Rookie Kody Swanson shows off gifts in Roseburg USAC Western win – By Bobby Gerould – Roseburg, OR. – June 4, 2005 – As drivers talked among themselves under cloudy cool conditions at the intermission autograph session Saturday evening, the consensus was that passing on the outside groove at Douglas County Speedway would be impossible. The theory held true for 95 percent of the field but one young driver found a way to ‘get ir done’. Kody Swanson, a 17 year-old rookie on the USAC Western States Sprint Car tour, passed Tim Barber on the outside, and then tracked down defending series champion Tony Hunt, to score his first career USAC victory.

“In the dash, I had a chance to pass on the outside but I saved it for the Main”, said a jubilant Swanson in the winner’s circle. “This is my biggest win. This means more than anything. I knew we had 40 laps and I never gave up. Looking back to Boise where I finished second, I just didn’t want it enough. I was happy to be racing with all the USAC drivers and I settled for second. Tonight I wanted it more.”

Swanson, a two-time Visalia Plaza Park Mini-Sprint Champion, started outside row three in the 40-lap Casey Diemert Memorial. The paved 3/8-mile oval hosted 20 sprint cars – with an A-Main front row of Chad Nichols, and Hunt. The jump went to Hunt in the Kaiser Construction #94. Nichols had mechanical problems and retired early on lap three. Five laps into the feature, the top three of Hunt, Tim Barber, and Swanson pulled away from the pack. 20^th starting Mike Murgoitio made his way through the field to earn ninth place by lap seven.

The race became very intense on lap nine when Swanson mirrored Barber all the way around the track, trying to overtake the Ken Pierson #14 pilot with a high-side maneuver. Meanwhile a three-way battle for fourth was engaged by Brad Bumgarner, Brian McClish, and Michael Trimble.

Four laps of racing in traffic was interrupted by a lap 18 caution for McClish who stopped at the exit of turn four. On the restart, Swanson again tried to pass Barber on the upper groove but Barber held his ground. Quick qualifier Jeff Montgomery of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada spun on lap 19 to bring out the second yellow flag of the race. The lap 19 restart was good for Swanson as he succeeded in driving around Barber, and setting his viewfinder on Hunt.

By lap 24 Hunt and Swanson were running inches apart with Barber on their tails. The leaders hit traffic with ten laps to go. Hunt and Swanson quickly cleared a backmarker when Swanson pulled even with Hunt on the backchute on lap 31. Swanson then drove his family #75 underneath Hunt into turn three to take the lead. Swanson was never headed and beat Hunt and Barber to the 9:05 PM checkered flag, just ahead of rain drops. Swanson’s win lifted him to the points lead after three of 12 races this season.

Bumgarner finished fourth just ahead of Trimble. Murgoitio stormed to sixth. The top-ten was completed by Brian Geiszler, Rick Brown, Cody Veenstra, and Robert Beck. Geiszler, Chris Petersen, and Shauna Hogg were heat race winners.

The USAC Western States Sprint Car series moves to Redwood Acres in Eureka, CA. Saturday June, 11, 2005.

VALVOLINE USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 4, 2005

Roseburg, Oregon Douglas County Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jeff Montgomery, 37, LeJenne-14.385; 2. Kody Swanson, 75, Swanson-14.443; 3. Brian McClish, 04, McClish-14.490; 4. Mike Murgoitio, 80, Murgoitio-14.500; 5. Tim Barber, 14, Pierson-14.516; 6. Brad Bumgarner, 88, Bumgarner-14.552; 7. Tony Hunt, 94, Kaiser-14.574; 8. Cody Veenstra, 07, Veenstra-14.591; 9. Chad Nichols, 7, Scott-14.639; 10.

Michael Trimble, 15, CTR-14.659; 11. Rick Brown, 98, Marquardt-14.793; 12. Andrew Alberding, 99, Diemert-14.797; 13. Randy DuBois, 79, DuBois-14.837; 14. Robert Beck, 03, Beck-14.840; 15. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-14.905; 16. Brian Geiszler, 44, Geiszler-14.905; 17. Chris Petersen, 18, Petersen-14.950; 18. Peter Gobel, 27, Gobel-15.055; 19. Rick Hendrix, 3F, Finkenbinder-15.136; 20. Ray Douglas, 2, Douglas-15.331.

DASH: (4 laps) 1. Murgoitio, 2. Swanson, 3. McClish, 4. Montgomery. NT

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Geiszler, 2. Hendrix, 3. DuBois, 4. Trimble, 5. Hunt, 6. Montgomery, 7. Murgoitio. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Petersen, 2. Brown, 3. Beck, 4. Barber, 5. Swanson, 6. Veenstra, 7. Douglas. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hogg, 2. Nichols, 3. McClish, 4. Bumgarner, 5. Gobel, 6. Alberding. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Tony Hunt, 3. Tim Barber, 4. Brad Bumgarner, 5. Michael Trimble, 6. Mike Murgoitio, 7. Brian Geiszler, 8. Rick Brown, 9. Cody Veenstra, 10. Robert Beck, 11. Shauna Hogg, 12. Rick Hendrix, 13. Andrew Alberding, 14. Jeff Montgomery, 15. Chris Petersen, 16. Ray Douglas, 17. Peter Gobel, 18. Randy DuBois, 19. Brian McClish, 20. Chad Nichols. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Hunt, Laps 31-40 Swanson.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Swanson-191; 2-Bumgarner-180;

3-Hunt-179; 4-Barber-175; 5-Murgoitio-137; 6-Hogg-127; 7-McClish-126; 8-Michael Lewis-122; 9-Trimble-121; 10-Veenstra-95.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: June 11 Eureka, CA Redwood Acres Raceway

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