ELMA, Wash. -- Mark Wauge captured one of his biggest wins of his storied career Saturday, July 28, after leading the entire forty-lap feature at the Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals taking place at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma. The Jacksonville, Ore., chauffer was able to hold off all challengers to place the Skinner Autoplex/Meineke Car Care Center #1M Loose Gruff in what was an incident filled finale as the feature was stopped on two occasions due to red flag conditions in addition to the several cautions that occurred. Fans saw a field of well over fifty cars from Oregon, California, Washington, and British Columbia converge on the 3/8 mile oval speed factory for two nights of terrific racing.

The battle for second was a great contest in the early stages between the Ron Martin Racing #0L Jet of Scott Lenz from Shady Cove, Ore., and Yreka, Calif., youngster Kyle Casson in his Ken’s Glass Service/RWP Fleet Service #11K Rayburn. Lenz would have the position covered until a tire went down on him in the final ten laps taking him out of contention for the runner-up position.

Jesse Williamson of Coburg, Ore., would be able to maneuver himself into second place in the Ron Martin Racing #0W Jet and finish in that spot in the final laps of the feature. Craig Moore of Seabeck would finish the weekend in third place in his DNC Competition Engines/Highway Specialties #14 Dirtworks entry and would be the highest finishing local. Defending Nationals winner Kyle Casson would cross the stripe in the fourth place position while Monte Bischoff of Medford, Oregon in the Payroll Specialties/Hoppes Construction #F1 Rayburn completed the top five.

The Curt Deatherage Auto Electric/BK Engineering #45 Dirtworks of Jason Kocks from Eugene, Ore., was sixth and Salem, Ore., chauffer Jeremy Shank was seventh in his Left Coast Motorsports/South Pacific Auto Sales and Service Center #30 Swartz. Don Jenner of Vancouver crossed the line in eighth in the Dancin Bare #6X followed by alphabet soup player and defending track champion Joe German from Wishkah in his Ozman Services Inc./Powertrain Applications #75X Skyrocket finished in ninth with the top ten being completed with McCleary pilot Jeff Foster who finished in tenth in the J&F Automotive/Bayview Redi-Mix #8 Sidebiter.

Before hand there was a full slate of consolation action including two last chance qualifiers. In the "D" Main, Vancouver driver Kenny Miller was the winner in his Jody’s Nothin But Fun Bar & Grill/VP Brail Services #57 TRE while winning the "C" Main would be Joe German. The "B" Main win was credited to Travis Peery of Fort Jones, Calif., in the Susan River Reality #6P Rayburn. The winners of the Last Chance Qualifiers were Brian Poppa of White City, Ore., in the Jerry Severson owned Pro Service Center/Pacific Coast Auto Sales #7P Pro and the aforementioned German.

Four trophy dashes were also ran on Saturday night and the winners were Tom Berry Jr. of Medford, Ore., in his Berry’s Oak Grove Storage/Ken Scales Automotive #11X BMs (D), the Prime-X Contracting #37 of Hillsboro, Ore.’s Steve Suckow (C), Monte Bischoff (B) and Wauge (A).

Friday, July 27, was full of preliminary action which saw qualifying as well as two sets of heat races with points in both finishing and passing up for grabs to solidify starting positions for Saturday’s main events. Also on hand was the annual Race of Champions which gathered twenty cars for thirty laps to cap off the whole night of prelim racing with a field full of champions from different tracks and organizations.

Don Jenner was the fastest of fifty-seven cars that qualified on Friday evening with a time of 16.180 seconds which was followed by seven groups of cars competing in two ten lap heat races for a total of fourteen heats ran. Heat winners were swept by one driver in each group with the exception of one which was in the seventh group of cars.

Drivers that swept the heat races in their respected groups included Scott Lenz (1), Jason Beaulieu of Campbell River, B.C., Canada, in the Tyee Chevrolet/Coast Island Marine Limited #90 Alien (2), Wauge (3), the Hanson Automotive Machine #33C Shaw of Albany, Ore., driver Craig Hanson (4), Kyle Casson (5), and Lawrence O’Conner from Port Hardy, B.C., Canada, in his QID Limited/QNPC Limited #27EH! Harris entry (6). The seventh group saw young driver Kyle Yeack of Crawfordsville, Ore., in his Mountainview Woodworking Inc./Crawfordsville Engineering and Construction #47 Pro win in the first round of heats while DirtCar Super Late Model veteran Jeremy Shank won in the second go around.

In the Race of Champions Canadian Jason Beaulieu led the entire distance to win the event. Wauge would finish in second place followed by Scott Lenz in third. The balance of the top five would be completed with Kyle Casson and Joe German finishing in fourth and fifth.

The Grays Harbor Raceway will be back in regular point action on Saturday, Aug. 4, for KIX 95.3 FM Ladies Night at the 3/8 mile oval. All ladies will get into the races for free on Saturday while classes in action include the 360 Sprints, USRA Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, and Hornets. For more information on the latest news and stories log on to www.graysharborraceway.com .

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
American Racer USRA Weekly Racing Series
Grays Harbor Raceway, Elma, Wash.
Saturday, July 28, 2012

USRA MODIFIEDS

56 Cars

Trophy Dash Winners: Tom Berry Jr. (D), Steve Suckow (C), Monte Bischoff (B), Mark Wauge (A).

D-Feature: 1. Kenny Miller, 2. Paul Liner, 3. Mike Graham, 4. David Burns, 5. Rob Sjogern, 6. Matt Jenner, 7. Tom Berry Jr., 8. Ron Comfort.

C-Feature: 1. Joe German, 2. Aaron Sheelar, 3. Preston Jones, 4. Kenny Miller, 5. Jesse Bailey, 6. Steve Suckow, 7. Greg Dineen, 8. Mike Gummus, 9. Brett James, 10. Matt Mitchell, 11. Shawn Dorie, 12. Gus Cooper, 13. Rob Ireland, 14. Danny Daniels, 15. Clint Petty, 16. Steve Signal, 17. Paul Liner, 18. Dan Fox.

B-Feature: 1. Travis Peery, 2. Graham Cook, 3. Preston Jones, 4. Chris Beaulieu, 5. Brian Poppa, 6. Joe German, 7. Monte Bischoff, 8. Aaron Sheelar, 9. Del Schnitzer, 10. James Wolford, 11. Scott Miller, 12. Scott Dorie, 13. Brad Purdy, 14. Albert Gill, 15. Robert Jenner, 16. Morgan Criswell, 17. Jeremy Brookshire, 18. Zack Simpson.

First Last Chance Qualifier: 1. Brian Poppa, 2. Monte Bischoff, 3. Scott Miller, 4. Kenny Miller, 5. Mike Graham, 6. Del Schnitzer, 7. Steve Suckow, 8. Matt Mitchell, 9. Matt Jenner.

Second Last Chance Qualifier: 1. Joe German, 2. Scott Dorie, 3. Shawn Dorie, 4. Albert Gill, 5. Aaron Sheelar, 6. Morgan Criswell, 7. Tom Berry Jr., 8. Greg Dineen, 9. David Burns, 10. James Wolford, 11. Zack Simpson, 12. Jesse Bailey.

A-Feature: 1. Mark Wauge, 2. Jesse Williamson, 3. Craig Moore, 4. Kyle Casson, 5. Monte Bischoff, 6. Jason Kocks, 7. Jeremy Shank, 8. Don Jenner, 9. Joe German, 10. Jeff Foster, 11. Scott Lenz, 12. Jason Beaulieu, 13. Preston Jones, 14. Craig Hanson, 15. Chris Beaulieu, 16. Kyle Yeack, 17. Lawrence O’Conner, 18. Graham Cook, 19. Scott Dorie, 20. Tom Sweatman, 21. Josh Muller, 22. Curt Coggins, 23. Brian Poppa, 24. Travis Peery.

Friday, July 27, 2012

57 Cars

Fast Time: Don Jenner, 16.180 seconds.

Heat Race Winners [First Round]: Scott Lenz (1), Jason Beaulieu (2), Mark Wauge (3), Craig Hanson (4), Kyle Casson (5), Lawrence O’Conner (6), Kyle Yeack (7).

Heat Race Winners [Second Round]: Scott Lenz (1), Jason Beaulieu (2), Mark Wauge (3), Craig Hanson (4), Kyle Casson (5), Lawrence O’Conner (6), Jeremy Shank (7).

Race of Champions: 1. Jason Beaulieu, 2. Mark Wauge, 3. Scott Lenz, 4. Kyle Casson, 5. Joe German, 6. Scott Miller, 7. Craig Moore, 8. Lawrence O’Conner, 9. Graham Cook, 10. Jesse Williamson, 11. Craig Hanson, 12. Aaron Sheelar, 13. Zack Simpson, 14. Jason Kocks, 15. Travis Peery, 16. Brad Purdy, 17. Doug Davenport, 18. Clint Petty, 19. Chris Beaulieu, 20. Josh Muller.