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Albuquerque, NM....July
12.......NMMRA 2002 champion Tom Ball took just five laps to race his Norm Smith
owned unwinged sprint car into the lead from seventh starting and he went on to
win the 20 lap NMMRA sprint car feature at Duke City Raceway Saturday night.
Steve Nix from Santa Fe finished second ahead of season point leader Bo Baker
from Grants. Having started his season late, Robert Schorr climbed into a tie
for fourth in points by edging out Butch Reid in a crowd pleasing ending to the
dirt late model feature. Reid is battling for the track title in both the dirt
late model and Barnett's Harley Davidson Dirt Modified divisions. He did win the
dirt modified main event ahead of Ron Frazier Jr and California transplant Mark
McClarran. Jim Willis raced to wins in both his heat race and the feature for
the street stocks.
The unwinged sprint cars had a
13 car turnout and were divided into a pair of heat races. Tim West returned to
unwinged action with a win in heat 1 over Jon Taylor and Jeff Brumfield Jr. Ball
had a perfect night as he won heat 2 ahead of Baker and Nix. Taylor and
Brumfield paced the field down for the green flag in the 20 lap feature, but it
was 7th starter Ball driving through the pack to take the lead in just five
rounds. He went on to win ahead of Nix, Baker, West, Chris Faber, last year's
rookie of the year Kelly Denison, Russell Gossett and Kristy Smith. Baker has
stretched a large 31 point lead over Nix with Ball another 14 points back in
third. The sprint cars raced at Hollywood Hills Speedway on July 19 and return
to DCR to headline the July 26th show.
The dirt late models had a
season high 10 car turnout. Double division racer Jim Willis won the first heat
over Eloy Romero and Ralph Dutcher. Point runnerup Frazier won heat 2 with John
Aragon second over J R Baxter. Baxter was a main event scratch and the duel for
the feature win between Schorr and Reid put the crowd on it's feet for the last
couple laps. Reid is a late model rookie in the Coach's Chassis mount and he
settled for a strong second behind Shorr. Only four cars finished as Frazier Jr
ran third ahead of Dutcher. Reid holds an 8 point lead on Frazier with Romero
falling 44 points back with his 6th place finish. Willis was last in the 9 car
feature. The 19 dirt modifieds were split into three heat races with Michael
O'Neal winning heat one over Monte Hunter. Reid captured heat 2 with his D&M
Performance Chassis ahead of Kyle Odom. David Sheffield beat Taylor Yazzie in
heat 3. Reid, Bo Martinez and Richard Johnson are dueling for the track
championship and Reid won the feature honors over double division racer Ron
Frazier Jr and McClarran. McClarran raced at Merced Speedway in California
before he moved to Albuquerque several years ago. Sheffield ran fourth ahead of
Martinez and his Ford. O'Neal raced to a sixth ahead of Tyrone Yazzie and Robert
Haaland. Ralph Garcia beat Kenny Wheeler in heat 1 for the street stocks
and Willis edged Joe Smithberger in heat 2.
There were 11 street stocks on hand, but only 9 started the main event with
Willis and Smithberger finishing 1-2 ahead of Jay Pape, Dan Harmon, Andy Tanner,
Jennifer Zorn and Garcia.
Summary
Street Stocks
Heat 1-Ralph Garcia, Kenny Wheeler, Andy Tanner, Clay Moseley, Jennifer Zorn.
Heat 2-Jim Willis, Joe Smithberger, Jay Pape, Ron Frazier Jr, Dan Harmon.
Main-Willis, Smithberger, Pape, Harmon, Tanner, Zorn, Garcia, Danny Gross,
Wheeler.
Dirt Modifieds
Heat 1-Michael O'Neal, Monte Hunter, Mark Siefried, Bo Martinez, Mark McClarran.
Heat 2-Butch Reid, Kyle Odom, Tyrone Yazzie, Tim Lamm, Toby Herring.
Heat 3-David Sheffield, Taylor Yazzie, Eric Alwin, Richard Johnson, Robert
Haaland.
Main-Reid, Ron Frazier Jr, McClarran, Sheffield, Martinez, O'Neal, Tyrone Yazzie,
Haaland, Taylor Yazzie, Sean Hughes, Bill Lynch, Johnson, Odom, Seifried, Lamm,
Alwin, Hunter, Herring.
Dirt Late Models
Heat 1-Jim Willis, Eloy Romero, Ralph Dutcher, Marc Herrera, Steve Suber.
Heat 2-Ron Frazier Jr, John Aragon, J R Baxter, Robert Schorr, Butch Reid.
Main-Schorr, Reid, Frazier Jr, Dutcher, Suber, Romero, Herrera, Aragon, Willis.
NMMRA Unwinged Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Tim West, Jon Taylor, Jeff Brumfield Jr, Russell Gossett, Kristy
Smith.
Heat 2-Tom Ball, Bo Baker, Steve Nix, Kelly Denison, Chris Faber.
Main-Ball, Nix, Baker, West, Faber, Denison, Gossett, Smith, Taylor, Brumfield,
Russ Heim, Robert Marfia Jr, Charlie Fegan.
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