Westergard Prevails Late in Skagit Season Opener

ALGER, Wash. (Sept. 28, 2024) – He was in racing a borrowed car at a track he’d never been to before, but his Saturday night results were familiar to Tom Berry Jr. Berry returned to his Pacific Northwest roots, topping the $10,000 to win Skagit Aggregates Survive the 55 main event for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds at Skagit Speedway.  “It was nice to get back and see a lot of people I haven’t seen for a while,” said the Oregon native, who raced out of North Dakota before moving his dirt track operation to Central Iowa eight year ago. “The facility is very nice and I got to race against a lot of different cars.” “This is the third time I’ve won a race that paid $10,000,” continued Berry, who took home the same amount for winning the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s in 2022, “so this has to rank right up there. There were a lot of tough cars here.” Berry fell back to fourth early in the 55-lapper before starting [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage ALGER, Wash. (Aug. 3, 2024) – Skagit Speedway witnessed the return of the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and the return of Jeff Westergard to the top step of the podium Saturday night. Greg Hibma took control at the start before car owner Ben Gunderson swept pass to collect the lead at the end of the second circuit. Brandon Nutter worked his way up to second, dispatching Hibma the fourth time around the flag stand.   After a restart from a lap four caution, the battle for the runner-up spot became a three-car affair between Nutter, Hibma and Rick Smith. That tussle was put on ice, however, by a multi-car get-together on the backstretch. Things got spicy when racing returned to green as Nutter had to deal with the likes of Smith and Westergard. With neither party having a distinct advantage, Smith went to work the upper portion of the track and performed a brilliant double overtake to obtain second on lap six, with Westergard following him a short time later. Eventually, a [Read More]

ALGER, Wash. (Sept. 24, 2022) – After picking his way through lapped traffic, Jon DeBenedetti picked up a $10,000 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified paycheck. The Rogue River, Ore., driver made a rare visit to Skagit Speedway pay off big time on Saturday night, leading the last half of the Survive the 55 special at Alger.  “At this point in my career, to be at the top of my game pushing 25 years and win this race is really special,” said DeBenedetti, newly eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “To come up here and be able to  go against the best of the Pacific Northwest means a lot.”  SDMF Chassis teammate Jesse Williamson was next to the checkers in the 55-lapper. Eston Whisler,  Bricen James and Ian Whisler rounded out the top five.  DeBenedetti was making just his second career start at Skagit after a runner-up finish in a weekly show there eight years ago and compared the Alger oval to Arkansas’ Batesville Motor Speedway. “It’s a very racy place,” he said. “I [Read More]