|
Hanford, CA....June 7.......A
phone call from Elite Landscaping crew chief Preston Cross coaxed Ronnie Day out
of retirement late in May and the Salinas racer charged from 12th starting to
pace the final 6 laps to capture the 30 lap Rebel Cup winged 360 Sprint Car
feature Saturday night at Kings Speedway. Day posted fast time and ran third in
his heat, but pulled the 12 chip out as the inversion option for the 30 lapper.
Seeking his first ever Kings win, Danny Faria Jr paced the first 24 laps only to
see Day drive underneath him. D Faria Jr settled for second ahead of Ricci
Faria. Tommy Tarlton and previous week Tulare winner Luke Bebereia rounded out
the top five and point leader Tim Worth was sixth. The companion 30 lap Bandit
unwinged 360 sprint car feature also had a lot of passing. Jerome Warmerdam
charged from 9th starting to the lead in 8 laps. He actually lost the lead to
Davey Pombo Jr on lap 19, but regained the slot on lap 22. Warmerdam won for the
second time in four 2003 appearances and D Pombo Jr was second ahead of Bobby
Elliott and Greg Porte. With his second place run, D Pombo Jr pulled within 11
points of point leader Aaron Altaffer, who ran fifth. A winner of five feature
races in 2002, but a victim of mechanical woes throughout 2003, Lonnie Lacy Jr
from Watsonville led all 20 laps to win the IMCA Modified main event. Paul Stone
ran second and cut Bryan Burnes' point lead to just 5 points. Burnes spun out of
third racing to the white flag and settled for an 8th place run. Rodney Freitas
ran third ahead of Jimmy Reeves, who was celebrating his 28th birthday.
The 24 car Rebel Cup field
included several Civil War Series visitors and regular Rick Williams made the
long tow from Texas after abandoning the final two legs of the ASCS Speedweek
that he was following in Oklahoma and Texas. Williams finished 10th in points in
the weeklong series despite his early trip home. In a car that had been wheeled
earlier in the year by Lawrence Edlund and Jason Meyers, Day paced the time
trial runs with his 14.079. That just nipped the 14.093 of R Faria and the
14.147 of Tarlton. When his own car broke in hot laps, second ranked Andy Ferris
moved over to the Brad LeDuc car for the night. Visitor Greg DeCaires dropped
out early in heat 1 as D Faria Jr won ahead of Bebereia and Day. Garrett Ishii
won heat 2 ahead of R Faria and Edlund. Coming off a Civil War win at the Chico
Fair, Davey Key captured heat 3 ahead of Worth and Tarlton. When Day drew the 12
for the A Main inversion, a lot of action was guaranteed in the 30 rounds and
all 23 cars survived to take the green flag.
D Faria Jr and Monty Ferriera
shared the front row and D Faria Jr leaped to a quick lead. Gary Caldwell spun
for a lap 2 yellow and visitors DeCaires and Jimmy Trulli both limped off the
3/8 mile clay oval early. Williams lined up 4th, but raced into second ahead of
Stan Yockey on lap 3. Bebereia took third from Yockey on lap 6 and passed
Williams on the outside for second on lap 7. Mike Schriver spun for a lap 9
yellow flag and dropped out. Day was 9th at the caution, but raced to fifth on
lap 12 and made inside moves on Yockey and Williams to climb into third on lap
14. Key spun for the last yellow flag on lap 16. Yockey drifted too high on the
restart and Day drove underneath Bebereia for second on lap 18. R Faria took
fourth from Williams on lap 23 as Day caught leader D Faria Jr. Day's winning
pass came low in turn 2 on lap 25 and he pulled away to the win. D Faria Jr ran
second ahead of R Faria, Tarlton, Bebereia, Worth, Williams, Ferris, Yockey and
visitor Ricky Wondergem. Coalinga's Worth improved his point lead to 28 over
Ferris and 44 ahead of Bebereia. Edlund ran 15th and dropped 48 points back of
Worth. The next Rebel Cup race is a unique Challenge event against the Civil War
competitors on the famed Calistoga half-mile on June 21.
Altaffer paced the 24
Bandit entries with his 15.785 qualifying run. Only three other cars broke into
the 15's with Warmerdam second at 15.877. Porte ran a 15.922 and Larry Dietz
ranked fourth at 15.954. D Pombo Jr beat Altaffer and Matt Day in heat 1 and
Warmerdam edged out A J Burgin and Elliott in heat 2. Heat three was won by
Porte ahead of Jonathan Logan, but featured flips by both Josh Davis and Albert
Pombo. Davis was able to make repairs for the 30 lap feature while A Pombo's
night was over. Joining A Pombo as feature scratches were Daniel Hood, Mike
Broome and Dick Stevens. This 30 lapper had a ten car inversion that put Jason
May and Burgin on the front row with Warmerdam and Altaffer in row 5. Burgin
paced just the opening lap before May took over. Jeff Fiscus lost third to
Elliott when he slipped off the backstretch on lap 3. Contact between May and
Burgin allowed Elliott and Fiscus to claim the 2-3 slots on lap 4. Burgin then
raced off the top of the track with Warmerdam up to third behind May and
Elliott. An outside pass netted Warmerdam second on lap 7 and he drove
underneath May for the lead on lap 8. Elliott claimed second on lap 10 and D
Pombo Jr was third a lap later. Fiscus shuffled May back to fifth on lap 12 and
Richard Harvey Jr claimed fifth on lap 14. With a pair of off track excursions
high in turn 4, Warmerdam lost much of his lead and D Pombo Jr took second from
Elliott on lap 17. Warmerdam followed another high slide off turn 4 with a dip
into the frontstetch infield on lap 19 and D Pombo Jr raced past for the lead.
Warmerdam regained his composure and was back in front on lap 22 when a tangle
between John Burnett and May sent Burnett flipping for a red flag. The talented
field had raced 22 straight green flag laps. Fiscus lost fourth to Porte when he
clipped the front wall on lap 23. Dave Knott spun off the top of turn 4 for a
final caution on lap 28. Warmerdam won with D Pombo Jr wheeling the Joey Layman
owned mount to a second ahead of Elliott, Porte, Altaffer, Fiscus, Harvey,
Burgin and Jason Montgomery. Third ranked Porte is 26 points back of Altaffer
and just 7 ahead of Harvey.
The IMCA Modifieds
had a 23 car turnout as just two Bakersfield Speedway regulars ventured north
despite an off night at that track. 2002 Western Region champion Mark Allison
from Las Vegas, NV made his first Hanford visit. Travelmate Joe Chapman beat
Lacy in heat 1 with Stone third. New track regular Dave Soito Jr from
Watsonville took heat 2 ahead of Eddie Stewart and Reeves. Previous week winner
Chad Patterson came from third to win heat 3 ahead of Donnie Range Jr and last
week's runnerup Claudine Contente. Lee Phillips was a feature scratch and Range
elected to start in the back of the 22 car grid. Lacy took a quick lead over
Patterson and Soito. Range broke on lap 3 and Stewart suffered a rear suspension
failure. A tangle in turn 4 ended the night for Buck Cox, A J Wright and Ed
Nichols. Soito got out of shape on lap 7 with Freitas into third ahead of Stone
and Chapman. Bobby Smith broke and the lead duel broke into a pair of two car
fights with Patterson challenging Lacy and Stone putting heavy pressure on
travelmate Freitas. Stone grabbed third on lap 15 and survived a near spin on
the next round when Patterson spun out of second. The scheduled 25 lapper was
shortened to 20 rounds. Freitas lost third when he ran off the top of the track
and got passed by Burnes. Some late action left Contente with a broken front
end. Burnes spun racing to the white flag and William Woodbridge got tangled up
with visitor Gary Dutton on the last lap. Lacy won ahead of Stone, Freitas,
Reeves, Soito, Billy Wilker, Allison, Burnes and Michael Beltran. Reeves is 9
points back of Stone and 4 ahead of Freitas.
Kings is dark on June 14,
returns with round two of the 100 lap Enduro Series along with the Hot Stocks
and IMCA Modifieds on June 21. The Spanky Matthews Memorial on June 28 will see
the Golden State winged 410 sprint cars and the Rebel Cup winged 360 sprint cars
combined for the only time on the Hanford 2003 schedule.
Summary
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Joe Chapman, Lonnie Lacy Jr, Paul Stone, Rodney Freitas, Billy Wilker.
Heat 2-Dave Soito Jr, Eddie Stewart, Jimmy Reeves, Bryan Burnes, A J
Wright.
Heat 3-Chad Patterson, Donnie Range Jr, Claudine Contente, Mark Allison, William
Woodbridge.
Main-Lacy, Stone, Freitas, Reeves, Soito, Wilker, Allison, Burnes, Michael
Beltran, Patterson, Chapman, Jim Reed, Jon Schlundt, Gary Dutton, Woodbridge,
Contente, Bobby Smith, Buck Cox, Wright, Ed Nichols, Stewart, Range.
Bandit Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Fast Time-Aaron Altaffer 15.785
Heat 1-Davey Pombo Jr, Altaffer, Matt Day, Jeff Fiscus, Jason Montgomery.
Heat 2-Jerome Warmerdam, A J Burgin, Bobby Elliott, Richard Harvey Jr, Brad
Evett.
Heat 3-Greg Porte, Jonathan Logan, Jason May, John Burnett, Dick Stevens.
Main-Warmerdam, D Pombo, Elliott, Porte, Altaffer, Fiscus, Harvey, Burgin,
Montgomery, Terry Schank Jr, Evett, Day, Larry Dietz, Josh Davis, Logan, Nick
Sylvester, Dave Knott, Burnett, May, Aaron Chaney.
Rebel Winged 360 Sprint Cars
Fast Time-Ronnie Day 14.079
Heat 1-Danny Faria Jr, Luke Bebereia, Day, Rick Williams, Sparky Howard.
Heat 2-Garrett Ishii, Ricci Faria, Lawrence Edlund, Stan Yockey, Ricky Wondergem.
Heat 3-Davey Key, Tim Worth, Tommy Tarlton, Monty Ferriera, Mark Barroso.
Main-Day, D Faria Jr, R Faria, Tarlton, Bebereia, Worth, Williams, Andy Ferris,
Yockey, Wondergem, Ishii, Howard, Ferriera, Jeff Parody, Edlund, Barroso, Jerry
Pelayo, Chris D'Arcy, Gary Caldwell, Key, Mike Schriver, Jimmy Trulli, Greg
DeCaires.
|
