Heart Breaker for Seth at Grays Harbor during ASCS Northwest Opener.

Racing can be a cruel sport and Seth and the team experienced it in at the round 1 of the ACSS Nortwest sereis at Grays Harbor. After leading the A Main for 15 laps Seth was coasting to his third consecutive win when the water line on his 23 broke off only to have his perfect night come to an end.

After his dominant performances over the past month Seth was eager for the first round of ASCS Northwest. With the likes of Roger Crockett and Jason Solwold coming into town Seth was going to get a true gauge of just how much he has improved in 2010.

After drawing pills Seth was put into heat race number five starting in the third position behind Glen Borden Jr and Roger Crockett. The heads up showdown with Crockett was what we were looking for. As the race went green Seth dove in under Crockett on turns 1 and 2 and only to have the yellow wave for an early caution. On the second restart again Seth raced down the straight away and got position for a pass on Crockett this time no yellow and Seth raced into second and chased down Borden quickly. On lap four Seth made Borden pay for an error on turn four and from there the 23 raced away for the heat race and a guaranteed top 8 position for the main event.

Seth found himself second in points after the heat races and was rewarded with the number 3 position for the A Main starting behind Jason Solwold and Josh DeWitt. The track was again rough and had already claimed several cars including the 33v of Henry Van Damm who destroyed his car during his heat race.

With 20 cars in the field and the track being in the condition it was the team knew it was going to be a long race. As the race went green Seth got a good start as he raced in behind Solwold on the opening lap only to have the red wave for Brian Kirkpatrick in the 5K who flipped his car in 1. As the race restarted Seth got a great run on the bottom and got around DeWitt on turn two only to have Dewitt pass Seth and Solwold going into 3 and 4 on the top. Seth quickly made the adjustment on the next two laps and lined up Solwold with a great pass going into turns 1 and 2.

On lap five Seth caught DeWitt in traffic and swooped to the lead coming out of turn four and raced away. Unfortunately for Seth he was unable to get a long green as racers struggled with the tough conditions.  It was clear to everyone at the track that Seth was the best driver as he was able to put distance on the field on each restart, but on lap 19 the unthinkable happened as white smoke spewed out the back of the 23.

The team immediately thought the motor had been blown but as Seth came into the pit area he confirmed that the water line had blown off. Jason Solwold went on to win the race with Jayme Barnes taking second and Logan Forler thirdl. It was bitter pill for the team to swollow after the team clearly let one get away but the postive to take away was that Seth was again the best car at the truck and now everyone in the Northwest truly knows that Seth is one of the contendors for the championship in 2010.

The boys will do it again for night two of this two night opening Memorial Weekend ASCS event.