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Hy-Per-Lube Northern Sprint Tour 2000-06-09

Wilskey Wins Hy-Per-Lube Northern Sprint Tour State Fair Raceway Inaugural Race Question Marks. The night was full of them and when they were all answered, Shawna Wilskey of Lake Stevens, WA was the first driver to win a feature event at the ...

Wilskey Wins Hy-Per-Lube Northern Sprint Tour
State Fair Raceway Inaugural Race

Question Marks. The night was full of them and when they were all answered, Shawna Wilskey of Lake Stevens, WA was the first driver to win a feature event at the newly constructed State Fair Raceway in Yakima, WA on Friday, June 9, 2000.

The fans had come for action, but they had to wait till the feature event to get most of it as the race to meet the Friday night deadline had curbed the time needed to work in the new clay to a respectable racing surface. On a restart of the original green, fourth starting Wilskey's chances for a win looked slim as the pack entered the first turn on the green and the back of Wilskey's car looked to be heading for the wall. She managed to keep from spinning, but the ensuing slow down collected most of the following field in a tangled mess mid-turn. When it was all sorted out, Mike Morelock of Cottage Grove, OR, Brandon Harkness of Sedro Woolley, WA, Donny Fry of Montesano, WA and Kevin Journey of Springfield, OR were out for the night and a half dozen others were wounded but running.

Another false start then put Wilskey and Scott Aumen of Duncan, BC on the front row. It was Aumen out front at the green, until Wilskey grabbed the lead on the back straight on the 5th lap an was never headed to the checkered.

Wilskey soon opened a quarter lap lead on the field with Aumen, Randy Ridge of Snohomish, WA, Burlington. WA's John Youngquist and Jay Smith of Arlington, WA trailing. By mid-point of the 25 lap feature the best battle on the track was for second and third spots first between Aumen and Ridge for second and then between Ridge and Youngquist for third.

Youngquist nailed a pass on the back straight for third on the 15th lap as Everett WA's Rick Fauver, J. Smith and Dale Smith of Cottage Grove, OR diced for fifth. The close racing came to a stop three laps later when contact in the group brought out the yellow for a spun Ridge.

On the restart, Central Point, OR driver Bill Nutter took a wild ride after catching a tire while trying an outside pass of Harrisburg, OR's Jeff Thompson for sixth place. Nutter's 5 or 6 flip ride came to a stop in the turn three fence with both cars out for the night.

The final six laps went clean to the checkered reading Wilskey, Aumen, Youngquist, J. Smith, Fauver and D. Smith the top six.

In post race comments on the nights race and track surface, Youngquist said "We all run on the same track, and with more time to work in the clay it's going to be an awesome place to race." After race comments by all of the top three drivers were highly complimentary of the great facility that Central Washington State Fairgrounds had built and felt that with additional clay and work on the racing surface, it would be great racing venue.

Up to the A-Feature event, racing had run smoothly with only two yellow flags. Going dry, slick and dusty early on, additional watering after the heats helped with the B-main going wire to wire as Barry Martinez led from green to checkered.

The Everett, WA driver grabbed the lead from Morelock and did an excellent job of opening up a 15 car length lead over Morelock with J. Smith, Nutter and Tacoma, WA's young driver Shawn Rice falling in line.

Mid-race action saw Rice drop back as Jay Harkness, Bellingham, WA and Ladysmith, BC's Todd Heikes advanced. The last five laps of the 15 lapper had Morelock's fans cheering as he started to close the gap to Martinez, but he couldn't close the hole and settled for second. J. Smith took third over Nutter with J. Harkness fifth.

In heat race action, the first heat had Sedro Wolley, WA driver Chad Hillier running away from the pack to win by nearly a half lap at the end of the 10 lap event. Cole took second with Wilskey third.

In the best heat race of the night, Dan Menne went to the lead on the 3rd lap of the second heat when the Ft. Jones, CA driver used a restart to help him put a pass on leader Vern Scever out of Crescent, OR. Scever then lost that spot to a charging Fauver who nipped him at the line for the position on lap 8.

Jayme Barnes led from start to finish in the night's third heat. The Everett, WA hot shoe was never challenged, with the place and show positions going to Journey and Aumen.

The track conditions going dry and dusty fast, the final heat had D. Smith showing the field the fast way to the checkered. Scott Adams of Roseburg, OR took second with Youngquist in tow for third.

In the dash it was fast timer Jason Solwold of Mt. Vernon, WA over Ridge, Aumen, Wilskey, B. Harkness and Fry.

Fast time and the first track record went to Solwold with a 16.070 second circuit of the three-eights mile oval. Solwold stated, " It's was nice to be the first into the record books but I think that records will fall quickly as track conditions improve". Solwold's night had ended when he exited with motor problems in the opening laps of the feature event.

Summary

Fast Time - Jason Solwold 16.070 NTR

Heat 1 - Chad Hillier, Jay Cole, Shawna Wilskey, Jason Solwold, Jay Harkness, Jeff Thompson, Ron Wilson, Pat Desbiens, Travis Hawthorne, Rick Smith.

Heat 2 - Dan Menne, Rick Fauver, Vern Scevers, Brandon Harkness, Jeff Hodgson, Mike Morelock, Tony Menard, Jay Follman, Todd Heikes, Cale Carder.

Heat 3 - Jayme Barnes, Kevin Journey, Scott Aumen, Randy Ridge, Jay Smith, Shawn Rice, Glenn Borden, Jr., Kirk Hafes, Jim Cress.

Heat 4 - Dale Smith, Scott Adams, John Youngquist, Donny Fry, Bill Nutter, Barry Martinez, Rob Johnson, Dan Dunlap, Vern Nations.

Dash - Solwold, Ridge, Aumen, Wilskey, B. Harkness, Fry.

C-Main - Hawthorn, Follman, Nations, Desbiens, Haefs, Dunlap.

B-Main - Martinez, Morelock, J. Smith, Nutter, J. Harkness, Heikes, Hodgson, Rice, Menard, R. Smith, Hawthorne, Borden, Jr., Follman, Thompson, Johnson, Cress, Wilson, Carder.

A-Main - Wilskey, Aumen, Youngquist, J. Smith, Fauver, D. Smith, Scever, Ridge, Carder, Hillier, Cole, Thompson, Nutter, Martinez, Adams, Menne, Solwold, Barnes, B Harkness, Fry, Morelock, Journey.

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