Category Archives: Blog

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Powercell Rocks at the Draft Choice

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11 Apr 2017 Auburn, WA – Not a new thing but put out the word and they will come. Lynn Sorenson and band mate Manuel Morias set up their equipment and invite anyone who would like to come up and play or sing. Setting up at the Draft Choice once a month to bring live music to the masses and showcase those who come and take part.

Jam sessions here bring together old and young instrument players alike, all with the same end game, play some bitchin live music.

Images of all the action are now available – click here to go to the photo album.

Check the Draft Choice website for the next date to join in or look into Powercell or the other bands that Lynn and Manuel play in to follow them.

Record Crowds at 2017 HondaFest NW

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09 Apr 2017 Kent, WA – Filling the grounds with cars and people at Pacific Raceways normally comes the first week in August. Coming in second and growing bigger each year is the HondaFest NW. The trio of a car show, lead/follow and drag racing bring the people and vendors to this annual event.

Rows and rows of all kinds of show cars and most all of them daily drivers filled the paddock area as SpeedFactory set up in their favorite spot next to the staging lanes.

Leading off the day on the 2.25 mile track instructors from ProFormance Racing School do what is called “lead/follow” with a group of three to seven cars. It is 100% follow the leader but that “leader” knows the fastest way around the track. No fooling around here as the last car in line has a radio and you can’t out run it. You get out of the spirit of the day you will be booted out of line, Safety First.

For those that follow the “drivers” meeting rules you get to push your car a little more than “normal” driving and doing it “safely”. This part of the day is also growing as near 50 drivers took part with a few doubling up.

All this time the “drag crew” is prepping the drag strip for the afternoon of side by side running of all kinds of cars and trucks.

Leading off the action the ultra- fast Honda’s from SpeedFactory in a mix of testing and checking the latest setup put down some impressive numbers as noted by the crowd and crew reactions.

A great day put together by NWMotiv and Pacific Raceways will again look to grow the program so make a date for next year’s event.

Lots of great images from all over the facility – click here to go to the photo album. As always thank you for your support and purchases!

Swift Tools ET Series Gets Season Underway

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02 Apr 2017 Kent, WA – Kicking off the drag racing season in the northwest spring can bring a host of weather conditions. The overnight downpour left a big task to the drag crew drying and prepping the track. Beat the water they did but a later than normal start finally got things underway.

Two hits for all to start the day then into racing for real. A brief light shower both brought about no racing and pushed the “Sunday” curfew to the limits. Try as they did when “Mother Nature” dictates what you can do you just do your “best”.

So close they came, finishing three of the six classes leaving two “finals” and one “semi” to run.

The three class winners are in Jr. Lightning Josh Schmanke grabbed the trophy while also licensing for a Super Comp ride. In Jr. Lightning Ryan Warnke came out on top while Brian Thompson put his Mustang in the Sportsman Class “Winners Circle”.

Images are now available – click here to go to the photo album.

The Hagen Twins

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This habit that is called “drag racing” grabbed me in the early seventies. Since then, I have met thousands of stars that take part in the sport.

As any photographer that covers motorsports will tell you, the people you meet and their background can cover the full spectrum of life. As the photographer for Pacific Raceways, I cover a variety of different forms of motorsports, from Drag Racing, Motocross, Road Racing and Go Karts, and they all share one thing in common, Family.

All, of these families have their stories. When an unusual “story” presents itself, I like to focus on it…

An unusual or unique story in drag racing at Pacific Raceways are twins Abbie and Angie Hagen. As high school seniors they will once again compete in the Air Force Reserve High School Drag Racing Series. The twins hope to improve on their 3rd and 4th place finishes last season.

Their attraction to drag racing stems from father Steve who came to the track to watch the 1978 Fall Nationals. In the mid 90’s when looking to buy their first house Steve and wife Kim found a home just a few blocks from the track.

A few years later the twins were born and raised just blocks from the sounds of the race track. Abbie was the first to hit the track though not what you may expect. As a sophomore, she entered her father’s Dodge Challenger in the high school burnout contest. Abbie in the driver’s seat and Angie sitting on the passenger side, the track announcer asked her if her Dad knew you were burning the hides off his car? Without hesitation Abbie replies “Yes, he is in the back seat”.

Twin sister Angie was not really into Drag Racing, she kind of fell into it at her sister’s request. Abbie was fighting for points in the high school class. So, Angie jumped into her sister’s car hoping to do well. Angie had so much fun she decided that she should have a Challenger too. Then the Hagen’s became a three Challenger family as Abbie found one very close to her sisters.

With dad Steve running in the Sportsman class and the girls in the High School class, it is easy to spot them in the pits with the White, Red and Green Challengers lined up in a row.

This time together earned both girls a trip to the “winners circle” for trophy and pictures and enough points for Abbie to earn a prestigious spot on the E.T. Finals Team and a trip to Canada to race at Mission Raceway. Not bad for their first season of racing!

Seeing the fun that Abbie had last season, a bit of a sibling rivalry has formed! Angie is forgoing softball this season to put all her energy into racing in her effort to make it to the E.T. Finals and of course Abbie will try to re-peat her ET Finals performance.
If these two-college bound young ladies go at racing with the same energy as they do for school, the competition should be a bit worried!!

April 15th is race number one for the Air Force Reserve High School Series this season and should one of them win this special day to begin with would really be “frosting on the birthday cake”. Good luck to both of you this season.

AM Skills, Novice HP & PM Lapping at Pacific Raceways

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26 Mar 2017 Kent, WA – For the dozen plus folks who took part in the ProFormance Racing School this day the weather played a big part. Choosing the date to go to school you hope for a great weather day, but this is the northwest in spring time and the weather is a crapshoot, with the record rain thru late winter into early spring today it just continued.

Bringing out the bumper-shoots that under normal use here shades the drivers from the sun reared back to their original use, to keep the rain off. To ProFormance Racing School and its instructors the weather makes no difference on the program and how they instruct the students.

Looking at the exercises, there are four of them, going thru them I believe it would be worth taking the class twice if possible, in the rain and in the sunshine. What you feel in the seat of your pants will be two very distinct sensations. Once you feel the difference in wet to dry you will come away a better driver in the northwest.

Important enough to parents to put their children thru the class to teach what is not in drivers training and to a husband and wife today with their personal plates sharing the experience together.

Images are now available – click here to go to the photo album.

Check out this program on the ProFormance web site for your date to better driving.

ProFormance Racing School Action at Pacific Raceways

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19 Mar 2017 Kent, WA – As more and more parents see their children go thru drivers training and what they are learn they are coming to driving schools for the skills that will better prepare them for driving on the hi-ways and bi-ways.

Seeing parents weather by their pushing or their kids choosing going thru the stages that ProFormance Racing School and their instructors teach is every bit a recordable moment. Deep in parents minds and spoken, this is the best bang for your buck to be found for young drivers.

This also you see on the faces of the students as they gather after the first go round and how fun it is to learn what your car is telling you when you tell it to do something. Then of course at the end of the school day the confidence that the students now show truly shows the impact of going thru the school.

Over 300 images are now available online – click here to go to the photo album.

For info on upcoming dates go to the ProFormance Racing School web site or their Facebook page.

The Fabulous Johnsons at the Red Dog

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17 Mar 2017 Maple Valley, WA – Playing on a stage the weekend before with room to move around to the confines found when playing in a bar or tavern was a trip. The Fabulous Johnsons – the trio of Lynn Sorenson, Jeff Kathan and Manuel Morias rock in the small venues.

With four plus hours of playing the set list is pretty long and diverse. With help thru out the night from Christoff, Amanda, Susan and Jaysen it is well worth to check them out. Find out where and when on their web site or the Red Dog when they will be back to rock the house.

Images of all the action in Maple Valley are now available, click here to go to the photo album.

Spike And The Impalers at the Claws Chalet Theater

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11 Mar 2017 Enumclaw, WA – As a DJ for local classic rock station KZOK Spike O’Neill has his pulse on the music that is played by them and brings this music to life as “Spike and the Impalers”. The “Claws” Chalet Theater and its stage became a perfect setting for 500 or so to enjoy some rocking live music.

Leading off the show local comedian Susan Jones put it to the audience with some great wit and punch lines. Nothing like laughter to get everyone in the same frame of mind ready to jam on some great live music and this she did as a huge thunder of hand clapping and yells as she finished and introduced the band to the audience.

Jumping into an Edgar Winter tune right away got everyone going, leading to Spike singing as he walked up on stage the next song in the nights set. The diversity of the band members and the multiple instruments they can play along with Spikes voice brings some rocking music to life. With no counter I lost track but there had to be at least 20 songs on the set list including a slow song so those dancing up front could hug up for one song. I say if you get the chance to see the band play you need to go, they won’t let you down.

Band members are: #Spike O’Neill – #Lynn Sorensen – #Jeff Kathan – #Manuel Morias – #Susan Kendall Morias – #Scott Adams – #Steve Hanna – #Jaysen Dickhoff Comedian: #Susan Jones

Got Lots of great shots – go to the photo album by clicking here.

ProFormance Racing School AM Skills, Novice HP & PM Lapping Weekend at Pacific Raceways

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11 Feb 2017 Kent, WA – Back for the first time this year the AM Skills class brought in sixteen students for classroom and on track learning. No matter your age or gender you start in the classroom eyes intent on what Don Kitch is telling you. It is the start of what ProFormance Racing School is all about.

What you gain from the in classroom and the four coned stages will show you and let your body feels and what input you need to do to your car in case you need to do so. Being prepared for anything when you are driving is the awareness you will also gain. Just about everything that is taught in the class is not given in drivers training.

This fact brought out a young lady just about ready to get her driving life underway. With no prompting from her parents the choice to take the class was her own, pretty smart on her part. As per requirements all teen drivers are instructed to bring their “daily driver” to class. This young lady rolled up in a full size Chevy truck, something I have not seen run thru the program, all makes and models of cars but no trucks. The shiny smile, I say that because she does wear braces would be hard pressed to remove at the end of the day and also saying “I will be back” to the track to learn even more.

Follow this teen driver’s lead and contact ProFormance Racing School for info on upcoming dates to do the same for yourself as this wise beyond her years young lady did for herself.

Images are now available – click here to go to the photos, and as always thank you very much for your support and purchases!

Teen Street Survival Course at ProFormance Racing School

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04 Feb 2017 Kent, WA – For those parents and teens that attended the school today it mattered only slightly that it was raining. Yes, it was less than ideal conditions, but you could see the focus in their faces as Don Kitch and his instructors coached the teens thru classroom instruction and behind the wheel.

There were four different stages, two at a steady 25 miles per hour and two at 50 miles per hour. What you learn from these four stages is applicable to anyone not just for the teens as this is the way all should learn what to do when faced with it. It’s well worth the investment to go thru the ProFormance Racing School, check out their website for upcoming dates.

On another part of the property The Motorsports Lab and two of their many “super cars” were giving drivers the thrill of piloting one around a coned off pattern of twists and turns. Add to the course the “rain” puddles created by Mother Nature and her winter weather in the northwest.

Watching a Lamborghini plow thru four inches of water is not something you see every day unless you are at their factory testing grounds. Not exactly what they had in mind when they signed up for the experience but the smiles afterword tells all. To learn more go to motorsports.com for more info.

Images of all the action today are now available – click here to go to the photo album.