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Cabin Fever Huge Success for Willamette Speedway

Photo By Docs Photography
Cory Penfold
Moxie Media & Promotions

The Cabin Fever Season Opener at Willamette Speedway set high expectations for the 2016 racing season. A massive crowd and high car count made a for a great night filled with incredible racing. Saturday night's racing provided the crowd on hand with some serious action and whole lot of drama. Six divisions were in attendance to start the season. Hornets, Street Stocks, Sportsman, Super Sports, IMCA Modifieds and the Super Late Models entertained the crowd with thrills that had them on their feet.

Seventy seven cars signed before qualifying with a few late arrivals that pushed the entry list near the eighty car mark. In qualifying the fast cars in each division were Tracy Muse (Hornets), Chris Sine (Street Stocks), Tom Yeack (Sportsman), Brian Thompson (Super Sport), John Campos (Modified) and Trevor Glaser in the cockpit of Rob Mayea's number thirty seven Late Model.
Heat races really got the fans warmed up and excited for the nights feature main events. Tracy Muse walked away with a win in the Hornet division feature finishing ahead of Barry Lampert in a battle of Ford power that ended with the Escort ahead of the Pinto that claimed the divisions trophy dash.

The Street Stock feature was dominated by the Mercury Cougar of Justin Evans. Evans made quick work of the field and drove away like he was late to a high stakes poker game. Starting from the back after timing in second quick Evans made bold moves to get to the front and check out from the field to park in Victory Lane for the first of what his teams expects to be many wins in 2016.
Tom Yeack had arguably the most dominating performance of the night in the features in his number forty nine. Yeack was able to hook his car up on near perfect track conditions that allowed him to get away from the field and drive to Victory Lane in impressive fashion nearly a half a lap over the rest of the pack. One thing is for sure, Tom Yeack is continuing to build on the success he found last season. He stated in his interview he that "He had not even scaled the car since the final race of last season". He also mentioned that he has set his sights on the track championship in the division. You can bet Tom Yeack grabbed the attention of every team in the class and has set the mark high with Saturday night's performance.

Super Sport action saw a battle for the lead take place near the mid way point when Randy Barley ran down James Slover. The two drivers fought for the lead side by side for numerous laps as Barley flexed some muscle and showed Slover some color using the bottom groove in turns one and two. Lap after lap Slover held off the charging Rayburn of Barley using the middle line nearly all the way around the one-third mile track. Barley set up Slover in turns three and four with a daring move to outside that he hadn't attempted until then. After passing Slover, Barley was able to hold him off for the win in the final laps. Barley said "I tried getting under him on the bottom in one and two but it just wasn't working, I knew if I had any chance to pass him I had to do on the top of three and four because he was using a lower line down there and it gave the room I needed at that end of the track".

The IMCA Modified feature was one for the ages. Not a single fan sat down over the final 20 laps of the 30 lap affair. The fans in the grandstands were treated to battle between Lightnin' John Campos and "Superman" Collen Winebarger that resembled a pair of kamikaze pilots shooting it out with nothing to lose. Winebarger challenged Campos in turn one and two with slide jobs that allowed him to get the advantage on the exit and lead down the back stretch but Campos was quick to return the favor at the other end in three and four and lead at the stripe. Just as things were getting real heated between the two a caution flew for debris on the track. The field would be lined up in single file form inside the ten lap mark.

California restarts were used to up until that point. On the pursuing restart it was deemed that Winebarger jumped the start and the Superman was penalized two spots and sent to the fourth position. That was not a popular call with fans and it was clear that Winebarger wasn't happy with it either. On the following start Winebarger threw caution to wind and let it all hang it out as he tried to run the leader Campos. Campos was nothing short of spectacular as he drove his Drager Performance sponsored GRT chassis with finess and aggression knowing he was just a few shorts lap from the winners circle.
In the end the man of the hour was no doubt Campos as he was first under the checkered flag with the crowd screaming and in a frenzy for what they just witnessed. An incredible piece of driving paid off with a victory that race fans will not forget any time soon. Matthew Drager finished a very respectable third in an incredible drive from deep in the field. A side to the modified feature was a pair rookie drivers making a big debut. Kevin Roberts and "Slidewayz" Tony Brakeall were running third and fourth when they were collected in a late race tangle at the apex of turn one and two. Roberts started mid pack and Brakeall from the thirteenth starting position.

The Cabin Fever Season Opener finale was the featured Late Model division. Once again there was no lack of action in this thirty five lappper. Joey Tanner found himself on the pole position driver for Dave Walters due to his own car not being finished in time. Tanner was hot out the box and quick to the point. With Tanner leading and searching the race track to see where his borrowed ride worked best there was some serious action behind him. Brian Cronk and Collen Winebarger had a great side by side battle going for third and fourth just behind the second place of Bricen James. That soon developed into a three car battle of some of the finest young drivers in the western region displaying an immense talent and respect between the young guns.

Meanwhile deep in the field Trevor Glaser was starting to move through the pack when a flat tire would force him to the pit area. Fortunately for Glaser he would get the luxury of pitting under caution and staying on the lead lap. He would restart at the back of the pack. Once again under green flag racing conditions the battle up front turned into a four car dogfight between the cars of Tanner, Winebarger, James and Cronk. Tanner driving a car powered by a crate engine was doing a phenomal job driving and holding his own against the bigger open motors.

Glaser was on the prowl and moving towards the front using mid race cautions to his advantage. On the longer runs Glaser looked to have the car to beat getting by the competition at a rapid pace and reeling in your leaders. The late stages saw more cautions than any other segment of the race and Glaser was masterful on the restarts. After moving from fourth to second on a late restart and leaving Winebarger, Cronk and Ron Brewster to settle out the top five he went to work on reeling in the leader Tanner. Joey Tanner had plans of his own, he dropped the hammer, threw the dice and let it ride. Tanner used the high side of the race track, put the right rear on the tack line and used every ounce of horsepower the crate engine provided him. Over the final laps Tanner had the advantage due to track conditions slicking off just enough for him to put some real estate between him and eventual second place finisher Glaser.
In Victory Lane Tanner said, "I really didn't plan on winning this race tonight. Honestly we just came here to get some points to start the season with a the track championship being our goal". He also said "The car was nearly perfect and it would do whatever I wanted it to. I could run low if I had to but it was awesome on the top and it was faster up there so I kept it up there and everything worked out for us".

If the Cabin Fever Season Opener set a precedent of what fans will see at Willamette Speedway, they are in for an incredible racing season. The season only promises to get better with even larger car counts and crowd favorites that were not in attendance in multiple classes. On the card for Saturday April 23 is the Super Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Super Sport, Sportsman and Street Stock divisions. The racing program will begin with qualifying at 4:00 and racing scheduled to start at 6:30.

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