6/30/2014
ASCS Northwest Region
Hirst Opens Up Speedweek Northwest With Wild Siskiyou Motor Speedway Win
Hirst Opens Up Speedweek Northwest With Wild Siskiyou Motor Speedway Win
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Northwest Racing Productions)
It was a great race in Yreka, California as Siskiyou Motor Speedway would host the opening leg of Speedweek Northwest for the American Sprint Car Series-Northwest Region on Sunday June 29th. A total twenty-nine cars were on tap from the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Nevada as well the Canadian province of Alberta.
Despite a caution occurring on the opening start Rico Abreu of Rutherford would seize lead on the second restart setting the pace for lap one. Abreu, piloting the Abreu Vineyards/Butler Built Seats/Alpine Star/XYZ Machine #24 A.R.T., would soon find himself under pressure by Kyle Hirst for the top spot.
A couple of cautions would briefly bring a halt to the battle for the lead but Hirst would make some key moves in traffic after a lap nine restart to eventually seize the coveted position on lap fifteen just before another caution came out. Hirst would find himself fighting off Abreu and Sean Becker in the late stages in traffic but stayed out in front.
A late race caution on lap twenty-seven would bunch up the field one last time. Hirst would do well on the ensuing restart and develop some breathing room to put the Finley Farms/CLT Logging/Carlson Trucking/Rider Racing Engines #77 Maxim in victory circle for car owner Scott and Jason Finley. It would mark Hirst’s second career Speedweek Northwest triumph and his third overall ASCS-Northwest Region win with the series. Although it was the ASCS series debut at SMS Hirst had two previous wins at Yreka in the last two years for the Finley brothers.
“It’s awesome to get this win, we’ve been fast all year,” commented Kyle Hirst,“racing with Rico is fun and to steal a win from him is great because he’s usually he’s going by us. I got to thank Scott and Jason (Finley), Corey, and my buddy Mikey. Thanks to those guys involved, it’s going to be a really fun week.”
Holding off a hard charging Sean Becker was Rico Abreau for second while the Cherry Street Mini Storage/Menne Ranch/GoCorder.com/PoneyBracket.com #75 Maxim of Roseville driver Becker who was third for car owner Dan Menne. Driving the Hedge Carter owned Huddle Automotive Repair/Steelhouse Metal Roofing Supply/Oregon West RV/Hedge Carter Gutter Service/Astro Titanium #71 XXX was Cottage Grove, Oregon’s Colin Baker in fourth and completing the top five was Steven Tiner from Visalia in his Wright Process Systems/Larry Davis Farms/BR Motorsports/Elma Lanes #94 Maxim in fifth.
In heat race action earlier in the night winners were Kyle Hirst, the United Rentals/T-N-T Diversified/Jessica House at Beauty Boutique Salon of Roseburg #16 Maxim of Veneta, Oregon pilot Nick Tomlinson, Trey Starks out of Puyallup, Washington in his Starks Timber Processing/T&C Concepts/Southstar Equipment Limited/MASCO Petroleum #55 entry, and Sean Becker. In consolation feature competition the Winmar Property Restoration/Tristarcars.ca/AMS Racing Engines #44 Schnee of Kelly Miller out of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada was the winner.
Round two of Speedweek Northwest will see the ASCS-Northwest Region trek north to Southern Oregon Speedway in White City. For more information log on to www.ascsnorthwest.com.
Race Summary:
ASCS-Northwest Race #7/Speedweek Northwest Round #1
Sunday June 29th, 2014
Siskiyou Motor Speedway
Yreka, California
A Feature: 1. 77-Kyle Hirst[1]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 3. 75-Sean Becker[6]; 4. 71-Colin Baker[8]; 5. 94-Steven Tiner[3]; 6. 22M-Mason Moore[9]; 7. 3-J.J. Hickle[4]; 8. 9R-Reece Goetz[11]; 9. 37-Mitchell Faccinto[12]; 10. 22-Garen Linder[20]; 11. 55-Trey Starks[5]; 12. 68-Rob Held[18]; 13. 49-Mike Monahan[14]; 14. 96-Greg Hamilton[16]; 15. 5H-Chase Johnson[10]; 16. 44-Kelly Miller[17]; 17. 72-Phil Dietz[19]; 18. 01-Andy Forsberg[15]; 19. 16-Nick Tomlinson[7]; 20. 26F-Shane Forte[13]
B Feature: 1. 44-Kelly Miller[3]; 2. 68-Rob Held[1]; 3. 72-Phil Dietz[6]; 4. 22-Garen Linder[8]; 5. 12-Jared Ridge[5]; 6. 27DD-David Hoiness[9]; 7. 4J-Allison Journey[4]; 8. 04-Todd Whipple[10]; 9. 84K-Wayne Kniffen[7]; 10. 6A-Kady Adelman[11]; 11. 11L-Jeremy Lowe[2]; 12. 5R-Steve Reeves[12]; DNS 21W-Vern Wheeler Jr
Heat 1: 1. 77-Kyle Hirst[1]; 2. 71-Colin Baker[4]; 3. 49-Mike Monahan[5]; 4. 37-Mitchell Faccinto[6]; 5. 11L-Jeremy Lowe[7]; 6. 84K-Wayne Kniffen[2]; 7. 04-Todd Whipple[8]; DNS 21W-Vern Wheeler Jr
Heat 2: 1. 16-Nick Tomlinson[1]; 2. 5H-Chase Johnson[2]; 3. 22M-Mason Moore[5]; 4. 01-Andy Forsberg[3]; 5. 68-Rob Held[6]; 6. 72-Phil Dietz[4]; 7. 27DD-David Hoiness[7]
Heat 3: 1. 55-Trey Starks[1]; 2. 9R-Reece Goetz[2]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[7]; 4. 96-Greg Hamilton[3]; 5. 44-Kelly Miller[5]; 6. 12-Jared Ridge[6]; 7. 6A-Kady Adelman[4]
Heat 4: 1. 75-Sean Becker[3]; 2. 3-J.J. Hickle[5]; 3. 94-Steven Tiner[7]; 4. 26F-Shane Forte[6]; 5. 4J-Allison Journey[1]; 6. 22-Garen Linder[2]; 7. 5R-Steve Reeves[4]
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage