Miller victorious after Henderson breaks

Oregon veteran, David Miller took the late model main event
victory on opening night at Redwood Acres Raceway

By Matthew J. Sullivan

It was opening night of the 2015 season at Redwood Acres Raceway this past Saturday evening as it was Renner Petroleum Night at the 3/8-mile paved oval. A large crowd of excited race fans turned out to see the five local classes of Humboldt Hydroponics roadrunners, bombers, mini stocks, Thunder Roadsters and Mid City Motor World late models.

Prior to the racing action, fans were able to greet drivers while also voting which driver had the best appearing car in each division. The winners for each division were Jett Taylor in the Humboldt Hydroponics roadrunners, Mike Knight in the bombers, Eugene Palmer in the mini stocks, Belinda Ward in the Thunder Roadsters and Kenny Demello in the Mid City Motor World late models.

Dylan Ford set fast time for the Humboldt Hydroponics roadrunner division with a 20.157 qualifying lap. The trophy dash victory was taken by Jett Taylor while the heat race victory was recorded by Ford. The 20-lap feature was a thrilling affair between several drivers, among them rookie, Shawn Malloy who made the transition from a passenger in the bomber division to driver in the roadrunner division. Unfortunately, Malloy’s inexperience did him in resulting in a spin that took him off the lead lap and out of contention.

The racing was close between the faster qualifiers of Ford and Taylor and the slower qualified drivers Steve Paiment and Daniel Buell. Paiment was able to maneuver into the lead with two laps remaining in the main event. Ford did all he could on the last lap to out-gun Paiment for the lead but it was not to be as Paiment took his first ever main event victory narrowly over Ford, Taylor, Buell and Andrew Pimentel. The final margin of victory was a scant .065 seconds.

Dustin Walters set quick time in the bomber division at 17.939. James Moore got his sophomore campaign in the division off to the right start with the trophy dash win while Walters prevailed in the heat race. The 25-lap main event for the bombers was shortened to 15 after a first lap incident that took out the cars of Walters and Michael Knight who was visiting from Lakeport. Coming off the fourth turn, Lance Martins got sideways in front of Knight. In an effort to avoid hitting Martins, Knight turned left but unfortunately tagged Walters’ car sending him into the wall. Thankfully both drivers were unharmed.

Tyler Avelar blasted to the lead when the race restarted, pulling out to what ended up being an insurmountable lead for Moore. The gap between the two closed noticeably as the laps wound down but at the checkered flag Avelar still held a comfortable margin as he crossed the line first over Moore and Martins.

The field for the mini stock division in 2015 looks to be growing as 12 cars showed up to race. Unfortunately, Dax Kinsey would not be able to race on the night as his car was unable to return after the first qualifying round. Rick Estes was the only driver to get under the 19 second bracket as he clocked in with fast time with a 18.995 time. 2013 roadrunner champion, Jarrett Mayo returned to racing at the Acres after a year away and showed no signs of rust as he won the first heat race. 2014 bomber champ, Leonard Ward took the victory in the second heat.

The field for the 25-lap mini stock main event was shortened due to 2014 roadrunner champion, Gary Klinetobe having issues. The race got off to a crazy start when Jordon Paiment slowed suddenly in front of the field causing several cars to spin. Fortunately nobody suffered any damage although Paiment was forced to retire for the night. Mayo took the lead on the restart but was overtaken by Brian Murrell, Jr. on lap two. On lap six, Ward moved by Murrell into the lead. Estes was beginning to show his strength in the middle stages of the race but hit the wall off turn four which damaged his exhaust system. After several laps of sparks coming from his car, Estes’ exhaust fell off entering turn three taking him out of the racing and necessitating a caution flag.

The yellow looked to be just what Murrell needed as he was able to get by Ward on the restart. However on the next lap, Murrell had trouble as his throttle stuck going into turn one. While he was able to avoid further disaster, the pedal on Murrell’s car broke forcing him to pull his car into the infield and out of action. Murrell’s misfortune made the rest of Ward’s race easier as he was able to hold off Dylan Ford to take the win. Mayo took third over two more division rookies, Eugene Palmer and Ken Barrett who was behind the wheel of Ryan Ahrens Karmann Ghia.

Fast time in the Thunder Roadster class was set by defending division champion, Paul Peeples, Jr. at 17.171. Peeples was able to follow up his fast time in qualifying with victories in both the trophy dash and the heat race. Chris Lawrence held the lead for the first two circuits of the 30-lap main for the Thunder Roadsters but could not hold off the faster challengers of Peeples and Robbie Nelson. Lawrence settled into third and the best action of the race was the battle between him and Mike Ward. Meanwhile, Peeples was able to hold off Nelson for the lead the entire race. At the finish it was Peeples winning over Nelson, Lawrence, Ward and Tommy Payne.

The Mid City Motor World late model division saw several new faces joining the field. Former Thunder Roadster champion, David Henderson used his experience to set fast time on the night with a 16.169 lap. Late model sophomore, Ryun Leazer brought home his first win in the division taking the honors in the trophy dash while Henderson took the heat race victory.

The 35-lap main event got off to a quick start thanks to Henderson who took the lead from the start and pulled to an enormous lead over the rest of the field. The Fortuna driver looked to be the class of the field and it appeared that the rest of the competition would be fighting to see who would place second. The driver who looked to be in that position was making a surprise visit to RAR’s local late model division, Oregon veteran, David Miller. Though the race was slowed by caution a few times, Henderson was able to race back to the lead and outpace Miller and the rest of the competition.
Just past the halfway mark of the event, Henderson’s engine began to sound sour. At lap 24, Henderson slowed and entered the pits giving Miller the race lead. Miller’s experience as well as a superior handling car proved to be the key to victory as he was able to lead the rest of the way to the win. Lakeport driver, Richard Knight took second over division rookies George Young and Tyler Avelar. Jedd Ambrosini placed fifth.

Racing takes a break for a week before returning Saturday May 9th with all five local classes back in action. Grandstands open at 5:00PM and racing begins at 6:30PM for more information on all of what’s going on at Redwood Acres Raceway, please visit the track’s official website www.racingtheacres.com .

Pries, Peeples among opening night winners

Pries, Peeples among opening night winners

By Matthew J. Sullivan

The 21st season of racing on the pavement began this past Saturday night at Redwood Acres Raceway. Though it was a relatively cool evening, a number of fans turned out to witness the five established classes of sportsman, Thunder Roadsters, real stocks, mini stocks and limited street stocks as well as the debut of roadrunner division.

Three cars took to the track for the roadrunners on this opening evening of racing. Dustin Delbiaggio took the honors of being the first driver to win a roadrunner event by winning the trophy dash. Nick Bundy displayed his strength in the main event winning ahead of Delbiaggio and Jimmy Murray. The car count in this class is expected to expand tremendously as the 2009 season progresses. Three cars also showed up for the limited street stock class. Defending class champion, Fergy Ferguson won the dash while George Young held on for the main event win ahead of Ferguson and Kenny Demello.

The mini stock trophy dash victory went to Scott Baker over Brian Murrell, Brian McIntosh and Brian Murrell, Jr. Baker was able to claim victory again in the heat race, passing Murrell on the final lap to win. McIntosh, Murrell, Jr. and Craig Baker rounded out the top 5 finishers. Driving an unfamiliar vehicle, Craig Baker held the lead in the early stages before giving way to McIntosh. Scott Baker maneuvered his way to the front quickly and battled McIntosh for the lead for several laps before taking the outside line by for the lead around halfway. While moving through slower traffic, Craig Baker and Murrell were able to move by McIntosh for second and third. At the checkered flag it was Scott winning over brother Craig followed by Murrell, McIntosh and Murrell, Jr.

Sporting a new paintjob in the real stock class was Casey Mitchell as he took the dash win over Ryan Walters, Jim Redd and Pat Conway. Redd made a last-lap pass on Mitchell in the heat race to win ahead of Conway, Bob Lima and Roger Linn. In the main event, Mitchell held on to the lead early before Walters was able to take the top spot away about halfway through. Redd moved by Mitchell a few laps later and managed to track down Walters. However, Redd was unsuccessful at being able to mount a serious charge on Walters, getting only as close as a half of a car length. In the end it was Walters victorious over Redd, Mitchell, Linn and Lima.

Defending Thunder Roadster track champion, Paul Peeples, Jr. fought off David Henderson for the dash win with Chris Sarvinski and Tommy Payne close behind. Mark Arroyo won the first heat race followed by Robert Miller, Jay Bahner, Rob Nelson and Belinda Ward. Sarvinski won the second head while Henderson beat Chris Banfill to the line for second. Peeples and Payne finished fourth and fifth. Arroyo lead in the early going of the main event, but by lap 10 both Peeples and Henderson had diced their way through the field and into first and second. The remainder of the main event featured what has not become a regular duel for the race win between Peeples and Henderson. Try as he might, Henderson just could not find what he needed to get by Peeples and in the end it was Peeples taking the win with Henderson close behind in second, Mike Ward in third, Payne fourth and Arroyo fifth.

Trophy dash honors for the sportsman division went to Dennis Delbiaggio over Angelo Marcelli, Larry Pries and Kavin Conn. The heat race saw an unfortunate incident on the last lap when Lissa Uselton got loose off the fourth corner and spun. Aaron Byers, who was making his first start at the Acres in almost two years was unable to slow down and ran into the back of Frank Billy’s car. Neither Uselton or Byers were able to race in the main event while Billy’s car was relatively undamaged. Jerry Peterson ended up the winner in the last lap melee.

Peterson started from the pole and led the rest of the field quite handily in the main event before a lap nine incident between Al Acuna and Conn. On the restart, Billy was able to get a good jump and maneuvered his way past Peterson for the lead. The field began to tighten close together as the laps wound down. With two laps remaining, Peterson moved inside of Billy down the backstretch. The two touched in the third turn sending Billy spinning. Delbiaggio and Marcelli also spun to avoid the incident, and thankfully none of the cars suffered any damage. Peterson was sent to the rear of the pack allowing Larry Pries to inherit the race lead. Pries was able to lead the last two laps without incident to take the victory ahead of Marcelli, Delbiaggio, Conn and Peterson.

Everyone has less than a week to wait for the next event as racing returns this Saturday night April 25th.