ALGER, Wash. — After surviving several late race restarts, Zeb Wise hit pay dirt on the opening night of the Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.
Wise scored a 30-lap preliminary victory with the NARC 410 Sprint Car Series. Wise made the winning move after a lap-24 restart, driving the Rudeen Racing-Rayce Rudeen Foundation No. 26 Maxim. It was his first NARC-sanctioned victory.
The race began with the PGH Excavating No. 19 XXX, driven by Colby Thornhill, seizing the lead on the first lap and setting the pace in the Hoosier Racing Tires feature.Â
Thornhill would be overtaken shortly after a restart by Willie Croft’s Rudeen Racing No. 29 Eagle on the 11th circuit. Croft tried to peddle away from the rest of the field, but would be hunted down on the 20th circuit by Justin Sanders.
Sanders, piloting the Mittry Motorsports-fielded Farmers Brewing Company No. 2x KPC, made a sweeping pass on the inside of turn four coming to the line on the 20th go round. He would stick in the top spot until reigning NARC champion Corey Day began to apply pressure.
Day, piloting the Jason Meyers Racing-owned Sanders Engineering No. 14 KPC, outgunned Sanders for the top spot two laps later, before he slammed into the wall in turn two, handing the lead back.Â
Capitalizing on a restart, Wise would drag race Sanders to the line on the 25th circuit and take the lead by the slimmest of margins. Three yellow flags would wave in the waning laps, but the Indiana native held on the remaining distance for the victory.
“Before tonight, I watched videos of this place the last few weeks, and one thing that stood out to me was how good the middle was,” said Wise. “I knew that was a major possibility the way the track was, and the bottom was pretty good. After that open red, I really didn’t feel that good; I just got stuck in a spot and hung around. But a caution came out, and we were really good after that.”
“Justin (Sanders) kicked my ass last year, so it’s nice to get a little bit of redemption, not for as much money, but we’ll try and do that on Saturday. It’s always good to race with Justin; we race cleanly together, and I like racing with him, and he always races with me respectfully, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Sanders finished a very respectable second, with on the final step of the podium going to the Builder Outlet Super Store No. 18t XXX of Tanner Holmes. He started 10th.
The Bates-Hamilton Racing-owned entry, piloted by Justyn Cox, posted a fourth-place result in the Diamond Plastics No. 42x Maxim. The top five included the Scottie’s Plumbing & Repair No. 18 XXX driven by Jason Solwold.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps):Â 1. 26R-Zeb Wise [12]; 2. 2X-Justin Sanders [11]; 3. 18T-Tanner Holmes [10]; 4. 42X-Justyn Cox [4]; 5. 18-Jason Solwold [15]; 6. 14-Corey Day [5]; 7. 95-Justin Youngquist [3]; 8. 96-Greg Hamilton [24]; 9. 29W-Willie Croft [1]; 10. 17-Cam Smith [22]; 11. 10X-Dominic Gorden [21]; 12. 88N-DJ Netto [23]; 13. 21P-Robbie Price [9]; 14. 5V-Colby Copeland [17]; 15. 21T-Cole Macedo [8]; 16. 15-Nick Parker [20]; 17. 4L-Lane Taylor [19]; 18. 121-Caeden Steele [18]; 19. 17A-Hunter Schuerenberg [14]; 20. 26-Eric Fisher [13]; 21. 19-Colby Thornhill [2]; 22. 8-Devon Borden [6]; 23. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt [7]; 24. 55-Trey Starks [16]
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