Pugsley, Gutches, Forler, and Archer win at Indoor opener

Andrew Kunas has the latest from Salem

SALEM, Ore. - Dave Pugsley of Albany, Oregon came out on top Saturday night, winning the midget car main event on the first night of the 2006-2007 indoor night racing season at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.  Just over nine months ago inside the same building, Pugsley was involved in wild, wheel banging affair that saw Pugsley have the lead briefly on the last lap, only to lose after contact with eventual winner Tony Berry.

This time around, Pugsley inherited the lead after early leader Tony Seidelman of Spanaway, Washington spun out and easily won it from there.  The midgets, running under NOMA rules, were scheduled to run 25 laps, but after frequent yellows and with time running late, the checkers were thrown after another yellow flag was thrown with 23 laps down.  Finishing third was Seidelman, who was only two positions shy of a clean sweep, having won in both sessions of heat races as well as the dash. Seidelman, a pavement racing veteran from the Washington Midget Racing Association, took the lead after the initial start and was never seriously threatened.

Appearing to be on his way to a surprising win on dirt, his luck went south on lap 19 when he spun his car out in turn four of the small oval.  With only five out of eight midgets having started the main event, Seidelman wasted no time moving back to second place. Bad luck continued as Seidelman spun in turn two and collected his own brother Nick on lap 24. Nick Seidelman himself spun out on the restart and the checkered flag was thrown. Pugsley, having already won a heat race of his own in the first session of heats, was declared the winner. 

Taking second place was Earl Veeder of Molalla, Ore. with Tony Seidelman finishing third and Nick Seidelman was credited with fourth. Scappoose, Ore. racer Mark Hinkle, a sprint car veteran who just won the United Sprint Car Association championship, got himself a midget ride but an on-track mishap just before the first heat race damaged his car enough that Hinkle was done also.  Eight midgets were on hand, with drivers coming from Oregon, Washington, and California attending. Rick Faeth, making the long haul from Santa Clara, ended up in the front stretch wall before the initial green flag was thrown for the main event and did not return. 

Perhaps the best main event of the night was the dwarf car main event, with Kelly Gutches of Gold Hill, Ore. taking the checkered flag over Portland’s Scott Carneau (last name previously misspelled as Cameau), who won the last race run in Salem in February.  Henry Corbin III of Molalla took the initial lead and held off early challenges by Gutches until lap eight, where Gutches took the top spot coming out of turn two.

It was on that same lap when Corbin spun his car around in turn four and managed to keep it going, but fell back to fourth as a result. Carneau would inherit second as the result of Corbin’s mishap.  Corbin retook third place after Chad Griffin of Jacksonville, Ore. spun his car out on lap 14. Corbin then retook second from Carneau on a lap 16 restart in turn two, only to see Carneau take it back going through turn four.  Carneau and Corbin both closed in on Gutches as the leader encountered slower cars on the small dirt oval late in the race. Both pursuers got looks on each other and around Gutches, but fortunes turned in favor of Gutches as Eric Sause spun out on lap 24 to bring out a yellow.

With only two laps left and a clear track in front of him, Gutches had no problems finding the checkered flag.  Carneau and Corbin finished second and third, respectively. Griffin came back from his earlier mishap to finish fourth and PHRA club president Keith Steenslid finished fifth. Moore, Sause, Henry Corbin II, Ed Asman, and Jim Fisher finished out the running order.  The largest field at Saturday’s event, the dwarf cars had 11 entries. Butch Stone encountered the turn tour wall in practice and was finished for the night after significant damage was done to the front right corner of his car. Just three weeks earlier, Stone won an open-competition race on pavement at Jackson Prairie Speedway outside Chehalis, Wash.

Two classes of winged 600cc micro-sprints, restricted and stock, participated in Saturday’s action. Black Diamond, Wash.’s Garrett Archer, winner of a track championship at Deming Speedway this year, took the main event win in the restricted class. Logan Forler of Orting, Wash. won a competitive stock class main event and completed a clean sweep, having won his heat race in both sessions and the dash also.  Brendan Boyce, a veteran winged sprint car racer, stepped down into the cage karts and easily won that event.  In heat race action, Corbin III and Carneau took wins in the first session. In the second session Carneau repeated and Gutches won a race. The lone heat race for the restricted micro-sprints in the first session was won by Zach Zimmerly of West Linn, Ore. and Longview, Wash.’s Dustin Westrick won in the second session.

While Forler swept his heat races, Zimmerly pulled double duty and won the second heat race in the first session and Mark Atkinson of Kirkland, Wash. won the second race in the second session for the stock micro-sprints.  Zimmerly won the dash for the restricted micro-sprints before Corbin III ended Carneau’s bid at sweep in the dwarf cars prematurely with a win their dash race.  Along with the 11 dwarfs and eight midgets, nine stock micro-sprints and seven restricted micro-sprints were on hand. The indoor night season at the Oregon State Fairgrounds will continue next month with a two-night event scheduled for Friday and Saturday, December 1 and 2.

Salem Indoor Racing
Oregon State Fairgrounds
Salem, OR
November 4, 2006

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

First session heat race winners:

600cc micro-sprint, restricted: 94 Zach Zimmerly
600cc micro-sprint, stock; first heat: 2L Logan Forler
600cc micro-sprint, stock; second heat: 94 Zach Zimmerly
Dwarf car, first heat: 89z Henry Corbin III
Dwarf car, second heat: 11z Scott Carneau
Midget, first heat: 22 Dave Pugsley
Midget, second heat: 44 Tony Seidelman

Second session heat race winners:
600cc micro-sprint, restricted: 32 Dustin Westrick
600cc micro-sprint, stock; first heat: 2L Logan Forler
600cc micro-sprint, stock; second heat: 26 Mark Atkinson
Dwarf car, first heat: 07 Kelly Gutches
Dwarf car, second heat: 11z Scott Carneau
Midget: 44 Tony Seidelman

Dash winners:
600cc micro-sprint, restricted: 94 Zach Zimmerly
600cc micro-sprint, stock: 2L Logan Forler
Dwarf car: 89z Henry Corbin III
Midget: 44 Tony Seidelman

Main event finishes

Cage karts winner: 65 Brendan Boyce

600cc micro-sprint, restricted (25 laps): 1. 5a Garrett Archer, 2. 32 Dustin
Westrick, 3. 2L Angie Magnuson.

600cc micro-sprint, stock (25 laps): 1. 2L Logan Forler, 2. 5 Mitch Hoffses,
3. 55 Trey Starks, 4. 94 Zach Zimmerly, 5. 26 Mark Atkinson, 6. 00 Owen
Olinger, 7. 7 Kyle Mehner.

Dwarf cars (25 laps): 1. 07 Kelly Gutchess, 2. 11z Scott Carneau, 3. 89z
Henry Corbin III, 4. 67g Chad Griffin, 5. 8k Keith Steenslid, 6. 31 Roger
Moore Jr., 7. 47 Eric Sause, 8. 90 Henry Corbin II, 9. 72 Ed Asman, 10. 33
Jim Fisher, DNS - 67 Butch Stone.

NOMA (non-point) midgets (23 laps, time): 1. 22 Dave Pugsley, 2. 25 Earl
Veeder, 3. 44 Tony Seidelman, 4. 4 Nick Seidelman, 5. 3 Rick Faeth, DNS - 3g
Peter Bittrolf, 9 Mark Hinkle, 81 Doug Kammerzell.