Crockett Tops ASCS Northwest Speedweek Night Three

After Bump with "The Dude"

 

Craig Murphy, LEBANON, Ore. (July 16, 2008) – Roger Crockett knew he had to get back to the top of the track right away.  Danny Lasoski, meanwhile, knew his one shot at victory Wednesday night was by going to the high side.

 

The two ended up banging wheels on the backstretch.  Crockett went on to win Wednesday at Willamette Speedway, while Lasoski suffered front end damage and coasted to a stop.

 

The race at the 1/3-mile Lebanon track, the third of six straight nights of racing in the ASCS (American Sprint Car Series) Northwest Region’s ShuJack's Bar & Grill Northwest Speedweek, was dominated by Crockett.

 

In the closing laps, Crockett went low to see if that part of the track was faster.  It wasn’t, so coming off turn two on lap 28 of the 30-lap feature Crockett returned to the top of the track.  The only problem: Lasoski was already there, hungry for a way to get by the driver who led wire-to-wire the night before in Cottage Grove, Ore. 

“We got to traffic, and I thought I’d try the bottom to see if it was better,” Crockett said afterwards as a chorus of boos fell from the stands.  “The bottom was terrible.  I tried to get back up as fast as I could.  I had no idea he was there.”

 

Lasoski was to the point with his comments on the incident.  “I got taken out,” he said.  “It was pretty basic. He turned right on me.” 

Following the contact on the backstretch, “The Dude” limped to a stop in turn three, bringing out the yellow.  Lasoski retired and was credited with 18th in the 20-car field. 

Crockett pointed out damage to his car was non-existent.  "We just bumped the right rear tire, but there was no damage,” Crockett said. “There’s not even a mark on the car.”

 

There was a mark on the car, courtesy of a close call Crockett experienced on lap 25 while leading comfortably.  “I got over the cushion in turn two,” he said.  “I wanted to test how much higher I could go.  I just scraped the nerf bar along the turn two fence.  I knew I gave up a lot of my lead right there.  It felt like I was up there in the cushion for days.” 

Rob Held started on the outside pole alongside Jay Cole at the start of the feature, and took the initial lead.  Lasoski started fourth and was quickly all over Cole for second, securing the spot on lap 3 and taking the lead away from Held two laps later.

 

Crockett used lapped traffic to his advantage in wrestling the lead away from Lasoski on lap 15, and opened up a gap.

 

Following a red flag on lap 18, Jason Solwold took third on the restart.  Lasoski and Solwold tried to track down Crockett.  The lap 25 bobble allowed the two to close right in, and gave Solwold a front row seat for the contact three laps later. 

“That was pretty interesting on the backstretch,” Solwold said.  “I had a pretty good view.  It’s too bad the 1 car (Lasoski) got stopped in the corner.”

On the final restart with two laps to go, Crockett checked out to win his sixth win at Willamette Speedway, his third in this event.

 

Solwold had his hands full trying to fend off Brock Lemley for second, something he was able to do. Rounding out the top five were Cole and Jared Ridge. 

“I didn’t need that last yellow,” Solwold lamented.

 

Lemley, on the other hand, welcomed the breaks in the action.  “Those yellows and reds saved me,” Lemley said.

The four heat races on the night were won by Held, Mike Melwicks, Travis Rutz and Kyle Hirst.  Transferring from the B-Mains were Jeff Thompson, Casey Adams, TJ Winningham and Phillip Del Rosa. There were 37 cars signed in on the night.

 

Speed Week wraps up the Oregon portion of the week Thursday night at the ¼-mile Sunset Speedway in Banks, Ore.  Hot laps will begin at approximately 6 p.m., with racing at 7.

 

The week concludes with the two-night Evergreen State Sprint Challenge at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. on Friday and Saturday.

 

Note: Officials made a change to the finishing order of Monday night’s Speed Week opener at Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, Ore. Henry Van Dam, who was originally listed as ninth, was moved back to 16th when it was discovered he ran one less lap than originally thought.

 

Everyone that was listed as 10th through 16th was moved up one spot, while the resting order remained the same.

 

ASCS Northwest Speedweek Round Three

Results from Willamette Speedway: 

Heat One (10 Laps):  1. 68-Rob Held, 2. 1-Danny Lasoski, 3. 13-Chadd Noland, 4. 0j-Jay Cole, 5. 12-Casey Adams, 6. 71-Hedge Carter, 7. 35-Ricky Wright, Jr., 8. 86-Mark Mackay, 9. Steve Vague, 10. Nick Tomlinson.

 

Heat Two (10 Laps):  1. 2-Mike Melwicks, 2. 25c-Chad Groves, 3. 23-Seth Bergman, 4. 6m-Phillip Del Rosa, 5. 5h-Christian Stover, 6. 33T-Jimmy Trulli, 7. 9p-Jared Peterson, 8. 26F-Shane Forte, 9. 55-Ryan Gomes.

 

Heat Three (10 Laps):  1. 26-Travis Rutz, 2. 39c-Jason Solwold, 3. 12-Jared Ridge, 4. 9-Jayme Barnes, 5. 23T-Ted Baker, 6. 7T-Jeff Thompson, 7. 22g-Garren Linder, 8. 45-Jeff Rivers, 9. 73-Danielle Huson.

 

Heat Four (10 Laps):  1. 6-Kyle Hirst, 2. 4-Brock Lemley, 3. 7n-Roger Crockett, 4. 2z-Todd Zeitler, 5. 9T-T.J. Winningham, 6. 9J-J.J. Dishneau, 7. 15-Dan Dunlap, 8. Tyler Spath, 9. 33-Henry Van Dam.

 

First "B" Feature (12 Laps):  1. 7T-Jeff Thompson, 2. 9T-T.J. Winningham, 3. 9p-Jared Peterson, 4. 86-Mark Mackay, 5. 73-Danielle Huson, 6. 9J-J.J. Dishneau, 7. 71-Hedge Carter, 8. 08-Steve Vague, 9. Nick Tomlinson, 10. 45-Jeff Rivers, 11. 22g-Garren Linder.

 

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps):  1. 12-Casey Adams, 2. 6m-Phillip Del Rosa, 3. 23T-Ted Baker, 4. 33T-Jimmy Trulli, 5. 35-Ricky Wright, Jr., 6. Tyler Spath, 7. 26F-Shane Forte, 8. 55-Ryan Gomes, 9. 15-Dan Dunlap, 10. 33v-Henry Van Dam.

 

“A” Feature (30 Laps):  1. 7n-Roger Crockett, 2. 39c-Jason Solwold, 3. 4-Brock Lemley, 4. 0j-Jay Cole, 5. 12-Jared Ridge, 6. 6-Kyle Hirst, 7. 26-Travis Rutz, 8. 2-Mike Melwicks, 9. 9-Jayme Barnes, 10. 68-Rob Held, 11. 23-Seth Bergman, 12. 25c-Chad Groves, 13. 13-Chadd Noland, 14. 7T-Jeff Thompson, 15. 2z-Todd Zeitler, 16. 12-Casey Adams, 17. 9T-T.J. Winningham, 18. 1-Danny Lasoski, 19. 5h-Christian Stover, 20. 6m-Phillip Del Rosa.

 

ASCS Northwest Region Points

(Top Ten):  1. Jayme Barnes 698, 2. (tie) Jared Ridge and Brock Lemley 676, 4. Rob Held 650, 5. Henry Van Dam 591, 6. Jared Peterson 579, 7. Roger Crockett 578, 8. Chad Groves 577, 9. Seth Bergman 570, 10. Mike Melwicks 567.

 

ASCS Northwest ShuJack's Bar & Grill Speedweek Points

(Top Twenty – Through Round Three of Six):

  1. 7n-Roger Crockett 438
  2. 4-Brock Lemley 430
  3. 12-Jared Ridge 414
  4. 9-Jayme Barnes 412
  5. 6-Kyle Hirst 412
  6. 13-Chadd Noland 390
  7. 68-Rob Held 388
  8. 25c-Chad Groves 376
  9. 1-Danny Lasoski 372
  10. 0j-Jay Cole 355
  11. 26-Travis Rutz 323
  12. 9J-J.J. Dishneau 321
  13. 2-Mike Melwicks 321
  14. 9p-Jared Peterson 319
  15. 5h-Christian Stover 311
  16. 33v-Henry Van Dam 303
  17. 39c-Jason Solwold 286
  18. 23-Seth Bergman 278
  19. 86-Mark Mackay 276
  20. 2z-Todd Zeitler 270


For more information:  www.ascsracing.com or www.ascsnorthwest.com



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