Pacific Coast Fastrak DirtCar Series, Aug. 10, 2007 at Cottage Grove Speedway, Cottage Grove, Oregon.
By Bill Poehler
The race was decided on the scales after the race.
Apparent winner Jeremy Shank made the sharp right hand turn and returned to his pit after being informed Jimmy Schram's No. 22 late model was light.
Eventual winner Greg Walters coasted his No. 97 late model off of Cottage Grove Speedway's scales and had to be pushed to victory lane - his fifth visit in the Pacific Coast Fastrak DirtCar Series this season - because his engine wouldn't refire after 50 hard fought laps.
Shank's disqualification elevated Cottage Grove late model points leader Ricky Ashley to second place after Ashley had intended to turn one lap to get the starting money because of car problems.
Polesitter Robby Ireland finished third with J.P. Pagel making a brilliant charge through the field to finish fourth and B-Main winning Scott Puncochar in fifth.
On the initial start, Cottage Grove regular Kelly McDonald, who started fourth, was already in third by the third turn of the first lap and was challenging for second, but spun in the middle of turn four. Eric Sayre and Shank were caught up in the incident. McDonald had heavy damage to his left front and parked his car in the infield for the night.
On the restart, outside polesitter Ireland, who was moved to that spot because Ashley elected to tag on the back of the field after his problems, took the initial lead with polesitter Terry Ferrando settling into second, Walters in third and Shank in fourth. Within four laps, the four checked out on fifth place Jason Wines and the rest of the field.
As the leaders were about to start lapping cars on lap 9, Darvin Trammel's car died at the end of the backstretch and the leading cars, coming at him full bore, successfully dodged the stalled Trammel, who was done for the night.
After the restart, the first four cars again checked out. The car of Ashley, who made his way up to eighth, got together with Eric Sayre on lap 16 to bring out the caution. Sayre was forced to pit with heavy nose damage, but Ashley continued.
Again on the restart, the first four cars checked out with Ferrando challenging Ireland on the lead repeatedly on the low side and Shank challenging Walters for third repeatedly on the low side, but no passes were recorded.
On lap 21, Jason Johnson's machine, which had been smoking, finally erupted and he coasted to a stop past the flag stand after leading a trail of fluid on the track. During the caution, a red flag was put out to refuel cars for the extra distance main event. A handful of drivers, including Ashley, elected to take on fuel.
On the restart, Ashley found his way around Wines for fifth. The caution again waved on lap 25 when Lindberg spun coming out of turn four and Mark Grill, who had initially pulled off the track in turn 2, pulled the Jerry Schram machine to the pits. On the restart, Walters jumped low on Ferrando and pulled off the pass.
The caution again waved on lap 29 for debris - many drivers lost fenders on the high-banked oval - Walters jumped low on Ireland coming into turn one and took the lead. On the 34th lap, Ferrando went to the high side in an attempt to pass Ireland for second, but drifted high in turn two and slid out to the backstretch wall. Ferrando hit the wall, but only dropped a few positions and was able to continue. Two laps later, Ireland slid off on the high side of turn two and lost a number of positions.
The lap 36 restart was set up as a 14-lap shootout between former series champions Walters and Shank running nose-to-tail. Pagel, who had moved his way up to third and was in contention for the win, hit the backstretch wall when his power steering went out, but continued on.
Shank took to the low side of Walters on lap 37, but Walters was able to hold him off until Sayre slowed on the outside of the backstretch to pull off the track. Walters was forced to check up and Shank shot by for the lead. Within laps, Shank checked out from Walters and started lapping cars. With three laps to go, Ferrando pulled off the track after breaking both tie rods after getting together with another car.
Shank flashed under the checkered flag first with Walters second and Ashley third.
But when Shank rolled across the scales, he registered at 2,370 pounds, ironically 30 - Shanks' normal number - pounds lighter than the 2,400 minimum. It would have been Shank's third win of the year in a Schram No. 22. He has two wins in Schram's Super Sport at Willamette Speedway.
Wines finished sixth with Lindberg soldiering on to finish seventh, Kevin "Pork Chop" Rogers in eighth, Hillsboro's Steve Suckow in ninth and Jerry Schram in 10th. A lap down were Billy Workman Jr. and Jimmy Schram with Ferrando three down, Sayre 11 down and Grill 25 back. Johnson finished 16th with Tramel in 17th, McDonald in 18th and Shank in 19th after the disqualification, the first time a winner in the series had been disqualified for being too light.
Puncochar won the B-Main event, passing Jimmy Schram for the lead with three laps to go in the 12-lap affair. Jerry Schram finished third with Workman fourth, Suckow fifth in the fifth and final transfer spot. Johnson finished sixth and gained the provisional starting spot for the A-Main. Jim Clair was seventh and Jeff Biffle coasted to a stop at the flag stand on the white flag lap and ended up eighth.
The series was scheduled to run at Sunset Speedway in Banks Saturday. Three more Banks races remain on the schedule. The 10th annual T&G Thriller Aug. 25 pays $3,000 to win and $200 to start the A-Main and the season wraps up Sept. 1 and 2 at Sunset.

Race Summary:
A-Main (50 laps)- 1, Greg Walters (Banks); 2, Ricky Ashley (Eugene); 3, Robby Ireland (Banks); 4, J.P. Pagel (Brightwood); 5, Scott Puncochar (Hillsboro); 6, Jason Wines (Lebanon); 7, Branden Lindberg (Monroe, Washington); 8, Kevin "Pork Chop" Rogers (Banks); 9, Steve Suckow (Hillsobro); 10, Jerry Schram (Vancouver, Washington); 11, Billy Workman, Jr. (Canby) -1; 12, Jimmy Schram (Vancouver) -1; 13, Terry Ferrando (Salem) -3; 14, Eric Sayre (Vancouver) -11; 15, Mark Grill (Albany) -25; 16, Jason Johnson (Gresham) -29; 17, Darvin Tramel (Aurora) -41; 18, Kelly McDonald -50; 19, Jeremy Shank (Salem) DQ.
B-Main (12 laps)- 1, Puncochar; 2, Jimmy Schram; 3, Workman; 4, Jerry Schram; 5, Suckow; 6, Johnson; 7, Jim Clair (Portland); 8, Jeff Biffle (Vancouver) -1.