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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| WARMERDAM WINS DUEL WITH
SANTA MARIA ACE THOMPSON by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and Hot Stocks |
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Hanford, CA -May 5, 2001--Racing against Santa Maria
Speedway star Jim Thompson for the first time, Kings Speedway unwinged
360 sprint car star Jerome Warmerdam made it two wins in the 2001
season with his victory Saturday night at Kings Speedway. Kings and
Santa Maria Speedways have combined their Bandit sprint cars into a
single series in 2001, but Thompson had motor problems at March opener
and did not race. Thompson did slip back and finish third behind Gene
Manhire. The rainy April found all three classes tonight making just
their second 2001 appearances. After dropping out of his heat race,
Jimmy Reeves had to battle through the field from the back row. Reeves
gained the lead on lap 19 of the 20 lapper and won with division
rookie Jason Selvidge second. Coalinga's Rick Tarr is driving the
super street stock that Jason Selvidge owned in 2000 and his great
early season efforts continued as he won the Hot Stock 20 lapper with
Paul Pelletier battling back from the rear to finish second.
Track officials were excited about the 18 car turnout in the unwinged 360 sprint cars. Scott Nail posted fast time with his 16.055 lap that just nipped the 16.075 of Manhire. Warmerdam ran a 16.143 and A J Burgin a quick 16.162. Thompson adapted quickly to the larger Kings Speedway surface and timed fifth fast at 16.274. Burgin beat Nail in heat 1 with Thompson and Warmerdam posting the other two wins. The only main event scratch was Santa Maria regular Mark Bales. Thompson took a quick lead early in their main event. Warmerdam watched Thompson for several laps after running third early in the race. In turn 3 on lap 16 after a restart, Thompson got a little loose and Warmerdam raced underneath him for the top spot. In the closing laps, Warmerdam stretched his final winning margin to 6 seconds and Manhire was able to shuffle Warmerdam back to a third place run. Josh Davis ran fourth over Steve Conrad, New Zealand's Greg Keegan, Matt Day and Sherman May. Former dirt late model ace Rick Gifford was 9th. The 20 IMCA Modifieds were split into three heat races. Kevin Borges was done in hot laps and Kevin Nichols lost a transmission in his heat action. It was a tough night for the cars as they were joined by Paul Stone, Bobby Smith and Gerard Filipe as main event scratches. Bryan Burnes has moved into the modifieds in 2001 with a new GRT and he won heat 1 over Eddie Stewart. Tom Bowser beat Tom Stidham in heat 2 and Selvidge won heat 3 with Rodney Freitas second. Reeves dropped out in his heat and he was forced to start way behind the main event inversion. The many scratches improved Reeves' chances and he drove to the main event win, taking the lead at the white flag with a contact pass underneath Freitas. Selvidge, Bowser and Freitas had battled for the top spot while Reeves climbed forward. Selvidge ran second as Freitas settled for third ahead of Chad Patterson, Stewart, Scott Swanson and Joe Chapman. There were 13 Hot Stocks and Tarr won heat 1 over Pelletier. Shawn Fromme took heat 2 with David Bush second. Tarr got the lead on lap 3 of their 20 lap main event. Pelletier made an early move to the front, but spun and had to restart in the rear. Tarr won with Pelletier climbing forward to his second place finish ahead of Bush, Johnny Cardoza, Claudine Contente and Ken Noland. Summary Hot Stock Heat 1-Rick Tarr, Paul Pelletier, Johnny Cardoza, Jim Harris, Ken Noland. Heat 2-Shawn Fromme, Dave Bush, Craig Fromme, Tony Contente, Gary Pugh. Main-Tarr, Pelletier, Bush, Cardoza, Claudine Contente, Noland, C Fromme, Harris, Chris Davis, Eric Jacobson, S Fromme, Pugh. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Bryan Burnes, Eddie Stewart, Scott Swanson, Jerry Movrich, Bobby Smith. Heat 2-Tom Bowser, Tom Stidham, Jeff Heusdens, Paul Stone, Joe Chapman. Heat 3-Jason Selvidge, Rodney Freitas, Lonnie Lacy Jr, Dana Garvin, Gerard Filipe. Main-Jimmy Reeves, Selvidge, Freitas, Chad Patterson, Stewart, Swanson, Chapman, Movrich, Burnes, Lacy, Garvin, Bowser, Kevin Borges, Ed Nichols, Stidham. Bandit Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Fast Time-Scott Nail 16.055 Heat 1-A J Burgin, Nail, Steve Conrad, Matt Day, Dave Knott. Heat 2-Jimmy Thompson, Gene Manhire, Rick Gifford, Dick Stevens, David Addamo. Heat 3-Jerome Warmderdam, Josh Davis, Greg Keegan, Darren Simas, Sherman May. Main-Warmerdam, Manhire, Thompson, Davis, Conrad, Keegan, Day, May, Gifford, Knott, Nail, Joey Layman, Stevens, Jason Montgomery, Bowser, Addamo, Simas. |
