Houston, we have a winner

By Matthew J. Sullivan

Racing returned to Redwood Acres Raceway this past Saturday night after a two week layoff. Joining the four local divisions of real stocks, roadrunners, thunder roadsters and sportsman cars was the Airport Auto Brokers Late Model series for their second and final points visit to the 3/8-mile paved oval. After rear end issues in practice prevented him from qualifying, Randy Houston came from the rear of the field to handily win the 75-lap AABLM feature. Other main event victors on the night included Larry Pries in the sportsman division, Paul Peeples, Jr. in the thunder roadsters, Ryan Ahrens in the roadrunners and Donnie Hyman in the real stocks.

The real stock trophy dash went to Hyman over Ryan Robinson. Hyman then took the victory in the heat race beating out Wyatt Roach, Robinson, Bob Lima and Doug Way. Roach took the lead in the early going of the main event before falling victim to Hyman and Dustin Walters who was making his first start of the season driving the car normally piloted by his brother, Ryan. Walters looked as if he would be a serious contender to Hyman but misfortune struck. Coming off the fourth turn, it appeared as though something broke as Walters’ car went into the wall hard. Roach was collected in the process taking both drivers out of action. Hyman was able to take the win without serious threat over Robinson, Lima, Chris Naughton and Dax Kinsey.

The roadrunner division had its biggest turnout of cars ever with 16 total. Brett Murrell took his first ever victory in the trophy dash over Ryan Ahrens who was making his first start of the season after racing in the mini stock class last year. Dylan Cook won the faster heat race while Ken Barrett won the slower heat. The main event proved to be an example of 25 laps of controlled chaos. Rick Crawley held the lead early before giving way to Kolby Jackson. Jackson’s time didn’t last long as Dylan Cook took the top position. After a lap 13 caution, racing resumed with Cook still in the lead however going into the first turn he and the other three cars behind him got loose all at the same time. Several cars spun resulting in a yellow flag. Ahrens inherited the lead and was able to take the victory followed by Brian Murrell, Jr., Greg Mattox, Barrett and Cook.

Bruce Ziemer held off Paul Peeples, Jr. to win the thunder roadster trophy dash. Peeples beat Rob Nelson to the line by inches in the main event followed by Thomas Payne, Allen Olson and Chris Sarvinski. Nelson led the early laps of the feature from pole position before Ray Elliott took over the top spot. It didn’t take long for the fast cars of Peeples, Ziemer and Olson to move up to second, third and fourth behind Elliott. The only major incident of the race occurred when Sarvinski spun off the fourth turn collecting Payne. Fortunately both drivers were able to continue without damage. After the restart, Elliott did all he could to hold off Peeples, but eventually Peeples was able to get by for the lead. Elliott’s good night went bad when his engine soured, forcing him out of the race. Peeples cruised to the victory over Payne, Ziemer, Olson and Nelson.

The trophy dash in the sportsman division went to Brandon Barnwell followed by Larry Pries. Barnwell then took the heat race win followed by Kenny Demello, Angelo Marcelli, Dennis DelBiaggio and Pries. Demello led from pole early but was overtaken by Pries and DelBiaggio for position. After a spin on lap 12 by Joe Bonomini, the field tightened up and racing resumed. DelBiaggio did all he could to find a way by Pries for the lead but Pries was able to withstand DelBiaggio’s challenges to win. Marcelli took third with Demello fourth and Barnwell fifth.

Junior Roddy won the six-lap trophy dash for the AABLM series beating Northern California racing legend, Jim Walker who was racing for the first time in a year. The first 20 or so laps of the 75-lap main event proved to be late model short track racing at its best. With a full field invert, Allen Gibney started from pole and used it to his advantage as he led from the start. However, outside pole sitter, Mike Neilson kept fighting and was able to take the lead. Neilson built his lead to nearly a straightaway as Gibney did all he could to hold off the rest of the pack in second.

The eyes of the partisan crowd were firmly fixed on the blue 48 of Walker and he proved to still have some of the same magic that’s made him a fan favorite all along the west coast. After starting from seventh, Walker methodically picked his way through the field. Walker used the high line and was able to pick off Donahoo for third and then Gibney for second. Following in Walker’s tracks was Howard Ford who had set fast time earlier in the day.

The lone caution flag of the race on lap 15 took away Neilson’s large lead and gave Walker a chance to really get the local crowd on their feet. Neilson and Walker fought a hard but clean battle side-by-side until Neilson was able to take control. Walker’s car slowed dramatically and he fell back through the pack and eventually pulled into the pits for the rest of the night. At the same time, Randy Houston began to make his move for the lead. He quickly passed Ford on the high side, then did the same to Neilson off turn two. From that point on, Houston was absolutely dominant as he built up a substantial lead and was able to more or less cruise to the victory. Ford took second while AABLM points leader, Trevor Cristiani took third, the last car on the lead lap. Mike Doss and Neilson rounded out the top five finishers.

Racing returns to Redwood Acres Raceway this week with Fan Appreciation night. Fans who’ve saved ticket stubs from any five races this season can enter the event free. Those who haven’t will only have to pay $5 to get in. Prior to the races, drivers in all divisions will pull their cars onto the front stretch and fans will be allowed on the track for a meet and greet.

AABLM Race Results
Fast Time: Howard Ford 15.724, 87.811 MPH
Trophy Dash: Junior Roddy, Jim Walker, Mike Doss, Corey James, Trevor Cristiani, Howard Ford
Main Event: Randy Houston, Ford, Cristiani, Doss, Mike Neilson, Jeremy Donahoo, Allen Gibney, Roddy, Jim Stillman, Jr., Walker, James.

Two races left at Redwood Acres Raceway

Although I am far from being a professional writer, I try to write my race reports for Redwood Acres as though I were/am a professional. That means that I can never put my personal opinion on matters on the race track. Sometimes I have to "gloss" over an incident where one driver clearly runs over another driver. It's not hard to pull back and not have an opinion about matters of that nature, but it has been fairly difficult for me to continue to keep the "juice" going when this season at the track has been dominated by a few drivers who continue to win every week. There have been several races this season that have quite frankly been dull, and I've had to figure out how to add more excitement to those races through my writing. Hopefully, I've been able to do that.

In case you don't know, there are five divisions that Redwood Acres Raceway has at every race; the limited street stocks, mini stocks, real stocks, thunder roadsters and the sportsman division. The limited street stocks are kind of like old Winston Cup cars from the 1970s. I'm not savvy when it comes to what's on cars, but that's kind of the idea of that class. The mini stocks are a four cylinder engine division comprised of smaller cars like Pintos. The real stocks are probably the closest to cars that are on the street. They have to have a roll cage in them, and they have adjustable suspension and a race tire. The thunder roadsters are a spec class where all the cars are the same, the only difference is the drivers. The sportsman division is the local late model class which is similar to divisions all over the United States.

The limited street stocks have had a real down season. Only six cars have raced the division the entire season, and they have had a real main event type race in a long time. It looks as though Fergy Ferguson is going to win the title based on showing up every weekend and earning points for doing. It's not as though he's not deserving of the track championship, it's a shame though that there aren't enough cars to force the championship to be decided on the race track.

The mini stock class has been dominated by Craig Baker this year. Of all the drivers in the division, he by far has the most experience. He's able to get the absolute maximum out of his car, and were it not for issues early in the season, he probably would have clinched the championship by now. One great thing about the mini stock class is that there have been a few drivers who've brought cars out. Three rookies Norm Carmichael, Brian Murrell, Jr. and Ryan Ahrens started their seasons off at the halfway point and although all three have had to learn what it takes to go fast, they've all done a great job of being smart on the track and giving room to faster drivers.

My personal opinion is that the best driver at the Acres is real stock racer, Trevor Miller. I've watched him race for several years and have been impressed with his ability to get everything out of his race car without getting out of shape. Besides that, he's a clean and respectable racer. He definitely deserves a shot to drive in the sportsman division, because I think once he gets that chance, he'll be able to move to a touring division very quickly. Shawn Craig is another guy who's a good racer and gets a lot out of his car. He and Miller have raced head-to-head several times this season, and it's been fun to watch. Jim Redd is the points leader at the moment, but he's definitely going to have a hard time holding off Miller. In reality, Miller could have been leading the points right now had his car been able to pass inspection the first race of the season. He's been playing catchup ever since.

The thunder roadster class has been the most predictable this year. Paul Peeples, Jr. has won all but three main events this year. There just isn't anyone that's capable of giving him a hard time. I don't mean to disrespect any of the roadster drivers, but it's the truth. Peeples has so much more experience than the others that they will always be a step behind him. It's also a shame that the car count for the division has been so low this season, because that would be a big challenge for him as well.

Brandon Barnwell and Dennis Delbiaggio have been going back and forth for the points lead in the sportsman division all season. Until the Fair Night races in June, it was hard to predict who would win a main event in the division. That changed with the team of Mic Moulton and Tim McCracken came back. From the Fair Night races on, I believe they've won all but two races. Hopefully the competition will step it up and at least give the 1 car a challenge in the final two races.

More than anything though, the biggest disappointments for this season has involved the cancellation of the BCRA/WMRA midgets on Fair Nights as well as the August 9th cancellation of the North State Challenge Series late models. From what I understand, there was going to be a good field of midgets on Fair Nights, but both series had to cancel because the drivers couldn't get to Eureka because of the wildfires that were going on at the time. I know the North State series has struggled with the car count for various reasons of which I'm not qualified to comment on, and the reason why that race was cancelled was because there weren't a lot of cars signed up for pre-entry. It seems like so long ago when they did race here in April.

Hopefully the final two races will be exciting. I'm looking forward especially to the Fall Spectacular at the end of September, because the IMCA modifieds will be here and they always have a strong field of good cars, and the North State series will be back. Hopefully the lack of races during the season and it being the end of the year will entice drivers to show up for that race.