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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| PORTE, REEVES AND PELLETIER
WIN AT KINGS SPEEDWAY by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and Hot Stocks |
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Hanford, CA -August 18, 2001--After dueling with
division dominator Jerome Warmerdam for many laps, Greg Porte from San
Luis Obispo ended up with the feature win for the Bandit Unwinged 360
Sprint Cars Saturday night at Kings Speedway. Warmerdam jumped the
cushion and fell back to a 4th place finish while Porte outdueled Dale
Cross over the final four laps for the 30 lap win worth $900. At the
last Santa Maria race, Porte was one of the drivers who came to the
rescue of fellow racer Gene Manhire when Manhire's car was engulfed in
flames. The IMCA Modified 25 lapper was run without a single yellow
flag and Jimmy Reeves came from 8th starting to win. It was his fifth
feature win of the season to go along with four heat victories. Reeves
is third in points, just six behind the tied duo of Rodney Freitas and
Joe Chapman. Freitas tows from Merced to race in Hanford and Chapman
makes the long tows from San Jose. All three feature races were
cleanly run as the unwinged 360 sprints had just two caution flags and
the Hot Stocks just one. Talented Coalinga based rookie Paul Pelletier
made it three wins in that 20 lapper to move into third in points.
Newlywed J T Contente was second ahead of point runnerup Ken Noland.
Unheralded Sherman May was the fastest of the 15 unwinged 360 sprints at 16.265 seconds for the 3/8 mile clay oval. Cross turned in a 16.342, Warmerdam a 16.387 and Richard Harvey Jr a 16.393. Harvey is filling in for the recuperating Manhire. Porte was fifth fast at 16.538. The cars were split into three heat races and Scott Nail won the first heat over Harvey and Jeff Fiscus. Porte won heat 2 over Matt Day and Cross. Warmerdam took the third heat over Rick Gifford and Dick Stevens. Warmerdam took the lead on lap 8 of the 30 lapper, but Porte was giving him a stiff fight. Cross and fast improving former late model racer Gifford were also involved in the lead duel. Warmerdam had built his lead to six car lengths by lap 26 when he jumped the cushion and fell back. Porte inherited the lead and won over a stiff challenge from Cross. Gifford placed third over Warmerdam, John Burnett, Nail, Harvey, Joey Layman and Aaron Altaffer. It was Porte's second win of 2001 on the series that combines events at Kings Speedway and Santa Maria Speedway. They are at Santa Maria on August 25. The IMCA Modified action at the 3/8 mile clay oval has been plagued by numerous caution flags that extend their feature races to nearly one hour in length, but this night they ran a 25 lapper without a single yellow flag. The 19 car turnout included usual Watsonville Speedway regular Brian Cass and talented rookie racer Andy Obertello, who recently won his first feature race at Merced. Chapman won the first heat race over Jim Phelan, Tom Stidham took heat 2 over previous week feature winner Bryan Burnes and Reeves with Chad Patterson winning heat 3 over Scott Swanson and Cass. Reeves climbed from 8th starting to win the quickly run 25 lapper over Stidham, Patterson, Burnes, Cass, Chowchilla point leader Paul Stone, Jeff Heusdens and Chapman. Reeves and Stidham waged a lengthy side by side duel for the top spot before Reeves took over on lap 17. Chapman's 8th combined with the 15th of Rodney Freitas left them tied for the point lead, just six points ahead of Reeves. Both Tom Bowser and Obertello were feature scratches. The 14 car Hot Stock field included traveling racer Johnny Cardoza and double division racer Reeves, who was in the car normally wheeled by Robin Tucker this year. J T Contente won the first heat over point leader Rick Tarr and returning racer Roy Hart Jr. Pelletier won heat 2 over Craig Fromme and Noland. Hart was pacing the 20 lap feature when debris forced that only yellow flag on lap 14. Hart's car stalled during the caution period and Pelletier ran away from the field over the final five laps. J T Contente ran second over Noland, Tony Contente, Cardoza, Tarr, Claudine Contente and Dave Bush. Tarr has also won three features and holds a 21 point lead over Noland, who is 15 ahead of Pelletier. The August 25 race will see the return of the Rebel Winged 360 sprint cars and also include the IMCA Modifieds and Hot Stocks with Speedo the Clown also making a guest appearance. Summary Hot Stock Heat 1-J T Contente, Rick Tarr, Roy Hart Jr, Dave Bush, Darrell Hood. Heat 2-Paul Pelletier, Craig Fromme, Ken Noland, Tony Contente, Johnny Cardoza. Main-Pelletier, J T Contente, Noland, T Contente, Cardoza, Tarr, Claudine Contente, Bush, Hart, Jimmy Reeves, Fromme, Chris Davis, Eric Jacobsen. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Joe Chapman, Jim Phelan, Ed Nichols, Tom Bowser, Andy Obertello. Heat 2-Tom Stidham, Bryan Burnes, Jimmy Reeves, Rodney Freitas, Eddie Stewart. Heat 3-Chad Patterson, Scott Swanson, Brian Cass, Paul Stone, Dana Garvin. Main-Reeves, Stidham, Patterson, Burnes, Cass, Stone, Jeff Heusdens, Chapman, Garvin, Stewart, Marcus Aue, Nichols, Phelan, Ben Slocum, Freitas, Swanson, A J Wright. Bandit Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Fast Time-Sherman May 16.265 Heat 1-Scott Nail, Richard Harvey Jr, Jeff Fiscus, John Burnett, May. Heat 2-Greg Porte, Matt Day, Dale Cross, Joey Layman, Dave Knott. Heat 3-Jerome Warmerdam, Rick Gifford, Dick Stevens, Aaron Altaffer. Main-Porte, Cross, Gifford, Warmerdam, Burnett, Nail, Harvey, Layman, Altaffer, May, Stevens, Fiscus, Day, Davey Pombo, Knott. |
