By Gary Jacob
Denver, CO -- Even with the biggest field of the season in action, Brett Hallmark from Grand Junction, CO made it five wins in six races on the CLMA schedule when he scored a clean sweep Saturday night at Rocky Mountain National Speedway. Hallmark started outside front row in his heat, the dash and the 25 lap feature, earning $1,000. After several successful Midwestern runs, Kelly Boen returned to the series and ran second with Dean Moore from Grand Junction finishing third after Moore set the early pace in the 25 lapper.
The 21 car turnout allowed for three full heat races and veteran Jim Clifton came from third starting to the lead on the first lap of heat 1. Clifton won the event with Rock Springs, Wyoming long tow Kevin Wright second over Jim Beaman. Hallmark beat pole starter Boen on the start of heat 2 and he raced his GRT Chassis to the win with Boen second over Rick Lieser. Heat 3 saw Chris Persichetti pit prior to the green flag. Moore was a wire to wire from outside front row with pole starter Mike Cox second over Scott Lewis. The top 2 finishers in each heat advanced into the Leary Racing Products Dash and Hallmark was a wire to wire winner from his outside front row start. Moore and Boen were dueling when they made contact and Moore got a flat tire. Wright spun trying to fend off Boen in the duel for 2nd with Boen finishing second ahead of Clifton and Cox.
All 21 cars were able to start the 25 lap feature with heat winners Moore, Hallmark and Clifton in the front 3 spots ahead of the three second place heat finishers. Moore raced into a quick lead over Wright and Clifton with Hallmark falling back to 4th. On lap 2, Hallmark took third from Clifton. Boen passed Clifton for fourth on lap 3. Both Hallmark and Boen shuffled Wright back to 4th on lap 4. Clifton and Cox tangled forcing a spin by Clifton that produced the only caution flag on lap 6. On the restart, Moore, Hallmark and Boen put on a three wide duel for the top spot and Moore maintained his slight advantage. Clifton and Craig Baukema both pitted with car woes. On lap 17, Hallmark and Boen both passed Moore for the 1-2 slots. Boen then attempted to wrest first from Hallmark, but couldn't complete a pass. The 25 lapper was quickly run with just one minor caution. Moore finished third ahead of Rick Lieser, Cox, Wright, Ken Brack, Don Post, Butch Clark and Beaman. It was a tough night for John Kuchar, the only driver other than Hallmark with a 2002 win. He ran 11th in the feature and Hallmark's point lead is now 61 points over Kuchar. Lieser is 23 points back of Kuchar and 17 ahead of Brack. Brack holds just a single point advantage on both Garmann and Cox. Clifton is 7th as Rod Glenn missed the race due to his engine problems of the previous weekend. Modified star Gary Dechant made his dirt late model debut with a 14th and it was also the first dirt late model race for Beaman. Clifton and Temco Trailers have teamed up to produce a two seat dirt late model to allow fans to get the experience of circling the dirt ovals.
Summary Dash-Brett Hallmark, Kelly Boen, Jim Clifton. Heat 1-Clifton, Kevin Wright, Jim Beaman, Don Post, Bill Sabin. Heat 2-Hallmark, Boen, Rick Lieser, Dave Garmann, Butch Clark. Heat 3-Dean Moore, Mike Cox, Scott Lewis, Ken Brack, Craig Baukema. Main-Hallmark, Boen, Moore, Lieser, Cox, Wright, Brack, Post, Clark, Beaman, John Kuchar, Lewis, Garmann, Gary Dechant, Sabin, Chris Persichetti, Bill Smith, J T Botts, Scott Cimfl, Baukema, Clifton.