Friday, June 29, 2007

Henderson and Walsh double up on fair nights

Henderson and Walsh double up on fair nights

By Matthew J. Sullivan

The annual fair night races at Redwood Acres Raceway were held this past Friday and Saturday night and as per usual, thousands of fans flocked to the track with anticipation and excitement. The special two night event brought out several drivers who had not made it out to the Acres in the 2007 season. Friday night’s features were won by Kenny Demello in limited street stock class, Craig Baker in the mini stocks, Steve Kimberling in the real stocks, Marty Walsh in the sportsman division and David Henderson in the thunder roadsters. Saturday night’s main events were won by Orion Mosher, Brian Murrell, Troy Wood, Walsh and Henderson.

Kenny Demello got Friday night started off with a win in the limited street trophy dash over Orion Mosher, Duane Mayo and Scott Lyons. Mosher took the dash victory ahead of Demello, Mayo, Lyons and Robert Miller. After having dominating the main events for the 2007 season, Orion Mosher had engine problems which sidelined him and opened the door for Demello to take his first win of the season ahead of Mayo, Stan Young, Lyons and Miller.

The mini stock trophy dash was won by Brian Murrell followed closely by Max Capps, Glenn Bernald and Jason Shaha. Craig Baker took the heat win in the car normally driven by his brother Scott. Chad Grammer took second in his return to the class followed by Brian McIntosh, Bernald and Max Capps. Baker took the momentum from his heat race victory and used it to his advantage in the main event claiming the win over Capps, Byron McIntosh, Bernald and Grammar.

Running in just his second race of the season, Ryan Walters took trophy dash honors in the real stock class over Ryan Peeples, Bill Middleton and Chuck Essex. Troy Wood won the first heat over Essex, Walters, Steve Kimberling and Mike Cataldi while Peeples won the second over Doug Way, Jim Bailey, Middleton and Jim Redd. The night would belong to Kimberling however as he was able to cross the finish line first in the main event over Marvin Savage, Wood, Nick Green and Peeples.

Al Acuna returned to the Acres to win the sportsman trophy dash ahead of defending champion Marty Walsh who was also making his first start of the season. Rick Fox and Lissa Uselton rounded out the finish. Joe Bonomini won the first heat ahead of Jerry Peterson, Fox, Uselton and Barry Barnwell who was making his first ever start in a sportsman car. Walsh took the win in the second heat followed by Angelo Marcelli, Al Acuna, Larry Pries and Frank Billy, another driver making his 2007 debut. Marty Walsh looked as if he had been behind the wheel of a sportsman car all season as he was able to score the win in the main over Marcelli, Brandon Barnwell, Fox and Bonomini.

The thunder roadster dash was won by David Henderson over Paul Peeples, Jr., Leroy Marsh, Jr., and Chris Banfill. Bill Bradbury won the first dash over Mike Ward, Thomas Payne, Gehry Foster and Bruce Ziemer. Troy Combs returned to the Acres for the first time in 2007 and won the second head followed by Marsh, Mark Arroyo, Peeples and Ray Elliott. The main event was highlighted by several wrecks, including one which knocked out Peeples who had won all the roadster main events this season. That would open the door for a first time winner in 2007 and it would be Henderson winning followed by Arroyo, Elliott, Marsh and Ron Borges.

Racing in the limited street stock division Saturday night was kicked off with a win in the dash by Scott Lyons over Orion Mosher, Kenny Demello and Duane Mayo. Demello took the heat win ahead of Mayo, Lyons, Stan Young and Robert Miller. After motor issues Friday night and in the heat race, Mosher returned to his familiar form claiming he main event victory followed by Lyons, Demello, Mayo and Miller.

Jason Shaha took the mini stock trophy dash win followed by Brian Murrell, Max Capps and Glenn Bernald. Shaha followed that up with the heat race win over Murrell, Craig Baker, Max Capps and Byron McIntosh. Murrell made it look easy in the main event, taking the victory with Byron McIntosh, Shaha, Baker and Capps rounding out the top five.

The real stock dash was won by Chuck Essex over Ryan Peeples, Bill Middleton and Ryan Walters. Steve Kimberling won the first head over Troy Wood, Walters, Essex and Mark Mullan. Nick Green won the second ahead of Middleton, Marvin Savage, Peeples and Ray DeMello. The main event victory was awarded to Wood after Doug Way’s car failed post-race inspection. Essex took second with Kimberling third, Savage fourth and Mullan fifth.

Rick Fox won the sportsman dash ahead of Marty Walsh, Al Acuna and Lissa Uselton. Fox won the first dash over Uselton, Jerry Peterson, Joe Bonomini and Mike Bourbon. Larry Pries won the second over Marty Walsh, Angelo Marcelli, Aaron Byers and Brandon Barnwell. Early on in the heat race, it appeared as if the night would belong to Uselton as she pulled out to a substantial lead in the main event. However with only a few laps remaining, Walsh made his way by into the lead and into victory lane. Uselton finished second over Fox, Frank Billy and Marcelli.

Paul Peeples, Jr. returned to his winning ways in the thunder roadster trophy dash, winning over Chris Banfill, LeRoy Marsh, Jr. and David Henderson. Chris Sarvinski won the first heat ahead of Gehry Foster, Mike Ward, Bill Bradbury and Chris Lawrence. Henderson took the second over Peeples, Banfill, Troy Combs and Jay Bahner. After winning the race Friday night with Peeples sidelined, Henderson wanted to prove that his victory wasn’t a fluke. Prove it he did as he was able to hold off Peeples in a straight up fight to win. Combs finished third with Banfill fourth and Ray Elliott fifth.

With the season halfway over, the points races are close in all but one of the divisions, that being the limited street stock class. Orion Mosher holds a 49 point lead over tied second place drivers Scott Lyons and Duane Mayo. Brian Murrell holds a seven point edge over Byron McIntosh in the mini stocks. Steve Kimberling has a nine point lead over Troy Wood in the real stock class. In the sportsman division, Brandon Barnwell holds a nine point lead over Rick Fox while despite his dominance in the thunder roadsters, Paul Peeples, Jr. has a lead of just 17 points over David Henderson. Things will only get to be more interesting when the second half of racing at the Acres in 2007 starts July 7th.

Results
Friday Night
Limited Street Stocks
Dash: Kenny Demello, Orion Mosher, Duane Mayo, Scott Lyons
Heat: Mosher, Demello, Mayo, Lyons, Robert Miller, Romeo Venza, Stan Young
Main: Demello, Mayo, Young, Lyons, Miller, Mosher, Venza

Mini Stocks
Dash: Brian Murrell, Max Capps, Glenn Bernald, Jason Shaha
Heat: Craig Baker, Chad Grammer, Brian McIntosh, Bernald, Capps, Byron McIntosh, Murrell, Nick Karanopoulos, Shaha
Main: Baker, Capps, By. McIntosh, Bernald, Grammer, Br. McIntosh, Karanopoulos, Murrell
Shaha

Real Stocks
Dash: Ryan Walters, Ryan Peeples, Bill Middleton, Chuck Essex
Heat 1: Troy Wood, Essex, Walters, Steve Kimberling, Mike Cataldi, Mark Mullan, Ray Robinson
Heat 2: Peeples, Doug Way, Jim Bailey, Middleton, Jim Redd, Ray DeMello, Nick Green, Marvin Savage
Main: Kimberling, Savage, Wood, Green, Peeples, DeMello, Essex, Cataldi, Robinson, Redd, Bailey, Mullan, Middleton, Walters, Way

Sportsman
Dash: Al Acuna, Marty Walsh, Rick Fox, Lissa Uselton
Heat 1: Joe Bonomini, Jerry Peterson, Rick Fox, Lissa Uselton, Barry Barnwell, Jason Belt, Mike Bourbon
Heat 2: Walsh, Angelo Marcelli, Acuna, Larry Pries, Frank Billy, Aaron Byers, Brandon Barnwell
Main: Walsh, Marcelli, Br. Barnwell, Fox, Bonomini, Peterson, Byers, Uselton, Ba. Barnwell, Pries, Billy, Belt, Acuna, Bourbon

Thunder Roadsters
Dash: David Henderson, Paul Peeples, Jr., LeRoy Marsh, Jr., Chris Banfill
Heat 1: Bill Bradbury, Mike Ward, Thomas Payne, Gehry Foster, Bruce Ziemer, Chris Lawrence, Chris Sarvinski, Rob Nelson, Belinda Ward, Bob Markin
Heat 2: Troy Combs, Marsh, Mark Arroyo, Peeples, Ray Elliott, Banfill, Henderson, Ron Borges, Jay Bahner, Donn Cole
Main: Henderson, Arroyo, Elliott, Marsh, Borges, Banfill, Combs, Bradbury, M. Ward, Bahner, B. Ward, Cole, Sarvinski, Peeples, Foster, Lawrence.

Saturday Night
Limited Street Stocks
Dash: Lyons, Mosher, Demello, Mayo
Heat: Demello, Mayo, Lyons, Young, Miller, Venza, Mosher
Main: Mosher, Lyons, Demello, Mayo, Miller, Young, Venza

Mini Stocks
Dash: Shaha, Murrell, Capps, Bernald
Heat: Shaha, Murrell, Baker, Capps, By. McIntosh, Br. McIntosh, Bernald, Grammer, Karanopoulos
Main: Murrell, By. McIntosh, Shaha, Baker, Capps, Br. McIntosh, Bernald, Karanopoulos, Grammar

Real Stocks
Dash: Essex, Peeples, Middleton, Walters
Heat 1: Kimberling, Wood, Walters, Essex, Mullan, Robinson, Cataldi
Heat 2: Green, Middleton, Savage, Peeples, Demello, Bailey, Redd, Rick Stone
Main: Wood, Essex, Kimberling, Savage, Mullan, Robinson, DeMello, Green, Walters, Middleton, Peeples, Bailey

Sportsman
Dash: Fox, Walsh, Acuna, Uselton
Heat 1: Fox, Uselton, Peterson, Bonomini, Bourbon, Belt
Heat 2: Pries, Walsh, Marcelli, Byers, Brandon Barnwell, Acuna, Billy
Main: Walsh, Uselton, Fox, Billy, Marcelli, Barnwell, Bonomini, Belt, Byers, Bourbon, Acuna, Pries, Peterson

Thunder Roadsters
Dash: Peeples, Banfill, Marsh, Henderson
Heat 1: Sarvinski, Foster, Ward, Bradbury, Lawrence, Ziemer, B. Ward
Heat 2: Henderson, Peeples, Banfill, Combs, Bahner, Arroyo, Marsh, Elliott
Main: Henderson, Peeples, Combs, Banfill, Elliott, Lawrence, Foster, Sarvinski, Arroyo, Ziemer, Bradbury, Marsh, Bahner, B. Ward, M. Ward.

Points Standings
Thunder Roadsters
Track Record: Randy Olson 16.885
1 71 Paul Peeples, Jr. 428
2 2 David Henderson 411
3 13 Mike Ward 326
4 8 Leroy Marsh, Jr. 319
5 25 Chris Banfill 311
6 54 Mark Arroyo 291
7 3 Jay Bahner 282
8 5 Bruce Ziemer 281
9 31 Ray Elliott 275
10 02 Gerhy Foster 275
11 9 Donn Cole 250
12 4 Chris Lawrence 229
13 03 Bill Bradbury 221
14 95 Belinda Ward 214
15 7 Ron Borges 213
16 21 Chris Sarvinski 210
17 18 Rob Nelson 154
18 12 Dave McMurray 145
19 66 Thomas Payne 142
20 33 Troy Combs 131
21 1 Bill O'Neill 121
22 16 Randy Olson 70
23 25 Mic Moulton 60
24 7 Fred Hanks 46
25 66 Gary Payne 28
26 00 Bob Markin 28

Real Stocks
Track Record: Dan Browne 19.070
1 48 Steve Kimberling 395
2 62 Troy Wood 386
3 11 Bill Middleton 363
4 8 Barrett Barnwell/Ryan Walters 340
5 4 Marvin Savage 326
6 75 Ryan Peeples 311
7 64 Charles Essex 286
8 1 Nick Green 280
9 47 Ryan/Ray Robinson 267
10 32 Mark Mullan 256
11 37 Ray Demello/Nick Mitchell 231
12 44 Jim Redd/Pat Conway 226
13 40 Rick Crawley/Mike Cataldi 182
14 3 Jim Bailey 126
15 74 Doug Way 124
16 51 Cecil Arispe 114
17 5 Rick Stone 68
18 55 Bob Lima/Dan Browne 65
19 58 Donnie Hyman 22

Mini Stocks
Track Record: Jaison Chand 18.622
1 13 Brian Murrell 410
2 66 Byron McIntosh 403
3 07 Max Capps 380
4 45 Glenn Bernald/Mark Williams 365
5 51 Jason Shaha 362
6 68 Brian McIntosh 357
7 74 Scott Baker/Craig Baker 307
8 77 Nick Karanopoulos 286
9 54 Stacy Minnick 106
10 89 Denzil Barrett 11

Limited Street Stocks
Track Record: J.D. Frey 17.087
1 77 Orion Mosher 415
2 33 Scott Lyons 366
3 14 Duane Mayo 366
4 63 Stan Young 361
5 82 Robert/Trevor Miller 307
6 8 Kenny Demello 292
7 46 Romeo Venza 235
8 00 Otis Sabler/Todd Freeman 56

Sportsman
Track Record: Shawn Andrews 15.794
1 56 Brandon Barnwell 409
2 17 Rick Fox 398
3 25 Angelo Marcelli 384
4 01 Larry Pries 362
5 38 Aaron Byers 343
6 29 Lissa Uselton 342
7 21 Joe Bonomini 283
8 55 Donnie Brown 219
9 47 Mike Bourbon 188
10 07 Jerry Peterson 162
11 46 Marty Walsh 145
12 6 Jason Belt 136
12 50 Frank Billy 100
13 40 Al Acuna 91
14 84 Ken Hallis 80
15 36 Luke Hall 67
16 5 Barrett Barnwell 48
17 11M Mackena Bell 10