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Williamson wins Race of Champions, Points and Sweatman Feature Winners

Williamson wins Race of Champions, Points and Sweatman Feature Winners
By: Aaron Reed
Photos by Josh Bryant

The 24th Annual Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals saw a strong field of 42 IMCA Modifieds. Also on hand were the IMCA Northern SportMods and Hornets. The IMCA Modifieds saw two sets of heat races, where points were awarded to set the field for Saturday evening.

IMCA Modifieds - Race of Champions

21 cars set the field for 25 laps during the Race of Champions, made up of 2023 feature winners and track champions across the Northwest and Canada. Coburg, Ore driver Jesse Williamson and Jason Tole of Hoquiam set the front row. Williamson struck first going into turn one taking the lead. Campbell River, BC driver Jason Beaulieu moved into second as Collen Winebarger of Corbett, Ore made it a battle for the runner up position. Williamson quickly put some distance on Winebarger, Beaulieu and Albany, Ore's Matthew Drager. Austin Kerrigan of Aberdeen ran fifth, looking to battle with Drager. The first caution of the feature saw Geoff Morris of Victoria, BC get sideways, causing Sedro Woolley's Adam Holtrop to spin to a stop in turn three. On the restart it was Williamson with Winebarger right at his back bumper. Winebarger made an attempt for the lead in turn two but couldn't make the pass. The battle for fifth was the race to watch between Kerrigan, Bricen James of Albany, Ore and Victoria, BC driver Lane Zerbin. Williamson slowly put some distance on Winebarger on a long green flag run. Williamson ran the low side of the raceway late in the feature, working his way through lap traffic. Williamson picked up the win and $500. Winebarger, Jason Beaulieu, James and Drager rounded out the top five. Grey Ferrando was the Elma Lane's Hard Charger, picking up 12 positions. Ferrando finished 8th, after starting 20th. A total of 10 heat races, split into 2 sets were ran earlier in the evening. Winebarger, Jon DeBenedetti of Rogue River, Ore, Shelton's Scott Miller, Ferrando and Robert Jenner of Vancouver won the first set. The second set saw Winebarger, James, Williamson, Ferrando and Maytown's Riley Scherer pick up the win.

IMCA Northern SportMods

Brayden Brookshire of Vancouver took the early lead with Trevor Points of Salem, Ore right on his back bumper. Points looked to the low side in turn two early on and took the lead from Brookshire. A three-car battle for third saw Ethan Killingsworth of Yreka, Ca worked his way into a podium spot, battling it out with Kody Greer of Rainier, Ore and Lapine, Ore's Landyn Philpott. Greer spun early on in turn two, bringing out the caution. Points, Brookshire and Killingsworth led the field to the green flag. Killingsworth jumped into second, looking to track down Points for the lead. Kevin Williamson of Coburg, Ore jumped into the fourth position, getting by Philpott. Rogue River, Ore's Vinny DeBenedetti ran in fifth, shuffling Philpott out of the top five. Killingsworth stayed within striking distance of Points, getting closer each lap on a long green flag run. Late in the feature, the race to watch was for fifth between DeBenedetti and Roseburg, Ore driver Jordan Henry. Both drivers battled it out with Henry working his way into the top five. Points continued to run a strong line on the bottom of the raceway and picked up the win over Killingsworth, Brookshire, Henry and Williamson. Points picked up the heat race win early in the evening making his night a clean sweep.

Hornets

Riley Shapansky of Elma and Belfair's Max Sanford set the front row of the feature event. Sanford jumped to the early lead, but saw mechanical issues sending him to the back. Brandon Tyler of Elma took over command with Riley Shapansky on his back bumper. Wishkah's Don Briggs Sr saw problems early on, getting a flat tire going into turn three. Cory Sweatman of Aberdeen worked his way into the top three, battling it out with Shapansky and Tyler. Sweatman took the lead from Tyler early in the feature. Shapansky and Tyler battled it out for second, racing side by side for a handful of laps. Hoquiam driver Tyler Sundstrom worked his way into the top five as the battle for fifth saw Ryan Shapansky of Elma and Oakville's Payton Harding race side by side. Tyler saw tough company as Sundstrom worked his way into second. Ryan Shapansky and Harding were right there for third. Ryan Shapansky went way too high in the corner losing multiple positions. Sweatman had acommanding lead, as he worked his way through lap traffic. Harding and Riley Shapansky battled it out for third, with Harding working her way to the podium. Sweatman picked up the win over Sundstrom, Harding, Richard Woolverton of Rochester and McCleary's Robert Shapansky. Heat race winners were Riley Shapansky and Sanford.

Racing resumes tonight for the final night of the 24th Annual Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals. The IMCA Modifieds will run feature events. Tonight's winner will pick up $7500. IMCA Northern SportMods and Hornets will be back in action running heat races and a feature. Gates open at 4:30PM with racing at 6PM.

Grays Harbor Raceway
July 14, 2023
24th Annual Shipwreck Beads NW Modified Nationals
Night 1

IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1A:

1. 16s Collen Winebarger, 2. 17 Brian Izzi, 3. 12 Dustin Comer, 4. 8 Brad Purdy, 5. 52 Geoff Morris, 6. 16 Chaz Wilder, 7. 81 Austin Rognlin, 8. 51 Branden Nutter, 9. 419 Jeff Hunt

Heat 2A:

1. 21J Jon DeBenedetti, 2. 13 Bricen James, 3. 27EH Lawrence O'Connor, 4. 81Z Lane Zerbin, 5. 75 Alan Grimbly, 6. 67 Ryen Haney, 7. 41 Tim Phillips, 8. 91 Chris Beaulieu, 9. 87K Brenton Schnitzer

Heat 3A:

1. 26 Scott Miller, 2. 77 Jerry Schram, 3. W5 Jesse Williamson, 4. 18 Miles Beaulieu, 5. 43K Shane Kerrigan, 6. 99X John Gaynor, 7. 34T Jason Tole, 8. 28H Brian Harding

Heat 4A:

1. V13 Grey Ferrando, 2. 90 Jason Beaulieu, 3. 31Z Zane Miner, 4. M14 Craig Moore, 5. 58 Devon Reed, 6. 98s Dan Sheller, 7. 21A Matthew Drager, 8. 151 Adam Holtrop

Heat 5A:

1. 5R Robert Jenner, 2. 42 Kevin Valen, 3. 93 Elliott French, 4. 1 Riley Scherer, 5. 19W Skyler Winebarger, 6. 34AG Albert Gill, 7. 97TB Tyson Blood, 8. 92 Zack Washington

Heat 1B:

1. Collen Winebarger, 2. Purdy, 3. Morris, 4. Izzi, 5. Comer, 6. Rognlin, 7. Wilder, 8. Nutter, 9. Hunt

Heat 2B:

1. James, 2. O'Connor, 3. DeBenedetti, 4. Haney, 5. Zerbin, 6. Grimbly, 7. Schnitzer, 8. Phillips, 9. Chris Beaulieu

Heat 3B:

1. Williamson, 2. Kerrigan, 3. Harding, 4. Gaynor, 5. Miles Beaulieu, 6. Tole, 7. Miller, 8. Schram

Heat 4B:

1. Ferrando, 2. Drager, 3. Sheller, 4. Miner, 5. Reed, 6. Moore, 7. Holtrop, 8. Jason Beaulieu

Heat 5B:

1. Scherer, 2. Jenner, 3. Blood, 4. Gill, 5. Valen, 6. Skyler Winebarger, 7. French, 8. Washington

Race of Champions:

1. Williamson, 2. Collen Winebarger, 3. Jason Beaulieu, 4. James, 5. Drager, 6. Austin Kerrigan, 7. DeBenedetti, 8. Ferrando, 9. Miller, 10. Zerbin, 11. O'Connor, 12. Tole, 13. Miles Beaulieu, 14. Reed, 15. Holtrop, 16. Morris, 17. Blood, 18. Purdy, 19. Rick Smith, 20. Moore, 21. Gill

Elma Lanes Hard Charger: V13 Grey Ferrando (12 positions)

IMCA Northern SportMods
Heat Race:

1. 11 Trevor Points, 2. 10 Brayden Brookshire, 3. 7M Ethan Killingsworth, 4. 2G Kody Greer, 5. 21P Landyn Philpott, 6. 21JR Vinny Debenedetti, 7. 19 Madilynn Ashley, 8. 60J Jordan Henry, 9. W7 Kevin Williamson

A-Main:

1. Points, 2. Killingsworth, 3. Brookshire, 4. Henry, 5. Williamson, 6. DeBenedetti, 7. Philpott, 8. Greer, 9. Ashley

Hornets
Heat 1:

1. 22 Riley Shapansky, 2. 85 Robert Shapansky, 3. 13XXX Don Briggs Sr, 4. 95 Richard Woolverton, 5. 88 Ryan Shapansky, 6. 37 Mark Cooper, 7. 0 Zach Dalrymple

Heat 2:

1. 3 Max Sanford, 2. 18 Brandon Tyler, 3. 72 Martin Reed, 4. 23 Tyler Sundstrom, 5. 39 Scott Tobeck, 6. 29 Payton Harding, 7. 45 Cory Sweatman, 8. 72C Jeremy Cleveland

A-Main:

1. Sweatman, 2. Sundstrom, 3. Harding, 4. Woolverton, 5.Robert Shapansky, 6. Riley Shapansky, 7. Tobeck, 8. Tyler, 9. Cooper, 10. Ryan Shapansky, 11. Sanford, 12. Briggs, 13. Dalrymple 14. Reed

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