Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (June 17) – The only reason this wasn’t one of his top three worst crashes was because he stayed conscious.

However, Tommy Tarlton’s devastating wreck on Friday at the second night of the 40th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup was a close fourth.

“I went for the ride of my life,” he said. “Big ride, a big ride.”

Tarlton, who started the feature ninth, was battling for a top-five position just before the midway point of the main event when disaster struck. The Easton, Calif., native collided with another driver and the impact forced Tarlton’s car to flip viciously down the backstretch.

“I guess he got a good run on me and he stuffed it between me and the fence,” Tarlton said. “I flipped from turn two all the way into turn three.”

The wreck destroyed Tarlton’s car and he’ll be relegated to running his spare car and engine in Saturday’s Dirt Cup finale. Not only did Tarlton lose a top five and potential win on Friday, but his 21st-place finish severely dropped him down the point’s list.

“I just needed to run top six tonight and we would have started tomorrow’s feature in the second row,” said Tarlton, who is locked into the feature and will start 13th.

The team put a fresh engine in at the start of Friday and it seemed to work well from the start. Tarlton timed in 14th quickest and finished a close second in his heat race.

Now they’re forced to work with spares while they hunt for the prestige and the $40,000 prize to Saturday’s Dirt Cup feature winner.

QUICK RESULTS –

June 17 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 14; Heat race: 2 (2); Feature: 21 (9).

SEASON STATS –

16 races, 16 features, 3 wins, 12 top fives, 12 top 10s, 12 top 15s, 14 top 20s