The final night of the 19th Annual Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals and PHRA Dwarf Car Challenge saw a wild night of racing in front of a great Grays Harbor Raceway crowd on Saturday.
The Modifieds lined up the evening by points from Friday’s races, setting up a C, B and A-Main event.
The PHRA Dwarf Cars had a regular night, running heat races followed by a B-Main and an A-Main.
PHRA Dwarf Cars
Scappoose, Oregon driver Jake VanOrtwick and Danny Altom of Lebanon set the front row of the PHRA Dwarf Cars feature event. Altom led the first handful of laps with VanOrtWick running in second.
VanOrtwick saw a challenge from Shane Youngren of Tigard, Oregon, who took over the runner-up spot and looked to challenge Altom for the lead. A pass out of turn one saw Youngren take the lead in turn one on lap six.
Altom and VanOrtwick battled for second as Hillsboro, Oregon driver Jeremiah Hester joined in on the battle.
Lap 12 saw problems for VanOrtWick as he slowed to a stop in turn one. Hester looked to make a challenge at Youngren on the restart to try and take over the lead. Youngren had plenty of momentum to stay out front as Happy Valley, Oregon’s Leo Ward battled with Hester for second.
Hester challenged Youngren for the lead later in the feature a handful of times, running the low side, and even a challenge on the outside.
Youngren would hold on to pick up his first career Grays Harbor Raceway win over Hester, Kelso’s Brandon Ross, Sandy, Oregon driver Justin DeMars, and Brian Lee of Campbell River, British Columbia.
Ryan Martinez of Portland, Oregon won the B-Main.
Northwest Modified Nationals
The 40 lap Shipwreck Beads Modified Nationals saw Klamath Falls, Oregon driver Nick Trenchard take the early lead. Trenchard, who has won four of the last five Modified Nationals, looked strong on the opening lap until the caution quickly flew for Lawrence O’Connor of Port Hardy, BC.
The restart saw Trenchard quickly get out front with Albany, Oregon’s Matthew Drager looking to track him down for the lead. Collen Winebarger of Corbett, Oregon moved into third getting by Austin Kerrigan of Aberdeen.
Lap three saw a pile up of cars in turn two bringing out the caution. On the restart, Drager and Winebarger battled for second as Trenchard ran the low side of the 3/8-banked clay oval with no mistake.
A caution filled feature allowed Winebarger and Drager to make their move at Trenchard, who ran strong all feature long.
One of the races to watch for a handful of laps was for the second position between Winebarger and Drager as well as the battle for the third through fifth spots between Redmond, Oregon’s BJ Wild, Campbell River, BC’s Lane Zerbin and Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis.
A long green flag run saw plenty of action and a chance for Winebarger to take a shot at Trenchard through lap traffic. Lap 38 saw the caution come out for Shelton’s Scott Miller, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
On the restart, contact between Burlington’s Kevin Smith and Campbell River, BC driver Graham Cook started a pile up in turn one, with multiple cars involved, bringing out the red flag.
The final restart gave Winebarger one last shot at Trenchard. Winebarger tried to challenge going into turn one but couldn’t make the pass, with Trenchard sealing the deal and going on to win the 19th Annual Shipwreck Beads Modified Nationals feature. Winebarger, Drager, O’Connor, and Miller rounded out the top five.
Earlier in the evening, David Wolfard of Bremerton won the C-Main with Seabeck’s Kyler Moore picking up the B-Main event.
Racing will resume this Saturday night as the Wingless Sprint Series make their final appearance of 2018 at Grays Harbor Raceway for round three of the Modern Machinery/Walker Racing Development Wingless Sprint Shootout. Also on hand will be the Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks and Outlaw Tuners. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. with racing scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Shane Youngren drives his No. 18 car to victory in the PHRA Dwarf Car feature race on Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma. (Photo by AR Racing Videos)
