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Bill Poehler
ELMA, Wash. (June 21) - Rob Mayea's patience paid off.
After seeing John Duty rocket away with the lead on lap 18, Mayea bided his for 10 laps then the driver out of Bend rode the high way around the 3/8-mile clay oval of Grays Harbor Raceway into the lead and pulled away to the Bud I-5 Challenge Series win.
For the 2004 Bud I-5 champion, it was his second straight series win at the track. The last was in 2005, the last time the series raced at the ultra-fast speed plant.
Polesitting Lisa Stroup took the initial lead for the 50-lap A-Main and paced the first three laps until Albany driver Todd Shandy went around the only female driver in the field on the outside of turn two and took over the lead. The fast cars made their way through traffic and Mayea moved into the top five on lap seven.
Duty, running No. 2 and collecting points for three-time defending series champion Trevor Glaser -- who was attending his sister's wedding -- made a daring move on lap 19, going from fourth to first in one lap to the delight of the crowd.
Mayea calmly went by Mike Miller for third and Shandy for second by lap 23 and set sail for Duty. Mayea caught a break when Russ Sell's car went dead after spinning in turn two on lap 26. On the restart, Mayea went to the high side, but checked back when Duty got high coming out of turn two. On lap 28, however, Mayea made the winning move, going to the high side of Duty entering turn three and clearing Duty by the time they exited turn four.
Close behind Mayea and Duty, Miller and Greg Walters battled for third place with Walters finally gaining the spot with six laps left in the 50-lap main event.
On the 50th lap Jayme Van spun and the caution flew, but the race was declared completed under caution with Mayea the winner, Duty in second, Walters in third, Miller in fourth and Brett McCutcheon completing a solid run in fifth.
Todd Shandy finished sixth, close behind McCutcheon and the final car of the 17 starters on the lead lap. Sell finished seventh with Jimmy Schram of Vancouver, Wash., in eighth, Don Piefer in ninth and Jeff Biffle -- older brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup star Greg Biffle -- rounding out the top 10 and gaining a $200 bonus for being the highest finishing crate engine late model.
Thirty-two dirt late models, most from I-5 series home track of Willamette Speedway, made the trek across state line into Washington for the race.
Casey Vitale of Lebanon destroyed the track record in qualifying with a lap of 14.310 seconds with Walters -- a crate engine master running an open competition engine for the event -- in second at 14.666, Duty was third fast at 14.946 and Mayea in fourth at 14.950.
Of the four fastest cars, only Mayea and Duty were in line in time to run the trophy dash. The cars of Walters and Mayea were on jack stands in the pits under repair and Schram volunteered to tag onto the field. Mayea led all four laps to win the trophy dash with Duty in second and Schram in third.
In the heat races, Mike Brooks won the first heat from the pole position, Mike DeSilva won the second, Stroup won the third and Walters came from the back of the fourth heat to win the final one.
Brooks led the first three laps of the B-Main event before Biffle went by on the high side out of turn two for the lead on the third lap. Biffle checked out on the field for a few laps until the caution flag fell and allowed Steve Moore to close up in second place.
On lap 14, Moore -- running a crate engine purchased this week by Jimmy Schram -- went to the high side around Biffle for the lead and looked stout once there until his car came to a halt in turn four, giving the lead to Ryan Gerig.
Gerig checked out for the win in the 25-lap main event, and Biffle finished second to earn a transfer spot for the A-Main event.
The series' next race is July 26 back home at Willamette Speedway followed by a return trip to Grays Harbor on Sept. 13, another race at Willamette Sept. 20 and the season finale Sept. 26 and 27 at Southern Oregon Speedway in White City.
Grays Harbor Raceway
June 21
Fast time-- Casey Vitale (Lebanon) 14.310.
Trophy Dash-- Rob Mayea (Bend).
Heat 1-- 1, Mike Brooks (Salem), 2, Jeff Biffle (Vancouver, Wash.), 3, Butch Valdez (Portland).
Heat 2-- 1, Mike DeSilva (Springfield), 2, Ryan Gerig (Lebanon), 3, Wade Mock (Albany).
Heat 3-- 1, Lisa Stroup (Redmond), 2, Todd Shandy (Albany), 3, Randy Neal (Lincoln City).
Heat 4-- 1, Greg Walters (Banks), 2, Brett McCutcheon (Sweet Home), 3, Mayea.
B-Main-- 1, Gerig, 2, Biffle, 3, DeSilva, 4, Mock, 5, Bryan Norton (Stayton), 6, Valdez, 7, Chance Hamen, 8, Chris Mott (Salem), 9, Steve Moore (Scio), 10, Mike Brooks, 11, Charels Sieverson, 12, J. J. Irvine (Lebanon).
A-Main-- 1, Mayea, 2, John Duty (Portland), 3, Walters, 4, Mike Miller (Springfield), 5, McCutcheon, 6, Shandy, 7, Russ Sell (Brownsville), 8, Jimmy Schram (Vancouver, Wash.), 9, Don Piefer (Lebanon), 10, Biffle, 11, Jason Cadwell (Albany), 12, Rob Campos (Redmond), 13, Jayme Van (Portland), 14, Stroup, 15, Neal, 16, Mike Brooks (Turner), 17, Vitale.
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