Seth Takes 9th At Opener of Skagit 360 Nationals
Seth came home ninth after starting 11th on opening night of the 360 Nationals. That leaves us starting eighth for Saturday nights A Main.
The opening night of racing is all about accumulating as many points as possible. Drivers receive points for qualifying, Heat Race finish, passing in heat races and passing in the A Main.
Qualifying was the first order of business and Seth turned in two respectable laps which left us ninth quick. The top 16 cars after qualifying were fully inverted for the heats and that would leave Seth starting third for heat race number four. The top three from each heat would advance to the “A” Main.
Josh Edson and Casey Adams started on the front row for heat race number 4, with Seth and Trey Starks starting behind them. As the race went green Adams made the pass on Edson going into 1 and 2 with Seth taking 2nd away from Edson going into 3 and four. Four the next seven laps Seth pursued Adams but had to settle for 2nd place with Starks taking 3rd.
The top 15 cars after heat races were set for the A Main with all 15 cars being fully inverted which left the 23 starting 11th for the A Main. Night 1 of the 360 Nationals is all about accumulating points and with Seth starting 11th for th A Main he had a great opportunity to accumulate a bunch of passing points.
As the race went green Seth was able to get by Kelsey Carpentar and Casey Adams on the opening lap and Seth was quickly on the tail of Logan Forler after the two laps were in the books. Seth drove the car in hard under Forler on lap three to take eighth only for Forler to take it back going into the back shoot. Both Forler and Seth would duke it out for the next 10 laps as passing was challenging in the early going.
On lap 14 Jared Peterson and Jayme Barnes brought out the Red Flag as both got into each other with Barnes clearly frustrated as he got out of his car throwing his helmet. It was a tough break for the 7n as he had maxium points going into the A but he would be unable to continue as he car was compleltey torn up.
As racing resumed Seth was able to drive in under Forler and make it stick before the yellow came out for Chad Hillier on lap 16 as he banged into the wall coming into the front stretch. Seth was right on the hammer of Jason Solwold as racing resumed only to have the yellow come out for Adams as he to hit the wall on the front stretch.
We would go green again and on lap 21 Seth made the move going into turn 3 going under Solwold and with Seth about to clear the 39c Solwold decided to turn down into Seth with both cars getting together, Seth ran off the track coming down the front stretch with Mack Brown in the 96x bringing out the yellow. Seth was wild as he screamed at Solwold as both banged tires in the front stretch. As a result Evan funk in the 8r got by both drivers and Seth was pushed back to ninth on the restart.
The race would go green for the last time with Seth’s friend Josh DeWitt leading the way, unfortunately we were unable to make up any ground and we would finish the race in ninth. DeWitt took the win with Travis Jacobsen second and Henry VanDam third.
Seth was cleary frustrated as he got out of the car and wanted to let Solwold have it after the race. It was a tough break as we could have finished as high as sixth but we are still in a good position going into tomorrow night’s racing.
Warwick "Aussie" McLaren has looked after the Seth Bergman website since the 2008 season. Any suggestions or comments just send add a post.
