Dirt Cup Night 2 notes: Walker continues hot start

Published 9:16 pm Friday, June 19, 2009

ALGER – Tyler Walker of Los Angeles is on quite a roll at the 38th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway

The winner of the opening night’s feature main and current points leader returned to the three-tenths mile banked clay oval on Friday and set the fastest time in qualifying for Night 2 with a lap of 11.312 seconds.

That improved upon opening night’s fast time of 11.541 set by Jonathan Allard of Chico, Calif.

By being the fastest qualifiers on Thursday and Friday, Walker and Allard earned spots in the $1,000 Qualifying Challenge on the final night of the three-day event.

On Saturday, both challengers will made a two-lap qualifying run, take time out to make adjustments, then run another two-lap qualifying run. The fastest overall time wins the bonus donated by Industrial Resources and the Follman Agency.

In addition to earning a spot in the Challenge, Walker padded his lead in the standings by picking up the maximum 200 points. Walker entered the night with a two-point margin over Allard, who qualified 20th on Friday with a lap of 11.743.

Bud Kaeding of San Jose, Calif., was second quick on Friday with a lap of 11.444, followed by Tommy Tarlton (11.477) of Easton, Calif., Jayme Barnes (11.496) of Marysville, and Shane Stewart (11.534) of Pittsboro, Ind.

Even though Night 2’s top five qualifiers were quicker than Allard’s fast time on opening night, after a morning of rain and minimal track preparation, many drivers struggled in qualifying. Tarleton and Barnes were among the handful of racers that were able to pick up speed on their second laps.

Where’s Swindell?After suffering engine trouble before hot laps and not getting a qualifying run in, veteran World of Outlaws racer Sammy Swindell of Germantown, Tenn., changed engines before the heat races.

After coming from the rear to finish fourth in Heat 4, Swindell did not take part in the mains, and the rumor swirling through the speedway control tower was that he was leaving Skagit Speedway to return to the World of Outlaws tour, which is in North Dakota this weekend.

A quick check of DirtVision.Com (www.dirtvision.com) indicates Swindell was not in the lineup for Friday’s WOO sprint car event at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks.

No bad views at Skagit Speedway: Sportswriters are an unusual group in that paying for seats that usually provide the best possible view of the event isn’t required. Therefore, as a group, they often become insulated and unaware of what the average ticket-payer gets to experience at a venue.

Taking a break from the press room and control tower, a quick wander through Skagit Speedway provided a different perspective on both the racing, the environment and the atmosphere in the grandstands.

— Just in front of the control tower along the frontstretch, Shaun Hulbert of Everett, and Gene Zink and Cristal Christensen of Bothel enjoyed a great view of the action from Section D, where the speed and movement of the cars on the track was much more apparent than from a higher perspective.

Hulbert and Zink said they were at their third Dirt Cup, but it was Christensen’s first sprint car race, ever.

— Sitting on the benches in Section F on turn 4, there was a great view of the entire track and infield, especially to watch the cars from behind as the power down the frontstretch and enter turn 1.

Section F was the spot chosen by a group of asphalt oval-track racers, including defending Washington state NASCAR late-model champion Naima Lang, two-time defending Evergreen Speedway Street Stock division champion Lane Sundholm, ASA Northwest Late Model Tour driver Jason Fraser, Lang and Fraser’s crew chief Jesse Jensen, and members of their crews.

— Maybe the cheapest seats were the best, though. Section G opposite of turns 3 and 4 provided a great view of the entire track and infield, and with the added bonus of being able to set up a comfortable lawn chair on the grass.

Section G was where Gary Lewis, former champion of the NASCAR Northwest Tour and Late Model Challenge Series and current driver on the ASA Northwest Late Model Tour, set up shop for the second night of Dirt Cup.

The little things: Not everyone at Skagit Speedway was there for fun on Friday. The track officials and various support personnel were everywhere, keeping the racing program moving, selling food and souvenirs, and keeping the crowd safe and secure.

Even if they weren’t there for fun, fun was still had by these dedicated and professional people.

Skagit County Sheriff’s deputy Jason Moses of Burlington was providing security near Section F by turn 4, and standing nearby was speedway employee Shannon Fernandez of Mount Vernon, who was selling beer and recommending patrons try the speedway’s “awesome” french fries..

Moses got Fernandez to laugh by pointing out that with the wind at their backs as it was then, the two wouldn’t have to worry too much about the inevitable dust storm covering them later in the night.

“It’s the little things,” said Moses, who should know all about getting dusty, having worked 10 or 11 races so far this season.

Sunlight rainshower: A brief, gentle rain shower hit Skagit Speedway with just seven drivers in the 41-car left to qualify. With the filling grandstands facing a clear and sunny sky to the west, the offending raincloud actually backed in from the east, but did not delay or seem to impact the final qualifying runs.