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Bill Poehler
BANKS, Ore. (November 7) - Jerry Schram was having a solid run.
The veteran driver from Vancouver, Wash., had worked the No. 16 Schram Excavating late model from 15th to second halfway through Saturday 50-lap Coors Light Late Model main event on the 1/4-mile clay oval that is Banks' Sunset Speedway Park.
Destiny had a different idea.
Greg Walters of Banks lost his 3/4-lap lead when an ignition wire came off of the No. 97 car with three laps to go, handing the lead over to Schram, and Schram checked out on the final restart for his first crate late model win.
With the advent of its own crate engine late model class, a different format is used from what fans at the track saw last year. After qualifying, the two heat races are split between the fastest and slowest cars and the fields are inverted based on qualifying times. The main event is fully inverted from the qualifying, as well.
The cars race back to caution flag. Restarts are done California style with the leader ahead of the field and all others behind lining up side-by-side, including lapped cars remaining where they were when they came to the caution flag.
The sponsorship from Coors Light helped fill the pits with a healthy field of 16 late models.
As could be expected, Walters timed in fastest of the field with a time of 14.085 seconds with Schram in second at 14.428, Eric Sayre of Vancouver, Wash., followed in third at 14.328, Scott Puncochar of Hillsboro was fourth at 14.431 and Billy Workman, Jr., of Canby was fifth at 14.433.
In the first heat race, fourth-starting Jeff Biffle of Vancouver, Wash. -- older brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Greg Biffle -- jumped to the lead and was in front for all eight laps with Jeff Brookshire in second and Jesse Freeman in third.
In the second heat race, polesitting Jimmy Schram, also of Vancouver, Wash., took the lead at the green flag, followed closely by nephew Jeremy Schram. But the seventh-starting Sayre worked his way up to second at the finish with Walters close behind in third.
Sayre put on a good show in the trophy dash, moving up from the third-starting position into the lead on the first lap and would lead with Walters finishing second.
In the main, outside polesitter Freeman jumped out to lead the first lap, but Biffle raced his way past to take the lead on the second lap and took away with the lead. Behind Biffle, racers were running three and four wide, providing a great show for the fans as the faster cars attempted to make their way to the front. By the fifth lap, Walters had race his way from 16th at the start to fifth, and he moved up to third a lap later.
On the seventh lap, however, a three-car crash in turn two involving Bill Workman, Billy Workman and Puncochar tied up traffic and brought out a caution. On the lap seven restart, Walters went past Kevin "Porkchop" Rogers for second, and Jerry Schram had worked his way up to fifth.
A lap later, however, Puncochar got in another mele with Jeremy Schram and Dewayne Potter. It got the crashing out of their systems as the race then went green for nearly 40 laps.
On the restart, Walters hounded Biffle for the lead, but Biffle held his ground on the high side until the 16th lap, when Walters finally found his way by on the inside coming out of turn four to take his first lead of the race.
From there, Walters showed no mercy, lapping cars at will and checked out on everybody. Schram got around Biffle on the 23rd lap on the low side, but Walters had already built his lead up to a quarter lap. Walters was on such a torrid pace, he had lapped all but the top four cars, leaving only Jerry Schram, Biffle and Brandon Lindberg of Monroe, Wash., on the lead lap with five laps to go.
But luck was not on Walters' side.
Coming out of turn four with three laps to go and a lead of 3/4-lap, Walters' car suddenly went dead due to an ignition wire coming off. That gave the lead to Jerry Schram. Walters' car was pushed to the pits, but came roaring back on the track just before the restart, allowing him to stay on the lead lap, but running fifth overall and 10th on the track.
Jerry Schram easily pulled away to the win. Lindberg finished second with Biffle apparently in third. After the race, however, Biffle's car rolled over the scales 40 pounds lighter than the 2,400 pounds required and was disqualified.
That propelled Walters to third. Jimmy Schram, Jerry's brother, finished a lap down in third and Rogers had a solid run in fifth
Billy Workman finished in sixth with Puncochar in seventh. Freeman finished two laps down in eighth and Bill Workman ninth. Brookshire spent a lengthy stretch in the pits, but made it back out to finish 10th, the final car running.
The Coors Light Late Models return to Sunset June 14 for the annual Rose Festival Dirt Cup.
Sunset Speedway Park, May 31
Coors Light Late Models
Fast time-- Greg Walters 14.085.
Heat 1-- 1, Jeff Biffle; 2, Jeff Brookshire; 3, Jesse Freeman; 4, Ian McHutchinson; 5, Bill Workman; 6, Dewayne Potter; 7, Brandon Lindberg; 8, Kevin Rogers.
Heat 2-- 1, Jimmy Schram; 2, Eric Sayre; 3, Walters; 4, Scott Puncochar; 5, Billy Workman; 6, Jason Johnson; 7, Jerry Schram; 8, Jeremy Schram.
Trophy dash-- 1, Sayre; 2, Walters, 3, Puncochar; 4, Jerry Schram.
Main event-- 1, Jerry Schram; 2, Lindberg; 3, Walters, 4, Jimmy Schram; 5, Rogers, 6, Billy Workman; 7, Puncochar; 8, Freeman; 9, Bill Workman; 10, Brookshire; 11, Sayre, 12, McHutchinson; 13, Potter; 14, Jeremy Schram; 15, Johnson; 16, Biffle.
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