6/26/2022
Skagit Speedway
Sunshine Pockets over 76k at Dirt Cup!
Alger, WA - The richest payout in Skagit Speedway history and one of the biggest ever for West Coast Sprint Cars is heading to Indiana, as Tyler Courtney won the 50th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by The Skagit Casino Resort. The Indianapolis based driver won $50,000 in taking the main event win and $26,000 in laps led bonus cash on top of other contingency monies earned in the NARC sanctioned event.
Courtney and Dominic Scelzi led the 26 car field to the green flag and it was Scelzi jumping out to the early lead from the high side of the raceway. Courtney matched Dominic stride for stride, never letting the defending Dirt Cup champion get too far away from him as the pair raced into heavy traffic. A pair of early yellow flags kept Scelzi in the lead before a long green flag run gave Sunshine a chance to really take his shot at Dominic in slower traffic, and a slidejob in turn two on lap 25 turned out to be the race winning pass, as Courtney would scoot to a lead that he would never relinquish. A planned fuel stop at lap 35 gave teams a chance to put on new tires and make adjustments, and coming out of the break, Courtney was stronger than ever, rolling away to an insurmountable lead in the Works Limited, Finley Farms car that brought home the top prize and huge payday for Courtney, crew chief Paul Silva and car owner Kevin Kozlowski. Kerry Madsen made a late pass of Scelzi stick to take runner up honors in the Roth Enterprises entry, earning $26,000 for second. Scelzi took third but actually out-earned Madsen, pocketing $18,000 for third but buffing his take home pay to $42,000 thanks to his 24 laps led.
Madsen was the 2022 Rookie of the Year at Dirt Cup, while the $2,509 Steve Dyer Skagit Regular award went to Jason Solwold who finished fifth. Joel Myers earned an additional $490 as the Cecil Walker Hard Charger. 360 bonuses were handed out to Tony Gomes and Rutz Racing ($3,700 in memory of Lloyd Armey), Justin Youngquist and Dynes Racing ($2,500 in memory of Big Ed Blanton) and Brett McGhie ($604 honoring hall of famer Butch Gilbert). Courtney won the Dick Wilskey Pole Award, paying him $560. Max Mittry was the B Feature winner.
In the NW Focus Midget division, Travis Jacobson brought home a feature win for Mead Irwin Motorsports by leading all 25 laps of the feature ahead of a close running Tanner Holm in second. Action behind the top two was exciting, with Nick Evans coming in to the final podium spot in the late stages of the main event. Holm won the dash, Brian Rose won the C Main and Gabe Sessler won the B feature.
410 Sprints
Pole Shuffle - Golobic Def. Madsen, Solwold Def. Golobic, Scelzi Def. Solwold, Scelzi Def. Sanders, Courtney Def. Scelzi
B Main - Max Mittry, Tanner Carrick, Joel Myers Jr, Greg Hamilton, Jonathan Allard, Logan Forler, Bud Kaeding, Nick Parker, Tony Gomes, Billy Aton, Luke Didiuk, Chase Goetz, Colton Heath, Justin Youngquist, Brett McGhie, Corbyn Fauver, Ashleigh Johnson, TJ Richman, Travis Jacobson, Garen Linder, Andy Caruana, Dana Glenn
A Main - Tyler Courtney, Kerry Madsen, Dominic Scelzi, Shane Golobic, Jason Solwold, Corey Day, Trey Starks, Tim Kaeding, Willie Croft, Justin Sanders, Tanner Holmes, Joel Myers Jr, Tanner Carrick, Jonathan Allard, Jesse Schlotfeldt, Greg Hamilton, Zeb Wise, Bud Kaeding, Cory Eliason, Blake Carrick, DJ Netto, Logan Forler, Mitchell Faccinto, Max Mittry, Tony Gomes, Tyler Thompson
Lap Leaders - Scelzi 1-24 Courtney 25-50
ROY - Kerry Madsen
Steve Dyer Skagit Regular Award - Jason Solwold
Cecil Walker Hard Charger - Joel Myers Jr
Lloyd Armey Top Finishing 360 - Tony Gomes
Big Ed Blanton 2nd 360 - Justin Youngquist
Butch Gilbert 3rd 360 - Brett McGhie
Dick Wilskey Pole Award - Tyler Courtney
NW Focus Midgets
Dash - Tanner Holm, Travis Jacobson, Alex Peck, Jake Helsel, Nick Evans, Levi Harless, Shane Smith, Jared Peterson
C Main - Brian Rose, Mark Adams, Dalton Christmas, Bert Johnson, Joe Shawley, Jesse Geddes, Colby Swanberg, Chris Foster, Ayuka Carlson
B Main - Gabe Sessler, Brian Holmkvist, Tyler Ketchum, Kyle Hanson, Tyler West, Mark Adams, Chris Foster, Todd Hartmann, Hailey Bower, Dave Mills, Brian Rose, Michael Knutson, Brian Aune, Chuck Pierce
A Main - Travis Jacobson, Tanner Holm, Nick Evans, Shane Smith, Jake Helsel, Alex Peck, Jared Peterson, Hannah Lindquist, Levi Harless, Ashley Thompson, Alden Ostrom, Kyle Hanson, Brian Holmkvist, Tyler Ketchum, Gabe Sessler, Matt Loving, Stewart Lee, Sawyer Lind, Jake Munn, Jesse Munn
Lap Leaders - Jacobson 1-25
Article Credit: Kaleb Hart