Rick Smith Sweeps the Late Model Main Events!

Sunday, 17 May 2009 01:47

Late Model Division (Twin 40 #1)

There were 23 Late Models on the track for the first of two 40 lap Late Model main events. The first LM A Main was caution filled. Contact on the track resulted in plenty of sparks, smoke and twisted metal. #31 Rick Smith, #42 Ronnie Hults, #78 Darren Crocker, #12 Bruce Yackey & #54 Joe James Jr lead the pack as Hults made a furious sprint on the outside of turn 2 passing Smith for the lead.

From there it was a fender to fender drag race between Hults & Smith with Yackey consistently intervening for the top spot.  After a yellow flag, Yackey and Smith flew ahead to lead the pack with Hults close behind. The 1st place drag race continued between Yackey, Smith and Hults as they came close to running 3 wide along the main stretch. Suddenly, Hults punched it and took back the lead!

Soon after, in a devastating turn of events, Hults spun 180 degrees coming around turn 3 and a pile up ensued.

The speedy Hults was sent to the back of the pack putting Yackey in the lead. With only a few laps to go Smith stuck to Yackey’s back like white on rice. In the final stretch Smith made a daring leap for first, clenching the win at the very last second! Yackey and Muhler followed close behind.

It should be mentioned that #95 Cristofer Muhler ran an impressive race, taking 3rd after being sent to the back of the field early on.

1 #31 RICHARD SMITH, 2 #12 BRUCE YACKEY, 3 #95 CRISTOFER MUHLER, 4 #78 DARREN CROCKER, 5 #66 DARREN BUCKLEN, 6 #27 ROGER AVANTS, 7 #88 GREG FOWLER, 8 #23 DAVIN FISBECK, 9 #76 CHAD COWAN, 10 #91 CHRIS ATKINSON, 11 #10 TYLER CHRISINGER, 12 #02 JOSH FELLOWS, 13 #9 NICK BURTON, 14 #42 RONNIE HULTS, 15 #33 EMETT GRAZIER, 16 #48 ED VECCHIARELLI JR., 17 #11 DARREN ROBERTSON, 18 #18 ED VECCHIARELLI, 19 #54 JOE JAMES JR., 20 #39 JACK NUGENT, 21 #3 RANDY GASTINEAU, 22 #74 DAN SAVAGE, 23 #6 JOSEPH DENNING

Late Model Division (Twin 40 #2)

20 Late Models hit the track for the second 40 lap main event of the evening.
#66 Darren Bucklen had the pole position with #78 Darren Crocker on the outside followed by #95 Cristofer Muhler and #12 Bruce Yackey.

It started out tight with Bucklen sticking the lead while Crocker and Muhler dueled with Yackey and Smith close behind. In a stretch through the inside of turn 1 and 2, Muhler inched past Bucklen. Smith followed suit taking 2nd place. While the top dogs battled it out for first, #42 Ronnie Hults painstakingly made his way up the field.
Smith and Muhler went back into drag racing mode with Smith stealing the lead on the inside of turn 4 at lap 24.

Hults continued to move up the field eventually dueling it out with Crocker to make it into the top 5.
#18 Ed Vecchiarelli & #9 Nick Burton made contact on turn 4. Caution on the speedway with 8 laps to go!

After the double file restart, Muhler was relentless through the last 7 laps; mere inches from taking the lead from #31 Rick Smith.
Avants and Yackey kept at each other, vying for 3rd as if for 1st through the last 4 laps.
It was Smith out in front for the finish followed by Muhler, Yackey and Avants leading Hults in a photo finish for 4th place.

1 #31 RICHARD SMITH, 2 #95 CRISTOFER MUHLER, 3 #12 BRUCE YACKEY, 4 #27 ROGER AVANTS, 5 #42 RONNIE HULTS, 6 #78 DARREN CROCKER, 7 #66 DARREN BUCKLEN, 8 #23 DAVIN FISBECK, 9 #10 TYLER CHRISINGER, 10 #74 DAN SAVAGE, 11 #11 DARREN ROBERTSON, 12 #33 EMETT GRAZIER, 13 #48  ED VECCHIARELLI JR., 14 #9 NICK BURTON, 15 #6 JOSEPH DENNING, 16 #76 CHAD COWAN, 17 #88 GREG FOWLER, 18 #18 ED VECCHIARELLI, 19 #57 JOSEPH FUNAYAMA, 20 #91 CHRIS ATKINSON

Figure 8

The 18 cars on the track made for an intensely stressful figure 8 twenty lap Main Event.

#90 John Johnson, who dedicated the race to his late sister, burned up the "X" lap after lap.
#23 Al Duran battled heatedly with #52 Jared Wall, finally passing him for 2nd. Johnson took a huge lead but Duran caught up and stuck close behind refusing to let go.

Yellow flag on the speedway because #26 Nicholas Martinez was dragging his passenger side door. The pack lined up for a double file restart and Martinez opted to stick out the race without heading to the pits for repair.

Johnson zoomed way ahead at the green flag as Martinez’ door flew off coming around turn 4. Soon after, the rest of his body flew off sending sparks and shards of metal bouncing off the cars behind him. These racers should be commended for their sheer commitment to the competition!

Johnson came around the last turn for the win. He held a commanding lead throughout the event and would have made his sister proud.

1 #90 JOHN JOHNSON, 2 #23 AL DURAN, 3 #24 JOE MARTINEZ, 4 #17 HARRY LIVERMORE JR., 5 #52 JARED WALL, 6 #25 PHIL TAYLOR, 7 #95 EDDIE FLOYD JR., 8 #15 JEREME WALL, 9 #22 JOE MATLOCK, 10 #10 FRANK GASTINEAU, 11 #66 JOHN MARTELLO, 12 #26 NICHOLAS MARTINEZ, 13 #69 TAMMY TOTOS, 14 #50 JUSTIN MCKEACHIE, 15 #86 SHIRLEY THOMPSON, 16 #12 JAMES NARANJO, 17 #42 DANIEL MARTINEZ, 18 #9 JORGE HUTRON

Grand American Modified

Time for some open wheel racing! 20 Grand American Modifieds hit the track and ran a clean main event!

#12 Greg Nelson had the pole with #21 Jeffery Purvis on the outside. Nelson maintained a commanding lead followed by #44 Justin Case and #69 Forest Smith as Purvis fell behind.

#08 Jace Hansen moved up the field past Purvis into 4th place. Smith and Case kept hot on Nelson’s tail while battling amongst themselves for 2nd. Out of nowhere, #11 Tom Evans lit up in flames after some fumes built up in his exhaust. Caution on the speedway!

On the green flag, Case made a move on the outside of Nelson, only inches from taking the lead. Case and Nelson battled wheel to wheel for the lead and Nelson stuck his position. Before long Jace Hansen was close behind, and we had a 3 car battle for the lead!!

A pile up at turn 3 of lap 27 resulted in a double file restart. At the green flag Nelson, Hansen and Case were back to their battle. At the last moment, Hansen passed Case for close 2nd and #12 Greg Nelson held on for the victory making it his first ever A main win!!

1 #12 GREG NELSON, 2 #08 JACE HANSEN, 3 #44 JUSTIN CASE, 4 #69 FOREST SMITH, 5 #95 DAVE FINLEY, 6 #22 MICHAEL CASTAGNO, 7 #66 KYLE CLEGG, 8 #21 JEFFREY PURVIS, 9 #93 JOHN BAKER, 10 #16 SHAWN TRACKWELL, 11 #11 TOM EVANS, 12 #4 MARK SOPR, 13 #77 JEFFREY HANSEN, 14 #75 DEREK CLEMENTSON, 15 #01 TERRY TJARKS, 16 #51 BRADLEY TILTON, 17 #3 DELAND CLEMENTS, 18 #33 NICHOLAS ENGEN, 19 #81 GEORGE WETZEL, 20 #53 JEREMY SANDOVAL

Sportsman

26 Sportsman started the main event. #72 Gary Higgs had the pole position with #99 Nicholas Brinlee on the outside. #46 Eric Blackard and #62 James Rogers followed close behind. Brinlee sped ahead for a huge early lead. Contact on the track resulted in a big pile up. #97 Adam Gastineau’s car was totaled and towed off the track, but he was A-okay.

On the restart it was Higgs on the pole with Brinlee on the outside; Blackard and Rogers still close behind.
Nick Brinlee took Higgs on the outside, running a perfect line for a huge lead! After another yellow, Nick Brinlee dug his tires in and flew ahead taking back his massive lead. Rogers and Blackard went back at it for 2nd.

As Brinlee continued to pull away, the duel for 2nd went on. It was Blackard who took the second spot over Rogers on the inside at turn 3!

With Nick Brinlee still in the lead, Blackard pulled away from Rogers, setting his sights in the lightning quick Brinlee.

Fireworks spewed out of the right rear tire of Gary Higgs’ machine. The yellow flag erased #99 Nick Brinlee’s massive lead as they lined up for a double file restart.

At the green flag, Brinlee had the field covered and held on to the top spot through the checkered flag for his first ever Main Event win! In the winner’s circle, when told that his car was on fire he responded, “…it’s no big deal! WOO!”

1 #99 NICHOLAS BRINLEE, 2 #46 ERIC BLACKARD, 3 #62 JAMES ROGERS, 4 #8 JEFFREY WALBAUM, 5 #6 TOMMY ROE, 6 #98 LEE KEMMIT, 7 #43 STAN GRIFFIN, 8 #84 BRUCE BORCHARDT, 9 #58 JEFF WEBB, 10 #49 DENNIS POBANZ, 11 #21 TROY MEYER, 12 #41 DOUG JENSEN, 13 #55 CRAIG HOLMES, 14 #00 STEVEN MAAS, 15 #28 ALAN CARTER, 16 #01 PETE MAAS, 17 #3 WADE GROVE, 18 #31 JOSHUA FLOOD, 19 #83 GREG WOHLCKE, 20 #26 DALE REEDER, 21 #72 GARY HIGGS, 22 #18 DENNIS STEPANICH JR., 23 #13 ERIC POTTS, 24 #30 BRENDON DREILING, 25 #44 RANDOLPH MOSSMAN, 26 #97 ADAM GASTINEAU