Central Washington State Fair Raceway
August 20, 2016
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Blair Shoemaker Sweeps Rick Sjogren Memorial At Central Washington State Fair Raceway

by Ben Deatherage
Yakima, Washington- The Modified Mafia would invade Central Washington State Fair Raceway for the second occasion on Saturday, August 20th. Despite a little bit of a delay due to the warm weather the racing on the track would be spectacular. Twelve Modifieds from the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho would make the trip to the 3/8-mile clay oval for the Rick Sjogren Memorial.

Blair Shoemaker would grab the lead on the initial start and went straight to work in establishing a decent size lead. But before he could get too far in front of the rest of the field a lap three caution would come out. On the ensuing restart Shoemaker, of Selah, would act like he got shot out of a cannon.

But the occurring long green flag run would see Shoemaker's gap as the leader get smaller and smaller with Don Martin catching up. Martin, from Yakima, would get close to Shoemaker but couldn’t quite make it side-by-side. A late race caution on lap eighteen would come out just as Martin was trying to really go to work on Shoemaker. It would bunch the field up on last time.

On the final restart, Blair Shoemaker would remain as the leader and would win his first Modified race of 2016 at Yakima. He would put the Duane D’Amico owned mount in victory lane for an emotional win for his car owner. D’Amico was a longtime friend, competitor, and co-worker with the lake Rick Sjogren.

Kevin Quesnell, also out of Selah and driving for car owner Ray Zahra, would make a pass for second in the closing laps and stay there. Don Martin was third followed by Shelton’s Alan Muenchow and Hoquiam native Zack Simpson in fourth and fifth respectively.

Heat race winners earlier in the night were Zack Simpson and Blair Shoemaker. Shoemaker would earn the inside pole starting position for the feature after winning the evening’s trophy dash. The Central Washington State Fair Raceway has two more Modified races in 2016 with the return of the Washington Modified Tour on September 23rd and 24th.

Race Summary:
Rick Sjogren Memorial
Saturday, August 20th, 2016
Central Washington State Fair Raceway
Yakima, Washington

A Feature: 1. 27B-Blair Shoemaker; 2. 7-Kevin Quesnell; 3. 31-Don Martin; 4. 6M-Alan Muenchow; 5. 12-Zack Simpson; 6. 7S-Kevin Smith; 7. 45-Tiana Berkely; 8. 34-T.J. Richman; 9. 50K-Kris Asche; 10. 48-Dave Soulek; 11. 29-Pat Merritt; DNS 27-Mark Carrell