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Bill Poehler
BANKS, Ore. (July 26) - Greg Walters' early-summer swoon has ended.
That's bad news for the competition.
The driver out of Banks won in Coors Light Crate Engine Late Model Series won for the second time in as many races Saturday night on the 1/4-mile clay oval of Sunset Speedway.
A season-best 22 cars were on hand for the race night, including Warriors of Dirt drivers Bob Trout, Doug Trout, Mike Keely, Kent Dollarhyde, Robby Ireland, Steve Suckow and Jason Wines as they had an off week from their traveling crate engine late model series.
In qualifying Walters set fast time at 14.257 seconds with Jerry Schram and Eric Sayre timing in with identical 14.278 laps and Billy "The Kid" Workman Jr. fourth fastest at 14.286.
Workman, of Aurora, led all four laps from pole position to win the trophy dash with Sayre in second and Walters and Schram following.
No heat races were run, and 11 cars set up a B-Main event with the top four transferring to the A-Main.
Ireland, series director for the Warriors of Dirt, picked up his first main event win of the season with Kevin Rogers of Banks in second, Jeff Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., in third and Steve Suckow of Hillsboro in the fourth and final transfer position.
In the A-Main, Jeff Brookshire took the initial lead from pole position, but the 12th-starting Walters was quickly making his way through the field.
On the fourth lap Rogers brought out the caution by spinning by himself in turns 3 and 4. On the restart a lap later, second-running Bob Trout got together with Brookshire, and spun on the backstretch. The field took evasive action to miss them, but Branden Lindberg and Rogers also were involved. Steve Moore ducked into the pits from the fourth starting position, but returned under caution.
On the ninth lap, Walters made it look easy when he went by Brookshire for the lead going into turn one.
A lap later, Suckow spun on his own in turn four to bring out another caution, and Moore got into Ireland while trying to avoid the spun car, cutting down Ireland's tire and sending him to the pits.
On the restart, 11th starting Jimmy Schram of Vancouver, Wash., and Sayre swapped the second and third positions, before Sayre finally got by for good on the lap 21 restart.
On the 23rd lap, Rogers and John Duty of Portland, filling in for Jeremy Schram, were involved in an altercation in turns three and four, and Ireland also suffered damage, but was able to continue. Five laps later, Workman, running in sixth place, pulled off after losing his brakes due to being hit by another car.
Just before a caution on lap 37 when Scott Puncochar of Hillsboro experienced a flat left rear, Sayre started pressuring Walters for the lead.
With three laps left on the restart, Sayre put on his best moves, but came up short on the last lap.
Walters pulled off the win with Sayre in second, Jimmy Schram in third, Wines in fourth and Jerry Schram rounding out the top five.
Moore placed sixth with B-Main transfer Biffle, in seventh, Brookshire coming home in eighth, Duty in fifth and Ireland in 13th.
The Coors Light Crate Engine Late Model Series returns to Sunset Aug. 9.
RACE SUMMARY:
Coors Light Dirt Late Model Crate Series
Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR.
Saturday July 19, 2008
Fast Time: Greg Walters 14.257
Dash: 1) Workman Jr. 2) Sayre 3) Walters 4) Jerry Schram
B-Main 20-Laps: 1) Ireland 2) Rodgers 3) Biffle 4) Suckow 5) Johnson 6) D. Trout 7) Freeman 8) M. Lindberg 9) Keely 10) Dollarhyde
Main Event 40-Laps: 1) Greg Walters 2) Eric Sayre 3) Jimmy Schram 4) Jason Wines 5) Jerry Schram 6) Steve Moore 7) Jeff Biffle 8) Jeff Brookshire 9) John Duty 10) Rob Ireland 11) Branden Lindberg 12) Scott Puncochar13) Kevin "Porkchop" Rogers 14) Billy "the kid" Workman Jr. DNF mechanical 15) Steve Suckow DNF 16) Bob Trout DNF wreck
Hard Charger Award: Greg Walters
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