SRL stars coming to the Acres

By Matthew J. Sullivan

The west coast’s premiere late model touring series will be making its first ever appearance at Redwood Acres Raceway this Saturday night when the SRL comes to town for the Redwood Acres 125 Presented by Renner Petroleum and Leon’s Car Care Center.  The SRL series will be joined by local classes of real stocks, Thunder Roadsters and sportsman cars. The roadrunner division has the weekend off but will return at the next race.

23 drivers and teams have tentatively entered for this weekend’s race.   The top two in SRL points, Derek Thorn and Jim Pettit II will resume their rivalry while Jason Gilbert, Ross Strmiska and Zane Lovelace will be hoping to win the series’ inaugural event at the Acres. Two locals are scheduled to race, youngster, Brandon White and west coast racing legend, Jim Walker.

White and Walker will also be joined by Jeremy Doss and Forrest Kuecker of Lakeport.  Both Doss and Kuecker were winners at Redwood Acres in 2012 and all four drivers could have an advantage over the rest of the field as they have more laps at the 3/8-mile oval than the majority of the SRL field combined. Of the other SRL regulars, Thorn is the only one who has competed at Redwood Acres in the past.

With this weekend’s visit by the SRL series, it will be the first time in almost 20 years that Redwood Acres Raceway will be hosting the west coast’s top late model teams.  The last time an event of this magnitude was held was in 1995 when NASCAR’s Southwest Tour series visited the Acres for the seventh and final time.  That race was won by M.K. Kanke who has 10 career SRL victories but is not scheduled to race this weekend.

In local action, the point leaders in each division are Michael Lawrence in the real stocks, Jarrett Mayo in the roadrunners, David Henderson in the Thunder Roadsters and Angelo Marcelli in the sportsman division.

The weekend gets off to an early start with practice for the SRL cars on Friday between 3-6PM. Saturday the grandstands open at 4:00 while racing begins 7:00. Questions regarding this weekend’s action can be directed to track promoters, Rich and Linda Olson by calling 707-442-3232.

Henderson, Mayo back in victory lane

By Matthew J. Sullivan

After a week off, racing returned to Redwood Acres Raceway Saturday night for the annual Mother’s Day races. As always, the four local classes of real stocks, roadrunners, Thunder Roadsters and sportsman cars put on a great show for the fans in attendance.

Division rookie, Michael Lawrence took the trophy dash victory in the real stock division while the victor in the heat race was Nick Green. The feature event for the division was dominated by Matt Simon who led from the drop of the green flag. On the final lap, Simon got loose in turn two which allowed Green to take the lead and the victory. Lawrence took third followed by Harvey Holm and Leonard Ward.

Thanks in part to being the only driver who has started all three events in the real stock division, Lawrence holds a sizeable gap in the battle for the track championship. Lawrence’s margin over Green and Tyler Avelar who are tied for second is 44 points. The brother duo of Dustin and Ryan Walters is fourth in points with Simon fifth.

The roadrunner trophy dash winner was Jordon Paiment while the heat race winners were Gary Klinetobe and Paiment again. The main event featured a great battle between Jarrett Mayo and Paiment.  Unfortunately, Paiment was collected in an incident with Ken Lawrence with both drivers unable to continue.  Jarrett Mayo took his second main event win of the year ahead of Klinetobe, Kolby Jackson, Ken Barrett and Ryun Leazer.

Mayo’s victory allowed him to pull slightly farther ahead of Jackson in points with an 18 point gap. Tim Abeyta, Barrett and Klinetobe round out the top five with Paiment, Leazer, Gray Ethridge, Brett Murrell and Eugene Palmer sixth through tenth.

The Thunder Roadster trophy dash went to Thomas Payne while Lonnie Tamboury took the heat race win. David Henderson made his way through the field quickly in the main event and was absolutely dominant, creating a sizeable gap over the rest of the pack. Henderson easily took the main event victory over Payne, Mike Ward, Chris Sarvinski and Tamboury.

Saturday night’s victory helped boost Henderson in points after engine problems in the previous race.  Henderson holds a slim six point lead over Sarvinski while Payne, Belinda Ward and Robbie Nelson complete the top five in Thunder Roadster points.

Brandon Barnwell looked to be the man to beat on the night in the sportsman division taking wins in the dash and the heat race.  Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse at the start of the main event. Going down the backstretch on the first lap, Barnwell and Kevin Estep got together forcing both cars hard into the wall and ending the race for both drivers. Dennis DelBiaggio made his first start of 2013 and was the class of the field winning handily over Angelo Marcelli, Kenny Demello and Ken Hallis.

Thanks to Barnwell’s misfortune, Marcelli took over the division point lead. Marcelli leads Barnwell by eight points.  Demello lies third ahead of Jerry Peterson and Al Acuna.

Racing returns to the Acres this Saturday night with all four division returning to the track for what should be another exciting night of action.

Acres season just getting started

By Matthew J. Sullivan

After a week off, racing returns this Saturday evening for the annual Mother’s Day weekend races at Redwood Acres Raceway.  Two races have already been put in the books, the most recent occurring on April 27^th.

Ryan Walters won the most recent feature event for the real stock division over Nick Green, Michael Lawrence, Matt Simon and Harvey Holm.  Ryan and his brother Dustin hold the points lead for the class over Lawrence and William Sand.  They are the only three drivers who started both main events thus far this season.

Young Jordon Paiment held off Ken Barrett in the roadrunner main event on the 27^th, his first ever main event victory.  Things are tight in the battle for the track title in the division as Jarrett Mayo holds a slim three point advantage over Tim Abeyta while Kolby Jackson, Barrett and Paiment aren’t too far behind.

Chris Sarvinski was another first-time main event winner in the most previous race, taking home the checkered flag in the Thunder Roadster division.  The win gave Sarvinski the early season point edge by six markers over David Henderson.  Thomas Payne, Belinda Ward and Jim Rich round out the top five drivers in the roadsters.

Brandon Barnwell’s main event victory on the 27th closed the points gap between he and Angelo Marcelli.  Marcelli leads Barnwell by only three markers followed by Kenny Demello, Jerry Peterson and Al Acuna.

As previously noted, racing returns to Redwood Acres Raceway this Saturday May 11^th.

Redwood Acres Raceway Points Standings (As of 5/9/13)

Real Stocks

Dustin/Ryan Walters 130, Michael Lawrence 116, William Sand 112, Tyler Avelar 79, Leonard Ward 66, Nick Green 65, Matt Simon 60, Harvey Holm 54, Chris Naughton 54

Roadrunners

Jarrett Mayo 134, Tim Abeyta 131, Kolby Jackson 123, Ken Barrett 122, Jordon Paiment 120, Gary Klinetobe 114, Gray Etheridge 110, Ryun Leazer 104, Brett Murrell 101, Kayla Foster 74, Paul Leazer 59, Eugene Palmer 53, Tony Miles 46, Steve Paiment 44, Brian Murrell, Jr. 42, Barbara Paiment 38

Thunder Roadsters

Chris Sarvinski 139 David Henderson 133, Thomas Payne 129, Belinda Ward 117, Jim Rich 110, Les Barnwell 102, Robbie Nelson 101, Paul Peeples, Jr. 77, Allen Olson 73, Lonnie Tamboury 68

Sportsman

Angelo Marcelli 132, Brandon Barnwell 129, Kenny Demello 119, Jerry Peterson 118, Al Acuna 114.