Just over 10 years since his first A-main feature title in Elma, Bixby, Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart found himself at the start/finish line as a feature race winner on Sept. 4.
Sitting in the front row after winning the trophy dash, Stewart put in a wire-to-wire victory that was eventful at the end to win the 2017 World of Outlaws race program at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma.
His win on Monday was nearly identical to his win in 2007, both wire-to-wire victories on a very fast clay oval track that baked on a hot late summer night.
“This was a great race, a great weekend of racing here in the Northwest,” Stewart said after the race. “A lot of people put a lot of time in to work on this track here and at Skagit (Speedway) and it shows. It is always a joy to come here and race.”
The raceway’s street stock division was the supporting class for the night. Hoquiam’s Jack Parshall also went wire-to-wire as he held off fellow Hoquiamite Jason Tole for the win.
World of Outlaws
It has been a bit of a renaissance for Stewart, who is in his third year as the main driver for Larson-Marks Racing.
In 2015, Stewart took second overall in the Outlaws season standings. In 2016, Stewart was sixth overall with eight wins and 39 top-five finishes.
The former ASCS National Champion (2009, 2011) is currently sitting in fifth in the Outlaws season standings and Monday’s win was his eighth of the season, third best on the circuit.
“My car has been really good lately and that is a testament to (crew members) Lee, Heath and Dennis,” Stewart said. “It’s a tough gig out here. Lots of miles on the road and countless hours spent maintaining these cars to compete at this level. I wouldn’t be here without these guys.”
Stewart started the 30-lap A-main in the pole position and never relinquished it. It wasn’t easy, but it looked easy for most of the race.
Running the middle groove of the track, Stewart pulled away from the troubled pack behind him and navigated through lapped traffic easily.
A lap-15 caution flag for debris and a stalled car brought Stewart back to the front with an open track. Brad Sweet, who briefly held a new track qualifying record earlier in the night, was in second and looked to pounce on Stewart.
Stewart didn’t let him, pulling away from Sweet. There would not be another caution flag for the rest of the race, setting up a battle inside lapped traffic for the win.
With eight laps left, Stewart was smothered in lapped traffic, but looked to be in control. Sweet slowly trimmed the deficit as the remaining laps ticked off.
Sweet got close enough with two laps left, but two lapped cars were in front of him. He dispatched them quickly and went to the high side of the first two turns. Stewart went low, which allowed Sweet to close in.
After a drag race on the back stretch, Stewart went to the middle line and Sweet went low. The momentum was strong with Sweet, but one lapped car appeared in front of Sweet to allow Stewart to edge him for the win at the line.
“I saw him; I was trapped,” Stewart said. “I couldn’t get enough of a run to split the guys in front of me. (With the white flag waving), I didn’t know what to do, because I had to get past the guy in front of me. When you are leading, you don’t know where to go sometimes.”
“Sometimes it is better to be in second, because you know where to go to get the line and the momentum,” Sweet added. “I knew there wouldn’t be any clean air with all of the lapped traffic and I made the move. Shane just had the momentum at the end.”
Dave Gravel took third to get to the front stretch with Stewart and Sweet, with Jason Johnson and Daryn Pittman rounding out the top five.
Pittman took advantage of a very quick track to reset the 410 sprint car track record with a one-lap time of 11.716 seconds.
Street Stock
Hoquiam’s Jack Parshall went wire-to-wire to win this 20-lap A-main feature, which is the final street stock division race for the 2017 season.
Marshall survived three caution flags en route to the win, but the final one with two laps remaining made life interesting.
With his friend Jason Tole right behind him, Parshall used the restart to get a bit of a cushion and hold on for the win, his fifth this season.
Sunday Races
Lake Stevens’ Austen Wheatley worked his way through the field to get to the front in the Summer Thunder Sprint Series feature on Sunday night.
It took five laps for Wheatley to get behind race leader Tayler Malsam and take the lead on the third and fourth turns officially on lap six.
Once in the lead, it was a matter of keeping it. A handful of restarts allowed Malsam and the field to challenge Wheatley, but he never relinquished the lead for the win.
In the modified division feature, Lane Zerbin, of Campbell River, B.C., worked hard for the first half of the 25-lap feature to get his chance at the lead.
Zerbin took it in the 16th lap, passing fellow Canadian Chris Beaulieu in turn four and keeping the lead for the victory.
The Northwest Focus Midgets Series made another showing on Sunday and, unfortunately, had two red flag accidents in its A-main feature. All of the drivers were uninjured in the incidents.
Burlington’s Tristin Thomas grabbed an early lead and held off McCleary’s Garrett Thomas late for the win. The duo traded slim, side-by-side leads in the last laps before Tristin Thomas edged up for the lead on the final lap.
