Tyson Perez, a crew member for former ASCS National Champion Travis Rilat, died today at the University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, three days after being admitted with severe burns following an apparent methanol explosion at a Washington shop.

Susan Gregg-Hanson, director of media and public relations for UW Medical, said that Perez died in the morning as a result of burns suffered in the explosion.

On behalf of the team at Seth Bergman Racing our condolences go out to the family and friends of Tyson Perez and our prayers are with Travis Rialt and his family as he remains in critical at Harbor view hospital in Seattle.

After a long week and running on back up parts Seth came up short and missed out on Saturday nights main event at the Fred Brownfield Memorial at Grays Harbor Raceway.

The team put in another all nighter on Friday night to put a third car together for Saturday night’s race. When you are running on backup parts you can still put a car together that is going to work fine, but when you are running on used parts it’s going to be tought to get the same level of performance.

The pill draw was not kind to us all week long and for the fifth straight night we drew a number which put us at the back of our heat. The track was a lot more hooked up than Friday and we had a definate chance of moving forward. As the race went green Seth got a great start and got around the 26F of Shane Forte quickly and on the second lap was able to get by the 3g of Darren Long. On lap three Seth passed National driver Channon Tankersley for fifth but on the following lap gave the spot back as he got hung up on the chuson coming out of turn four. Seth was unable to pick up any more spots and finished the race in 6th.

The result placed us in B Main number 2 starting on the outside of Roger Crockett in the fifth spot. Justin Cox set the early pace and as the cars raced into turn 1 Crockett found himself in a tangle and his night was done. Seth found himself moving up to third as the cars reracked. On the green flag Seth drove around the 44 and was up into the vital trasnsfer spot position. It was evident that the car was extremely tight and would not turn off the corners as Cox cleared out from the 23. Steven Tiner in the 94t was charging hard and on lap eight the yellow waived for Chad Groves in the 25c. On the restart Tiner was able to drive underneath the 23 as Seth was clearly fighting the car on every lap, and when Bacon in the 99 drove under us with two laps to go our night was over.

As Seth pulled the car back into the pit area he got out of the car with blue fluid all over his racing suit which indicated the steering box had gone during the race. Seth had indicated that the steering was not right even during hot laps but we made the best of what we had to work to with.

Full credit needs to go to Steve, Mike and everyone that helped out thrashing on Friday night to get a car out there for Saturday nights race.  Jason Johnson made it two for two as it took out the main event with Shane Stewart second and Ricky Logan third. The race was unfortunatel mared with Seth’s close friend Wayne Johnson involved in a nasty wreck on the opening lap which forced him to be airlifed to hospital with a compound fracture in his lower right leg.

While the weekend did not go as hoped we will get things back together this week and we will give it our all when we head to Cottage Grove next week for two nights of ASCS National Tour racing.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong on Night 1 of the Fred Brownfield Memorial as Seth tumbled for the second time this week.

With the ASCS National Tour boys in town for two nights of racing you need to make sure you are 100% on your game if you want to role in the feature event. Fifty six cars checked into the pits for the event and we knew that we were going to have to bring our A game with so many studs in town.

Seth gave me the honor of going and drawing the pill and needles to say that was pretty much where the night got off on the wrong foot as only 4 other drivers drew worse numbers. That put us in the back of heat race number three starting along side Seth’s buddy Wayne Johnson in the 35a. With the season we have had a Elma we weren’t concerned about our starting position and we had full confidence Seth would go forward and got the job done so we made the show.

After two laps of heat racing marbles of dirt had formed all over the track which  makes extremely difficult to get any bite of the corners. As the light went green it was evident we were in trouble as the car just could not get a run on any of the cars on the top or the bottom. It was a sad sight to see us rolling around in the back when we had been so good here all year. T from the Bhe conditions of the track just didn’t allow us to make it happen and we were resigned to the fact that we were going to have to pull of a Houdini act to get through to the Main event from the “B”.

You know it’s a deep field when the likes of Tony Bruce Jr and Danny Wood are starting in your B as well as a host of other local drivers that would be an automatic shoe in for the A Main. If we were going to be a chance we were going to have to get through half the field on the first lap.

As the light went green Seth got the jump and raced around four cars as he came screaming down into turn 1 what he didn’t expect was that Jake Mann in the 38 car would brake so heavily going into 1 and what resulted was Seth having to break hard and because of the speed he was traveling the car ended up toppling over and our night was done.

It was a frustrating to see the car all balled up again, and the team was resigned to the fact that an all nighter was on the cards for the second time in four days. Our main sponsor Pete “Father Superior” Peterson said “Seth did what he expected and we are out there to win. If we wreck we wreck but were not out there to run 10th in a B main”

It was dissapointing night for everyone as we came in here with high expectations based on the season we have had so far, but as I right this article the car is back together, and I have to thank all of those who donated their time last night and this morning to get this car together so quickly.

The Rajun Cajun Jason Johnson took out the feature event with Jayme Barnes in the 7n second and Shane Stewart in the 57 third.

We will be back at it again for night two and we can only hope that fortunes will be better for the 23.

Night 2 of Speedweek eneded in the worst possible as Seth was unable to avoid a wreck at the start of the A Main.

Seth headed back to Grays Harbor Raceway last night for the Mid Season Championship and you guessed it walked away with win number six for 2010.

After coming up just short last Sunday night Seth was keen to come back to the track he has owned all season and put on a great show for the huge crowd in attendance. The night started with the top six in points drawing pills to see where each driver would start for the trophy dash. Finishing positions for the dash would determine starting positions for the main event. Seth drew a “2″ with Henry VanDam drawing the “1″ so the fans were going to see both drives go head to head in the first sprint race of the night.

With the heat wave that came through the NorthWest track conditions were extremely hard. The track crew tried to put as much water as they could into the surface to make it as racy as possible for the drivers. As the green flag waived in the Dash Seth used the better conditions on the top to get the jump on Henry and from there he was never challenged as he cleared out to a full straight away win. Rd 1 to “Big Sexy”

So the stage was set for the Mid Season main event. Seth on the pole and Henry on the outside with Shawn Rice and Glen Borden in row 2. The track clearly had more moisture on the top than the bottom so the start was going to be critical. Henry was going to have every chance to take the lead, but as the race went Green Seth was just too good as the 23 machine powered down the main straight away and got position on the 33v. Henry drove it in hard on the bottom but there just wasn’t any moisture there to make it stick and Seth raced away. As the leaders crossed the line Dan Dunlap and JJ Hickle tangled in the straight away causing a red flag.

We were all a little surprised as 1 lap had been completed but they decided to re-rack the field. Personally I think they knew as we did that the field had 1 shot to make a pass on Seth and that was going to be on a double file restart so the field was re-racked and the first lap erased. Green waived and Seth again out foxed VanDam on the start Henry was much closer this time and as they entered 3 and 4 he decided that he would put in an attempt at a half assed slider which resulted in him sliding up the track out of the slick and nearly taking us both out. Luckily “Big Sexy” was on his game and avoided collusion and raced out into the lead.

Seth cleared out from the field and caught traffic by lap seven. Passing was a little bit more of challenge as you had to run the car down into the slick to get around slower cars. Shaun Rice in the 76 was traveling well after getting around VanDam and on lap 16 he got a chance as the yellow waived. On the single file restart Seth got a good jump and Rice drove hard on the bottom of 1 and 2 with both cars coming out side by side into the back shoot. Seth drove Rice down into the slick of 3 and 4 and was able to clear him by 3 car lengths coming into the main stretch.

That was Rice’s one and only shot as Seth cleared back out to half straight away lead and cruised to the checkered for his sixth win of the season. It has been a fantastic start to the season so far having collected six wins by the half way point. I have great confidence going into Speedweek that we will get our first ASCS win this week and I tell you what if I was a National Tour driver I wouldn’t want to be going head to head with “Big Sexy” next weekend in his back yard.

Stay tuned to the website for all the latest updates from Speedweek this week and if you can try to make it out next weekend for the Fred Brownfield Memorial at Grays Harbor as the ASCS National Tour comes into town.

Lapped traffic can either be your friend or your foe, and unfortunately for Seth it proved to be his foe as Roger Crockett ran down the 23 after he led for the majority of the way in ASCS Northwest racing at Cottage Grove.

The team were very confident going into night 2 after a strong run by Seth coming from 14th to 6th on Night 1.

Heat race action was first on the docket for “Big Sexy”  as he started in fourth position for heat race number five. Jason Solwold started on the pole with Todd Zeitler and Colin Baker in the two and three positions. Seth needed to get to second to gurantee a spot in the top eight. As the race went green Baker and Zeitler got good starts and Seth was unable to make up a position on the opening lap. As the rounded lap two Seth got aggressive on Zeitler and swooped around the top to take 3rd coming out of turn four. Seth chased down Baker and on lap five setting him up for the pass before the yellow came out for Jared Peterson and Henry VanDam as the both got tangled in turn one. On the restart Seth was right on Baker’s bumper and he slid him perfectly in one and two and again in three and four to take 2nd away. By lap eight Seth was right on Solwold’s tale tank but there was no need to doing anything as Seth had guaranteed a top 8 position and we crossed the line right behind the 39c.

The redraw for the main event saw Seth starting in the 4th position right next to his good friend in the 7n Jayme Barnes. Lady luck had been good to the Oregon drivers as the 33 of Nate Morelock and the 10 of Kyle Miller started on the pole. Night 1 winner Roger Crocket started in the 8 spot with Solwold starting 7th.

As the race went green Morelock and Miller got out to the early lead as Seth was able to hold third after the first circuit. Chad Noland in the 14 had shown in the heat race that the bottom was working for him and he was able to get around Seth on the 2nd circuit. For the next three laps Noland and Miller exchanged sliders as Seth worked around the 33 of Morelock. On lap five Seth’s car was starting to come into the conditions and he dropped a wicked slider going into turn three and four on both Noland and Miller and took the lead. With Seth out in open track he quickly got into lapped traffic and the second portion of the race began.

Seth has always been good in traffic and he worked the top as he began working through the traffic. Noland, Crockett and Solwold were quickly coming behind and like the first night the race stayed under green. The laps ticked by and Seth maitained his lead as Crocket, Noland and Solwold exchanged positions. On lap 24 Brock Lemley in the 40 decided to race us rather then let us go by and this proved to be the pivotal moment of the race as Noland and Solwold closed within striking distance.  Seth got around Lemley and continued to work the top while Crockett stayed on the bottom as both sliced their way through traffic.

With four to go Seth again was held up by back markers who too where running on the top and Crockett rode his luck on the bottom and was able to get by. Seth did everything he could to re-challenge for the lead but there just wasn’t enough laps as Crockett took the win with Seth second and Solwold third.

It was a tough loss for Seth as he had done everything right during the main event. Traffic always makes or breaks a race and unfortunately Roger was able to make it work at the end. Our goal going into the weekend was to move into the top three in points and we achieved that goal as we now find ourself in third 68 points adrift of Solwold and a further 42 behind Crockett.

Speedweek starts on July 12th and I have no doubt in saying the our first ASCS for 2010 is coming during speedweek. We will be back at Grays Harbor this Saturday night for our regular 360 track series.

Seth returned to ASCS Northwest racing with the first of a two night show at Cottage Grove. After starting 14th in the A Main Seth worked his way through the field to come home 6th in the 30 Lap A feature.

Cottage Grove always puts on a great race and tonight proved no different as 40 cars checked into the pits for the first of two nights of racing on 4th of July weekend.

Seth found himself starting in the fifth position for heat race number five with with local shoe Roger Crockett starting on the outside front row. The track had slickened off after the four previous heat races so passing was going to much more difficult than the earlier heats. As the race went green Seth found himself stuck on the bottom and was unable to make a run on the cars in front going into turn one. After two laps Seth got by Chad Groves to pick up 4th with a nice slider going into turns three and four and on the fourth lap he took third after both he and Andy Gregg touched going into three. Roger Crockett and Chad Noland had built a handy lead by lap five and Seth was unable to bridge the gap as he took the checkered in third.

With heat races finished Seth found himself in a tie for 9th position with 96 points. ASCS rules state that in the event of a tie starting positions will be determined by what heat race you ran in. Unfortunately for Seth we were at the wrong end of the heat races and so we found ourself starting in 14th for the A Main.

As the race went green Seth quickly looked for a line on the top but with racers jostling for position it was hard for the 23 to get a run on the opening lap. Seth settled down quickly after taking three quick positions and began to tuscle with Barnes after getting around Peterson in the early going. The laps were quickly ticking over as the raced stayed green. Seth got around Barnes in the 7n by the mid point of the  race and for the next five laps tuscled with 40 of Lemley eventually taking 8th, and then 7th from Croft on the next lap. Shane Forte was passed on lap 23 and Seth had moved in to sixth place with seven laps to go.

Unbelievably the race stayed under green as Seth was able to get by Chad Noland for fifth. Unfortunately with four laps to go backmarker Trey Starks in the 55 decided to run up on Seth’s line allowing Noland to sneak back around on the bottom. Unfortunately for Seth he ran out of laps and was unable to take back fifth as he passed the finish line in sixth right on the bumper of Noland.

Roger Crocket was the eventual winner with Henry VanDam and Mitch Olson rounding out the top three and Jason Solwod taking fourth.

All in all it was a tremedous run by the 23 and he was clearly going well at the finish as both he and Noland had caught up to Olson and Solwold at the end of the race. “I was really happy with the setup, we definatly had a top three car tonight” said Seth after the race. If things had gone our way in the heat races we would have definatly been right up the front at the end.

The 2nd night of racing will take place on the 4th with another great fireworks display to follow. Stay tuned to the website for Twitter updates so you can stay up to date with what’s happening at the track.

It was a milestone night for Seth Bergman and the team as they took home their fifth win of the season in dramatic fashion at Grays Harbor Raceway.

While every win so far this year in 2010 has been special this no doubt was the best of them all as Seth put a slide job on Logan Forler in turn four on the last lap to take the win in the 360 event.

The night started with qualifying and on a dry slick track, and Seth was able to time in 3rd quick.

It was a dusty dry track as the cars rolled out for heat race number one. Seth starting fifth and on the bottom of the track was slowed up by Danielle Huson in the 73 as Glen Borden, JJ Dishneau and Shawn Rice quickly raced away. The track was making passing difficult and it wasn’t until lap five that Seth got by Dishneau and then Huson on lap six. Seth pushed hard for two laps turning his quickest times of the heat on laps seven and eight to finish on the take tank of Borden as he crossed the line in third place.

The invert resulted in the 23 starting in fifth position and with a dry slick track on offer passing was going to be at a premium early. As the main event began Seth pushed to th bottom of the track looking for run on the bottom but was held up by Shawn Rice in the 73, this allowed Henry VanDam in the 33v to swoop around only to have his pass denied as the yellow come out for Glen Borden in the 72 before the lap ended.

This reracked everyone and on the restart Rice again was slow on the bottom which allowed the lead three of Logan Forler, Danielle Huson and JJ Hickle to skip away. The track was extremely slow as raceers where only turning between 93 and 94mph as racers searched all over the track to try to find any moisture that was available. Forler had raced out to an early lead as Seth got by Rice on lap two to take fourth.

For the next 10 laps Seth began chasing down the leaders and we knew that a yellow was the only shot we had a catching the leaders. On lap 12 we got our wish as the yellow came out again for the 72 of Borden. Seth stalked the 7a of Hickle on the restart and on lap 13 he through a great slide job going into three and four and took the third. Seth began the pursuit of Huson and on lap eighteen Seth caught the 73 and dropped a slider on her going into turn’s one and two. With seven laps it was evident that belief had filled Seth as the car took off like a rocket in pursuit of Forler.

The 23 was clearly going better than the leader and as each lap ticked by Seth took chunks out of the lead and with three laps to go Seth was two car lengths back of the leader. On lap 23 Seth had gotten onto the tank of of Forler and as the white waived everyone in the stands knew that Seth was setting up the leader for a slider on the last lap. You couldn’t have scripted any better as the 23 moved to the inside of Forler before they entered turn three and the 23 cleared the 2 with ease coming out of turn to 4 to take the win for the fifth time in 2010.

The crowd was on their feet at the end of the race as the conditions were not condusive for passing at all and to pass the front five cars in a small field on that track was a tremendous effort, and one of the best wins of the season.

It’s ASCS racing again next weekend as the crew heads to Cottage Grove for a two night show on July 3rd and 4th. Cottage Grove is one of Seth’s favorite tracks and we will be looking to get our first ASCS win for 2010.