Grays Harbor Raceway celebrates opening night

Published 1:30 am Monday, April 20, 2026

Great weather and great racing blessed the opening of dirt track racing at the Grays Harbor Raceway Saturday night in Elma. Opening night showcased four car divisions: IMCA Modified, 360 Sprint Cars, 360 Limited Sprint and the PHRA Racing Dwarf Cars.

That fortuitous weather allowed the raceway crews to get the track in shape for Saturday’s events and the drivers noticed the hard work. Third place finisher in the IMCA Modifieds, Austin Rognlin, echoed the drivers’ sentiments that “the track was really great for this time of year.”

Focusing on family fun in a safe environment at the races is a guiding principle for raceway operator Bert Johnson, and they have several extra events on tap this season. The kid favorite Candy Dash will return along with a bike giveaway, backpack giveaway, and Mother’s and Father’s Day events to name a few.

In the Dwarf car final, 23 cars started and 18 finished in a riveting race. Winner Brad Martin, his dad Jeremy, and third placer Corey Esteban displayed elite driving throughout the many stops and starts of the race. Wrapping it up, son Brad said, “It feels good to win like this on opening night … and we’ll be back here again next weekend.”

Olympia’s Destry Miller, the defending champion, took home the 360 Sprint win, taking control after race leader Samuel Strange’s motor gave out. Destry had cookies and brownies for the kiddos in attendance after his win saying, “It’s a pretty good crowd for opening night.”

Doug Davenport dominated the Limited Sprint race for the victory and also placed second to Destry in the 360 Sprint.

The thunderous IMCA Modifieds looked like a runaway for 20 laps as driver Grey Ferrando in the #12 car put up a blistering pace. He gave up the lead to Robert Lancaster on lap 21 and after a couple spin outs and several lead changes in the final laps, Kevin Williamson took the checkered flag with Craig Moore second and the aforementioned Rognlin placing third. After the race, the humble Williamson remarked, “I don’t know how good I am at racing, I think I just have the fastest car.”

Next weekend the IMCA Modifieds will return for Round 2, along with the season debut of the IMCA SportMods and Hornets. The popular dwarf cars will be back again but under the NW Dwarf Car banner.

In summing up the opening day for Grays Harbor Raceway, Johnson was pleased but offered that “things were running a little slower than I’d like, but it’s the first night of the season and we’ll get better.” Interested race fans can go to graysharborraceway.com for more race details and upcoming events.

Grays Harbor Raceway Opening Night Results

April 18, 2026

IMCA Modified

A Feature

1. 42-Kevin Williamson[17]; 2. M14-Craig Moore[8]; 3. 81R-Austin Rognlin[11]; 4. 97TB-Tyson Blood[7]; 5. 34K-Jason St Paul[9]; 6. 28S-Jake Sorenson[14]; 7. 42V-Kevin Valen[5]; 8. 26-Scott Miller[2]; 9. 53H-John Higgenbottom[12]; 10. 49L-Robert Lancaster[4]; 11. V13-Grey Ferrando[1]; 12. 31Z-Zane Miner[10]; 13. 22-Jim Ragsdale[16]; 14. 0-Zach Dalrymple[13]; 15. 97-Rodger Perry[15]; 16. (DNF) 58-Devon Reed[3]; 17. (DNF) 87K-Brenton Schnitzer[6]; 18. (DNS) 31-Don Martin

Heat 1

1. 49L-Robert Lancaster[3]; 2. 58-Devon Reed[5]; 3. 26-Scott Miller[6]; 4. 87K-Brenton Schnitzer[2]; 5. 0-Zach Dalrymple[1]; 6. (DNF) 22-Jim Ragsdale[4]

Heat 2

1. V13-Grey Ferrando[1]; 2. M14-Craig Moore[4]; 3. 97TB-Tyson Blood[6]; 4. 42V-Kevin Valen[2]; 5. 28S-Jake Sorenson[5]; 6. (DNF) 42-Kevin Williamson[3]

Heat 3

1. 31Z-Zane Miner[2]; 2. 81R-Austin Rognlin[3]; 3. 34K-Jason St Paul[1]; 4. 53H-John Higgenbottom[5]; 5. 97-Rodger Perry[6]; 6. 31-Don Martin[4]

360 Sprint Cars

A Feature

1. 5D-Destry Miller[1]; 2. 23X-Xan Miller[4]; 3. 51-Doug Davenport[2]; 4. (DNF) 99X-Samuel Strange[3]

Heat

1. 51-Doug Davenport[1]; 2. 5D-Destry Miller[2]; 3. 99X-Samuel Strange[3]; 4. 23X-Xan Miller[4]

Qualifying

1. 5D-Destry Miller[3]; 2. 51-Doug Davenport[4]; 3. 99X-Samuel Strange[2]; 4. (DNS) 23X-Xan Miller

360 Limited Sprint

A Feature

1. 51-Doug Davenport[1]; 2. 27-Garrel Powers[2]; 3. 66D-Chad Davis[3]

Heat

1. 51-Doug Davenport[2]; 2. 27-Garrel Powers[1]; 3. 66D-Chad Davis[3]

Qualifying

1. 51-Doug Davenport[1]; 2. 27-Garrel Powers[4]; 3. 66D-Chad Davis[2]; 4. 89-Doug Cleator[3]

PHRA Racing Dwarf cars

A Feature

1. 19O-Brad Martin[8]; 2. 99O-Jeremy Martin[2]; 3. 36-Corey Esteban[1]; 4. 777-Dennis Liebig[3]; 5. 54-Dave Brune[4]; 6. 89Z-Henry Corbin III[5]; 7. 23W-Jeremey Wetherbee[10]; 8. 19-Mike Chadwick[7]; 9. 8O-Josh Rodgers[9]; 10. 99-James Pavel[13]; 11. 3K-Jim Fisher[14]; 12. 64-Dan Cardinal[18]; 13. 77-Chris Bigelow[20]; 14. 00-Jim Pavel[17]; 15. 26-Dustin Hawkinson[22]; 16. 10-Chris Champagne[21]; 17. 9O-Jeremy Champagne[15]; 18. 35-Wyatt Speck[23]; 19. (DNF) 92-Steve Hyson[11]; 20. (DNF) 24O-Justin DeMars[6]; 21. (DNF) 13-Jay Elliott[12]; 22. (DNF) 7K-George Fischer[16]; 23. (DNF) 911-Craig Vito[19]

Heat 1

1. 777-Dennis Liebig[6]; 2. 99O-Jeremy Martin[4]; 3. 19-Mike Chadwick[1]; 4. 23W-Jeremey Wetherbee[3]; 5. 99-James Pavel[5]; 6. 44-Robert Rush[2]; 7. 26-Dustin Hawkinson[7]; 8. 35-Wyatt Speck[8]

Heat 2

1. 54-Dave Brune[4]; 2. 89Z-Henry Corbin III[5]; 3. 19O-Brad Martin[8]; 4. 92-Steve Hyson[3]; 5. 3K-Jim Fisher[2]; 6. 00-Jim Pavel[1]; 7. 64-Dan Cardinal[7]; 8. 77-Chris Bigelow[6]

Heat 3

1. 36-Corey Esteban[3]; 2. 24O-Justin DeMars[2]; 3. 8O-Josh Rodgers[7]; 4. 13-Jay Elliott[5]; 5. 9O-Jeremy Champagne[1]; 6. 7K-George Fischer[9]; 7. 10-Chris Champagne[8]; 8. (DNF) 911-Craig Vito[4]; 9. (DNS) 17-Lucas Eaton