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(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)

Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (June 27, 2018) – Seth Bergman accomplished a childhood dream last weekend when he captured the 47th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.

The victory paid $15,000, built a 42-point lead in the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by SawBlade.com championship standings and gave him his fourth series triumph of the year – tied for the most he’s ever earned in a single season. However, the prestige of winning the Dirt Cup is what is the most significant part of the triumph.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “I have a hard time believing it to be honest. I think sometimes in the big races you have to lose a couple and be a part of the event before you win them. Coming into this year I was reflecting a lot on the past few years I ran here, what I did right and what I did wrong. I tried to use my past experiences as learning tools. I think that contributed a lot to winning it.”

The weekend began on Thursday with Bergman finishing fifth in a heat race before a charge from 10th to fourth place in a qualifier locked him into the 10th starting position in the A Main.

“We had a tough first night,” he said. “We’ve been doing some things that work well in the Midwest with our cars. We tried continuing down that path of what we’ve been doing and we didn’t have the speed with it. We had to go back to the drawing board and figure something else out. We weren’t as quick as we wanted to be and had some things to fix on the car.”

Bergman ended with a 14th-place finish, but his performance on Friday propelled him into a contender for the Dirt Cup title. He won a heat race and placed sixth in a qualifier, which put him 16th in overall points to start the 25-lap main event on the outside of the eighth row.

“I needed to be smart,” he said. “My game plan was to make sure I finished and avoided the wrecks. Once the race got going and filed out I would go to work and be smart to get as many cars as I could. Late in the race I was in a position with a shot to win so I took it. I knew there were areas of the track that were treacherous and would cost you a lot of speed. There were areas I knew I wanted to stay away from. That got me thinking outside the box for track lines and unconventional lines. I started picking and choosing the parts of the track that offered the most grip and the least amount of danger.”

Bergman took the lead on Lap 21 and pulled away in the closing laps to score the impressive win. It was the furthest any driver has started from to win an ASCS National Tour race this season – the previous best was seventh.

Once preliminary points were calculated Bergman ranked second, which lined him up on the outside of the front row for the 40-lap finale on Saturday.

“It was a big pressure situation,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of training physically and mentally. I fell back on that. As much as I didn’t want to be in control of that race I knew I needed to be. I wanted to control the pace. As tough as it is to manage a 40-lap race, I wanted to be the guy who was setting the race and control.”

Bergman ran second for the first lap before he powered into the lead on Lap 2. The race went green flag to checkered flag and despite heavy traffic Bergman won the race by nearly three seconds.

“When Lap 40 fell I felt like I could have gone another 40 laps,” he said. “Late in the race I was being cautious, but I was fresh mentally. I kept plugging away and making good laps. The thing is Saturday was the most sick I’ve been in a year. I was not feeling well. To go out there and have the stamina to run 40 good laps and I could have kept going shows the hard work we’ve put in.”

Bergman takes that momentum into the Fred Brownfield Classic this Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. He’s a former track champion at the 3/8-mile oval.

“I would like to win it in Fred’s honor,” he said. “I knew him personally. He always offered wisdom and was a friend to me. It’s another race here I’ve wanted to win in his honor.”

QUICK RESULTS –

June 21 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 5 (5); Qualifier: 4 (10); Feature: 14 (10).

June 22 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 1 (2); Qualifier: 6 (5); Feature: 1 (16).

June 23 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Feature: 1 (2).

SEASON STATS –

36 races, 7 wins, 18 top fives, 24 top 10s, 30 top 15s, 32 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., for the Fred Brownfield Classic with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by SawBlade.com

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.SethBergmanRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BergmanRacing

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SethBergmanRacing

APPAREL –

Bergman has men’s and women’s t-shirts available for sale at his race trailer during events he competes in this season.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Corridor Electric

Corridor Electric is a full-service electrical contractor located in Snohomish, Wash. With a specialty in electricity, Corridor Electric was established in 1999 by Seth’s parents – Steve and Terri Bergman.

“Corridor Electric has been the backbone for my racing career,” Seth Bergman said. “It’s my parent’s business and I can’t thank them enough for the support throughout the years. I wouldn’t be able to chase my racing dreams without everything they have done for me.”

Bergman would also like to thank Oilfield Equipment & Manufacturing, Lucas Oil Products, Young Tools, Triple X Race Co., Scott Baylor Racing Engines and FK Midwest for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.