When you have your worst qualifying effort in over 4 years, you might just wonder if you might have missed the set up but Saturday night Shane Mitchell proved everyone wrong. After qualifying towards the tail end of the field Shane Mitchell came up with his first ever PASS win in the Montana Manroc Columbia River 150. “after qualifying we thought we got it wrong but we kept it and dad was real nervous” Mitchell said in victory lane “When the sun went down the car just came to us and I couldn’t be happier with the win”
Ron Eaton started the day off just like he did during the first Triple Crown race by capturing fast time but when it came time to draw for starting position, Eaton drew the exact same chip he did before #10 putting him tenth on the starting grid. Kelly Mann drew 1 with Brent Harris picking up chip 2 putting the front row together for the 19 car field. Mann and Harris exchanged the lead throughout the first 40 laps. Mitchell was slowly moving up through the field and by lap 50 was in the in the top 5. Race one winner of the Triple Crown Garrett Evans had a heated battle once again with Gary Lewis battling in the top 5 until lap 51 when Lewis broke and sent him to the pits for the remainder of the night. The rest of the night showcased Harris, Mann, Mitchell and Evans all battling out for the Win. Mitchell would make his way to the lead and never look back. Evans finished second Harris third. Harris was very happy with the third place finish “Third place is like a win to me and the crew, this is the first race we’ve finished in 2 years.” Mann finished fourth with Larry Pollard rounding out the top 5.
The Northwest Pro 4 Alliance showcased one of the most exciting finishes of the season with young Cody Walker picking up his first career win in the Pro 4 Alliance. After Bud Rumsey held a lead and Rick Thompson closing in a late caution bunched the field back up. With 6 laps left Thompson and Rumsey made contact turning Rumsey sideways moving Walker to the front. Walker would have to hold off Thompson and Rumsey for 3 Laps. Thompson and Walker traded paint for 2 laps coming down the the checkered flag Walker and Thompson were sideways against the wall and Walker coming across the line first.
The Montana Manro CanAm Mayhem Thunder Challenge saw Victoria, BC driver Ryan Wade take home the $2000 first place check and was followed by Kevin Bull and Reesen Tarr to round out the top 3.
The WESCO Sprints saw Cody Stewart going to victory lane for the second time this year at WVSO. He was followed by Greg Middendorf and Justin Popple finished third. The Jerry’s Auto Supply Super Tuners saw a great battle with 25 laps of nose to tail racing which pushed Cameron Bruggman to his 4th Main event victory of the year. Corey Fechner just fell short in second and Matt Doyle finished with a strong third.
The PASS series returns for the third and final WVSO Triple Crown race with the Wenatchee 300 August 9th and 10th.
