Sports - Motor Sports

POSTED: Sunday, Sep. 06, 2009

MOTORSPORTS: Sides breaks track record at Skagit

ALGER - Jason Meyers ended Joey Saldana's three-race win streak in the World of Outlaws series, winning the feature event on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Skagit Speedway. Saldana won the first night of racing at Skagit, but could not mount a serious challenge for Meyers, who took the lead for good on lap 7 when Jayme Barnes got slowed in some traffic.

The track record is no longer held by a driver from the Pacific Northwest.

Jason Sides of Bartlett, Tenn., smashed the old track record by nearly 0.15 seconds with his fast time of 10.872 seconds in qualifying earlier at the speedway.

Sides was far from the only driver to break the record previously held by Travis Rutz of Vancouver, B.C., as he led a parade of 11 cars that beat Rutz's mark of 11.020.

Before this year, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kasey Kahne had held the Skagit track record for six years. But on Aug. 15 Rutz led four drivers to finally surpass the Kahne's mark.

But nobody had been able to break the 11-second barrier until Saturday, when seven drivers accomplished the feat, including Jayme Barnes, Shane Stewart, Jason Meyers, Travis Jacobson, Joey Saldana and Danny Lasoski..

While it was Sides' speed that gave him the quick time, it was some good fortune that gave him the pole for the feature. Sides inherited the lead in the Crane Cams Dash when Stewart broke a drive line between the first and second turns on the final lap. Sides, who was in second at the time, held on to grab the top starting spot.

Rutz won the B-Main, while World of Outlaws regulars Donny Schatz and Steve Kinser also advanced. Robbie Farr got into the back of Toni Lutar coming to the checkered flag while racing for the final transfer spot. Both hit the front-stretch wall and flipped, sending debris across the track and into the infield pit area. Under rule, Lutar was awarded fourth place.

One night after scoring a sweep, Saldana stayed hot by winning the second heat race. Schatz, the World of Outlaws points leader, wasn't as lucky in the race, as he blew an engine on the seventh lap, forcing him to work out of the B Main for the second straight night.

Jonathan Allard, Jac Haudenschild and Lucas Wolfe also added heat race victories.