Church wired for the win at the Rory Price Memorial

By Scott R. Cedergreen, ASA/NSRA media relations (9/12/09)

MONROE, Wash. — Drew Church was wired for the win at the Rory Price Memorial held at Evergreen Speedway; the eighth race of the 2009 American Speed Association/Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association championship season.

Church’s qualifying effort put him only 15th of the 22 cars on hand circulating the big five-eights oval in 20.424 seconds. Far off the quick qualifiers time of 19.140 by Matt Hein. Church’s time seeded him into the B Trophy Dash on the pole which he easily won. His qualifying heat had him on the outside pole and after eight laps he took the checkered over Todd Coleman by over one and a half seconds.

For the A Main Church found himself on the outside pole, the result of a ten car invert. At the drop of the green the #13 of Mike Basher kept the lead for the first lap. Hein had moved up on the outside from his tenth starting position but going into turn one on the high side he lost it backing it into the outside wall. The 25j of Sierra Jackson had no where to go running into Hein. All other cars got by without mishap.

Jackson’s car would need a tow truck to take the car back to the pits, Hein was able to get a push into the pits. Hein had a crunched trailing edge of his inside wing upright panel plus at least two flat tires. A quick trip to the pits got him fresh tires and an attempt to straighten the wing side panel. He wasn’t quite ready to return to the track though as when he was pushed off he found further issues with his steering requiring him to return to his pits for further repairs.

With the field formed up to take the green again Basher held the lead through turns one and two but Church made his move off turn two down the backstretch taking the lead during lap two. Church never gave up the lead again for the entire 30 lap race. Lap nine brought out the second caution for the #22 of Shawn Rice spinning in turn two by himself.

During this caution Hein rejoined the field at the back and eight laps down. At the green Church led followed by Basher then the #5 of Randy Bauer and #44 Todd Coleman. On the backstretch Coleman slowed staying on the outside coming to a stop on the outside of turn four necessitating a yellow. Coleman suffered a damaged rear end parking him for the night. The green waved again, still on lap nine. Basher jumped the start being ordered by the race director to give the lead to the #28 of Church on the backstretch which he did.

Just two laps later, lap eleven, the caution flew once again for the #33j of Jeff Montgomery in turns three and four. Montgomery had suffered a blown engine, the second one of the day. The #15 of Craig Deaver and Basher also went to the pits during this caution, Basher not to return his car a victim of debris putting a hole in his radiator.

During this caution the #22 of Shawn Rice and the #15 of Craig Deaver rejoined the field making it a thirteen car field from the eighteen that had started. By this time the cars had circulated the track for forty-nine laps and the clean up in turn four from Montgomery’s blown engine would take additional time, thus the race director called for a red flag to allow the cars to refuel. Only eleven of the thirty green laps had been completed.

Under red all teams took on fuel with the exception of the #4 of Greg Middendorf. With the cars fired and under caution again the green flag dropped over the field with Church in the lead followed by Bauer, the #14 of Matt Mansell, and the #51 of Jake Mann. Both Bauer and Mansell attempted to pass Church on the outside in turns one and two but yet again Church came out of turn two down the backstretch in the lead.

Bauer continually attempted to challenge Church for the lead getting along side him in turn three but could not get around Church. A great challenge for the lead was interrupted again on lap sixteen with a caution for the #3 of Robert Beck spinning in turn three by himself. During the caution the #5 of Bauer had his fuel starvation issue raise its ugly head once again forcing him into the pits for the rest of the night. The #3 required a tow truck to bring him into the pits as his left rear was flat. His crew quickly changed the tire allowing Beck to rejoin the field at the back.

The green again waved over Church with the #7 of Randy Dubois now in second then Mansell in third, Mann in fourth and the #76 of Andy Alberding in fifth. Mansell got a good run on Church into turn one taking the lead briefly out of turn two. Church drove around Mansell on the backstretch to take command again. Through turns one and two Alberding made his move to pass Mann taking over fourth.

After the initial tussle with Mansell, Church stretched out his lead over Mansell at times up to twenty car lengths. Mansell started to fall back to DuBois getting passed for second on lap twenty five. Lap twenty-six saw the #4 of Middendorf pull into the pits out of fuel, he being the only one not to take fuel under the red flag condition.

Lap twenty-six also saw Alberding get around Mansell for third place. Over the last four laps DuBois would close in on Church to within three to four car lengths getting into turns one and three but Church would gain back his advantage coming off turns two and four. The checkered flag fell to Church with DuBois in second, Alberding third, Deaver who had worked his way back up to fourth, Mann fifth and Mansell sixth. Drew Church was tenacious not giving up first for a full lap once he gained the spot.

Post race inspection found two cars in the top five failing; the second place #7 of Randy DuBois and the fourth place #15 of Craig Deaver. The revised top five would be Church, Alberding, Mann, Mansell, and Beck.

Matt Hein had an off night with his crash in turn one at the start of lap two. Fortunately for Hein his closest competitors in the Championship points race had worse luck. Second place Jeff Montgomery had two engines suffer catastrophic failures, Cory Lockwood battled first a broken roller lifter then oil leakage into the exhaust. While Hein would finish ninth, Montgomery finished twelfth, and Lockwood sixteenth giving Hein some breathing room to claim his second series Championship. Only two races remain both at Meridian Speedway, the 25th and 26th of September. Hein has a 69 point lead over Montgomery and a 106 point lead over Lockwood.

Attrition played a major role in the racing here. It started with open practice on Friday with the #99 car breaking a roller lifter. On Saturday Brian Smith in his #97s parked his car after second practice with no oil pressure. The #33j of Jeff Montgomery had an engine failure during second practice. The large hole in the side of the oil pan made the team suspect a broken rod. Through a Herculean effort the team changed engines in time to make their Heat race and start the A Main. Unfortunately Montgomery lost a second engine during the Main with the same large hole in the side of the oil pan.

The #1 of Rick Brown pulled off the track on the third lap of the A Trophy Dash retiring the car for the evening. A broken shaft on the roller rocker arm put him out. The #17 of Justin Mack did not start the A Main as they had a severe oil leak flooding the belly pan that the team could not locate. The #15a car of Austyn Anderson was parked during practice for an unknown issue. The #44 of Todd Coleman had rear end damage as the car popped out of gear during the A Main and he reported grinding noises. The #13 of Mike Basher took debris through his radiator during the A Main retiring him. #22 Shawn Rice had a Panhard bar bolt shear during the A Main but was fortunate to be able to repair it under caution and return to the race.

RACE RESULTS

22 cars

A-Main 10 car invert (30 laps): 1. 28 Drew Church, 2. 76 Andy Alberding, 3. 51 Jake Mann, 4. 14 Matt Mansell, 5. 3 Robert Beck, 6. 25z Greg Ochs, 7. 22 Shawn Rice, 8. 4 Greg Middendorf, 9. 98h Matt Hein, 10. 5 Randy Bauer, 11. 13 Mike Basher, 12. 33j Jeff Montgomery, 13. 44 Todd Coleman, 14. 37 Jim Brock, 15. 25j Sierra Jackson, 16. 99 Cory Lockwood, 17. Randy Dubois (DQ), 18. 15 Craig Deaver (DQ).

Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 28 Drew Church, 2. 44 Todd Coleman, 3. 17 Justin Mack, 4. 7 Randy Dubois, 5. Andy Alberding, 6. 37 Jim Brock.

Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 25j Sierra Jackson, 2. 13 Mike Basher, 3. 3 Robert Beck, 4. 33j Jeff Montgomery, 5. 15 Craig Deaver, 6. 4 Greg Middendorf, 7. 22 Shawn Rice.

Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 5 Randy Bauer, 2. 98h Matt Hein, 3. 14 Matt Mansell, 4. 51 Jake Mann, 5. 1 Rick Brown, 6. 25z Greg Ochs, 7. 99 Cory Lockwood (DNS).

B-Dash (4 laps): 1. 28 Drew Church, 2. 13 Mike Basher, 3. 3 Robert Beck, 4. 14 Matt Mansell.

A-Dash (4 laps): 1. 22 Shawn Rice, 2. 25j Sierra Jackson, 3. 7 Randy DuBois, 4. 1 Rick Brown.

Qualifying: 98h Matt Hein 19.140, 15 Craig Deaver 19.367, 7 Randy DuBois 19.401, 1 Rick Brown 19.550, 22 Shawn Rice 19.622, 76 Andy Alberding 19.658, 5 Randy Bauer 19.663, 25j Sierra Jackson 19.726, 17 Justin Mack 19.817, 51 Jake Mann 19.842, 3 Robert Beck 19.937, 44 Todd Coleman 20.095, 14 Matt Mansell 20.129, 13 Mike Basher 20.140, 28 Drew Church 20.424, 25z Greg Ochs 20.755, 4 Greg Middendorf 20.040, 37 Jim Brock 26.680, 99 Cory Lockwood 1:35.756, 15a Austyn Anderson (DNQ), 33j Jeff Montgomery (DNQ), 97s Brian Smith (DNQ).