for the Sunday May 24th event. In addition to the Northwest Extreme Late Model Series other divisions on tap included both Micro Sprint classes, the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks, and the 4-Bee's.
In the Open 600cc Micro Sprints Tanner Holm dominated. Holm, of Monroe, Washington, would lead the entire distance to pick up the victory in the Johansen Mechanical/Shinn Mechanical/Vision Collision/Adams Performance Motors #48T PMP.
Chance Crum, out of Snohomish, Washington, was second in his Clean Crawls/Woodinville Import Auto Repair/AirVan #83C PMP followed by the Triple X Race Co./Speedmart Inc./Ontra Marketing Group #91 XXX of Isaac Abenroth from Arlington, Washington. Monroe, Washington's Jake Mann was fourth, piloting the Service Pro/Every Little Detail/Ridge Runner Wings/Speedmart Inc. #21M entry while the PGH Excavating/Vahlco Racing Wheels/Factory Kahne Shocks #12 PMP of Lake Tapps, Washington driver Nick Thornhill was fifth. Sedro-Woolley, Washington's Jon Farrell was the winner of the consolation feature in his Joe's Racing Products/Momo Racing Engines/Engler Machine/Infinity Shocks #51 JFC.
Enumclaw, Washington youngster Colby Thornhill had the field covered in the Restricted Micro ranks. Thornhill, in the PGH Excavating/Vahlco Racing Wheels/Factory Kahne Shocks #19 PMP, captured the lead on lap three and stayed out in front the rest of the way to win his first point race of the season.
The Thompson Racing #41 of Mike Thompson was the runner-up while in third was Casey Smith in the Smith Family Racing #75C entry. Sawyer Sorgenfrei, of Ferndale, Washington, in his Sorgenfrei Racing #22 entry was fourth followed by Jaden Thomas in the Mike & Son Auto Sales/Triple X Race Co. #J10 XXX in fifth.
In the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds Redmond ace Mark Carrell was very fast. Taking the lead on lap eleven he would stay in the lead for the rest of the way. Carrell, in the Mark's Auto Body #27 GRT, would earn his second victory of the season at SSP becoming the first multi-feature winner in the division in 2015.
Keizer's John Campos was second in his Northwest Family Chiropractic/Hot Rod Hair/Wes Sayre Customs/Drager Performance #36 GRT while the Ireland & Ireland at Law/Privateer Racing/Klecker Knives/Applebee Aviaition #8 Dirt Works by Hoffman of Rob Ireland, out of Banks, was third. Aloha driver Doug Lockwood was fourth, in his Jackson Industries/Walters Racing/Frickentool.com/Warpaint Motorsports Graphix #66 Shaw, while Warren's Brad Martin was fifth in the family owned Reser's Fine Foods/Generation Transmission/ToughCo/Wayne Martin Floor Covering #99 Impressive. The Ester Lee Motel of Lincoln City/Corvallis Seed & Feed/Dr. Mary Harada Breast Cancer Specialist/Debra Herndon Family Nurse Practitioner #25 Rocket by Ruhlman of Albany's Craig Cassell won the consolation feature.
In the Street Stock feature it would be an exciting one. John Ireland, of Banks, was fast in his Ireland & Ireland at Law/Privateer Racing #88 Monte Carlo and looked to finally get his first win of the season. But on lap twenty-four the JNR Construction/Molecular Motion #14 Camaro of West Linn's Brian Roden would make a pass on Ireland. Roden would hold on for the next few laps to win his third race of the season.
John Ireland was second while the JNR Construction/RC's Collision Center #3 Camaro of Earl Claypool Jr. from Hillsboro was third. Fourth belonged to Forest Grove's Tony Catalano in his DVC Machine/Transaction Transmissions/Hair Designers of Forest Grove #19 Monte Carlo and the Pitsch Racing #7 of Doug Pitsch was fifth.
Last but not least the 4-Bee's would see an exciting main event. Getting the lead very late in the race Chris Batalgia would take over the top spot on lap twenty-one. The Forest Grove native would capture his fourth win of 2015 for the Sweere's Trucking/Auto-Inter Automotive/O'Reilly's Auto Parts #38 Dodge Neon team.
Vancouver, Washington's Bob Ferree was second in the Mudd Monkey Mobile Mix Concrete/Korner Street Bar & Grill/Eagle Creek Saloon #24 Acura Integra and the All Chained Up Chain Maille Jewelry/Validus Consulting & Services/Hollow Flesh Tattoo/Les Schwab Tires #7 Pontiac Sunfire helmed by Captain Turnabout, also out of Vancouver, would be third. The Wolfe Racing #8 of William Wolfe would end the night fourth and Jason Gilman of Forest Grove got fifth in his Sweere's Trucking/Gilman Graphics/Auto-Inter #19 Dodge Neon.
Sunset Speedway Park returns to action on Saturday May 30th for Budweiser Night. The “Banks Bullring” will be offering a Car Load Special which means $25.00 per car load, truck load, motor home load, or as many people that you can fit in your vehicle you will get into the races for that much money. Classes that are racing include the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, Pure Stocks, and 4-Bee's.
Pit Gates will open at 2:00 PM, Front Gates open at 4:00, and racing starts at 6:30. Tickets are Adults $13.00, Seniors/Military/Juniors (13-18) $10.00, Youths (Ages 12-6) $5.00, and Children under the age of 5 are FREE and a family pass will be offered for two Adults and up to four Youths for just $35.00. Log on to www.sunsetspeedwaypark.com for more information.
Race Summary:
Spring Challenge presented by 98.7 The Bull Night Two
Sunday May 24th, 2015
Sunset Speedway Park
Banks, Oregon
Budweiser IMCA ModifiedsGeneration Transmission, ToughCo, Wayne Martin Floor Covering
A Feature: 1. 27-Mark Carrell; 2. 36-John Campos; 3. 8-Rob Ireland; 4. 66-Doug Lockwood; 5. 99-Brad Martin; 6. 57-Kenny Miller; 7. 75X-Joe German; 8. 68-Bubba Foster; 9. 25-Craig Cassell; 10. 53V-Jake Vanortwick; 11. 23-Chris Quinn; 12. 50-Sonny Sayre; 13. 12X-Pamela Graham; 14. 34-T.J. Richman; 15. 4X-Rick Graham; 16. 48-Aaron Elwess
B Feature: 1. 25-Craig Cassell; 2. 75X-Joe German; 3. 53V-Jake Vanortwick; 4. 50-Sonny Sayre; 5. 62-Cody Jones; 6. 11-Brandon Potter; 7. 44-Kristi Somers
Street Stocks
A Feature: 1. 14-Brian Roden; 2. 88-John Ireland; 3. 3-Earl Claypool; 4. 19-Tony Catalano; 5. 7-Doug Pitsch; 6. 00-Terry Mason; 7. 10-James Baker; 8. 02-Rod Lowe; 9. 23X-Tyler Simons; 10. 32-Robert Summerhalder
4-Bee's
A Feature: 1. 38-Chris Batalgia; 2. 24-Rob Ferree; 3. 7-Gary Jones; 4. 8-William Wolfe; 5. 19-Jason Gilman; 6. 36-Greg Davidson; 7. 48-John Gartner; 8. 1-Nathan Owens; 9. 37-James Walker; 10. 23-Damion Owens
Micro Sprints 600cc Restricted
A Feature: 1. 19-Colby Thornhill; 2. 41-Mike Thompson; 3. 75C-Casey Smith; 4. 22-Sawyer Sorgenfrei; 5. J10-Jaden Thomas; 6. K9-Kaden Holm; 7. 3-Peyton Reed; 8. 0-Ashleigh Johnson; 9. 29-Katie Turner; 10. 13*-Casey Starr; 11. 11C-Colin Mackey; 12. 10JR-Tyson Lemley; 13. 4-Allison Johnson; 14. 14B-Bailey Jean; 15. 8-Devon Borden; 16. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt
Micro Sprints 600cc Open
A Feature: 1. 48T-Tanner Holm; 2. 83C-Chance Crum; 3. 91-Isaac Abenroth; 4. 21M-Jake Mann; 5. 12T-Nick Thornhill; 6. 78S-Spencer Constance; 7. 23-Jacob Brown; 8. 17-Skyler Jennings; 9. 8R-Rachel Westmoreland; 10. 78-Joe Constance; 11. 13-Kris LaBree; 12. 8J-Dallas Melby; 13. 86-Jeff Little; 14. 51-Jon Farrell; 15. 1W-Brandee Wood
B Feature: 1. 51-Jon Farrell; 2. 78S-Spencer Constance; 3. 8R-Rachel Westmoreland; 4. 1W-Brandee Wood; 5. 2-Theo McCarty; 6. 199-Christian Osborne; 7. 151-Duke Johnson; 8. 29T-Jake Tupper; 9. 00-Doug Pirtle