Groskreutz Searches For Encore
What to do for an encore?
Last Saturday night’s NASCAR Northwest Tour race at Tri City Raceway will be hard to top, especially for Spokane’s Marc Groskreutz.
He’ll try his best this Saturday when the NASCAR Northwest Tour visits Yakima Speedway for the Frank’s Chevrolet 125. Time trials begin at 6 p.m. with racing at 7 on Yakima’s half-mile oval.
A week ago, Groskreutz took patience to a new level and it paid off on TCR’s half-mile tri-oval. In the space of a less than a quarter-mile, Groskreutz experienced his biggest moment on the tour, and fellow NW Tour drivers witnessed one of the wildest finishes in the 12-year history of the series.
Groskreutz went from being content to finish the race in fourth place, rack up another top-five finish and pad his lead in the Totem Travel Rookie-of-the-Year standings, to scoring his first career victory in the late-model series.
As Tacoma’s Ron Eaton and Spokane’s Rick Schultz were locked in a fender-to-fender last-lap duel for the lead, their two cars collided suddenly, causing a three-car crash that also involved Chris Cunningham.
Groskreutz took his Flying J/Broadway Truck Stop Monte Carlo through the wreck and dust, 60 yards from the finish, and suddenly found himself looking at the checkered flag. He led for just a couple hundred feet of the nearly 70-mile race.
“It pays to be in the right place at the right time,” Groskreutz said. “We never realized we had won until we came through the dust and realized there wasn’t anyone beside me.”
With the win, Groskreutz moves into third place in series points and now has a nine-point edge in rookie-of-the-year points over Spokane’s Kevin Richards.
The finish at Tri Cities provided some justice for Groskreutz. Earlier this season, he led the first 100 laps in a race at Tenino, Wash., only to have Eaton spin him out - allowing Gary Lewis to take the victory.
SRP Fox Hunt Saturday
Spokane Raceway Park will warm up fans for the upcoming AHRA World Finals when it presents its 15th Annual Fox Hunt and Jet Car Championships Saturday night.
The Fox Hunt is one of SRP’s best-attended events and offers free admission to women of all ages in the spectator grandstands.
Repeated attempts to get information on the line-up of cars for Saturday night’s program were unsuccessful. However, the usual Fox Hunt program consists of competition between four jet dragsters and match races featuring alcohol funny cars and dragsters.
Gates open at 2 p.m. Saturday with eliminations set for 7:30. Regular SRP bracket drag racers will also be in action.
Interstate Supers back at Stateline
Puyallup’s Mike Sauls is slowly shedding the competition as the Interstate Superstock Racing Series moves into the second half of the season Saturday night at Stateline Speedway.
The touring late-model series will run a 75-lap feature race. Time trials start at 6. Street Stocks and Hobby Cars will also run.
Sauls will try to put more distance between himself and Ephrata’s Kevin Bruck, about the only driver who’s kept within striking distance. Sauls takes a 20-point lead into Saturday’s race.
After strong starts, Brad Allard of Sandpoint and Dave Garber of Spokane have fallen off the pace.
Friday night’s program, beginning at 6:30, consists of Hobby Cars, Sportsman and Compact Streets.
A first?
Spokane’s Jennifer Rasmussen ended the three-race winning streak of Andy Brown in the Compact Street class at Stateline last Friday. In addition, the 19-year-old Rasmussen may be the only local woman racer to score a clean sweep - setting fast time, winning the trophy dash, the heat race and main event.
Circle track reunion scheduled
A reunion pot-luck and picnic for former circle track racers from the area will take place on July 28 starting at 10 a.m. at Nine Mile Resort on Long Lake.
The event will feature racers who ran in the area prior to 1982. Info: Karolyn Potts (509) 448-4508 or Judy Richards 838-8177.
Pit stops
Northport International Raceway will run its Tripp Distributors/Pend Oreille Inn “Sun ‘N Speed 150” Sunday at 1 p.m. … The Northern Light All-Star sprint cars return to the Spokane ORV Park for a Sunday race. … Woodburn Dragstrip south of Portland will be the site of the season’s fourth NHRA Division Six points race this weekend. … Greg Ochs takes the points lead over Blaine Sneva into the next Northwest Modified Series race at Kalispell’s Raceway Park on Saturday. Ed Hudson won last Saturday’s modified race at Stateline Speedway and climbed into the top five in points. … The Northwest Modifieds have also added an Aug. 3 date to their schedule at Tri-City Raceway. … The U-19 Team Spokane Appian Jeronimo unlimited hydroplane will be on display Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mobil Corral on E. 15906 Sprague. … Diane Thompson and Dave Mirabell will represent Spokane in the 4-Cycle Sprint National Go-Kart races this weekend in Riverside, Calif. … CBS will televise one of the nation’s premiere flat-track motorcycle races live Sunday at 1 p.m. PDT. The race will feature brothers Joe and Lonnie Kopp, from Mica, Wash. Joe Kopp is fourth in AMA points.
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