The more things change, the more they stay the same if you’re
Roger Crockett.
ELMA, Wash. – The more things change, the more they stay the same if you’re
Roger Crockett.
Just over five months after taking the final checkered flag in the history
of the Northern Sprint Tour, Crockett kicked off a new era Saturday at Grays
Harbor Raceway by taking the very first checkered flag in the history of the
new Northwest Sprint Challenge Series.
Crockett, the four-time former NST champion who recently reunited with
Henderson Motorsports, flat out dominated the 30-lap NSCS main event on the
3/8-mile, high-banked clay oval. There was close racing throughout the
field, but Crockett, out of Medford, almost effortlessly moved his way
through slower traffic and was never threatened for the lead. After the
race’s lone caution with three laps completed, Crockett spent a great deal
of time in traffic as the last 27 laps went non-stop.
“Roger (Henderson) gets the car setup good for me to drive the *** out of
it,” Crockett said about his car owner. “He makes the car so perfect and it
makes it easier for me to do my job when the car is perfect.”
Crockett has raced for Henderson Motorsports in the past, scoring a win in
the Skagit 360 Nationals in 1998. That team has also seen a lot of success
at Grays Harbor with the now-retired Steve Kent, who won the Evergreen State
Sprint Challenge at Elma three straight years and the 360 Nationals three
times at Skagit as well. Henderson Motorsports’ long-time success continued
on Saturday with Crockett, who drove an Eagle with a Baily Bros. engine
under the hood.
“If (Henderson) keeps giving me these awesome cars, we’re going to win a lot
of races,” Crockett said.
Former NST champion Billy Nutter of Central Point, Ore. was also very fast,
but had nothing for Crockett. Nutter, however, was happy just to be on the
track as he was forced to change rear ends on his car after the trophy dash
event when a broken bolt couldn’t be removed.
“I had guys from Evan Funk’s and Charlie Cash’s teams coming over here to
help us out,” Nutter said about his pre-main event predicament. “I really
would like to thank them. We’d never have gotten back out.
“The car was awesome. We came in here with a little bit different of a setup
than what we’ve been doing, and we’ll take this direction for a while and
see what happens,” Nutter said. “I felt we matched (Crockett’s) speed, but
lapped traffic just didn’t work to our advantage. Roger was in his own zip
code.”
Travis Rutz, just turned 19 years of age, ran a strong third the entire
race, and briefly challenged Nutter for second at the end of the race.
“We’re happy with the car, the motor – this Richmond engine is flying,” said
Rutz, who is going after the NSCS championship. “If we got some open air we
may have been able to get close, but Roger is really tough on these dry
tracks. He’s really good. I’m still happy. We’re running for the
championship and this is how you do it, getting those top three finishes.”
Six-time Cottage Grove Speedway champion Dale Smith finished a strong fourth
after finishing a solid second in the B-Main and getting his time back to
start seventh in the A-Main. The run of the night was made by Enumclaw,
Wash. driver Henry Van *** who came from the 18th starting to position to
finish fifth, racing with Smith for fourth at the end of the race.
“I knew we were doing good,” Van Dam said, “but I’m just a little bit
disappointed we didn’t get a little bit further. We made some changes which
had a negative effect on our car towards the end of the race. We had a
better car than that.”
Van *** like many others, struggled on a dry slick track in qualifying,
which relegated him to that 18th starting position for the feature race.
“If we had qualified better, we’d be happier,” Van Dam said, “but we’re
happy with our race in the end.”
Six-time and defending Grays Harbor Raceway champion Jay Cole of Shelton ran
in the fourth or fifth positions most of the race, sliding back to sixth
towards the end while Van Dam made his charge toward the front.
B-Main winner Brendan Boyce of Cottage Grove, Ore. finished seventh and
rookie Jon Farrell, racing only his second event in a full-sized sprint car,
finished a very impressive eighth place. J.J. Hickle and Idaho’s Shawn Smith
rounded out the top ten.
Rookie J.J. Dishneau was 11th and popular local drivers Mitch Olson and
Derek Ingalls finished 12th and 13th, respectively. Shawn Rice, another
local driver, finished 14th and rookie contender Evan Funk was 15th. Seth
Bergman, last year’s NST Rookie of the Year, finished 16th.
Prior to the A-Main, Crockett won the six-lap dash that determined the first
six starting positions. As he would do in the main event Crockett dominated
and easily outran Nutter, who finished second ahead of Rutz, Andy Jacobson,
Robbie Vaughn, and Cole.
Charlie Cash of Medford won the eight-lap C-Main event, taking Chris Adams
and Dan Dunlap with him to the B-Main. In addition to Dale Smith and Boyce,
Dallas Zuniga and Olson also transferred from the B-Main to the A-Main.
Four ten-lap heat races were run, each sending its top four finishers to the
feature race. Hickle, Adam Main, Shawn Smith and Rice each picked up
victories.
After Friday’s program was washed out by rainfall, the inaugural NSCS event
on Saturday was a success in the eyes of the drivers, most of whom were
participants in the late Fred Brownfield’s former NST.
“It’s awesome to win the last race of a series that Fred ran so well for so
long, and then get the first race with this new series,” Crockett said.
“Shawna and Dick Wilskey are doing a great job. This is a continuation of
what Fred started.”
“Everything went flawless tonight,” Rutz commented. “Dick and Shawna run a
world class operation and I can’t thank them enough.”
The next event for the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series is a two-night
event at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. on Friday and Saturday, May 11 and
12. The series then heads to Oregon for three races in three nights on
Memorial weekend.
Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
Grays Harbor Raceway
Elma, WA
April 28, 2007
Fast qualifier: 7N Roger Crockett, 13.952 seconds
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 7 J.J. Hickle, 2. 51 Jon Farrell, 3. 3n Billy Nutter,
4. 7N Roger Crockett, 5. 4z Dallas Zuniga, 6. 23 Richie Peterson, 7. 12p
Randy Pierce, 8. 15 Dan Dunlap, 9. 21 Chris Pattenaude, DNS – 98r Joe
Ramaker. Top four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 35a Adam Main, 2. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 3. 91 Derek
Ingalls, 4. 9r Travis Rutz, 5. 98m Mitch Olson, 6. 72 Glenn Borden Jr., 7.
5h Brad Holmes, 8. 68 Rob Held, 9. 9 John Simmons, 10. 7o Roger Oudman. Top
four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 32s Shawn Smith, 2. 23a Seth Bergman, 3. 9j J.J.
Dishneau, 4. 0J Jay Cole, 5. 75 Dale Smith, 6. 65 Brendan Boyce, 7. 4c
Charlie Cash, 8. 92 Seth Hespe, 9. 7d Josh DeWitt, 10. 83 Rob Johnson. Top
four finishers transfer to A-Main.
Heat 4 (10 laps): 1. 76 Shawn Rice, 2. 8e Evan Funk, 3. 23N Andy Jacobson,
4. 33v Henry Van *** 5. 26 Taylor Malsam, 6. KR14 Tyler Spath, 7. 26f Shane
Forte’, 8. 4 Nick Engberg, 9. 4d Chris Adams, 10. 08 Steve Vague. Top four
finishers transfer to A-Main.
C-Main (8 laps): 1. 4c Charlie Cash, 2. 4d Chris Adams, 3. 15 Dan Dunlap, 4.
68 Rob Held, 5. 08 Steve Vague, 6. 21 Chris Pattenaude, 7. 9 John Simmons,
8. 83 Rob Johnson. Top two finishers transfer to A-Main. No. 15 Dan Dunlap
also transfers as result of scratch from B-Main.
Dash (6 laps): 1. 7N Roger Crockett, 2. 3n Billy Nutter, 3. 8r Travis Rutz,
4. 23n Andy Jacobson, 5. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 6. 0J Jay Cole. Finish determines
first six starting positions for A-Main.
B-Main (15 laps): 1. 65 Brendan Boyce, 2. 75 Dale Smith, 3. 4z Dallas
Zuniga, 4. 98m Mitch Olson, 5. 26 Taylor Malsam, 6. 72 Glenn Borden Jr., 7.
KR14 Tyler Spath, 8. 4 Nick Engberg, 9. 5h Brad Holmes, 10. 12p Randy
Pierce, 11. 7d Josh DeWitt, 12. 15 Dan Dunlap, 13. 92 Seth Hespe, 14. 23
Richie Peterson, 15. 4d Chris Adams, 16. 7o Roger Oudman, 17. 26f Shane
Forte’, 18. 4c Charlie Cash, DNS – 98r Joe Ramaker Top four finishers
transfer to A-Main.
A-Main (30 laps): 1. 7N Roger Crockett, 2. 3n Billy Nutter, 3. 8r Travis
Rutz, 4. 75 Dale Smith, 5. 33v Henry Van *** 6. 0J Jay Cole, 7. 65 Brendan
Boyce, 8. 51 Jon Farrell, 9. 7 J.J. Hickle, 10. 32s Shawn Smith, 11. 9j J.J.
Dishneau, 12. 98m Mitch Olson, 13. 91 Derek Ingalls, 14. 76 Shawn Rice, 15.
8e Evan Funk, 16. 23a Seth Bergman, 17. 4z Dallas Zuniga, 18. 35a Adam Main,
19. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 20. 23n Andy Jacobson.
Lap leaders: Crockett 1-30.
More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series can be found
online at www.racenscs.com