Modifiieds, Dwarf cars take center stage at Grays Harbor Raceway

Winebarger Wins Race of Champions, King Victorious In Dwarf Cars

The first night of the 20th Annual Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals took to the 3/8 banked clay oval with 42 dirt modifieds in action. Also on hand were the PHRA Dwarf Cars for the Dwarf Car Challenge.

Shipwreck Beads Modifieds

The night started off with two sets of heat races (10 total), with the points from both sets lining up the feature events for Saturday.

The first set of heat races saw Albany, Oregon’s Matthew Drager pick up the win over Robert Jenner of Vancouver. Klamath Falls, Oregon driver and multiple time Modified Nationals winner Nick Trenchard won heat two over David Wolfard of Bremerton. Collen Winebarger of Corbett, Oregon picked up a heat race win over Shelton’s Devan West. Medford, Oregon’s Albert Gill was a heat race winner over Jeremy Martin of Warren, Oregon and Hoquiam’s Zack Simpson picked up a heat race win over Dan West Jr. of Shelton.

The second set of heat races saw Olympia driver Tyson Blood pick up a win off Jeremy Richey of Medford, Oregon. Trenchard picked up another heat-race win over Redmond, Oregon’s BJ Wild. Winebarger also added a second heat-race win to his evening over Campbell River, BC driver Lane Zerbin. Aaron Sheelar of Cottage Grove, Oregon picked up a heat race win over Battle Ground’s Nick Bessette. The final heat race of the evening went to Brad Martin of St. Helens, Oregon over Redmond, Oregon driver Mark Carrell.

After the heat races, a 25 lap Race of Champions event saw Campbell River, BC’s Chris Beaulieu lead early, taking the top spot at the start from Tiana Wild of Colville.

Winebarger quickly moved into second with Seabeck’s Kyler Moore running third. Winebarger wasted no time working his way past Beaulieu on lap 3.

Wild and Shelton driver Scott Miller battled for the fourth position for a handful of laps before Miller worked his way into fourth.

Winebarger continued his successful evening by slowly pulling away from Beaulieu and Moore.

Wild saw problems as she spun in turn two, collecting a handful of cars and bringing out the caution on lap 9.

Winebarger led the field to the green flag, as second through fourth raced hard for position, making it a three-wide race. Beaulieu continued to sit in second, Moore third, and Warren, Oregon driver Jeremy Martin sat in fourth.

Winebarger went on to win the Race of Champions over Moore, Beaulieu, Jeremy Martin, and John Campos of Salem, Oregon.

PHRA Dwarf Cars

The 25 lap PHRA Dwarf Car feature saw Chris Kress take the early lead at the start, but second place Cody Peters of Eagle Point, Oregon took over the top spot.

Kress moved back to second, as he battled with Gary Wegener of Kalama. Josh King of Red Bluff, Calif. worked his way from the middle grove into the top three and into second, looking to track down Cody Peters for the lead.

Shane Youngren of Tigard, Oregon worked his way into the top five and seemed to follow the same line King was, working his way into the top three.

King looked to the low side in turn two and took the lead from Peters in turn one and two. Youngren also worked his way into second a lap later.

A scary incident in turn one brought out the red flag as Roseburg, Oregon’s Erin Morgenstern’s car caught fire after contact with another car.

Youngren looked to make a run at King for the lead on the restart as John Chrisman of Hillsboro, Oregon looked to make a move for second. Youngren did get the spot back as the yellow came out after Cody Peters spun in turn four.

On the restart, Chrisman again looked low and momentarily took second before Youngren took the runner-up spot back.

King slowly pulled away from the rest of the field and went on to pick up the win over Youngren, Chrisman, Kress and Brian Lee of Campbell River, BC.

Heat race winners were Chrisman, Mollala, Oregon’s Henry Corbin II, King, and Henry Corbin III from Mollala.

Kelly Martin (8), Brian Taylor (5W) and Chris Kress vie for position during a PHRA Dwarf Cars race on Friday at Grays Harbor Raceway. (Photo by AR Racing Videos)

Winebarger Wins First Modified Nationals, Martinez Victorious in Dwarf Cars

The final night of the 20th Annual Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals and PHRA Dwarf Car Challenge saw a great field in both divisions on Saturday.

Shipwreck Beads Modifieds

Battle Ground driver Nick Bessette and Zack Simpson of Hoquiam set the front row of the 40 lap Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals feature event.

Bessette took the early lead. Simpson ran in the second spot, with Klamath Falls, Oregon driver Nick Trenchard in third. Vancouver’s Robert Jenner raced hard for the fourth position with Brad Martin of St. Helens, Oregon.

Race of Champions winner Collen Winebarger of Corbett, Oregon worked his way around Martin and set his sights on Jenner for the fourth position.

Bessette continued to lead as Trenchard looked low in turn one for second. Bessette used the low side of the 3/8 banked clay oval to his advantage, keeping Trenchard behind him. Trenchard looked to the high side and gained momentum in turn one.

The battle for third between Winebarger and Simpson was the race to watch as Winebarger raced side-by-side down the backstretch, taking third and looking for Bessette and Trenchard. Winebarger raced side-by-side with Trenchard down the backstretch, looking to work his way into second but couldn’t make the pass.

Bessette, Trenchard and Winebarger were bumper-to-bumper for a handful of laps. Bessette saw a pass from Trenchard down the backstretch on lap 13 to take the lead. Winebarger saw an advantage to move into second out of turn four.

Two of the top drivers of the weekend were set to duel it out for the remaining laps as Trenchard saw lap traffic up ahead. Trenchard ran the high side, Winebarger low in turn one and two as Winebarger saw his chance with a pass on the low side. Trenchard seemed to have a slight mechanical issue, but continued on, looking to catch up with Winebarger. Lap traffic became heavy for Winebarger as he timed his passes just right, putting some distance between himself and Trenchard. Winebarger continued to work his way through the traffic and went on to pick up a caution-free main event and his first Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals. Trenchard, Bessette, Jenner, and Simpson rounded out the top five.

Earlier in the evening Vancouver’s Matt Jenner won the C-Main and Salem, Oregon driver John Campos won the B-Main.

PHRA Dwarf Cars

Twenty cars set the field in the 25 lap PHRA Dwarf Car feature event.

Casey Warren of Yamhill, Oregon took the early lead, but the caution flag flew for Chris Kress of Roseburg, Oregon slowing to a stop in turn three.

On the restart, Warren took the lead. Happy Valley, Oregon driver Leo Ward moved into second momentarily. John Chrisman of Hillsboro, Oregon went from first to third in one corner taking over the lead from Warren.

The battle for second was one of the many races to watch as Cody Peters of Eagle Point, Oregon and Ward battled for position.

Chrisman continued to lead, slowly pulling away from the field.

Friday night’s winner, Josh King, saw problems in turn one bringing out the caution on lap 3.

Chrisman, Ward, and Peters continued to run the top three positions as Portland, Oregon’s Ryan Martinez moved into fourth from the back of the field.

A late-race caution for Ryen Haney of Elma gave Ward and Peters a shot at the lead. Peters moved into the second spot and raced three-wide with Chrisman and Ward for the lead, but was shuffled back to sixth as Martinez and Mollala, Oregon’s Henry Corbin III joined in on the battle.

Martinez worked his way past Ward for second and looked to track down Chrisman for the lead. Martinez continued to gain on Chrisman and looked to the low side in turn four, taking the lead. Chrisman looked to try and make a pass back, but Martinez continued to lead.

Martinez picked up the win over Chrisman, Justin DeMars of Sandy, Oregon, Ward, and Tigard, Oregon’s Shane Youngren.

Brock Peter of Eagle Point, Oregon, Chrisman and Youngren were heat race winners earlier in the evening.

Action will resume at Grays Harbor Raceway this Saturday and Sunday as Monster Slam 19 featuring Monster Trucks will be in action on the 3/8 banked clay oval. Monster truck rides cost $10 and a free meet and great pit party with admission.

The pit party starts at 6 p.m. on Saturday with monster truck action at 7.

On Sunday, the pit party begins at 1 p.m. with the show scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

For more information, visit www.graysharborraceway.com.