Walbaum, Neff, Hunter, Medina, and Johnson, victorious on Snap-On Tools Night

Sunday, 16 September 2012 10:14

Jeff Walbaum dominated the Sportsman main event at CNS (Starr photo)

(09-15-2012 Dacono, CO) With just a few races left in the 2012 season and on a gorgeous September evening at Colorado National Speedway the fans were treated to a thrilling night of racing. Several dramatic crashes such as Legend driver Billy Blevins barrel rolling down the back shute and Jereme Wall's figure 8 car exploding into a ball of flames had he crowd on edge. Thanks to great work by the on-track safety team and state-of-the-art safety equipment in the cars, no drivers were injured.

Pair A Dice Interior Finishes Sportsman
#67 Stephanie Brown and #47 Jan Oxley paced a great field of Pair A Dice Interior Finishes Sportsman division cars for a 30 lap main event. When the green flag dropped it was #6 Tommy Roe who had grabbed the lead by the end of lap one. Roe's teammate and perennial race winner #98 Lee Kemmit pulled up on Roe's bumper and began to pressure for the lead. Eventually Kemmit got by Roe as did #8 Jeff Walbaum. With Kemmit in the lead most experts might assume this race was over but Walbaum's black and red #8 blew by Kemmit with relative ease to take the lead. The best battle on the track was for 4th place between #17 Dave Deines, #41 Dale Reeder, and #84 Bruce Borchardt, as all three cars took turns asserting themselves over the others. Roe was running comfortably in 3rd with Kemmit in 2nd. But no one had anything for the dominating Walbaum who cruised to victory. Behind Walbaum, Kemmit took 2nd, Roe 3rd, Deines 4th, and Borchardt 5th.

FAST DASH WINNER: #8 Jeff Walbaum
DASH WINNER: #47 Jan Oxley
QUICK TIME: #98 Lee Kemmit 17.773

Snap-On Tools Pro Trucks
Mark Neff in the green #41 Jing Daddy Motorsports Truck made a daring first turn pass as he dove low on pole-sitter #07 Chris Leaf. After Neff was in the lead he began to build a rather large lead on second place Leaf and 3rd place #34 Rudy Vanderwal. The Pro Trucks were putting on a great show often times running three-wide to perfection. Behind the leaders a great battle for position between #27 Roger Avants and #17 Jeremy Barclay was thrilling the crowd but as the cars came out of turn 4 Avants drifted high pinching off Barclay who hit the wall and bounced back into Avants. That contact sent the trucks spinning and crashing down the front straight. Only Avants suffered too much damage to continue. #31 Justin Simonson was working his way through the field and eventually moved into 2nd place but it was too little too late as Neff took the win, Simonson was 2nd, Leaf 3rd, Vanderwal 4th, and #36 "the Pebble" Matt Burton rounded out the top 5.

FAST DASH WINNER: #31 Justin Simonson
DASH WINNER: #17 Jeremy Barclay
QUICK TIME: #41 Mark Neff 16.612

Sunoco Grand American Modifieds
Mike Edwards in the #69e surprised the Grand American Field and pulled out to a large lead in the Grand American Modified main event. Edwards was clearly fast but eventually the bright yellow #28 of Jeff Hunter tracked him down and passed him. Points leader #77 Jeff Hansen and Dominic Ursetta who was making a guest appearance in the #22 car was running second and third. Hansen and Ursetta settled into a groove and slowly began to reel in Hunter. Yet the determined rookie had a groove of his own and went on to win his second main event of the season. Hansen was 2nd, Ursetta 3rd, Edwards finished an impressive 4th and #4 Mark Sopr was 5th.

FAST DASH WINNER: #77 Jeff Hansen
DASH WINNER: #69e Mike Edwards
QUICK TIME: #22u Dominic Ursetta 16.957

RMLRA Legends
CNS fans can count on a massive field of Legends each and every time they make an appearance at the track and tonight was no different as 26 Legend cars lineup for a 25 lap feature event. There was a wild scramble at the start of the Legend main as the first several rows all shuffled in hair-raising fashion. When the dust settled it was #58 Kyle Ray who emerged as the race leader. Ray began to build a large lead with #66 Kyle Clegg and #15 Danny Medina a distant 2nd and 3rd. After a caution flag with just 8 laps to go there was a pileup on the restart and #87 Billy Blevins flipped down the back straight after #85 Cole MacEwen and several other cars were involved in a crash in turn 2. To the crowd's relief both Blevins and MacEwen were uninjured. On the restart both Medina and Clegg got by Ray but another big crash in the back of the field involving #06 Mike Gallegos and #03 Darrell Stewart put the race way over it's time limit and Medina was then declared the winner followed by Clegg.

FAST DASH WINNER: #66 Kyle Clegg
DASH WINNER: #6 Scotty Scott
QUICK TIME: #66 Kyle Clegg 18.853

A Comfort Shack Figure 8s
The two Camaro's of #03 Luke Zike and #52 Jared "Wally" Wall were on the front row for a 25 lap Figure 8 main event. Yet at the start of the race #52 Jared "Wally" Wall and #24 "Smokin" Joe Martinez vaulted out front and began to battle lap after lap. The speedy #90 of John Johnson joined the battle and a great 3 car race ensued. Smokin' Joe got past Wally as did Johnson. John Johnson flexed his muscle as he dove under Martinez to grab the lead of the race. A scary moment occurred when #15 Jereme Wall's car exploded into a ball of flames. Great work by the on-track safety crew as they had the fire out before Wall's car came to a stop. 2nd place Martinez pulled off the rack under caution with mechanical failure ending his shot at the win. Johnson cruised to the win with #26 Nick Martinez close behind. #23 "Big" Al Duran finished an impressive 3rd after being sent to the rear of the field earlier in the main. #52 Wally Wall was 4th, and "the drifter" Justin Mackeachie was 5th.

FAST DASH WINNER: #23 Al Duran
DASH WINNER: #52 Jared Wall

OFFICIAL FINISHING ORDER

Sportsman
Pos No. Name Hometown Car Info
1. 8 Jeff Walbaum Brighton  CO 03 Impala
2. 98 Lee Kemmit Thornton  CO 08 Charger
3. 6 Tommy Roe Thornton  CO 03 Pontiac Grand Prix
4. 17 Dave Deines Gering  NE '08 Impala
5. 84 Bruce Borchardt Lafayette  CO 03 Grand Prix
6. 41 Dale Reeder Westminster  CO 08 Charger
7. 3 Wade Grove Thornton  CO '08 Impala
8. 53 Joshua Meranda -R Laramie WY 78 Camaro
9. 67 Stephanie Brown Littleton  CO 07 Impala
10. 99m Joe Martinez  78 Cutlass
11. 72 Gary Cagle Fort Collins  CO 03 Taurus
12. 49 Dennis Pobanz Colorado Springs  CO 01 Monte Carlo
13. 47 Jan Oxley Ft Lupton  CO 03 Monte Carlo
14. 29 Rayshawn Carter -R Commerce City  CO '92 Monte Carlo
15. 28 Alan Carter Commerce City  CO '10 Monte Carlo
16. 21 Jack Malick Sterling  CO Ford
DNS 01 Pete Maas 
DNS 97 Adam Gastineau Aurora  CO 03 Monte Carlo

Pro Trucks
Pos No. Name Hometown Car Info
1. 41N Mark Neff Eaton  CO
2. 31 Justin Simonson Wheatridge  CO
3. 07  Chris Leaf Kersey  CO
4. 34 Rudy Vanderwal LaSalle  CO 99 Ford F150
5. 36 Matt Burton Englewood  CO 08 Silverado
6. 0 Billy Harkins Lakewood  CO 2010 GMC Sierra
7. 16 Scott Rhoades -R Westminster  CO
8. 11 Steve Johnson Windsor  CO
9. 17 Jeremy Barclay  -R Henderson  CO
10. 10A Andy Bellomy -R # 
11. 29 Matthew Brunker -R Lakewood  CO 2000 Truck
12. 06 Adam Hilton Brighton  CO
13. 27 Roger Avants Littleton  CO
14. 5 Troy Whittar Eastlake  CO 04 Chevy Silverado

Grand American Modifieds
Pos No. Name Hometown Car Info
1. 28 Jeff Hunter -R Brighton  CO
2. 77 Jeff Hansen Berthoud  CO
3. 22u Dominic Ursetta 
4. 69E Mike  Edwards 
5. 4 Mark Sopr Cheyenne  WY
6. 8 Dan Alamaa Colorado Springs  CO 95 Modified
7. 44 Justin Case Brighton  CO
8. 4T Brad Tilton Cheyenne  WY
9. 52 Jerod Wall -R # 
10. 16 Sam Calvetti Cheyenne  WY
11. 57B Brady Balderston -R Highlands Ranch CO
12. 24 Tim Holm 
DNS 66 John Seely Parker  CO 12 Impala

Legends
Pos No. Name Hometown Car Info
1. 15 Danny Medina Colorado Springs  CO
2. 66 Kyle Clegg Westminster  CO
3. 21 Ryan Jones -R Arvada CO 34 Ford Coupe
4. 58 Kyle Ray Littleton  CO 34 Ford
5. 47 David Hondel Cheyenne  WY
6. 34 Chris Simons-Cooper Frederick  CO
7. 7 Corey Seip Littleton  CO 34 Forda
8. 6 Scotty Scott Arvada CO
9. 71 Craig Coughlin Westminster  CO 37 Sedan
10. 07 Bill Seip Parker  CO
11. 77 Brandon Moore Colorado Springs  CO
12. 73 Adam Kasick -R # 
13. 25 Adam Pechman Morrison  CO 37 Sedan
14. 03 Darrell Stewart 
15. 06 Mike Gallegos Wheatridge  CO Chevy
16. 11 Jessica Savage - R Aurora  CO 37 Sedan
17. 26 Christopher Brunker -R Lakewood CO
18. 12 Cody Castor -R Bennett  Co '37 Dodge Sedan
19. 13 Peter Dellarco Highlands Ranch  CO 34 Sedan
20. 85 Cole MacEwen Fort Collins  CO 37 Chevy Sedan
21. 46 Zach Witherwax -R Lakewood CO
22. 87 Billy Blevins -R Arvada CO 37 Sedan
23. 37 Josh Richard -R Peyton  CO
24. 31 Tim Mein -R 
25. 5 Ryan Gaylord 
26. 4 Brad Tilton Cheyenne  WY 37 Chevy

Figure 8s
Pos No. Name Hometown Car Info
1. 90 John Johnson Golden  CO 79 Chevy
2. 26 Nick Martinez Denver  CO
3. 23 Al Duran Lakewood CO
4. 52 Jared Wall 
5. 50 Justin McKeachie Aurora CO
6. 17 Harry  Livermore Jr Englewood  CO 77 Nova
7. 20 Lance Proctor 
8. 81 Dave Smith Englewood  CO
9. 10 Frank Gastineau Denver  CO 64 Chevy
10. 03 Luke Zike Morrison  CO
11. 24 Joe Martinez Centennial  CO 08 Monte Carlo
12. 15 Jereme Wall Commerce City  CO 72 Chevy
13. 69 Tammy Totos 
14. 19 Bruce Wall Commerce City  CO 84 Cutlass
15. 86 Shirley Thompson Northglenn  Co 77 Camaro
16. 40 Michael Mercer -R Thornton  CO 75 Nova