Roseburg 7-23-06

The ASA/NSRA sprints made their third and final stop at Douglas County Speedway on Saturday July 22nd, to honor the life of a northwest legend. Art Pollard lived in Roseburg, Oregon and graduated from Roseburg High in 1945, Pollard would go on to become one of the most dominate open wheeled competitors on the west coast. Pollard competed in the late 1950’s and 1960’s and dominated the super-modified circuit on the west coast including the 1961 season, when he won an impressive 22 of 28 main events. Pollard would go on to compete in the Indianapolis 500, the race that would ultimately cost him his life, on May 12, 1973 Pollard was involved in a fatal accident in turn one. Douglas County Speedway has held a memorial race in honor of Art Pollard for the last 33 years and this, the 34th annual was just as good if not better than any in the last 33 years.

The bad luck for the top two points contenders couldn’t have been worse, as the green flag fell and all 18 cars drove into turn one, Mike Basher made an aggressive move into Jeff “the Hurricane” Montgomery, who entered second in the points standings, and drove under the car sending Montgomery for a ride, the rear end of the car shot up in the air and came down violently, ending both drivers night, somehow the traffic behind the accident avoided the situation with the exception of Dan Fisher who got into the back of Basher and bent his front shock and broke his brake line, Fisher was able to continue. On the complete restart, Bliss wasted no time jumping out in front of Todd Coleman, and for thirteen laps Bliss led the way with no serious challenges until lap 13, when he mysteriously pulled off the track, sources say that he was over heating and had to pull off, giving Coleman the lead. Meanwhile behind Coleman, Rick Brown was all over Craig Deaver’s tail-tank and made many unsuccessful efforts to go around him, while Deaver was looking to slip by Monte Zema Jr. with no prevail. Andy Alberding was forced to start in the back due to an accident in the heat race and was driving behind Brian Smith and Cameron “Smokes” McLean. When Smith looked to make a move to the inside, McLean shut the door causing both drivers to spin around. Alberding was left with no where to go, he tried driving low, but Smith’s car was rolling down the track and clipped Alberding’s car causing him to spin around and bending the front axel, ending his night. Coleman was able to get an incredible jump and left the field behind, and Deaver’s car suddenly came alive as he moved from the fourth position to third, with Brown still in tow. Deaver was able to drive underneath Justin Mack in turn one, but Coleman was too far out front and was continuing to build on his lead. It looked like Coleman would pick up his first win of the year, a much needed win for a team who has been plagued with bad luck this year, when bad luck struck yet again. Matt Hein spun to the infield, pulled the car back onto the track and shut the car down, bringing out another caution and lining the cars up single file, crushing the lead that Coleman had built. On the restart Deaver drove to the high side through turns one and two and with the great jump made the pass for the lead, then Mack passed Coleman for the second spot and then Brown went around him, Coleman’s wind was taken out of his sail by the caution. Then to make matters worse he became loose in turn four and spun the car around, forcing Jake Mann to spin trying to avoid contact. On the restart Deaver jumped two car lengths ahead and showed Justin Mack his tail-tank for the last nine laps, Brown was running third and looking to put some pressure on Mack when he broke something in the rear-end causing the car to squat in the rear and enabling him to drive the car into the corner as deep as he wanted, but not allowing him to catch Mack. Mack had an impressive run and his best finish of the year holding off Brown for second, Brown would go on to a third place finish. Rounding out the top ten were Zema, Middendorf, Coleman, Fisher, Hein, Mann and McLean respectively.

In Heat one it was all Pat Bliss. He got an early jump out front and the experience and talent of the long time open wheel driver shined. Bliss was never challenged and was much the best. Deaver worked from his fourth starting spot to second but never could catch Bliss, Matt Hein was third, Jake “Mad” Mann was fourth and Tim Alberding was fifth. Heat two was Basher and Cameron “Smokes” McLean battling for the lead. Basher came out in front, and never looked back, but McLean had a battle on his hands as he held off “Quick” Rick Brown, who brought a late charge for the second spot, Brown would finish third, “Moose” Monte Zema was fourth, Dan “Ford Man” Fisher was fifth and Jeff Montgomery was struck early with troubles, when they dropped a piston rod and pulled off early. In heat three Todd Coleman got a great jump and was running away when disaster struck right behind the leaders, where Andy Alberding, the nights fast qualifier, was forced to make a split second decision, Greg Middendorf’s car had an evil push and Alberding looked to the outside through turn two and Middendorf pushed up the track giving Alberding no where to go. Middendorf’s right rear ran over Alberding’s left front, and broke Alberding’s car. After the caution Coleman remained in the lead but opened the door for Brian Smith when he pushed up in turn four. Smith would go onto win, with Coleman second, Brett Smith was third, Justin Mack finished fourth, Middendorf was fifth and Donny Fain round out the field.

Todd Coleman started up front in the B dash and went flag to flag for the win. The A dash was a battle for first between Brett Smith and Jake “Mad” Mann, down the front stretch and into turn one where Smith was on the inside and Mann on the high side. They slid side by side through two and down the back stretch, but the inside seemed to be the spot to be as going into turn three Smith pulled ahead and checked out, with Mann finishing second, Brown was third and Andy Alberding finished fourth.

The question at the back of everybody’s minds has to be can Craig Deaver be stopped? He entered the night third in points and was blessed when both the second and first place point’s leaders were taken out early. To make matters worse for them Deaver managed to find his way to the front of the pack once again, making this his third ASA/NSRA win in as many races. Deaver told me after the first win at Douglas County Speedway that he believed that after the brake issue was solved Deaver Racing was where they needed to be. With only four races left can anyone catch the man in front? For the first time this season Alberding will not be leading the points race going into an event, and Jeff Montgomery for the first time this season will not be occupying the number two spot. Both drivers really have their hands full and these last four ASA/NSRA shows could be some real nail bitters.