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Willamette Speedway Completes Night One Of Clair Cup

Willamette Speedway Completes Night One Of Clair Cup
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Doc's Photos)
Willamette Speedway would host the first round of the annual Clair Cup presented by Les Schwab Tires on Saturday May 24th. The historic 1/3-mile clay oval would have some awesome racing in front of a packed house. Classes in action included the X-Factor Race Cars Super Late Models, Wirth Wireless IMCA Modifieds, Albany & Eastern Railroad Sportsman, and Street Stocks.

Leading the entire distance of the X-Factor Race Cars Super Late Model feature and claiming his first win of the season was Scio veteran Steve Moore. There were several drivers trying to trek down Moore for the lead but none of them could quite make enough of a challenge to make a pass. Moore was able to hold all challengers off to put his Xtreme Motorsports/Bodies by Steve-O/Schram Brothers Excavating #21 MasterSbilt in victory lane for the first time in Late Model competition at Willamette since September of 2011 at the Mick Gray Memorial.

Charging from the back once again to finish in second place was the J&S Farms/Cornett Racing Engines #37 Rocket of Rob Mayea from Bend followed by Corbett native Collen Winebarger in his Discount Race Car Parts/Gordy Lee Photography/Frisbie Motorsports #SW MasterSbilt in third. The rest of the top five would consist of the Driving Force Graphics/Tubeshark Tube Bender/Clements Racing Engines #46 Rocket of Bend’s Darren Coffell in fourth and fifth was Russ Sell of Brownsville in his Left Coast Motorsports/South Pacific Auto Sales and Service Center #50 Swartz. Picking up the victory in the Don Frank Flooring Trophy Dash was Bend’s Thomas Hunziker, but originally from Seegräben, Switzerland, in the Spirit Fueled Racing/AM-1 Roofing #38 Victory Circle machine.

In Wirth Wireless IMCA Modified action it was a terrific battle between Albany drivers Craig Cassell and Matthew Drager. The two would battle side by side lap after lap until a caution would come out interrupting the contest for the lead. Scored as the leader in the last completed lap was the Ester Lee Motel of Lincoln City/Dr. Mary Harada Breast Cancer Specialist at Samaritan Health Services/Debra Herndon Family Nurse Practitioner #25 Rocket by Ruhlman of Cassell. Drager would try and get the lead a couple of more times but Cassell would hold on to earn his first win of 2014.

Matthew Drager was a respectable second place , in his Drager Performance/GRT Race Cars/Hooligan Design #21A GRT, while crossing the wire in third was the A-Line Concrete Cutting/Shepard Performance/Van Raden Industries #15M Rayburn of Matt Mitchell from Vancouver, Washington. Coming home in fourth was the Virgil Hanson Automotive Machine/BSB Manufacturing/James Gang Pizza #33C Shaw of Albany driver Craig Hanson and in fifth David Schmidt of Eugene in his EMS Truck Repair/Cindy Sew-It/Oregon Concealed Training #9 Pro. The winner of the Wirth Wireless Trophy Dash was Cottage Grove’s Braedon Hand in the D&D Automotive/Vintage Inn Family Restaurant/1400 KNND AM #5 Shaw by S.D.M.F.

The Albany & Eastern Railroad Sportsman main event would see several red flag incidents take place before the completion of the fifth lap. Brian Winkler of Newberg was the leader for several laps before losing the top sport to Lebanon’s Jeff Rash. Rash would lead the remainder of the distance in his Glen Hackney owned Wirth Wireless/Hackney Racing #1 Swartz entry to pick up the victory and earn his first career win.

Finishing in the runner-up position was the Fritz Cutting & Coring/Flatt Muffler & Custom Exhaust/Doerfler Farms/Zosel Sheds #88 Rayburn of Brian Winkler while third went to the Wirth Wireless/Hackney Racing #2 Swartz of Lebanon’s Glen Hackney. Earning fourth would be the X-Factor Race Cars/The Storage Depot #0P Lawson of Philomath’s Briley Pompe and Lebanon chauffer James Slover was fifth in his Bubba Gump Shrimp Corp #25 machine.

Last but not least the Street Stocks were in competition for the second consecutive evening. It seemed like déjà vu from the night before with Erik Jarnport of Monmouth leading early. The West Coast Agriculture Construction Company/Les Schwab Tires #53 Monte Carlo, of Jarnport, would lead for some time and some great three and four-wide action would develop through the course of the feature. Coming from the back of the field and getting to the front was Lebanon’s Justin Evans in the Al Flora owned Albie’s Medical Transport/Allied Medical Transport/X-Factor Race Cars #99 Cougar. Evans would secure the lead and hold off the competition to win his second race at Willamette in 2014 and his fourth overall victory in only five starts.

Erik Jarnport would end the night in second while Bricen James of Albany was third in his James Gang Pizza/Lebanon Auto Body/Rainbow Rentals #13 Monte Carlo. The Johnny’s Towing/Highwallers Racing/Les Schwab Tires #42 Monte Carlo of Dallas pilot Ron Shinkle was fourth followed by the Tanner Racing #36 Camaro of Portland’s Jody Tanner in fifth.

Willamette Speedway will do it all over again on Sunday May 25th for the second race of the Clair Cup presented by Les Schwab Tires. Classes in action include the X-Factor Race Cars Super Late Models, Wirth Wireless IMCA Modifieds, Crocker’s Cars Super Sports, and Albany & Eastern Railroad Sportsman.

Sunday the Pit Gates will open at 1:00 PM, the Pit Meeting will take place at 2:30, Front Gates open at 3:30, and Racing starts at 6:00. Tickets are Adults $12.00, Seniors/Military/Juniors (13-17) $10.00, Youths (Ages 12-6) $5.00, and Children under the age of 5 are FREE. For more information log on to www.trophymotorsports.com.

Race Summary:
Clair Cup presented by Les Schwab Tires
Saturday May 24th, 2014
Willamette Speedway
Lebanon, Oregon

X-Factor Race Cars Super Late Models
A Feature: 1. 21-Steve Moore; 2. 37-Rob Mayea; 3. SW-Collen Winebarger; 4. 46-Darren Coffell; 5. 50-Russ Sell; 6. 5-John Duty; 7. 29-Brian Cronk; 8. 15-Justin Duty; 9. 24-Rick Wyatt; 10. 09-Todd Shandy; 11. 38-Thomas Hunziker; 12. 74-Dan Dieble; 13. 13-Tony Brakeall; 14. 111-Joey Tanner; 15. 77-Preston Luckman; 16. 36-John Campos; 17. 51-Todd Sieg; 18. 40-Brian Smith; 19. 9-Rob Campos; 20. 57-Randy Boyd

B Feature: 1. 74-Dan Dieble; 2. 57-Randy Boyd; 3. 51-Todd Sieg; 4. 9-Rob Campos; 5. 18X-Mike Graham; 6. 32-Curt Fry; 7. 97-Bob Boyd

Wirth Wireless IMCA Modifieds
A Feature: 1. 25-Craig Cassell; 2. 21A-Matthew Drager; 3. 15M-Matt Mitchell; 4. 33C-Craig Hanson; 5. 9-David Schmidt; 6. 5-Braedon Hand; 7. 49-Tom Yeack; 8. W6-Kevin Williamson; 9. 40-Jeff Lovell; 10. 10-Mike Gummus; 11. 28-Rick Sapp; 12. SW-Collen Winebarger; 13. 47-Kyle Yeack; 14. 13-Jacob Hines; 15. 20-Jordan McDonald

Albany & Eastern Railroad Sportsman
A Feature: 1. 1-Jeff Rash; 2. 88-Brian Winkler; 3. 2-Glen Hackney; 4. 0P-Briley Pompe; 5. 25-James Slover; 6. 36-Jody Tanner; 7. 13B-Randy Barley; 8. 75-Dave Foote; 9. 49-James Whitehouse; 10. 0-Clyde Rood; 11. 97JR-Ron Berry; 12. 24-Tim Cramlet; 13. 68-Stacy Hiatt; 14. 3X-Jody Henry; 15. 72-Tom Conway; 16. 3-Steve Moore; 17. 11-Joey Cannon; 18. 101-Mike Betker

Street Stocks
A Feature: 1. 99-Justin Evans; 2. 53-Erik Jarnport; 3. 13-Bricen James; 4. 42-Ron Shinkle; 5. 36-Jody Tanner; 6. 10-Joey Cannon; 7. 47-Kyle Yeack; 8. 88-Kevin Roberts; 9. T3-Talyn Roberts; 10. 83-Driver 83; 11. 23-Brook Pritt; 12. 17Z-Ethan Landers; 13. 7-Matt King; 14. 21-Ryan Emry; 15. 14-Weston Bowser; 16. 83-Doug Scott

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