Darren Bucklen rides the high line to victory at CNS

Saturday, 25 June 2011 20:18

A great crowd at Colorado National Speedway enjoyed a beautiful summer evening for the Hajek Chevrolet Night and saw some fast and clean racing as Darren Bucklen won the late model feature. Lee Kemmit won the Sportsman main, Justin Irwin took the Legend feature and Roger Avants took his Pro Truck to winners Circle.

Gillett Vet Late Models
The first three rows of the Gillett Vet Clinic Late Model feature event was filled with some of the fastest late models in the western United States. #27 Roger Avants, and #66 Darren Bucklen were on the front row. #12 Bruce Yackey, #22 Chris Eggleston, #31 Rick Smith, and #74 Dan Savage made up the next two rows. Darren Bucklen grabbed an early lead gaining a 3 car length advantage over Avants and Yackey. With twenty two laps to go #14 Mark Bybee spun on the backstretch bringing out the caution setting up a thrilling restart and some great door handle to door handle racing for the lead with Bucklen and Yackey thrilling the fans. Meanwhile Eggleston and Savage had worked their way around Avants and were gaining on the leaders. Bruce "the moose" Yackey did everything in his power to get by Bucklen including some contact coming out of turn two but Darren stayed steady and ran the high line to perfection taking the win followed by Yackey, Savage, Eggleston, Avants, and #7 Adam Deines.

Qualifying race winners: 74 Dan Savage & 31 Rick Smith

Pair A Dice Interiors Sportsmans
Lee Kemmit's #98 Dodge Charger has been the car to beat in 2011 and tonight's race was no different. Kemmit dominated the 30 lap event and flawlessly navigated lapped traffic building a huge lead by the close of the event. Nobody could challenge Kemmit but there was a great race for 2nd between #46 Eric Blackard and #8 Jeff Walbaum. Blackard took 2nd and Walbaum finished 3rd while #6 Tommy Roe came in fourth and #32 Mark Neff rounded out the top five.

Qualifying race winners: 6 Tommy Roe & 8 Jeff Walbaum

Snap-On Tools Pro Trucks
A small field of Pro Trucks lined up for a 30 lap main event at Colorado National Speedway. Sportsman driver Tommy Roe was on the pole in the Jing Daddy Motorsports #6 but dropped back several spots at the start. #27 Roger Avants came from outside of the second row and built a huge lead in the first half of the race. Roger "the ice man" Avants maintained his lead and won the race by a large margin over #32 Mark Neff, #6r Tommy Roe, and #5 Troy Witthar.

Qualifying race winners: 11 Steve Johnson & 34 Rudy Vanderwal

RMLRA Legends
#06 Mike Gallegos and #66 Kyle Clegg paced a huge field of RMLRA Legend cars for a 25 lap main event but all eyes were on #12 Justin Irwin from Albuquerque New Mexico in row two as he looked extremely fast in his heat race coming from the back to finish inches behind #22 Chris Eggleston. It only took Justin four laps to work his way to the front of the field with #66 Clegg, #06 Gallegos, #22 Eggleston and #58 Kyle Ray in hot pursuit. But the young driver from New Mexico found a fast groove and pulled away from the field winning by a huge margin. #22 Chris Eggleston was second, #66 Kyle Clegg third, #06 Mike Gallegos fourth and Justin's younger brother #9 Jason Irwin rounded out the top five.

Qualifying race winners: 22 Chris Eggleston & 58 Kyle Ray

Witthar Racing Trains
Trains were sparking, sliding, and even flipping, in a crazy and wild Witthar Trains main event that was won by Keith Swensens 67 Train.

Gillett Veterinary Clinic Late Models
1 #66 Darren Bucklan, Greeley, CO, Monte Carlo
2 #12 Bruce Yackey, Greeley, CO, 07 Monte Carlo
3 #74 Dan Savage, Aurora, CO, Fusion
4 #22 Chris Eggleston, Erie, CO, 09 Chevy
5 #27 Roger Avants, Littleton, CO, 2010 Monte Carlo
6 #7 Adam Deines, Longmont, CO, 97 Cutlass
7 #31 Rick Smith, Gering, NE, 07 Monte Carlo
8 #54 Joe James Jr, Denver, CO, 08 Monte Carlo
9 #84 Matt Zwingelberg, Aurora, CO   
10 #90 Frank Denning, Arvada, CO, 03 Monte Carlo
11 #91 Chris Atkinson       
12 #55 Jesse Runkle, Lakewood, CO   
13 #2 Nick Martinez       
14 #14 Mark Bybee, Littleton, CO   
DNF #15 Douglas Cox, Pueblo West, CO   

Pair-A-Dice Sportsman
1 #98 Lee Kemmit, Thornton, CO, 03 Pontiac
2 #46 Eric Blackard, Lakewood, CO, 03 Monte Carlo
3 #8 Jeff Walbaum, 03 Monte Carlo
4 #6 Tommy Roe, Thornton, CO, 03 Pontiac Grand Prix
5 #32 Mark Neff       
6 #84 Bruce Borchardt, Lafayette, CO, 03 Grand Prix
7 #58 Jeff Webb, Arvada, CO, 03 Monte Carlo
8 #17 Paul Deines, Frederick, CO, 08 Monte Carlo
9 #49 Dennis Pobanz, Colorado Springs, CO, 02 Monte Carlo
10 #41 Dale Reeder, Westminster, CO, 08 Charger
11 #2 Nicholas Martinez,Denver, CO   
12 #02 Rick Hunt, Arvada, CO, Chevy
13 #3 Wade Grove, Thornton, CO, Chevy
14 #9 Dalton Hewitt, Fort Morgan, CO, 81 Camaro
15 #28 Alan Carter, Commerce City, CO   
16 #27 Wendi Lewis, Monte Carlo
17 #29 Jan Oxley, Fort Lupton, CO, 03 Grand Prix
DNF #00    Steve Maas, Longmont, CO   

Snap-On Tools Pro Trucks
1 #27 Roger Avants, Littleton, CO   
2 #32 Mark Neff    Eaton, CO
3 #6R Tommy Rowe, Thornton, CO, 10 Silverado
4 #5 Troy Whittar, Eastlake, CO, 04 Chevy Silverado
5 #36 Matt Burton, Englewood, CO, 08 Silverado
6 #79 John Jacob, Strasburg   
7 #11 Steve Johnson, Windsor, CO   
8 #34 Rudy Vanderwal, LaSalle, CO, 99 Ford F150
DNF #04 Bobby Durand, 99 Silverado

RMLRA Legends
1 #12 Justin Irwin       
2 #22 Chris Eggleson, Erie, CO   
3 #66 Kyle Clegg, Westminster, CO, 34 Ford Coupe
4 #06 Mike Gallegos       
5 #9 Jason Irwin, Albuquerque, NM, 34 Ford Coupe
6 #58 Kyle Ray, Littleton, CO, 34 Ford Coupe
7 #6 Scotty Scott       
8 #47 David Hondel, Cheyenne, WY, 34 Ford Coupe
9 #13 Peter Dellarco       
10 #34 Chris Simons-Cooper, Frederick, CO, 34 Ford
11 #78 Brittany Duncan, Aurora, CO, 37 Ford Sedan
12 #71 Craig Coughlin, Westminster, CO, 37 Chevy Sedan
13 #1 Eric Stedman       
14 #7 Corey Seip       
15 #77 Brandon Moore, Colorado Springs, CO   
16 #07 Bill Seip       
17 #85 Cole MacEwen, Fort Collins, CO, 34 Ford Sedan
18 #84 Mike Webber, Erie, CO, 37 Chevy Sedan
19 #37 David Richard, Peyton, CO, 34 Chevy Coupe
20 #88 James Stevens, Wheatridge, CO   
21 #44 Kevin Kurtz, Brighton, CO, 37 Sedan
DNF #81 Rayshawn Carter, Commerce City, CO   
DNF #8G Bryan Grandin, Los Lunas NM, 34 Ford Coupe
DNF #8 John Krizman

Witthar Trains
1. #67
2. #22
3. #43
4. #52
5. #37
6. #13