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WALTERS WINS JON MILLER MEMORIAL AT SUNSET: |
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by
Bill Poehler -
Coors Light Dirt Late Model Crate Motor Series
Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR.
Saturday July 19, 2008
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Greg
Biffle brought the crowd, but Greg Walters brought the show.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup star originally from Brush Prairie, Wash.,
made his second appearance at the Jon Miller Memorial Race sponsored
by Irontech Saturday night at Sunset Speedway and won a 10-lap exhibition.
Walters, of Banks, won the main event for the Coors Light Crate
Motor Class from the 12th starting position.
Biffle, whose older brother, Jeff, is a regular in the class, made
his second appearance at the race, which is named for his former
sponsor and one of the men who got his racing career going.
Biffle's helicopter touched down about 6 p.m. in the baseball fields
adjacent to the 1/4-clay oval.
In the exhibition race, Greg Biffle started from the pole alongside
his brother and took the lead on the first lap. But on the second
lap, Biffle went into the tricky turn one too hot and slipped up
and hit the wall in turn two and banged up the rear of his car.
As not all of the cars had finished the lap, a full restart was
in order and Biffle's crew fixed the damage and got him back out.
As he roared back onto the track, the fans in the packed grandstands
loudly cheered.
Biffle again took the lead from the pole, but had problems getting
acclimated to the Jerry Schram-owned late model and late model shoes
Eric Sayre and Greg Walters went by him for the lead. In the span
of a few laps, Biffle got going and came back on the high side to
retake the lead on the last lap and win the race.
In the first heat race, pole sitting Kevin "Porkchop"
Rodgers led every lap and Scott Puncochar came forward from the
fifth starting position to finish second.
In the second heat race, Billy "The Kid" Workman led every
lap from the pole and won by a straightaway in front of Branden
Lindberg.
Schram led all four laps from the pole position to win the trophy
dash with Walters in second.
In the main event, Jeff Brookshire took the lead from the outside
pole, but on the third lap, Malcolm Lindberg, Branden's father,
spun in turn two, collecting Jeremy Schram, Steve Moore and Eric
Sayre.
Lindberg, Schram, Moore and Sayre all left for the pits and Brookshire
spun on his own at the same time as the Lindberg spin, giving the
lead to Rodgers. Moore, Brookshire and Sayre returned to the race,
but Sayre went a lap down.
On the restart, Puncochar went by Rodgers for the lead before the
caution flag fell on lap four as Jeff Biffle came to a halt in turn
three.
Five laps later, Rodgers and Biffle got together in turns three
and four. Puncochar kept his lead with Jimmy Schram advancing to
second and Walters moving up to third.
On the restart, the three leading cars diced back and fourth and
briefly ran three wide before Walters took the lead for good shortly
before the lap 15 restart.
Walters picked up $750 for the win along with the hard charger award
with Schram in second, Workman in third, Jerry Schram in fourth
and Moore came back from the early altercation to finish fifth.
Brookshire finished sixth with Lindberg in seventh, Rodgers in eighth,
Jason Johnson in ninth and Malcolm Lindberg rounding out the top
ten.
The Coors Light Late Models return June 26 on the night of the Jim's
Thriftway 100.
RACE SUMMARY:
Coors
Light Dirt Late Model Crate Motor Series
Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR.
Saturday July 19, 2008
Fast Time:
Eric Sayre 14.770
Heat 1: 1) Rodgers 2) Puncochar 3) Johnson 4) Freeman 5)
Jeremy Schram 6) M. Lindberg
Heat 2: 1) Workman Jr 2) B. Lindberg 3) Jerry Schram 4)
Moore 5) Jimmy Schram 6) Sayre 7) Walters 8) J. Biffle
Dash: 1) Jerry Schram 2) Walters 3) Sayre 4) J. Biffle
Main Event: 1) Greg Walters 2) Jimmy Schram 3) Billy "the
kid" Workman Jr 4) Jerry Schram 5) Steve Moore 6) Jeff Brokshire7)
Branden Lindberg 8) Kevin "Porkchop" Rodgers 9) Jason
Johnson 10) Malcolm Lindberg 11) Jesse Freeman 12) Eric Sayre
13) Scott Puncochar (DNF Mechanical) 14) Jeff Biffle (DNF Mechanical)
15) Jeremy Schram (DNF wreck)
Hard Charger Award: Greg Walters
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Top
3 finishers from Saturday nights Coors Light Dirt Late Model 40-lap
Feature event; (left to right) 3rd place Billy Workman Jr Canby,
OR. Greg Walters Banks, OR., and 2nd place Jimmy Schram from Vancouver,
WA.
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Billy
"the kid" Workman JR #64jr, Greg "Hollywood"
Walters #97 and Jimmy Schram #22s racing 3 wide for the lead during
the 40-lap feature event.
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| Scott
Puncochar #14 being challenged by Greg Walters #97 and Jimmy Schram
#22s for the lead, the trio would race several laps 3-wide. |
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NASCAR
star Greg Biffle was on hand for the Jon Miller Memorial sponsored
by Irontech.
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| The
crowd cheering as Greg Biffle makes his way back to the pits after
winning the 10 lap exhibition race Saturday night. |
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| Greg
Biffle went into the tricky turn one too hot and slipped up and hit
the wall in turn two and banged up the rear of his car early in the
exhibition race. |
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| Jerry
Schram #16 from Vancouver, WA. led all 4-laps to win Saturday nights
Coors
Light Dirt Late Model Crate Motor Series
trophy dash. |
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Eric Sayre #53 from Vancouver, WA. driving the Jerry Schram owned
dirt late model set fast time over the 15 car field with a lap time
of 14.520 seconds. |
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The
crowd cheer franticly as the Oregon National Guard was on hand for
the opening ceremonies displaying a couple of their troop transporters.
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