Rutz Sets new 360 Track Record at Cottage Grove - NSCS

 

Just .071 seconds separated winner Andy Forsberg and Roger Crockett as they crossed the finish line at Cottage Grove Speedway at the end of the Saturday, Sept. 17th night’s A-Feature event. Swapping the lead with Crockett on the final lap, the Auburn, CA based Forsberg took the high side to gain the momentum to edge out the four-time NST champion at the line.

“I’m wore out”, was Forsberg’s first comment after climbing out of his car. “This is awesome. It’s sweet. That was great to run so hard with Roger, and everyone raced so clean. I have to thank Rutz for spinning out as I would never have got him.”

Rutz, who led the first 25 laps spun in turn four at the end of the 26th circuit, leaving the Langley, BC youngster sitting in the infield as Forsberg and Eugene, OR’s Crockett battled for the last four laps of the 30-lap event.

With a field of 38 cars on hand for the last Northern Sprint Tour race to run at the Cottage Grove, OR speedway in 2005, Rutz started his evening out by setting a new track record with a 10.521 second lap of the quarter-mile clay oval. His dash win put him on the pole for the main event from which he opened an early lead that saw him into slower traffic by the fifth lap.

Billy Nutter and Danny Horner brought out a lap 7 red as they tangled and then flipped in turn one to present Rutz with a clear track once again.

Under the green once again, Shawn Smith of Nampa, ID lost his 2nd place position to Forsberg on the restart and then saw Crockett get past him on the next lap. Smith would spend the rest of the race defending his position from the charges of Sacramento, CA driver Herman Klein.

Heavy traffic mid-race let the pack close on Rutz but with 10 to go the young lion looked to be unbeatable and was moving away once again until his turn four slide to sideways and trip off the track.

As the white flag flew, the top two were side by side as the flashed by the flagstand with Crockett taking the lead. Going into turn three Crockett had to work past a slower car and Forsberg went to the high groove, which proved to be the winning move of the night.

“The fans got a great race,” said Crockett, “and Andy did a great job. I was just not getting the room I needed earlier on in the race to get past him, and at the end he found the way to get back by me. You’re never happy with second place but I’ll settle for it behind Andy. It was a great race.”

While Cottage Grove’s Horner, the leading contender for “Rookie of the Year” honors was out for the night from his lap 7 tangle, points leader Nutter of Central Point, OR came back to an 11th place finish.

Hard chargers of the evening were Dale Smith and T.J. Winningham with both drivers moving up 9 positions, finishing 7th and 10th respectively. Klein gained two spots to 4th place with Rick Fauver of Everett, WA and Dan Menne of Ft Jones, CA filling out the top six.

An exciting B-Feature was won by a hard charging Travis Jacobson who out powered Dan Menne out of the fourth turn on lap 12 to take the lead. Menne held his second place position with Shawn Rice and Henry Van Dam also making the transfer to the A-Feature through their 3rd and 4th place finishes.

Action aplenty came during the 15-lap event with Menne narrowly missing the tangled cars of Everett, WA racer Andrea Smith and Shay Oliver, a young lady all the way from Mt. Maunganui, NZ, at the exit of turn four while leading on lap five. At the same time, Boise, ID driver Joe Ramaker went end-over-end three times in the middle of turns 3-4 after jumping the tire of Randy Pierce of Meridian, ID as the field slowed for the yellow flag.

On the restart of a lap 10 yellow, Mitch Olson tagged the wall under the flagstand, shedding pieces and parts down the front straight. Olson, of Puyallup, WA exited his car unhurt, but the car went to the pits on the hook minus several small parts and the complete front end.

One of the best races of the race was between Enumclaw, WA driver Henry Van Dam and Cottage Grove regular Marvin Smith as the two diced for several laps in a battle for 4th place behind Shawn Rice of Tacoma, WA. At the checkered Van Dam held with Smith in 5th.

The 10-lap C-Feature went to Joe Ramaker who jumped from outside in the second row to the lead at the exit of turn two over A. Smith and Oliver.

The opening heat of the evening went to Horner with Todd Zeitler of Medford, OR second as Nutter and Rutz followed.

D. Smith went green to checkered in the lead in heat two as Fauver, Paul Zimmerly and Randy Van Aagten trailed in the remaining A-Main transfer spots.

Rob McNulty led the way in heat three until a slide in turn four on lap five let Klein get by to take the win. Also getting by before McNulty could get it gathered up were Matt Rogers, Forsberg and Dallas Zuniga.

The final heat win went to Winningham as he led the field the entire 10 laps. Also transferring to the A-main were Jeff Thompson, S. Smith and Crockett.

Setting the top six spots for the A-Feature line-up, the dash finish read Rutz, S. Smith, Crockett, Forsberg, Fauver and Klein.

The fastest lap during qualifying, a new track record for 360 sprints, was turned by Travis Rutz with a 10.521 second circuit of the ¼ mile oval.

SUMMARY

Fast qualifier: Travis Rutz – 10.521. New Track Record for 360 Sprint.

Heat 1 (10 laps): Danny Horner, Todd Zeitler, Billy Nutter, Travis Rutz, Henry Van Dam, Mitch Olson, Braeden Etchison, Andrea Smith, Pat Desbiens.

Heat 2 (10 laps): Dale Smith, Rick Fauver, Paul Zimmerly, Randy Van Aagten, Dan Menne, Jay Cole, Shay Oliver, Shawn Rice, Charlie Cash.

Heat 3 (10 laps): Herman Klein, Matt Rogers, Andy Forsberg, Dallas Zuniga, Melissa Yates, Rob McNulty, Brendan Boyce, Travis Jacobson, Rob Held, Alex Hantel (DNS).

Heat 4 (10 laps): T. J. Winningham, Jeff Thompson, Shawn Smith, Roger Crockett, Jared Ridge, Marvin Smith, Randy Pierce, Joe Ramaker, Adam Main, Terry Hall (DNS).

Dash (6 laps): Rutz, S. Smith, Crockett, Forsberg, Fauver, Klein.

C-Main (15 laps): Ramaker, A. Smith, Oliver, Boyce, Hantel (DNS), Hall (DNS).

B-Main (20 laps): Jacobson, Menne, Rice, Van Dam, M. Smith, Cole, Pierce, Desbiens, McNulty, Yates, Boyce, Etchison, Oliver, Olson, Main, Ramaker, A. Smith, Ridge, Held (DNS), Cash (DNS).

A-Main (40 laps): Forsberg, Crockett, S. Smith, Klein, Fauver, Menne, D. Smith, Van Dam, Rice, Winningham, Nutter, Rogers, Van Aagten, Zuniga, Zimmerly, Rutz, Jacobson, Thompson, Horner.

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