Brandon sweeps fair races

Brandon sweeps fair races

By Matthew J. Sullivan

Geoff Brandon might want to take a trip to Las Vegas pretty soon because if he is as good at gambling as he is at racing, he’ll win big. That is just what he did both Friday and Saturday nights at Redwood Acres Raceway winning both main events in the sportsman division. Jason Belt won the real stock main event Friday night but his three race winning streak was stopped Saturday thanks to Shane Toole. Jaison Chand won Friday but also had his own two race win streak (three races for his car) come to a halt when Joe Bonomini won on night two. J.D. Frey continued his dominance in the limited street division winning on the first night but coming up short the next night to Adrian Betournay, driving the car normally piloted by his father.

Due to the low car turnout for the limited street stock cars, a trophy dash was not held both nights. J.D. Frey won Friday’s heat race with Kavin Conn, Duane Mayo and Ken Demello behind. In the ten lap main event, Mayo and Conn brought the six car field to the green. Mayo grabbed the lead on the first lap but on the second, Frey took charge taking the lead. After a spin on lap two by Terry Vallee which brought out the yellow, Frey pulled to a comfortable lead and took the win over Demello, Mayo, Conn and Vallee.

Demello held off a furious charge from Frey in Saturday night’s heat race for the win. In the main event, Mayo and Conn paced the field to the green for the second straight night. Unfortunately for Mayo, coming to the green he spun to the infield. Fortunately nobody suffered any damage and the race was able to restart with all six cars that started. On the restart, Vallee hit the front stretch wall hard bringing out the red flag. Vallee was fine but his car wasn’t. When the green came out again, Conn was leading the field. Meanwhile, Adrian Betournay who didn’t make it out Friday was moving himself into position and on lap four he snatched the lead away from Conn. Betournay never looked back taking the win over Demello, Frey, Conn and Mayo.

Jaison Chand continued his winning ways in the trophy dash for the mini stock division in Friday night’s racing action. In the heat race, Craig Baker did an excellent job fending off Chand and Jerry Peterson taking the win. Scott Baker and Chad Grammer lead the ten car field to the green flag in the main event Baker grabbed the lead early while Grammer had issues with his car and went to the pits. Peterson began to apply pressure to Baker while Chand moved his way to the front. On lap four, Chand saw an opening and took it going to the inside and passing Peterson and Baker. That same lap, Joe Bonomini drove his car to the pits. From there on, it was all Jaison Chand as he took the main event win followed by Peterson, Craig Baker, Brian McIntosh and Scott Baker.

Peterson won Saturday night’s trophy dash while Chand took heat race honors. Grammer and Bonomini took the field to the green in the main event. Bonomini nabbed the lead but he and the rest of the field were slowed on lap two due to a caution for debris. When the green flew again, so did Bonomini pulling out to what would be an insurmountable lead. Chand and Peterson were both able to maneuver their way to second and third but it was Joe Bonomini’s night as he cruised to the win followed by Chand, Peterson, Glen Bernald and Grammer.

The real stock division had their usual fine turnout of cars for both nights of racing. Jim Bailey won Friday night’s trophy dash and followed it up with a win in his heat race. Troy Wood also won in his heat. Bill Middleton and Barry Barnwell brought the field to the green in the main. However Middleton spun on the race’s initial start and was sent to the back for causing the caution. When the race resumed Shane Toole inherited the pole and took the lead. It didn’t take long for Bailey to find his way to the front as he grabbed the lead on lap three. Points leader Jason Belt also made his way quickly through the field getting to second by lap seven before a caution between Middleton and Wood brought out the yellow flag. After a few caution flags, Belt settled in and began to pressure Bailey for the lead. His persistence would pay off on lap seventeen in turn three when Bailey’s car bobbled leaving just enough room for Belt to take the position and go on to the win over Bailey, Trevor Miller, Ryan Walters and Middleton.

Wood won Saturday night’s trophy dash while Belt and Arispe both earned heat race winning honors. George Young and Toole took the field to the green flag in the main event and dueled side by side early in the going. Toole pulled his car out to a large lead after an early caution over Redd and Fred Taylor. The big battle was for second all race as Redd tried to fend off the challenges of Bailey and Middleton. Toole was too strong and took the main event win ahead of Middleton, Bailey, Redd and Young. Toole was driving the car normally driven by Bill Bradbury. Due to shoulder surgery for Bradbury, Toole will be driving the vehicle for the rest of the season.

The sportsman division had a stellar turnout of cars for both nights; eighteen for Friday, fourteen for Saturday. Acres veteran Larry Pries won the trophy dash while Frank Billy and Donnie Brown both took heat race wins. Donnie Brown and Phil Wood head the front row positions and lead the field to the green flag in the main event. Wood took the lead from Brown while Geoff Brandon tried to take second. After an early caution involving Brandon Barnwell, Mike Bourbon and visiting driver Dustin Knight, Wood pulled out to a twenty car length lead. On lap eight, Brandon made his way past Brown and set his sights on Wood. As the green flag racing wore on, Wood was able to maintain his distance over Brandon. It wasn’t until Wood got into slower traffic that Brandon really closed the gap.

By lap 22, Brandon was right in Wood’s tire tracks as the two tried to put a lap on Barnwell. Wood followed Barnwell for several laps before getting into the back of him in turn three, sending up a cloud of smoke and dirt. Unfortunately, Pries running third had nowhere to go and hit Barnwell, demolishing his car and ending his racing for the weekend. To Wood’s displeasure, he was sent to the rear of the field but was eventually pushed to the pits for the night. After the restart, the red flag flew when Ken Hallis, Knight, Billy and Mike Peeples were involved in an incident in turn three. The wreck ended the racing weekend for both Hallis and Knight. When the green flag came back, Brandon pulled away to the victory over Hyman, Rick Fox, Aaron Byers and Fergie Ferguson.

Brandon continued his winning ways Saturday night starting with a win in the trophy dash. Brown and Byers each won in their respective heat races and those two were the ones who brought the sportsman division to the green flag in the main event. Byers took charge with the lead while Ferguson and Brandon both were able to get by Hyman. On lap three, Peeples spun collecting Bourbon. Under the yellow, Wood’s drive line decided to leave his car and he was done for the evening. After the restart, Byers did his best to hold off the faster cars of Ferguson and Brandon. On lap ten, Brandon moved his way to the high side of Ferguson, got past him and then on lap twelve he got past Byers for the lead and the eventual race win. Byers was able to hold onto second followed by Ferguson, Brown and Barnwell.

The racing action resumes at Redwood Acres Raceway July 9th with the regular schedule of cars. The racing is sponsored by Sun Valley Floral Farms and is presented by KFMI Power 96.3.

First Pacific Coast Win For 16 Year Old Joey Tanner

By Gary Jacob

Alger, WA -- The young son of long time Pacific Northwest competitor Jody Tanner, 16 year old Joey Tanner got the first feature win of his rookie dirt late model season as he paced the final 8 laps to score a $1000 win in the 25 lap main as the Pacific Coast Xtreme Dirt Car Series made their first ever visit to Skagit Speedway on Saturday night. Series point leader Greg Walters won both his heat and the dash. He was dominating the feature when an incident in lapped traffic heavily damaged his car on lap 17. Madras Speedway runs a unique youth late model division and Tanner is a graduate of that class. Tanner has been Walters’ protégé in 2005 and his equipment travels in the Walters transporter. Tanner started 2005 by turning heads with his Early Thaw performance in Arizona in January and has been a solid fourth in points with the traveling series. His first feature win in his Jody’s Bar and Grill sponsored Rayburn found second ranked John Duty gaining a little ground on Walters with his $750 runnerup finish in his Rocket. Mark Carrell enjoys the Washington events on the series and he ran a $475 third ahead of Bob Jeffery. Terry Ferrando won the Goodyear Tire Hard Charger Award with his fifth place run ahead of Jimmy Schram, who was earning points for third ranked Gene Day.

Track officials cancelled the dirt late model time trials in an attempt to get the racing card started on time. The 15 dirt late models were divided into three ten lap heat races. Duty started fourth in heat 1 and grabbed the lead on the opening round. He ran away with the caution free race finishing ahead of Schram and Jason Johnson’s crate engine mount. Walters won heat 2 from third. On the start, Carrell and Butch Valdez crashed doing heavy damage to Valdez’ steering. Tanner finished second ahead of Carrell. Tom Tesch was a wire to wire winner in heat 3 from the pole with series newcomer Brandon Lindenberg five car lengths back in second. Monroe WA racer Lindenberg is only 16 years old and his family purchased Jody Tanner’s crate engine GRT. Jeffery ran third. Duty, Walters and Tesch started 1-2-3 in the dash and Walters collected the win after a brief first lap duel with Duty. Tesch retired after an incident with Lindenberg. The dash set the lineup for the front three rows in the 25 lap feature so Walters and Duty shared row 1 ahead of Schram, Tanner, Lindenberg and Tesch.

Valdez fell out after just one lap and Walters sprinted to a strong early lead over Duty, Tanner and Schram. The first caution came on lap 9 as Lindenberg spun in turn 2. His car wasn’t damaged, but his engine was misfiring with electrical problems and he retired. When action resumed, Walters continued to lead Duty, Tanner, Schram and Tesch. Walters was lapping Rob Campos and Justin Simpson for a second time when his crash occurred. As Walters flew into turn 3, Campos forced Walters to dart up and Walters ran into the left side of Simpson. Walters pitted and his crew ripped off the heavily damaged nose, but car wasn’t able to return to speed. After the race, the team discovered that the harmonic balancer had come loose in the incident. Tanner had taken second from Duty on lap 11. Walters was getting ready to put Schram and Tesch a lap down when the incident occurred. Action resumed with Tanner the new leader ahead of Duty, Carrell and Jeffery. Tanner paced the remainder of the race with Duty a solid second ahead of Carrell and Jeffery. Ferrando came from the 7th row to finish fifth and gain the Goodyear Tire award. Schram and Tesch were the final lead lap cars. Campos ran 8th ahead of the struggling Walters and Johnson. Bob Dietrich was two laps down in 11th and Dwayne Potter ran 12th.

Next up for the Pacific Coast Xtreme Dirt Car Series teams in the key event on their schedule, the T&G; Trucking Thriller 67 lapper at Sunset Speedway in Banks OR on August 27. After that, only a Sept 17th race at Madras Speedway remains for the point schedule.

Summary Dash-Greg Walters, John Duty, Jimmy Schram, Joey Tanner, Brandon Lindenberg, Tom Tesch. Heat 1-Duty, Schram, Jason Johnson, Bob Dietrich, Dwayne Potter. Heat 2-Walters, Tanner, Mark Carrell, Rob Campos, Butch Valdez. Heat 3-Tom Tesch, Lindenberg, Bob Jeffery, Justin Simpson, Terry Ferrando. Main-Tanner, Duty, Carrell, Jeffery, Ferrando, Schram, Tesch, Campos, Walters, Johnson, Dietrich, Potter, Simpson, Lindenberg, Valdez.

Brandon wins, stretches point lead

Brandon wins, stretches point lead

By Matthew J. Sullivan

In front of a packed house at Redwood Acres Raceway, Geoff Brandon showed why he is the sportsman division point leader at the 3/8 mile paved oval by working his way through traffic and taking the main event win. Jason Belt backed up his win in the real stock main in the previous race with another win. Jaison Chand won the mini stock main, the second win in a row for his car which was driven last race by former Acres mini stock ace, Doug Pulver. J.D. Frey swept all three races for the second straight weekend in the limited street division.

The limited streets had a seven car turnout, but unfortunately the field would be decimated by the night’s end. Frey won the trophy dash over Duane Mayo, Kavin Conn and Richard Betourney. The heat race took two cars out of the night’s action, first Mike Adams on the first lap and later Betourney who made heavy contact with the rear of his car to the front stretch wall. Thankfully, Betourney was able to drive his car to the pits, assuring the fans of his well-being. Frey took the heat race win over Mayo, points leader Ken Demello and Conn. The ten-lap main event turned ugly from the get-go. Demello and Mayo were to pace the field to the green but coming to take the start, Mayo got loose and got into Demello which sent him hard into the front straightaway wall, ending his night. On the restart, Conn and Frey brought the field to the green. Conn tried his best to hold off the clearly faster Frey but it wasn’t enough as Frey took the main event win followed by Conn, Mayo and Mark Burris.

A good field of cars showed up for the mini stock division. Joe Bonomini won the trophy dash over Jerry Peterson, points leader Jaison Chand. David Henderson wrecked in the dash ending his racing for the evening. Bonomini held off Chand in the heat race followed by Peterson and mini stock rookie Craig Huffman. The twenty-five lap heat race was brought to the green flag by Huffman and Brian McIntosh, however McIntosh lost power and the race was restarted with Scott Baker taking McIntosh’s place as outside pole-sitter. On the restart, Baker took the lead over Huffman. On lap two, Peterson showed some muscle and took the lead from Baker and tried to stretch his lead from the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Bonomini and Chand were fighting their way through the field getting to second and third by lap three. A lap later, Chand took over second and tried to run down Peterson.

Chand was slowly reeling in Peterson when the caution flag flew on lap thirteen when McIntosh lost power again and stalled on the front straightaway. On the restart, Chand took advantage of his cooler tires as well as his track position and made a bold move to the inside of Peterson. The best racing for the rest of the main event was between Huffman and Craig Baker who swapped the fourth position several times in the race’s closing laps. Chand won over Peterson, Bonomini, Huffman and Baker.

The real stock division had another solid turnout of cars. Points leader Jason Belt took home trophy dash honors followed by Jim Bailey, Ryan Walters and Lissa Uselton. Bailey won the first heat race ahead of Belt, Trevor Miller and Ray Demello while Troy Wood took the second over Uselton, Cecil Arispe and Walters. The twenty-five lap main event was brought to the green flag by Bill Middleton and Barry Barnwell. Middleton spun between turns one and two and the race was completely restarted, this time with Bill Bradbury taking the pole from Middleton who started at the rear of the field. On the start, Bradbury grabbed the lead. Meanwhile, Bailey was on a charge to the front. He made a daring three-wide move on the outside on lap two and used that momentum to nab the lead from Bradbury by lap three. Belt was also making his way through the field getting by Bradbury on lap four for second.

The race’s first caution came out on lap four when Barnwell spun collecting Uselton. Barnwell was able to bring his car out for a few laps after the incident but Uselton was done for the night. Bailey lead the restart with Belt, Bradbury, Miller and Walters following behind. Walters got an excellent restart and moved into second ahead of Belt. Belt retook the position on lap seven. A lap later, Middleton and Wood spun bringing out the caution flag. After a restart, the yellow came again on lap ten when rookie Brian Belt spun. Flagman Tim McKeown gave Belt the black flag sending him to the pits for the rest of the night. After the restart another caution flew on lap thirteen when Jim Redd and Arispe made contact sending Arispe into a spin. Meanwhile, Bailey still held the lead over Belt, Walters, Miller and Bradbury. On lap seventeen, Bailey bobbled between turns three and four. Belt made a move to the inside and made the pass and went on to win over Bailey, Miller, Walters and Middleton who fought hard from the back to come back to the front of the field.

A strong sixteen sportsman cars arrived at the Acres to put on a show. Donnie Hyman took home the trophy in the dash over Phil Wood, Larry Pries and Geoff Brandon. After some late race contact between Pat Walsh and Donnie Brown, Al Acuna took the first heat race win followed by Hyman, Mike Bourbon and Brown. Rick Fox won the second heat over Angelo Marcelli, Mark Williams and Brandon Barnwell. The thirty lap sportsman main event was lead to the green flag by Williams and Fergy Ferguson who had his car fixed after an incident in his heat race. Williams nabbed the lead from Ferguson and looked to put some space between himself and second spot. On lap five, Barnwell spun in turns three and four causing a huge melee involving Marcelli, Mike Peeples, Brown, Acuna and Walsh. Of those involved, Marcelli suffered the worst damage and was forced to pit for several laps. Pries was sent to the rear of the field for his involvement in the incident.

Williams brought the field to the green followed by class rookie Frank Billy, Hyman, Ferguson and Brandon. On lap eleven, Ferguson got a run on Hyman coming off turn two and passed him towing Brandon and Wood with him. The next lap, Ferguson used the same maneuver to get by Billy with Brandon and Wood continuing to follow in his wake. Lap fifteen, Ferguson made a move to the inside of Williams to get the lead. Brandon continued to follow Ferguson taking the second spot. Brandon began to apply pressure on Ferguson staying in his bumper and rearview mirror as much as possible. On lap seventeen, Pat Walsh pulled his car into the pits and a lap later, Bourbon drove his vehicle to the pits as well. Meanwhile, Brandon continued to pressure Ferguson and on lap twenty-one he made his move for the lead. Wood followed Brandon into second. From there on, it all Brandon as he took the main event win over Wood, Ferguson, Williams and Hyman.

The next races at Redwood Acres Raceway are the fair races Friday June 24 and Saturday the 25. Along with the regular schedule of cars, the North State Challenge Series will be racing both nights as well.

Degele Outduels Freeman For Montana Late Model Feature

By Gary Jacob

Great Falls, MT -- After being rained out the previous weekend in Billings, the Montana Dirt Late Model Tour made it’s first 2005 season visit to Electric City Speedway and Glasgow’s Rock Degele outdueled Great Falls’ own Dave Freeman for the $600 feature win Saturday night. Freeman had won the series opener in his Ford and 23 year racing veteran Degele put his Moody Chassis into the winner’s circle tonight to move into the season point lead, 4 points ahead of Freeman. Degele also won his heat race and he had run second to Freeman in Billings back in May. Degele’s sponsors are Rock’s Auto Mall and Eugene’s Pizza and his car is crewed by Kelly Degele, Mark Wesen, Brad Olsen and Kyle Degele. Freeman earned $450 for second and young Billings racer Rich Herman was a $350 third in his Rayburn. Jim Zaremski and Bob Scott rounded out the top five.

Ten teams checked in and the track provided fast and tacky racing conditions after a week of rain in the area. Running a Mastersbilt that he purchased from 2004 Montana champion Josh Adams, Whitehall’s Ron Fuller led all the way to win heat 1. Herman got around Warren Drazich for second and chased Fuller to the checkered flag. Jim Zaremski debuted a new car with a fourth behind Drazich. In heat 2, Rory Minster led Degele into turn 1 but both Degele and Freeman got around him before lap 1 was finished. Degele outraced Freeman and Minster ran third. In the feature, Fuller and Degele shared the front row and the initial start was ragged with the front row cars making contact. John Dowson ran over the left rear corner of teammate Zaremski, but the race continued without a caution. Freeman quickly moved into second and began to challenge Degele. Drazich suffered a suspension failure and was the first car to retire. Fuller lost power on the restart and Herman raced into third. Dowson spun to force another yellow flag. Degele and Freeman traded the lead several times in the last half of the race, but it was Degele out front at the checkered flag. He was only a single car length in front of hometown favorite Freeman. Herman ran third ahead of Zaremski and Bob Scott, Kelly Hample was sixth ahead of Dowson, Minster and Fuller.

The teams have two nights of racing this weekend as they make their first visit to Belgrade on Friday and then move down the road to Billings on Saturday night. Degele is four points up on Freeman and 14 ahead of Fuller. Scott is one point back of Fuller and looking forward to the first visit of 2005 to his home track on Friday. Hample is 4 behind Scott and 4 ahead of Drazich. The projected point fund for 2005 pays $1000 to the champion, $750 to second, $500 to third, $400 fourth and $300 fifth.

Summary Heat 1-Ron Fuller, Rich Herman, Warren Drazich, Jim Zaremski, Bob Scott. Heat 2-Rock Degele, Dave Freeman, Rory Minster, John Dowson, Kelly Hample. Main-Degele, Freeman, Herman, Zaremski, Scott, Hample, Dowson, Minster, Fuller, Drazich.

Two Wins In Two Nights For Kelly Boen

By Gary Jacob

Colby, KS -- Coming off a $3000 win in the multi-sanctioned Rumble in the Heartland at Dodge City KS on Saturday night, Kelly Boen from Henderson CO won both his heat race and the feature Sunday at Thomas County Speedway as the WDRA dirt late models made their annual visit to the western Kansas facility. Boen actually came out of the Saturday night action as the point leader for both the NCRA dirt late models and the WDRA dirt late models and had to choose which group to race with on Sunday night since NCRA was racing at 81 Speedway. Boen’s win in his Rocket Chassis paid $1200 as a solid 19 car field appeared. Coming off a strong showing at Dodge City, 67 year old Jim Clifton chased Boen to the checkered flag for an $800 payday. 2004 CLMA champion Dave Garmann was a $600 third and Jeep Berry from Grand Junction got his third straight top five of the weekend with a $450 fourth. Dean Moore rounded out the top five as Colorado provided 16 of the 19 competing cars.

The teams were split into three heat races and Moore put his Rayburn in the winner’s circle for heat 1 ahead of Garmann and local racer Rod Bencken. Boen won heat 2 in front of Ken Brack and John Kuchar. Clifton showed his strength by winning heat 3 with his GRT ahead of Gary Dechant and Berry. Boen charged to his third feature win in two weekends and fourth of the season ahead of Clifton, Garmann, Berry, Moore, Dechant, Kuchar, Curt Daniels, Bencken, Craig Baukema, Terry Loos and Crispy Persichetti.

WDRA runs again this weekend when they visit Thunder Mountain Speedway in Olathe CO on June 11.

Summary Heat 1-Dean Moore, Dave Garmann, Rod Bencken, Rusty Miller, Chris Persichetti. Heat 2-Kelly Boen, Ken Brack, John Kuchar, Curt Daniels, Craig Baukema. Heat 3-Jim Clifton, Gary Dechant, Jeep Berry, Dan Shepherd, Jason Davis. Main-Boen, Clifton, Garmann, Berry, Moore, Dechant, Kuchar, Daniels, Bencken, Baukema, Terry Loos, Persichetti, Mike Felton, Brad Wagoner, Shepherd, Brack, Terry Boushee, Davis.

Colorado Drivers Hold Their Own In Dodge City KS Special

By Gary Jacob

Dodge City, KS -- A large contingent of Colorado dirt late models towed east to race in the two-day Thunder through the Prairie special at Dodge City Raceway Park in Kansas on Friday and Saturday night. Friday’s event ran despite very bad weather throughout the area and was completed despite it’s own 20 minute rain delay. Bret LaFollette from Kansas City was a wire to wire $2000 winner that night with Alan Vaughn from Missouri a race long second for the $1100 second place prize. Jeep Berry was the highest Colorado finisher on Friday night as he ran fifth behind Al Purkey from Kansas and Nebraska star Steve Kosiski. Another western Colorado racer Curt Daniels was 9th. The weekend was sanctioned by CLMA and WDRA from Colorado and Midwestern bodies NCRA and MLRA. In the bigger money Saturday night action, pole starter Kelly Boen was chased down by Mike Conkwright from Manhatten KS, but battled back to retake the lead in the final corner to score the $3000 win in that 40 lapper. Conkwright settled for second ahead of Purkey and Johnny Bone Jr as Grand Junction CO long tow Jeep Berry was fifth for a second straight night. Twenty teams from Colorado towed east and they were joined by Utah’s Mike McGinn in the 45 car event.

Rick Lieser from CLMA won the opening heat on Friday night ahead of Bone Jr and Purkey. LaFollette captured heat 2 over Colorado’s Mike Cox and Gary Billings. Vaughn beat local Gary Gorby and Frank McGhee in heat 3 and Kosiski won heat 4 over Colorado strong runner Gary Dechant and WDRA’s Dean Moore. McGinn attended this event for a second straight year and ran fourth in heat 4. Colorado drivers took the top 3 spots in heat 5 as Berry won over Boen and Dan Shepard. Veteran Colorado racer Jim Clifton was fifth behind Kansas star Eric Main. Three B Mains helped complete the 24 car A main grid and Colorado drivers won two of them. D Moore won the first B Main over Ryan McAninch and Rod Bencken. Terry Loos was sixth in this race and McGinn finished 9th. 67 year old Clifton won the second B Main over Nebraska’s Billy Murphy and Colorado’s D Shepard. Colorado rookie Sten Johnson was 6th and J T Botts ran 8th. Dave Garmann was 10th. David Barker won the third B Main ahead of Raymond Merrill and Daniels. LaFollette had the pole for the 30 lap feature and took a quick lead over Vaughn. Purkey and Kosiski were battling for third. Berry joined the third place duel and briefly got around Purkey, but allowed Purkey to regain his spot. In the duel for the win on the 3/8 mile clay oval, Vaughn was able to nose underneath LaFollette but could never complete a pass on a heavy racing surface that saw some of the teams collect 300 pounds of mud during the feature. LaFollette got the win ahead of Vaughn, Purkey, Kosiski, Berry, Main, Shane Essary, Gorby, Daniels, Murphy, Barker and Colorado’s Craig Baukema. Moore finished 14th, Lieser 18th, M Cox 19th, Dechant 20th, Boen 22nd with an early flat tire and Clifton 23rd. M Cox and Lieser crashed on lap 8 and Lieser’s weekend was done. Bone Jr crashed into the front wall to end his race and Moore was involved in a late race crash with McGhee as only 12 cars saw the checkered flag.

Track conditions were considerably different for the second night as the racing surface went dry slick from top to bottom. M Conkwright won the opening heat race over Vaughn and Raymond Merrill. Dirt modified star Ronnie Wallace joined the action and won heat 2 ahead of Berry and McAninch. Colorado drivers were again 1-2 in heat 3 as Boen beat Paonia’s Daniels as Scott Drake ran third. Boen battled from 8th to get that win. Bone Jr won heat 4 ahead of Utah star McGinn and S Johnson. Garmann and John Kuchar were 4-5 in heat 4. Clifton won heat 5 ahead of Purkey and Gary Dechant with Moore 4th. Again, three B Mains helped finish off a 25 car grid for the 40 lap feature. Delbert Smith won the first B Main over Dechant, Steve Kempt, Moore and Gorby with Mike Cox in sixth. Barker beat Friday night winner LaFollette in the second B Main as Jason Bodenhamer ran third ahead of Ted Martin and C J Lyle. Colorado’s Ken Brack won the third B Main in front of David Turner and Kosiski as Garmann and Kuchar ran 5-6 behind Murphy. An 8 car dash to determine the starting order in the front of the 40 lapper saw Boen winning the pole position ahead of Purkey, Clifton, M Conkwright, Daniels, Bone, Vaughn and Wallace. Boen took a quick lead in the 40 lapper over Purkey and Clifton. The only yellow dropped on lap 17 when Wallace crashed and Boen was leading M Conkwright, Purkey, Bone Jr and Berry. With six laps to run in the 40 lapper, Kansas star M Conkwright raced around Boen on the outside for the top spot, but Boen never gave up and M Conkwright pushed high in the last corner and Boen drove underneath for the $3000 win. Boen was two car lengths in front at the checkered flag. M Conkwright was second ahead of Purkey, Bone Jr, and Berry. Clifton was a solid sixth ahead of Vaughn, Daniels, McAninch, Merrill, Bodenhamer and Drake. Moore ran 14th, Brack 15th, LaFollette 16th, M Cox 19th, S Johnson 20th, McGinn 22nd, Wallace 24th and Dechant 25th.

Summary

Friday Heat 1-Rick Lieser, Johnny Bone Jr, Al Purkey, Delbert Smith, Chris Mayes. Heat 2-Brett LaFollette, Mike Cox, Gary Billings, Curt Daniels, Sten Johnson. Heat 3-Alan Vaughn, Gary Gorby, Frank McGhee, David Barker, David Cronkwright. Heat 4-Steve Kosiski, Gary Dechant, Dean Moore, Mike McGinn, Rod Bencken. Heat 5-Jeep Berry, Kelly Boen, Dan Shepard, Eric Main, Jim Clifton. 1st B Main-Moore, Ryan McAninch, Bencken, D Conkwright, C J Lyle, Terry Loos, Jason Bodenhamer, Lyle Shepard, McGinn. 2nd B Main-Clifton, Billy Murphy, D Shepard, Mike Conkwright, Lyle, Johnson, David Turner, J T Botts, Smith, Dave Garmann. 3rd B Main-Barker, Raymond Merrill, Daniels, Mayes, Ted Martin, Shane Essary, John Kuchar, Terry Boushee, Chris Persichetti, Ken Brack. A Main-LaFollette, Vaughn, Purkey, Kosiski, Berry, Main, Essary, Gorby, Daniels, Murphy, Barker, Craig Baukema, McGhee, Moore, Merrill, Bone, McAninch, Lieser, Cox, Dechant, M Conkwright, Boen, Clifton, Billings.

Saturday Heat 1-M Conkwright, Vaughn, Merrill, Martin, Mayes. Heat 2-Ronnie Wallace, Berry, McAninch, Barker, Smith. Heat 3-Boen, Daniels, Scott Drake, Brack, LaFollette. Heat 4-Bone, McGinn, Johnson, Garmann, Kuchar. Heat 5-Clifton, Purkey, Dechant, Moore, Bodenhamer. 1st B Main-Smith, Dechant, Steve Kempt, Moore, Gorby, M Cox, Mayes, Boushee, Loos, Rusty Miller. 2nd B Main-Barker, LaFollette, Bodenhamer, Martin, Lyle, L Shepard, D Conkwright, Baukema, Bencken. 3rd B Main-Brack, Turner, Kosiski, Murphy, Garmann, Kuchar, Main, Persichetti, D Shepard. Pole Dash-Boen, Purkey, Clifton, M Conkwright, Daniels, Bone, Vaughn, Wallace. A Main-Boen, M Conkwright, Purkey, Bone, Berry, Clifton, Vaughn, Daniels, McAninch, Merrill, Bodenhamer, Drake, Turner, Moore, Brack, LaFollette, Kosiski, Gorby, M Cox, Johnson, Smith, McGinn, Barker, Wallace, Dechant.