Skagit Minefield Ends Seth’s Night at 360 Nationals

After clawing his way into the top six from Friday nights preliminary races the stage was set for Seth and the team to make night two their night at the Skagit Speedway 360 Nationals.

As teams rolled up to the track for night two it was evident that the track had taken in a considerable amount of water and teams were left hoping that the track would dry out before racing commenced. Night twos format consisted of an A, B and C scramble to determine to the starting six positions for each respective race. Finishing points from the previous night determined where drivers started for each main event.

For Seth the night started with the six lap A scramble. At the conclusion of the C and B scrambles it was evident that the track was not going to dry out and as a result of the heavy moisture the track continued to peel on the turns causing massive ruts and pot holes. Seth started his A scramble on the inside of Rick Fauver and as the green flag dropped all the cars entered the first corners with caution. Fauver went around Seth and at the conclusion of two laps it was clearly going to be a case of single file racing as Seth held back to save the car for the main event, which would see him starting in sixth position.

As the sun went down at Skagit the C and B Mains took place, and it was nothing but carnage as cars bounced into the air on the rough corners and dodged holes on the back straight away. At the conclusion of the B Main the race officials tried one last time to grate the track in an attempt to smooth it out for the A Main.

When the clock ticked over past 10:15pm cars finally rolled out onto the track for the A Main. It had been a long wait for the fans in the crowd and drivers and the respective teams where hopeful that the track would hold up for the A Main.

The Main event saw Travis Rutz starting on the pole next to Cory Chamberlain, row two featured Friday nights winner Nick Engberg who was next to Danny Kirkpatrick with Seth sitting on the outside of Rick Fauver. After a lengthy delay we finally went green and Seth started in brilliant fashion as he ducked under Fauver in the straightaway and went underneath both Kirkpatrick and Engberg to move into third on the back straight on lap one. Seth roared into turn into three hungry for more but the yellow came out for the first wreck of the night and unfortunately for Seth he would have to go back to sixth on the restart as a full lap had not been completed.

As we went green Seth once again dove underneath Fauver entering turn one and was able to stick the pass and he held onto fifth for a full lap. It wasn’t long before he quickly raced onto the bumper of Kirkpatrick and as they raced into turn two of lap three Kirkpatrick lost control and spun around giving his fourth position to Seth. As we went green once again Seth found himself on the bumper of Nick Engberg and as they raced into turn three Seth took off like a rocket on the bottom of track and bid him good day as he raced into third. On lap five the race had its first open Red as a result of a wreck in the main straight away involving Mike Sather and Andy Gregg. The track had already claimed three victims after five laps and was turning into a mine field. For the fourth time we went green and Seth began the pursuit of Chamberlain and Rutz. As the cars raced around for lap seven Seth went to the middle of turn on one in attempt to dive underneath Chamberlain out of turn two. As he moved onto the bumper of Chamberlain Seth hit a massive rut of clay which caused the car to dig into the ground and before we knew it the car was soaring into the air and Seth was flipping into turn two.

Thankfully Seth walked away from the wreck unscathed with nothing more than a beaten up car and the thoughts of what might have been.

For the next thirty three laps the team was left to watch Travis Rutz race away with the title unchallenged with Seth’s close friend Colton Heath taking second with Mitch Olson coming in third.

It was an extremely disappointing main event and a horrible spectacle for the fans as only twelve cars finished the race out of twenty two. All the drivers that came into the pit area after the race said the track was nothing short of a disgrace. We can only hope that owner and the track officials at Skagit put out a better product when the Outlaws arrive in at the end of August.

Stay tuned to the website for the up coming races as the team will be deciding which races we will be taking part in before the Outlaws come to town on August 29th and 30th.