7/24/2021
Skagit Speedway
Linder Scores $10,000 Summer Nationals Win
Alger, WA – The 2021 Bob’s Burgers & Brew Summer Nationals Main Event was one for the ages, with Garen Linder taking the lead on a late race restart to score the biggest win of his career, a $10,000 victory in the 40 lap A Main event.
Chase Goetz took the initial lead with Linder close on his heels in the early portion of the main event. A lap three flip by Luke Didiuk caused an open red flag, giving driver’s a chance to top off their fuel load and make handling adjustments. Under the next green flag run, Goetz moved into slower traffic with Linder staying close, never letting him more than about one lapped car ahead of him. A caution on the completion of lap 17 brought Linder right behind Goetz again, and on the restart, Garen executed a perfect slidejob in turns one and two to take the top spot. Now it was Goetz’ turn to chase Linder into traffic, and the pair would work hard in and through the lapped cars in an extended green flag run. With heavy traffic looming ahead, Linder jumped the cushion in turn three, letting Goetz past him to complete the 38th lap. Before lap 39 could clip off, the race went yellow for a spinning Ashleigh Johnson, setting up a green-white-checkered restart with Linder right on Chase’s tail. In what looked like a carbon copy of the lap eighteen restart, Linder again bomber to the bottom of turn one and executed another perfect slidejob to take the lead from Goetz at the exit of turn two. With only a lap and half left, Goetz dug in and tried to rally back, but the night belonged to Linder who won his first Summer Nationals title and the biggest paycheck of his career. Goetz would settle for second after winning the opening night, and Cam Smith rounded out the podium. In earlier action on the night, Jesse Schlotfeldt set fast time and the heat winners were Tyler Thompson, Bailey Sucich and Didiuk.
It was a textbook move from Nick Evans that secured his victory in the NW Focus Midget main event. Swinging wide and opening his entrance up in turn one, Evans found a lane right underneath Alden Ostrom and scooted past him coming off the bottom of turn two to make what was the race winning pass on lap 11 en route to the win. Ostrom would roll to a strong second while Michael Vollbrecht came home third. Evans also set fast time. Garrett Thomas, Travis Jacobson and Jared Peterson took the heat race wins.
The finals of the Outlaw Tuner Nationals ran Saturday night. Ayuka Carlson was out front looking for her first win for most of the race, while being hounded by Roger Burt. Burt took the lead for one fleeting lap, the 15th, before Carlson came back by him to reclaim the lead on lap 16. All the while, Howard Vos was finding his rhythm in the high groove, and coming to the white flag, Vos let it all hang out, pushing for one final shot to get into the top spot. Around the top of the track, Vos dug in, inching past both Burt and Carlson, then out drag racing Ayuka to the final flag by a short margin for the win. Carlson and Burt rounded out the podium, with the heats being won by Brian Michelson and Mike Macpherson.
Budweiser 360 Sprints
Fast Time – Jesse Schlotfeldt 11.913
Heat 1 – Tyler Thompson
Heat 2 – Bailey Sucich
Heat 3 – Luke Didiuk
Main – Garen Linder, Chase Goetz, Cam Smith, Eric Fisher, Jason Solwold, Colton Heath, Max Mittry, Trey Starks, Jesse Schlotfeldt, Tyler Thompson, Justin Youngquist, Bailey Sucich, Trevor Cook, Chris Bullock, Chris Ochs, Ashleigh Johnson, Brett McGhie, Theron Smith, Steve Parker, Alex Hantel, Luke Didiuk
Lap Leaders – Goetz 1-17 Linder 18-37 Goetz 38 Linder 39-40
NW Focus Midgets
Fast Time – Nick Evans 14.778
Heat 1 – Garrett Thomas
Heat 2 – Travis Jacobson
Heat 3 – Jared Peterson
Main – Nick Evans, Alden Ostrom, Michael Vollbrecht, Shane Smith, Michael Hodel, Nik Larson, Brian Aune, Chris Foster, Jesse Munn, Brian Holmkvist, Stuart Milner, Travis Jacobson, Tyler West, Jeff Westergard, David Mills, Jared Peterson, Ashley Thompson, Kyle Hanson, Ed Novak, Garrett Thomas, Matt Loving, Katie Jackson, Alex Peck, Levi Harless
Lap Leaders – Ostrom 1-10 Evans 11-25
Outlaw Tuners
Heat 1 – Mike Macpherson
Heat 2 – Brian Michelson
Main – Howard Vos, Ayuka Carlson, Roger Burt, Jeremy Swann, Brian Michelson, Jon Edwards, Colin Sims, Tricia Michelson, David Dykstra, Raven Skaugrud, Brit Suttles, Brent Shetler, Mike Macpherson, Zach Dalrymple
Lap Leaders – Carlson 1-14 Burt 15 Carlson 16-19 Vos 20
Article Credit: Kaleb Hart
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