06/18/2026
Timber Cup thoughts by Benjamin Gust
The Timber Cup sponsored by the Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel was expanded to a two-night show with racing on Sunday and Monday. The Timber Cup made up the final two rounds for the NARC King of the West Sprint Car Series as part of the Fastest Five Days in Motorsports, built by Lippert Construction, Inc. The Northwest Focus Midgets were the support class on Sunday, while the IMCA modifieds competed on Monday. Both nights were sunny and hot, so here's my recap of everything to get the temperatures down.
The Northwest Focus Midgets had the first main event on Sunday, which went 20 laps. There were a pair of #4 cars on the front row with Brad Aumen on the pole and Michael Vollbrecht to his outside. Vollbrecht got the jump with fourth-place starter Alex Peck storming to second down the frontstretch as the green flag flew. Peck took the lead from Vollbrecht in turn one on the third lap, but the pass didn't count as Jason Thomas came to a stop just past the flagstand. Peck tried again for a bid for the lead on lap number four, and it stuck that time with a move down low on Vollbrecht coming out of turn two. On lap nine, Doug Davenport took second from Vollbrecht in turn three. The second yellow flag happened with 13 laps down, as Hunter Pyles stopped on the backstretch infield. We had to go red on the restart, as Kyle Hanson went for a wild flip in turn three. Hanson's car momentarily caught fire, but he was able to climb out under his own power. Peck had no problems distancing himself from the rest of the field and he showed why he's the defending track champion by taking this race over Davenport, Vollbrecht, Shane Smith, and Randy Schaaf.
Trey Starks and Kaleb Montgomery led the field for the NARC 25-lap A-Main with Starks leading from start to finish. Chance Grasty brought out a yellow flag on lap four, as he slowed on the frontstretch with a flat left rear tire. During the yellow, Jett Barnes stopped in turns three and four and that ended his night. Starks and Montgomery were still running one and two until lap 13 when Montgomery pummeled the turn two wall. As the yellow lights stayed on, the eighth-place car of Landon Brooks had to go pitside with a flat right rear tire. Moments later, third-running Brock Zearfoss also had to go off the track with a flat right rear tire to jumble the running order even more. As the green flag flew for the restart, Max Mittry and James McFadden made contact in a battle for second at the flagstand and it broke Mittry's front end. Sean Becker got into the back of Mittry coming out of turn two, but "The Shark" managed to keep going and Mittry stopped on the backstretch. An open red flag took place right after that, so crews could get a chance to work on the cars. The second half of this race went nonstop with Starks winning the $5,000-to-win contest over McFadden, Tim Kaeding, Justin Sanders, and Dominic Gorden.
The NARC had the first main event on Monday, which went 25 laps and paid $5,000 to the winner as well. Tyler Thompson had the advantage from the pole, but he had outside front row starter Sanders all over him. Sanders had the lead momentarily on lap three in turn three, but Thompson was quick to pounce as he got back by Sanders in turn four. The race didn't slow down until lap twelve, as John Clark fell off the pace on the backstretch. As Thompson and Sanders were solidly in the top two spots, tenth-starting T. Kaeding passed Gorden for third at the line with four to go. With two laps left, Grasty slowed down into the frontstretch infield for another yellow flag. During the caution, Thompson went to the pits with a flat left rear tire and he didn't return! Sanders was the leader of lap 23, but TK fed him a slide job in turns one and two on the next lap to take control. TK led only two laps, but they were enough to score the win. 12th-starting McFadden won in a four-car photo finish for second ahead of Sanders, Becker, and 17th-starting Dominic Scelzi. Becker had to take some evasive action by driving into the infield, so he wouldn't wreck!
The A-Main for the modifieds also went 25 laps with two former track champions on the front row. Scott Miller led the first two laps from the pole before fellow front row starter Kyler Moore took command at the line to complete lap three. The yellow flag had to come out on the sixth lap when Jake Sorenson, Zack Simpson, and Jason St. Paul wrecked between turns three and four. Craig Moore went around Miller for second in turns one and two on the restart, and Craig's objective at that moment was to keep up with his son. Ninth-starting Tyson Blood advanced up to third at the stripe with a move up high on Miller on lap seven, then Brenton Schnitzer went low on Miller in turn four on the 13th lap to take the fourth spot away. On lap 18, Blood used the slower car of Rodger Perry as a pick to get second from C. Moore out of turn four. The race had to go yellow with three laps to go, as Zane Miner stopped in turn two and the field had to bunch up one final time. Blood passed K. Moore for the lead at the line with two to go, but Kyler wasn't ready to surrender. The two guys were side-by-side for the last two laps with Blood getting the win by a nose! Schnitzer was also in the thick of things in third with C. Moore fourth and Miller fifth.
Wasn't that a spectacular way to end the Timber Cup? For everyone who was there for one night or both nights, thanks for stopping by to see some incredible racing and also beating the heat. I have my extra topics all together and it's time to gather around.
Don't Go Changing: The car counts for Sunday's running of Timber Cup for the NARC and the support class were exactly the same as in 2025. 25 sprint cars were in the pits along with 16 modifieds one year ago. 25 sprinters were again in attendance for Sunday's show, plus 16 midgets.
Good Things Come in Threes: Peck's win on Sunday brought him up to three triumphs in 2026 and he did so at three different tracks. He has two victories aboard Mark and Jolene Steen's #32 car, as he took the May 8 race at Deming Speedway as well as on May 23 at Skagit Speedway in the John Carroll Classic. For Sunday's win, Alex was driving the trusty Pyles Motorsports machine.
Aumen to That: Aumen had to give himself a huge pat on the back with what he did in his first trip to GHR on Sunday. He won the second midget heat race before coming home sixth in the main event. Brad's father is Scott Aumen, who raced in the first ever season of the Northern Sprint Tour in 1996. I couldn't help but notice one of the stickers on Brad's car had Heikes Homes on it. That business is owned by Todd Heikes, who was another competitor in the inaugural NoST campaign.
Davenport Delivers: The midgets ran with the NARC for every night expect for Monday, so they had a four-race Speedweek. Davenport was the overall champion by just two tallies over Smith, 428-426. Davenport finished in the top four in all four races, including a win at Cottage Grove Speedway on Saturday. Schaaf was third at 414 points, followed by Chad Kincaid (412) and Tyler Luce (407).
Charge It!: Bud Kaeding was the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award winner on Sunday with the NARC, as he moved up eleven spots from 17th to sixth. Scelzi was also +11 (18th to seventh), as was Thompson (20th to ninth). Monday's hard charger also came from the 17th starting spot, and that driver would be Scelzi with a fifth-place result to go up a dozen positions. Tanner Carrick passed twelve cars as well for an 18th-to-sixth run.
Four Nights to Remember: Three drivers had four top five finishes in the Fastest Five Days in Motorsports. Sanders kicked things off with a victory at Southern Oregon Speedway last Thursday. His worst finish was ninth at Cottage Grove on Saturday. McFadden had four second-place finishes, and the only time when he wasn't in the top five was at the Douglas County Dirtrack on Friday (20th). TK ended everything with a bang by winning a stunner at GHR on Monday. A tenth-place finish at Cottage Grove was the lone lowlight for him.
Mods on Monday: For a very rare Monday night show, the modifieds had a reasonable turnout with 17 of them in attendance. That number is in line with what they had in regular points shows on April 18 (18 cars...how fitting), April 25 (17 also), and May 2 (14).
Switch Places, Please: Before Monday's race, Austin Rognlin had a one-point advantage over C. Moore and Miner (167-166-166). Now, C. Moore is a single point ahead of Rognlin (203-202). Schnitzer moved up a spot to third at 195 tallies, and Miner fell to fourth at 194 markers. We're in the middle of June, but anything's still possible down the road with the top four drivers separated by less than ten points.
Number for the Weekend: 5. The Fastest Five Days in Motorsports saw five different winners in as many nights (Sanders, Barnes, Gorden, Starks, and TK). There were also five different people that took home hard charger honors (TK, Brooks, Barnes, B. Kaeding, and Scelzi).
Hard Luck Award: Montgomery. Kaleb had a disappointing Fastest Five Days in Motorsports, as his run ended a night early when he crashed into the turn two wall halfway through Sunday's main event while running second. He was in the pits on Monday, but time ran out to get his car fixed. Montgomery qualified in the top three in three out of the four nights, but he didn't have any top ten finishes in the A-Mains.
Consistency Award: J-Mac. Last year's Timber Cup winner had back-to-back seconds.
"Never Say Die!" Award: Scelzi. Dominic found himself behind the eight-ball both nights with subpar qualifying efforts, but he dug himself out of the hole by scaling up from 18th to seventh on Sunday and 17th to fifth on Monday.
Next race: I'll zip back to GHR next Saturday (June 27) for round number 12 with the 360 sprint cars, IMCA modifieds, Northwest Focus Midgets, and hornets. The second annual bike giveaway drawing will also be held.
R.I.P. Walter Parazaider (1945-2026)
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/p/Twisted-Logic-Photography-100063518708272/
