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Albuquerque, NM....May 3.......Missing
from the track through the second half of the 2002 season, the NMMRA unwinged
sprint cars returned to Duke City Raceway for that track's 2003 season opener
and former F16 Fighter Pilot Tom Ball drove his Mach 2 Racing Drake to victory
in the 20 lap main event. The 2002 season champion came from 8th starting and he
was chased across the finish line by Ricky Johnson and Steve Nix. Ball ended the
night with a one point lead over Nix in the NMMRA traveling series point
standings. A late season suspension cost Richard Johnson the 2002 Barnett's
Harley Davidson dirt modified track title in 2002, but he wheeled his BigDog to
victory in Saturday night's feature ahead of John Tanner. The 2002 track
champion Tyrone Yazzie from Farmington crossed the line third only to be
disqualified for not having four working brakes in the post race inspection.
This moved veteran Butch Reid into third in the final standings. After former
champion Jim Willis spun while enjoying a full straight lead, Dan Harmon won the
street stock feature race. Willis stormed back through the field to finish
second ahead of Danny Gross. After earlier winning his heat race, Rick Boelter
was the hobby stock feature winner ahead of Shane Kapinski and Phil York.
The sprint cars will be dividing
their time between Duke City Raceway and Hollywood Hills Speedway in 2003 and
they had 18 cars in action this week. Ron King beat Anthony Tafoya and J C
Powell in heat 1. Russell Gossett took heat 2 ahead of Chris Faber and Kristy
Smith. Ball preceeded his feature win with a heat victory ahead of Bo Baker and
Larry Stoerkel. Ball won the 20 lap feature after his quick drive from 8th
starting. Johnson ran second ahead of Nix, Baker, Tafoya, Robert Jansson,
Stoerkel, King and Gossett. Baker is 3 points back of Nix and 3 ahead of Johnson
after just two 2003 events.
The 22 dirt modifieds were divided
into three heat races. Tanner beat David Sheffield in his heat 2 with Taylor
Yazzie winning heat 2 in front of Gallup's Kevin Menapace. Johnson did win heat
3 ahead of Donald Clinger and Eric Alwin. Johnson won the main event in front of
Tanner with everyone else moving up one slot with the postrace disqualification
of defending champion Tyrone Yazzie from third. This gave Reid third ahead of
Seifried, California transplant Mark McClarran, Taylor Yazzie, Sheffield,
Clinger and Alwin. The 11 street stocks saw Kenny Wheeler outrun Willis and
Jerry Frazier Jr in the heat race. After Willis spun with a strong lead in the
feature, Harmon won with Willis charging back to 2nd ahead of Gross, Joe
Smithberger, Henry Alvidrez and Tracy Griffin. The hobby stocks drew 21 cars
split into three heat races. Boelter won heat 1 over Jeff Whyman and York. April
Trujillo won heat 2 ahead of J R Bonesteel and Randy Carter. The top four in
heat 3 came from just two famlies with Ron Leathem Jr beating S Kapinski, R
Leathem Sr and Robert Kapinski. Boelter won the main event ahead of S
Kapinski, York, R Kapinski, Thomas Hayes, Whyman, Mike Mendoza, Leathem Jr and
James Shook.
Summary
Hobby Stocks
Heat 1-Rick Boelter, Jeff Whyman, Phil York, Steve Bonesteel, Randall
Trujillo.
Heat 2-April Trujillo, J R Bonesteel, Randy Carter, Aleta Hanna, James
Shook.
Heat 3-Ron Leathem Jr, Shane Kapinski, Ron Leathem Sr, Robert Kapinski, Mike
Mendoza.
Main-Boelter, S Kapinski, York, R Kapinski, Thomas Hayes, Whyman, Mendoza,
Leathem Jr, Shook, Bonesteel, Staci March, Hanna, Cody Cagle, Ashylee Dalton,
Frank Payne, Carter, M Kapinski, Trujillo, James Welker, James Mickle, Benny
Chavez.
Street Stocks
Heat-Kenny Wheeler, Jim Willis, Jerry Frazier Jr, Danny Gross, Joe Smithberger.
Main-Dan Harmon, Willis, Gross, Smithberger, Henry Alvidrez, Tracy Griffin,
Wheeler, Scott Lynch, Jennifer Zorn, Frazier, Frank Garcia.
Dirt Modifieds
Heat 1-John Tanner, David Sheffield, Mark Seifried, Toby Herring, Tim Lamm.
Heat 2-Taylor Yazzie, Kevin Menapace, Bo Martinez, Butch Reid, Mark McClarren.
Heat 3-Richard Johnson, Donald Clinger, Eric Alwin, Bill Lynch, Matt Whetstine.
Main-Johnson, Tanner, Reid, Seifried, McClarran, Taylor Yazzie, Sheffield,
Clinger, Alwin, Michael O'Neal, Robert Haaland, Lynch, Pat Patalan, Robert
Louder, Sean Hughes, Lamm, Whetstine, Menapace, Bo Martinez, Herring, Ron
Frazier Jr.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Ron King, J C Powell, Anthony Tafoya, Ted McAdams, Jon Taylor.
Heat 2-Russell Gossett, Chris Faber, Kristy Smith, Kevin Faber, Asa Kesterson.
Heat 3-Tom Ball, Bo Baker, Larry Stoerkel, Steve Nix, Ricky Johnson.
Main-Ball, Johnson, Nix, Baker, Tafoya, Robert Jansson, Stoerkel, King, Gossett,
Taylor, C Faber, K Faber, Powell, Kesterson, Tim Jones, McAdams, Jeff Brumfield
Jr, Smith.
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