By Gary Jacob
Denver, CO -- After an off weekend to allow the teams to support the big dirt late model show in Ely, Nevada, the Colorado Late Model Association returned to action at Rocky Mountain National Speedway Saturday night. Point leader Brett Hallmark from Grand Junction passed Don Post with just two laps remaining to score another $1,000 win. Post ran second and Jeep Berry made only his second 2002 appearance in the Denver area with a third place finish.
The 18 car turnout was split into three heat races. Hallmark won the first from the pole with his GRT as third starter Ken Brack ran second. Also from Grand Junction, Berry won heat 2 from the pole with Bill Sabin second over last starter Jim Beaman. Jim Clifton was a scratch from heat 3 as Rod Glenn won from an outside front row start with last starter Post second. Hallmark and Berry shared the front row for the dash and Hallmark led a couple laps before Berry raced by with his GRT for the six lap win. Hallmark was second ahead of Sabin. In the lineup for the 25 lap feature, Sabin and Post shared the front row with Glenn and Brack in row 2 as Hallmark and Berry shared row 3. The 25 lapper was slowed by just 3 caution flags. Sabin led the opening lap over Post, Brack and Hallmark. Hallmark raced into third on lap 2 and Berry was fourth a lap later. Post passed Sabin for the lead on lap 4 and the Berry-Hallmark duel continued with Berry into third on lap 6. J T Botts spun for the first yellow flag on lap 7. Hallmark retook third from Berry on this restart. On lap 8, Curt Daniels spun and was hit by Clifton to force another yellow. Both were able to continue in the race. On lap 10 with Post still leading, Hallmark got by Sabin for 2nd as Berry ran fourth over Beaman. On lap 13, Glenn spun forcing both Botts and Clifton to also spin. This was the last caution and both Botts and Clifton were sent off the track for being involved in two yellows. Berry passed Sabin for third on lap 14. Rick Lieser was a late dropout and Hallmark made his winning move around the unsung Post on lap 24. Post ran second ahead of Berry and Sabin with Brack making a late charge to fifth. Beaman continues to impress in the second John Kuchar car as he ran 6th to Kuchar's 7th. Previous race winner Mike Cox was 8th ahead of Glenn and Scott Lewis.
Hallmark's point lead is 121 over Kuchar, 161 ahead of Cox and 169 in front of Lieser. Brack and Clifton round out the top six in points as Dave Garmann dropped to 7th when he towed east to run a three race weekend with WDRA.
Summary Dash-Jeep Berry, Brett Hallmark, Bill Sabin. Heat 1-Hallmark, Ken Brack, John Kuchar, Steve Lewis, Kevin Wright. Heat 2-Berry, Sabin, Jim Beaman, Rick Lieser, Mike Cox. Heat 3-Rod Glenn, Don Post, Chris Persichetti, Scott Cimfl, J T Botts. Main-Hallmark, Post, Berry, Sabin, Brack, Beaman, Kuchar, Cox, Glenn, Scott Lewis, Wright, Steve Lewis, Curt Daniels, Cimfl, Persichetti, Lieser, Botts, Jim Clifton.