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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| TIM BALDING RETURNS WITH
SHORTENED FEATURE WIN by Gary Jacob |
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IMCA Modifieds,
Super Stocks, Wingless Spec Sprints, |
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Watsonville, CA..April 22...Returning after a lengthy absence from racing
with a new Harris IMCA Modified, Tim Balding backed up his recent Chowchilla
Speedway win with a victory in the time shortened 12 lap main event for the IMCA
Modifieds on Friday night at Watsonville Speedway. Two restarts and three early
cautions ate up the division time limit and the track officials were ready to
call the scheduled 25 lapper with just a handful of laps completed, but the
teams ripped off nine straight green flag laps and Balding had taken the lead on
lap 2. Atwater long tow Cameron Beard crossed the line second, but drove to his
pit instead of the tech area at the conclusion of the event and was
disqualified. That moved Brian Cass up to second ahead of Andy Obertello. Stu
Cornick won his second 25 lap NASCAR Super Stock main event in a former Scott
Fuhrman car. This race had just a single yellow flag and defending track
champion Dennis Pelphrey led from the start until his right rear tire went flat
on lap 22. Pelphrey managed to stay in front until lap 24 and he eventually
crossed the line fourth as Cornick won ahead of Phillip Priddy and S Fuhrman.
With no visitors, the wingless spec sprints fielded just 4 cars and veteran
Craig Smith drove the Bob Coulson car to the 20 lap win. He took the lead from
David Press on lap 11, but had an engine going away as the laps ran down. Steve
Pemberton made a strong outside groove run on the final lap and fell just a car
length short of victory as Smith shut his engine down just before the flag. The
George Steitz All Star Tour limited late models put on a spectacular show with
defending series champion Ken Gregg leading just the final five laps to get the
20 lap win after working his way around Mike Meazell. When Jeremy Petrell broke
leading, he collected up second place Jeff Mead setting up the spectacular last
laps duel between Gregg, Meazell and Steve Ewbank. Ewbank finished third and the
super stock of Tony Oliveira tagged the 9 car lineup and finished fourth.
Deciding that he couldn't get his new Thunderbird finished in time to race, Rod
Herrick dug his Mustang out of mothballs and enjoyed a spectacular night in the
American Stocks, winning the dash, his heat and the 20 lap feature. Herrick
started 4th and passed defending track champion Sam Kennedy for the top spot on
lap 7. Herrick and S Kennedy were racing 1-2 at the checkered flag and Ray Ash
worked his way from 7th to finish third. The IMCA Modifieds split 16 cars into a pair of heat races and Balding easily won heat 1 from an outside front row start. Obertello ran second ahead of Todd Hermosillo and the night ended for Jim DiGiovanni with a broken engine. Cass won heat 2 from the pole and Joe Antonetti returned to weekly racing with a second in front of defending track champion Kenny Nott Jr. Lee Yetter crashed hard into the front wall leading, but was able to make repairs and tag the feature lineup. The stock car classes race to the yellow flag on the ¼ mile clay oval, but the IMCA Modifieds and Wingless Spec Sprints do not. Antonetti and Joey Golz shared the front row for the 15 car main event. On the first start attempt, Antonetti got out of shape and Golz drove the former Steve Pemberton car off the top of turn 1 leading to a tangle between Obertello and Hermosillo. The next attempt to start found a spin by Don Breeden who was clipped by Cass. Yetter spun and his race was over. Yellow flags after lap 1, 2 and 3 slowed the action and ate up the division time limit. Antonetti paced the opening lap ahead of Balding and Beard, but spun for the first caution and got clipped by Golz, whose race was over. Gordon Bamberry and Breeden tangled for the next caution and Scott Wheelock spun for the next yellow. T J Etchison joined Golz and Yetter on the sidelines. The officials were conferring on how to handle the time limit even though the clock only read 9:30 when the field then strung together the long green flag period. Balding led Beard, Nott, Cass and Mark Sargent. Obertello gained fifth on lap 5 and Cass moved by Nott for third on lap 7. Nott got tangled up with Bamberry and stalled on the front stretch with a broken front end to force the race ending caution on lap 12 with Balding out front. Beard's DQ moved Cass up to second ahead of Obertello, last starter Garrett Steitz, Antonetti, Sargent and Breeden. The threatening skies began to sprinkle during super stock time trials, creating a major advantage for the first cars to run. Making his 2005 debut, Manteca's Darrell Hughes set quick time at 18.426 and Scott Fuhrman was second quick at 18.460 as the second car to time. Mitch Lettunich and Dennis Pelphrey then ran laps in the 19's and no one later was able to get under 20 seconds on the now slick ¼ mile clay oval. Mark Cooper won the lone heat race ahead of Cornick and Pelphrey. Because of the rain threat, the lone NASCAR division ran their feature first and a six car inversion put Oliveira and Cornick on the front row. Hughes reported late and had to tag the 11 car field. Pelphrey charged from third to pace the opening lap over Cornick and Oliveira. Chris Kulvicki was out on lap 2 and Hughes broke for a lap 4 yellow with Priddy now fourth ahead of S Fuhrman. Priddy was able to take third from Oliveira's Ford on the restart and S Fuhrman raced into fourth on lap 8. Oliveira made contact with the front wall, but settled into fifth. With ten laps to run, Pelphrey had built a solid ½ straight lead on the second place duel between Cornick and Priddy. With four laps to go, Pelphrey's right rear tire had lost it's air and he was quickly reeled in by the pack. Cornick, Priddy and S Fuhrman all got by before the checkered flag, but Pelphrey managed to stay in front of Oliveira for fourth. Originally, Priddy was disqualified from second for his rear panel installation, but he pleaded his case after the event and was restored to second place behind winner Cornick. Cooper ran sixth ahead of Bill Hyland and Ray Martin. Pemberton won the lone wingless spec sprint heat race from the pole with Smith second ahead of Rob Hammond. Press and Hammond shared the front row for their 20 lap feature and Hammond got out of shape on lap 1 as Press gained the lead over Press and Pemberton. Hammond spun for the lone yellow flag on lap 3. The three leaders were racing in a train when Smith rode the high line around Press for the lead on lap 11 and Pemberton followed him into second. Smith began to smoke with a half dozen laps to run, but he managed to put the car out of gear at exactly the right time on the last lap to stay a half-car in front of the charging Pemberton at the checkered flag. Press finished third ahead of Hammond. After only two cars at the track opening show the previous Friday, ten cars appeared for the George Steitz All Star Tour event for the limited late models. Levi Peterson had won both the previous Tour races in Chowchilla, but he did not appear at Watsonville. Gregg won the lone heat race from third with Ewbank coming from 8th for second ahead of Mike Calhoun. Meazell fell out early in the heat and John Harville was black flagged for smoking. Gregg drew a large 8 car inversion for the 20 lap feature. When Paul Salaiz scratched and Meazell elected to move to the back, Petrell gained the pole with Harville alongside. Ewbank moved up to third while Gregg was still buried in 8th for the start. Harville led the opening lap but spun in turn 4 on lap 2 and retired. Petrell had paced lap 2, but Mead drove by him on the outside to pace lap 3. Petrell was able to move his ill handling mount back into the top spot on lap 4 and Ewbank settled into third ahead of Meazell and Gregg. Meazell got by Ewbank for third on lap 8 and Gregg moved into fourth on lap 10. Petrell's rear suspension failed on lap 12, collecting up second place Mead. The final restart found Meazell leading Gregg and Ewbank. Oliveira settled into fourth and Calhoun raced in fifth. Because each was stronger at a different end of the track, Meazell managed to stay in front of Gregg for three more laps before Gregg finally pulled off a tricky outside groove pass for the top spot. Mitch Lettunich fell out and Gregg posted the exciting win ahead of Meazell and Ewbank. Meazell was upset at the lack of a white flag. Oliveira ran fourth ahead of Calhoun. The American Stocks split 23 cars into three heat races. Herrick won heat one from 8th starting with George Fernandez Jr second. Previous week feature winner Aaron Hill won heat 2 from 4th and S Kennedy came from sixth to place second. Lucas Farmer won heat 3 from the pole and female star Jennifer Rood was second ahead of Tom Reily. Herrick celebrated his daughter's second birthday with a dash win ahead of G Fernandez as S Kennedy was penalized from third for rough driving. In this class, 12th starting spot in the feature is reserved for last week's winner so Hill took that spot. S Kennedy and G Fernandez held down the front row ahead of Farmer and Herrick. S Kennedy took a quick lead over Herrick and Farmer. 8th place Reily got into the infield on lap 4 and Tim Clark Jr broke a rear end. Ray Ash moved up to fourth ahead of Rood. Bill Sorg broke for a lap 6 yellow and Briton Carr caught fire. Herrick rode the high line around S Kennedy for the lead on the restart and Hill moved around Ash for third on lap 10. When G Fernandez stalled for a lap 12 yellow, Rood was found to be without a muffler and she was sent off the track. Ash retook third from Hill. Two late yellow flags slowed the action as John Dawson Jr suffered a flat on lap 16 after Billy Nelson II and Eli Mendoza Jr had tangled. A tangle between Reily and Norm Ayers forced a lap 18 yellow and the officials elected to race just one more lap. Herrick stayed in front of S Kennedy on the single file restart for the win. Ash ran third ahead of Hill, Wally Kennedy, Farmer, Melissa Fuhrman, Les Bowers, Ayers and Mendoza. After the race, Herrick expressed doubts about retiring the Mustang after a clean sweep and moving over to the new Thunderbird. Summary American Stock Limited Late Model Wingless Spec Sprint Super Stock IMCA Modified |
