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The
Latest Dirt on Oregon
Jeffrey Rivers recovering after NWWT crash
Andrew Kunas, NWWT PublicistLEBANON, Ore. - Sprint car racer Jeffrey Rivers is at home recovering after a hard crash in Saturday's NorthWest
Wingless Tour sprint car feature at Cottage Grove Speedway.According
to the Rivers Family, the young driver out of Lebanon, Ore. suffered a concussion in the crash as well as broken blood vessels
in one eye and a hurt knee. Rivers drives the John Rivers No. 45 Chevy-powered Rocket.Rivers started the scheduled 30-lap NorthWest Wingless Tour main event inside the fourth row. Rivers moved
up to the second position behind leader Kyle Miller on Lap 11. On Lap 17, Rivers began putting pressure on Miller for the
lead. Miller was running at the very top of the track while Rivers was pulling even with Miller using the very bottom of the
track in the turns.Miller was able to see Rivers getting
alongside and on Lap 19 he tried to go low to see if he could stay ahead of Rivers. Problem was, Rivers and Miller went for
the same piece of track at the same time. Rivers right side wheels went over Miller's left side wheels as they rounded the
second turn of the 1/4-mile, high-banked clay oval. The contact resulted in Rivers going for a wild tumble upside down entering
the back stretch, ending his evening.John Rivers says Jeffrey
hopes and expects to be well enough to return to competition in time for the NorthWest Wingless Tour's next event, which is
Friday, June 5th at Willamette Speedway. The event is the first night of the NWWT's Summer Shootout Series, which concludes
the next night at Cottage Grove Speedway.Jeffrey's health
is one thing, but finances are another. The No. 45 is an unsponsored car and funds are tight at the moment. Despite the lack
of sponsorship, the Rivers Family is hopeful they will be back on the track June 5th.More information on the NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.- - -NWWT: The NorthWest Wingless Tour
http://www.nwwinglesstour.com
http://www.nwwingless.com
Barraza is 2-for-2 in NWWT, Margeson
sweeps midget opener
Andrew Kunas, NWWT PublicistCOTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - When local classes were rolling onto the track for hotlaps, Kyler Barraza was not
around and it was speculated that the NorthWest Wingless Tour's inaugural sprint car feature winner would not come at all.
A few hours later, Barraza was sitting in victory lane after a wild evening to make himself 2-for-2 in NWWT competition.The Roseburg, Ore. driver, winner of the NWWT season opener at Cottage
Grove Speedway on April 25th, arrived late and was the last car to qualify. His qualifying time and heat race effort was good
enough to secure the fifth starting position for the scheduled 30-lap main event. Barraza had a number of issues in the feature,
first spinning out on Lap 10. He drove back to the fourth position only to come to a stop with a flat tire on Lap 20.Barraza again came from the back and was sitting fourth on the race's final
restart with 27 laps down and three remaining. With race leader Gary Davis, Keary Morris and California visitor Greg Taylor
in front of him Barraza got a strong run on the drop of the green, and passed all three cars to take the lead.Just as the white flag was about to be thrown, three cars tangling in
turn one brought out the yellow flag again officials decided to throw the checkered flag, making Barraza a two-time winner
this season in the Barraza Motorsports No. 87 Rodgers-powered Eagle.Like he did on April 25th, Albany, Ore. driver Gary Davis finished second in the Bob Farwell No. 30 Chevy-powered
XXX after leading laps 19 to 21 and then having the lead on the Lap 28 restart after prior leader Dale Smith had spun out.
Davis started the event outside the fourth row.With 18
laps down, NWWT points leader Kyle Miller was trying to hold off Jeff Rivers for the top spot when Rivers climbed over Miller's
left wheels as they rounded turn two. That sent Rivers going upside down and Miller's car came to a stop in the infield with
front suspension damage. Davis inherited the lead and led until Smith, the many-time Cottage Grove Speedway who was running
a non-wing sprint car for the first time, took the lead on Lap 22. Smith pulled away until getting out shape in turn one as
he was trying to lap a slower car with 27 laps down. Davis caught back up but wouldn't need to make a pass as Smith spun out
on the back stretch.Greg Taylor, the former champion at
Ventura Raceway in southern California, earned an impressive third place finish in a car he had never driven before at a track
he had never raced at. Driving the Herz Racing No. 28 Howard-powered F5, Taylor started outside the front row and fell as
far back as eighth place, but a late race charge put him on the podium.Theo McCarty of Hillsboro, Ore. was the evening's hard charger, starting 19th and steadily making his way
through the field to eventually finish fourth in the Roy Crouch No. 24 Maxim.Pole-sitter Keary Morris of Portland led eight total laps before finishing fifth in his No. 11x Chevy-powered
Eagle. Nick Tomlinson, Matt Hein, Sammy Wright, Dylan Olsen and Mike Romig rounded out the Top 10.The NWWT midgets held their inaugural event on Saturday and it was Tacoma, Wash.
driver Evan Margeson, a standout in pavement midgets, sweeping the entire evening in his first ever dirt midget
start. It was his first time racing at Cottage Grove Speedway also.Driving the Margeson Racing No. 50 Esslinger-powered Beast, the former Washington Midget Racing Association champion
set fast time in qualifying, won the dash, won his heat race and then quickly bolted to the lead from the fourth starting
position to win the 20-lap main event.Mike Gehringer of
California finished second in his own No. 27 Fontana-powered Edmonds and Mitch Hoffses was third in the Karl Hoffses No. 5m
Gaerte-powered Hawk. Doug McVae was fourth in the Ron Brown No. 14 Cosworth Ford and Steve Dickenson finished fifth in his
own No. 99 Pontiac-powered Edmonds.Margeson's fast time
in qualifying for the midgets was a 13.75-second run around the 1/4-mile, high-banked clay oval. Miller set fast time in NWWT
sprint car qualifying for the second time, going around the track in 13.295 seconds.Following Margeson's dash victory in the midgets, Smith beat out Barraza to win the sprint car dash. Heat
race victories in the sprint cars went to McCarty, Tomlinson and Rivers. Aside from Margeson, McVae also won a heat race in
the midget division.Competition Motorsports LLC in Portland,
Ore. awarded fast time bonus money to Margeson and Miller. Margeson and McCarty also earned hard charger award money for their
efforst in the main event. Triple X Race Components INC was also a contingency sponsor on Saturday as Steve Veltman in the
midgets and Steve McVay in the sprint cars went home with new front axles from Triple X Race Co.The NorthWest Wingless Tour's next races are on back-to-back nights in June as the NWWT's
first "Summer Shootout" takes place on June 5th and 6th at Willamette Speedway and Cottage Grove Speedway. Points
will be tallied over the two nights and the top five point scorers in each division will earn bonus money from the NWWT.More information on the NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.- - -NorthWest
Wingless Tour
Cottage Grove Speedway
Cottage Grove, OR
May 23, 2009UNOFFICIAL RESULTS360 SPRINT CARS21 carsFast
qualifier: 10 Kyle Miller, 13.295 secondsDash (4 laps):
1. 41 Dale Smith, 2. 87 Kyler Barraza, 3. 10 Kyle Miller, 4. 28 Greg Taylor.Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 24 Theo McCarty, 2. 6 Matt Hein, 3. 7 Dylan Olsen, 4. 2x Steve McVay, 5. 2 Mitch Holte,
6. 2k Sterling Kane.Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 16 Nick Tomlinson,
2. 1w Sammy Wright, 3. 22 Mike Romig, 4. 14 Mike Morris, 5. 7k Kyle Mehner, 6. 62 Axel Walker, 7. 64 Mark Nichols.Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 45 Jeff Rivers, 2. 41 Dale Smith, 3. 11x Keary Morris,
4. 28 Greg Taylor, 5. 10 Kyle Miller, 6. 87 Kyler Barraza, 7. 30 Gary Davis.Feature (29 laps, time): 1. 87 Kyler Barraza, 2. 30 Gary Davis, 3. 28 Greg Taylor, 4. 24 Theo McCarty,
5. 11x Keary Morris, 6. 16 Nick Tomlinson, 7. 6 Matt Hein, 8. 1w Sammy Wright, 9. 7 Dylan Olsen, 10. 22 Mike Romig, 11. 64
Mark Nichols, 12. 01 Jeff "Ozzie" Osburn, 13. 7k Kyle Mehner, 14. 41 Dale Smith, 15. 2x Steve McVay, 16. 2k Sterling
Kane, 17. 14 Mike Morris, 18. Kyle Miller, 19. 45 Jeff Rivers, 20. 2 Mitch Holte, 21. 62 Axel Walker.Lap leaders: Keary Morris 1-7, Kyle Miller 8, Keary Morris 9, Kyle Miller 10-18,
Gary Davis 19-21, Dale Smith 22-27, Kyler Barraza 28-29OPEN
MIDGETS11 carsFast qualifier: 50 Evan Margeson, 13.75 secondsDash (4 laps): 1. 50 Evan Margeson, 2. 27 Mike Gehringer, 3. 99 Steve Dickenson, 4. 5m Mitch Hoffses.Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 14 Doug McVae, 2. 37 Tyler Steenslid, 3. 6 Steve Veltman,
4. 5 Glenn Bittrolf, 5. 23 Mark Atkinson, DQ'd - 15 Peter Bittrolf.Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 50 Evan Margeson, 2. 27 Mike Gehringer, 3. 5m Mitch Hoffses, 4. 98 Dallas Melby, 5. 99 Steve
Dickenson.Feature (20 laps): 1. 50 Evan Margeson, 2. 27
Mike Gehringer, 3. 5m Mitch Hoffses, 4. 14 Doug McVae, 5. 99 Steve Dickenson, 6. 23 Mark Atkinson, 7. 37 Tyler Steenslid,
8. 15 Peter Bittrolf, 9. 6 Steve Veltman, 10. 98 Dallas Melby, DNS - 5 Glenn Bittrolf.- - -NWWT: The NorthWest Wingless Tour
www.nwwinglesstour.com
www.nwwingless.com
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