|
Cortez, CO.....May 1.....For
the first time in several years, the NMMRA unwinged sprint cars raced outside of
the state of New Mexico and three time series champion Bobby Seals drove his
Charlie Fegan owned mount to a $750 win in the 25 lap feature at Montezuma
Speedway just over the Colorado border. The club has designated all of their
shows outside of the Albuquerque area to be worth double points so Seals emerged
with a solid 9 point lead on feature runnerup Ricky Johnson in the club point
race. Seals took the lead from Johnson with five laps to run. Jon Taylor crossed
the line in 4th, but was assessed a one position penalty for an early race jump
start. That gave third to Larry Stoerkel and moved Taylor back to fourth ahead
of 2002 series champion Tom Ball.
It was also the first sprint car show at the Cortez track in around ten years
and 18 teams made the long tow. They were divided into three qualifying heat
races. Rookie Jody Williams came from 4th to capture the first heat race ahead
of Kevin Faber. Russell Gossett paced one lap in heat 2 before Johnson took over
with his 393 ci sprinter. Chris Faber and Taylor ran 2-3 behind Johnson. Nick
Rael was the early leader in heat 3, but a bump and a triple spin saw him fall
out as Ball drove his San Felipe Casino sponsored car to victory ahead of 2002
rookie of the year Kelly Denison. The club ran a special rookie trophy dash and
Paul Whitehead was the winner ahead of Williams and Ted McAdams. The fast dash
was won by Johnson ahead of Ball and Denison.
Tim Jones had the pole for the 25 lap feature and he led the first 3 rounds.
Johnson then raced ahead of Jones and Gossett. On lap 5, 2003 rookie of the year
Jeff Brumfield Jr spun and got hit by 2003 champion Bo Baker. The race was over
for both with broken front ends. Johnson led lap 6 ahead of Taylor, Seals,
Stoerkel and Ball. On lap 21, Seals took the top spot from Johnson. Seals' win
was his second in three 2004 races and Johnson ran second. The one position
penalty dropped Taylor to fourth behind Stoerkel while Ball finished fifth ahead
of Denison, Williams, Gossett, C Faber, Rael and Jones. Seals' point lead is 9
over Johnson, 11 over Stoerkel and 12 ahead of both Denison and Ball. Taylor is
15 points behind the leader.
Next action for NMMRA is a Sunday night, May 30th, return to Hollywood Hills
Speedway as they help close another big two night weekend at the clay half-mile.
Summary
Rookie Dash
Paul Whitehead, Jody Williams, Ted McAdams.
Fast Dash
Ricky Johnson, Tom Ball, Kelly Denison.
Heat 1
Williams, Kevin Faber, Tim Jones, Whitehead, Rick Flowers.
Heat 2
Johnson, Chris Faber, Jon Taylor, Russell Gossett, Jeff Brumfield Jr.
Heat 3
Ball, Denison, Larry Stoerkel, Bo Baker, Bobby Seals.
Main
Seals, Johnson, Stoerkel, Taylor, Ball, Denison, Williams, Gossett, C Faber,
Nick Rael, Jones, K Faber, Whitehead, Flowers, Kristy Smith, McAdams, Brumfield,
Baker.
|
