Northern Sprint Tour Cottage Grove results 2002-09-14

hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour
Cottage Grove Speedway -- Cottage Grove, OR
September 14, 2002

It's the last lap that counts, and it was nearly then that Rick Fauver of Everett, WA made his move for the lead and win in the hy-per-lube Northern Sprint Tour feature event at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, OR, Saturday evening. Slipping under leader Billy Nutter in turn four as the white flag was coming out, Fauver used lapped traffic to his advantage to grab the lead and the win from Central Point, OR's Nutter.

Fauver has raced every Northern Sprint Tour race, over 100, but this was his first win at 'The Grove'. Asked how he overcame Nutter's big lead, Fauver replied, "I just used the lapped cars. I noticed that most of the slower cars were running the middle of the track where Billy was running best so when we got into traffic I went to the low side, then just stuck my nose under him and made the pass. It was actually pretty easy." "We've had a hit or miss year this season, running two different cars. I think we're finally getting things figured out as the crew had the car working great tonight."

After congratulating Fauver on his win, Nutter commented, "Lapped cars can be tough. Rick made the right decision tonight and I didn't. I had a great car, but it just happens that way at times."

Two red flags and a single yellow marred the start of the feature event with action finally getting underway with a single file start on the fourth try. The first red came on the original start as contact among many cars mid-pack had Marvin Smith exiting the first turn in a nose to tail flip. Unhurt, Smith rode the car back to the pits as it went off on the hook, out for the night.

The second try had Marvin's brother Dale sliding off of turn one to a halt and try three ended in a triple flip when Shawna Wilskey got sideways coming out of the second turn. Wilskey collected Chad Hillier and Stephan Allard with all three coming to a stop in a pile of tangled metal. Some quick work and a new top wing had Hillier back in action but Allard and Wilskey were done for the night.

With Nutter in the lead on the single file start, points leader Roger Crockett gave chase as Fauver, Jayme Barnes and Jeff Thompson were also in hot pursuit. With two laps down the first of two early slow downs came when the Tyler Pincemin car came to a stop in turn three, out for the night.

On lap six, D. Smith put a pass on Billy Sellers for seventh as Thompson pressured Barnes for fourth. Thompson made the pass on the next lap just as the yellow flew for Geoff Beck, who's drive line was lying in turn two. This negated Thompson's pass and again closed the field to take away lead over Crockett that Nutter was opening up.

Back under the green, Nutter quickly had a 6-car length advantage over Crockett but his speed had him back in traffic in only four laps. Crockett, with Fauver putting on the pressure, tagged the wall on lap 11 while coming out of turn four and Fauver and Barnes were both by within a couple of laps.

Nutter continued to control the race, keeping a lapped car or about 8 to 10 car lengths of distance between himself and Fauver as Barnes and Crockett diced for fourth. At times Thompson, D. Smith and Mike Crawford would stick their nose into the fray to give the fans plenty to watch, while Friday night's winner, Travis Hawthorne, and Sellers were trading position in a close duel over 8th place.

With two-thirds of the 30-lap race complete, Nutter found a hole in traffic, opening a good 10-car length lead over the rest of the cars until the last four laps. That's when the track became very crowded in front of the leader, Fauver quickly closed the gap, made the pass for the win and left the fans with a great ending to the final 2002 Northern Sprint Tour race at 'The Grove'.

Going from the pole, fast time setter Shawna Wilskey led the 18-car B-main to the green flag but action halted before a lap was complete when Mark Hinkle took a nasty flip into turn three. Hinkle was all right but the car was done for the night.

On the restart, Wilskey again took charge to open as much as a 10-car lead before heavy traffic had the field quickly closing. Taking advantage of traffic were Jeff Hodgson and Chad Hillier, putting the pressure on and letting her know they were ready to take over the lead.

Hodgson challenged almost every corner but lost ground on the straights with Hillier nipping at his hear nerf bar on a regular basis. Wilskey got some breathing room on lap nine when Hodgson spun in turn three while going for the lead. With a clear track, Wilskey opened a quick 15-car lead over Hillier and Jay Cole and before she was back in traffic Hodgson spun again on lap 12 in turn four to finish his night of racing.

The last three laps were wide open for the top three as Danny Horner and Glenn Borden, Jr. made it past Robert McNulty to fill the top five positions. Cole did the best job of passing as he moved from 10th to finish third.

David Lyons led all six laps of the C-main for the win over Vern Scevers. Lyons and Scevers earned transfers to the B-main as backup Bryce Fugate moved up when Tony Thomas scratched.

"That Cale Carder has a fast car", said Billy Nutter after putting the #7c into the winner's circle after the dash. "It's been sort of a disaster this year" Nutter said, "and it would be great to have a third NST win come here at Cottage Grove tonight." Following Nutter was Crockett, Fauver, D. Smith, Allard and Barnes to set the top six starters of the feature event.

Fast time for the night was Wilskey with a 10.938 second pass around the quarter-mile oval.

Summary
Fast Time -- Shawna Wilskey -- 10.938

Heat 1 --Mike Sather, Mike Crawford, Geoff Beck, Jayme Barnes, Robert McNulty, Shawna Wilskey, Judah Lemon, T. Hall, Scott Aumen.

Heat 2 -- Billy Sellers, Billy Nutter, Tyler Pincemin, Roger Crockett, Glenn Borden, Jr., Chad Hillier, Jay Cole, Danny Horner, David Lyons.

Heat 3 --Marvin Smith, Todd Zeitler, Rick Fauver, Stephan Allard, Dawn-L Morrison, Tony Menard, Vern Scevers, Tony Thomas, Randy Van Aagten.

Heat 4 -- Travis Hawthorne, Dale Smith, Kevin Etchison, Jeff Thompson, Jeff Hodgson, Bryce Fugate, Melissa Yates, Mike Griffith, Rick Smith.

Dash -- Nutter, Crockett, Fauver, D. Smith, Allard, Barnes.

C-Main -- Lyons, Scevers, Fugate, Lemon, Hall.

B-Main -- Wilskey, Hillier, Cole, Horner, Borden, Jr., McNulty, Van Aagten, Fugate, Menard, Morrison, Scevers, Aumen, Yates, Lyons, Hodgson, Griffith, R. Smith, Hinkle.

A-Main -- Fauver, Nutter, Barnes, Crockett, Thompson, Crawford, Sellers, Hawthorne, Cole, Hillier, Etchison, Horner, Zeitler, Sather, Beck, Pincemin, Allard, Wilskey, M. Smith.

-hplnst-