Submitted by Ben Deatherage for Grays Harbor Raceway
The “Siskiyou Kid” was back in victory lane at Grays Harbor Raceway on Friday July 26th for night one of the Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals. Kyle Casson of Yreka, California, and 2011 winner of the Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals, would lead the entire distance of the thirty-lap Race of Champions. Casson was fast at GHR earlier this year at the first race of the Wild Wild West Modified Shootout back in June eventually finishing in second and was ecstatic to put his Ken’s Auto Glass/Rodgers Racing Engines #11K Rayburn back in the winner’s circle.
Mark Wauge of Jacksonville, Oregon would place second in the Skinner Autoplex/Meineke Car Care Center/Hoppes Construction #1M Loose Gruff followed by the Left Coast Motorsports/South Pacific Auto Sales and Service Center #30 Swartz of Jeremy Shank from Salem, Oregon. Balancing the top five was Mark Carrell of Redmond, Oregon in the Mark’s Auto Body/Gray’s Automotive #27 GRT by Phillips in fourth and Seabeck, Washington’s Craig Moore chauffeuring the Power Punch Oil Supplements/DNC Competition Engines/Williams Family Salsa #14 GRT in fifth.
Kyle Casson would set fast time of the night over the forty entries signing in for the night. Two sets of heat races were ran split up among five groups for a total of ten heats. Winners of the first round were Kyle Casson (A), Mark Carrell (B), Mark Wauge (C), Klamath Falls, Oregon’s Nick Trenchard in the Rich and Nicki Biehn owned Air Gas/FMD Graphics #54N Loose Gruff (D), and Joey Tanner of Portland, Oregon in the #111 X-Factor (E). In the second round heat winners were the Berry’s Oak Grove Storage/Rapp Racing/Garymorgangraphics.com #11X of Tom Berry Jr. from Medford, Oregon (A), Wishkah’s Joe German in the Wishkah Iron Works/Ozman Services Inc./Powertrain Application #75X Skyrocket (B), the Aardvark Construction #34 entry of Albert Gill from Medford, Oregon (C), Nick Trenchard (D), and Jeff Foster from McCleary in the J&F Automotive/Bayview Ready-Mix/MASCO Petroleum #8 Sidebiter (E).
The action continues on Saturday July 27th for the finale at Grays Harbor Raceway. See the best drivers in the west battle it out on the 3/8-mile clay oval. There have six different winners in the last six shows of the Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals. For more information log on to www.graysharborraceway.com.
