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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| CURT BARNETT AND JOHNNY
HERRERA CLOSE BUSY WEEKEND WITH RICH EL PASO WINS by Gary Jacob |
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Dirt Modifieds and Wingless Sprint Cars |
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El Paso, TX..April 24..Sixth starting Curt Barnett took advantage of a
lap 20 caution to close on leader Lorne Wofford and he was able to slide
underneath Wofford on lap 24 to score a $1000 win as the new Barnett Harley
Davidson Dirt Modified Touring Series staged round 2 of a 13 race 2005 schedule
on Sunday afternoon at El Paso Speedway Park. The event ran despite rain showers
earlier in the morning. On a very windy day, the 3/8 mile clay oval quickly
dried out but the top lane was watered and rolled in during intermission. The
wingless sprint cars raced in the bottom and middle lines, but the dirt
modifieds used the tacky top line. Wofford salvaged the $800 second behind C
Barnett's Harris and Jimmy Ray was a $600 third. Saturday Las Cruces winner
Bumper Jones won $400 for fourth and former track champion Greg Pratt Jr was a
$350 fifth. After the opening weekend, B Jones holds a single point lead on C
Barnett and is 3 ahead of Troy Godwin. The series continues with two nights of
racing at Phoenix area track Canyon Raceway on May 6-7. Both the Saturday night
Las Cruces race and today's El Paso event were presented by the new Southwest
Sprint Car Series that rented both facilities. The 40 lap sprint car feature had
a lot of tire woes, but former World of Outlaws racer Johnny Herrera took the
lead from Yuma's Mike Martin on lap 2 and stayed in front for the $2500 win. The
race had a disappointing end for Martin as he blew a tire in the final corner
while in second. Martin's flat dropped him to 11th as Scott Box emerged with the
$1400 second. Local 305 ci racer Shawn Sander won $1000 for third and Colorado's
Rich Bubak was an $800 fourth. Tom Ball won $700 for fifth. After 27 cars appeared on Saturday at Las Cruces, the dirt modified count was down to 20 cars on Sunday afternoon and they were divided into three heat races. Fourteen year old Johnny Scott earned the pole for the 30 lapper with a win in heat 1 over Wofford, Fito Gallardo and Jay Rosales. Jimmy Ray earned the other front row assignment by capturing heat 2 ahead of Friday night El Paso winner Scott Logston, Pratt and Alvie Williams. B Jones lined up third in the 30 lapper after winning heat 3 ahead of C Barnett, Arizona invader R C Whitwell and Royal Jones. Fourth starting Wofford took the lead on a lap 3 restart in the 30 lapper and had checked out on the pack when a lap 20 yellow pulled the field back together. C Barnett had come from sixth to second and he was able to pull off a slide job on Wofford with 7 laps to go to gain the feature win. Wofford settled for second ahead of Ray, B Jones, Pratt and Troy Godwin, who won the hard charger award by coming from 15th to finish 6th. Logston ran 7th ahead of Stormy Scott, R Jones and Gallardo. Arizona's Jason Black was 12th behind Christy Georges. It will be interesting to see how many of these Las Cruces and El Paso cars travel to other events on the series. After the May 6-7 Canyon race, the series continues with two events on Memorial Day weekend at Casa Grande. It then moves to it's richest stop with the annual Fiesta Days two day event at Aztec NM on June 3-4. Bo Baker from Grants NM turned quick time for a 32 car wingless sprint car field with his 17.l35 clocking on the 3/8 mile clay oval. Jerry Coons Jr was just a tick back at 17.37 and third quick Box ran a 17.63. Herrera was fourth at 17.73 and five more drivers broke in the 17 second bracket. Martin ranked fifth ahead of John Carney Jr, Ball, Jimmy Scott and Shawn Sander. Box gained the dash win ahead of Herrera, Baker and Coons. The four heat races advanced the top four finishers into the A Main. Bubak won heat 1 ahead of Las Cruces veteran Rick Ziehl and John Carney Sr. Driving for New Mexico's Charlie Fegan on the weekend, Phoenix area star Bob Ream Jr won heat 2 ahead of Coons and Don Grable. Ronnie Clark won heat 3 in front of Robert Gomez and New Mexico champion Jon Taylor. Herrera outraced the 305 ci entries of Joe Alvarado and Matt Ziehl in heat 4. This left several strong contenders in the B Main and Box won that race ahead of Sander, Baker and Ball. Jimmy Scott moved up with a fifth as both Taylor and M Ziehl scratched. The feature started a car short as Saturday winner Jason Tanner and J Carney Jr both just missed the transfer. Top runner Beau Binder ran 9th behind David Burns. Most of Herrera's sprint car career has been in winged cars, but he took the lead from Martin on lap 2 and was never headed in the 40 lap feature. Ninth starter R Ziehl worked his way to third before he blew a tire on lap 33 and Martin had his last turn disappointment with his right rear tire. R Ziehl was able to change his tire under caution and finish 8th. Ball, Baker, Leighton Crouch and J Carney Sr all were in the second place duel until they suffered flat tires. The shuffled standings saw Box finish second behind Herrera. Sander ran third ahead of Bubak, Ball, last starter Scott, Brandon Lane, R Ziehl, Clark and Crouch. Summary Dirt Modifieds Wingless Sprint Cars |
