2000 hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour season recap

In 2000, the hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour completed 16 of 21 races scheduled at seven different tracks. The year saw 1999 champion Shawna Wilskey successfully defend her 1999 championship and also become the first three time Northern Sprint Tour Champion. The season opener, scheduled at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, OR on Friday, May 5th fell to the weather giving the fans at Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, OR the chance to see the seasons first race the next night where Jay Smith picked up the first of his three season wins. A return trip to Willamette Speedway May 26th saw the drivers racing both themselves and the weather with the fastest being Shawna Wilskey, who picked up her first win of the year. Unfortunately, the May 27th race scheduled at Riverside Speedway in Cottage Grove, OR became the second win for the rain. Clear skies at State Fair Raceway in Yakima, WA graced the June 9th inaugural race on the newly constructed 3/8 mile clay oval. Going into the record books as the winner of the first sprint car race at the fairgrounds since the mid-1950's was Shawna Wilskey. As the drivers and crews went west over the Cascade Range on Saturday the 10th to the season's first race at Grays Harbor Raceway Park in Elma. WA, they were again greeted with grey skies, rain and another rain out. The long haul of the year was to Billings, Mt for races at MetraPark on June 30th and Magic City Speedway on July 1st. Several local drivers joined the group of hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour drivers that had made the haul, but at the MetraPark checkered it was South Dakota driver Randi Miller leading the way to the win. Saturday's Magic City Speedway program got as far as the start of time trials before heavy rain washed out the program. Testing the drivers and crews the most in the 2000 season was the 4th annual Northwest Speedweek with six races in six nights scheduled at five different tracks and paying out $84,000 in purse money. Average car count for Speedweek was 43, representing California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alberta. Brent Kaeding took the opening race on July 17th at Southern Oregon Speedway and continued his winning way at Riverside Speedway on the 18th and Willamette Speedway the 19th. When the action moved to State Fair Raceway on Thursday the 20th, Kaeding had returned to California for NARC competition and Steve Kent stepped into the winners circle. Friday and Saturday had Speedweek culminating with the 5th Annual Evergreen State Sprint Challenge at Grays Harbor Raceway Park on the 21st and 22nd. Steve Kent again showed why he is one of the top drivers on the west coast by taking the win on both nights. Washington's Rick Fauver ran to solid 2nd place finishes behind Kent in the last three races. The hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour's second chance to run the inaugural race on a new dirt track was at Portland Speedway. The Speedway had returned to dirt after 53 years of asphalt racing and on August 4th a packed house watched Dan Menne tour the 1/2 mile track in 18.165 seconds to set fast time. Menne then returned in the feature event to lead the pack to the checkered flag and take the 'return to dirt' win. The following night Riverside Speedway again hosted the tour with Jay Smith picking up his second win of the season. August the 17th the hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour returned to Grays Harbor Raceway Park for a Thursday night race to warm up the fans for the World of Outlaws two day show on the weekend. Jay Smith was again leading on the final lap making his season win total now three. On Friday, September 8th, the tour suffered it's final rainout of the year, which was also it's second at Lebanon's Willamette Speedway. Saturday saw co-operation from the weather gods and local driver Dale Smith thrilled the crowd as he won the last 2000 season race to be run at Riverside Speedway.. To close out the 2000 season, the hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour traveled to State Fair Raceway to high-light the opening weekend of the Central Washington State Fair on September 23rd and 24th. Canadian Scott Aumen won his first ever hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour feature event on Friday and Rick Smith closed the season with a win and wrapped up 2nd place in the points race on Saturday night. In her march to the hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour 2000 Season Championship, Shawna Wilskey again ran an outstanding year of consistency on the track with only two finishes out of the top ten and had 10 top five finishes. The top ten finishers of the 2000 hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour season, were; Shawna Wilskey - 1273 pts, Rick Fauver - 1245pts, Jay Smith - 1189 pts, Dan Menne - 970 pts, Jay Cole - 894 pts, Chad Hillier - 823 pts, Jayme Barnes - 782 pts, Rick Smith - 725 pts, Barry Martinez - 694, Jeff Thompson - 691pts. Rookie of the Year was Shawn Rice who finished in 17th place with 418 pts. In 2000 17 owners and drivers competed in 75% of the seasons races and were eligible for part of the $30,000 Participation Fund. Along with the Participation Fund, over $212,000 was paid out in purse money during the 16 races run in the 2000 season.