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Watsonville, CA...May 27.....Two false starts at the beginning of Friday night's 25 lap IMCA Modified feature rewarded 4th starter Kenny Nott Jr with the outside front row assignment when the rows were swapped and the defending track champion paced all 25 laps to get his second straight feature win in his Harris at Watsonville Speedway. Point leader Joe Antonetti provided a constant challenge for the top spot from the midway mark on, but his last lap bid to go underneath Nott in turn 3 saw them make contact and Antonetti spin to a stop. Since this class doesn't race to the yellow flag, the finish reverted to lap 24 and former dirt late model racer Larry Lundin ended up second in his first regular season visit to Watsonville in many years. Mark Sargent claimed third ahead of Todd Hermosillo. After a tough start to his year, Nott has now climbed to within 15 points of the point lead. Defending NASCAR super stock champion Dennis Pelphrey took the lead from Chris Kulvicki on lap 7 and he won their 25 lap feature to retake the 2005 point lead. Pelphrey started the night one point behind Stu Cornick and Cornick finished second tonight. Ray Martin was third ahead of Philip Priddy. The wingless spec sprints returned and two new local cars grew the car count to 7. Sal Mannina beat Steve Pemberton in the heat race, but Pemberton came from fifth to take the lead on lap 3 of the 20 lap feature and he went on to win by a half-lap. It was Pemberton's first sprint car win. Rob Hammond ran a solid second ahead of Sal Mannina and Steve Mannina. American Stock point leader Sam Kennedy took the lead from his brother Wally Kennedy early in their 20 lap feature and raced to the win by fending off a strong challenge from Ray Ash. Melissa Fuhrman saw her best ever Watsonville run nullified when she weighed in light after the race to lose her third place finish. The second figure 8 race of 2005 saw Jim Gillespie take the lead from J J Keldsen on lap 12 and win the 15 lapper ahead of Keith Trusso and John Keldsen. J J clipped an infield tire after losing the lead to J Gillespie and he stalled on the track to force a checkered yellow finish one lap early. The teams saw by far the best track conditions of 2005.
After several visiting cars had swelled the previous week count to 20 cars, the IMCA Modifieds were back down to 12 this week even with the addition of Lundin, Merced regular Troy Stone and Western Region rookie of the year point leader Alex Stanford. Sargent beat Joey Golz in heat 1 and Nott captured heat 2. Top runner Tim Balding clipped an infield tire in turn 4 while challenging fellow Harris racer Nott for the top spot. That damaged his left front suspension but he tried to continue racing and salvage second. After taking the white flag, his brakes failed and he flew off the end of the track, hard into the tractor tires outside turn 1. He was unhurt, but his car was too damaged to be repaired at the track. Antonetti beat Golz and Sargent in the dash and the cars of Balding and Lee Yetter both scratched to leave a ten car feature. Stanford was borrowing his father Jack's car and he shared the front row with Chuck Harrell. After two false starts, they were put back in row 2 with Hermosillo and Nott the new front row. Nott led all 25 laps as he took an early lead over Hermosillo and Harrell. Harrell claimed second on lap 3, but spun in turn 4 on lap 5. Golz and Antonetti both passed Hermosillo for the 2-3 slots on lap 7 and Golz caught fire when his car lost power for a lap 10 red flag. Antonetti was now second over Sargent and Stanford. Antonetti was waging a side by side duel with Nott for the top spot when Hermosillo and Lundin tangled for a lap 17 yellow. Antonetti continued to try both the bottom and high lines in his attempt to get around Nott for the top spot. On lap 22, Stanford spun and collected Garrett Steitz. Lundin made a charge taking fourth from Hermosillo on lap 23 and third from Sargent a lap later. Feeling he was clearly faster than Nott, Antonetti made another bid to gain the lead on the bottom of turn 3 on the last lap, but they made contact and Antonetti spun to a stop. Nott won ahead of Lundin, Sargent, Hermosillo, Steitz, Stanford and Troy Stone with Antonetti in 8th. Antonetti came out of the night with a 3 point lead on Steitz, 10 ahead of Balding and 15 in front of Nott. The IMCA Modifieds do not race at the clay 1/4 mile oval until June 17.
The NASCAR super stocks were facing a three weekend break in their schedule after this race and only 12 appeared. Steve Ewbank was testing his car before the Saturday and Sunday California State Street Stock Championship Series events in Santa Maria and Oildale and he won heat 1 over Scott Fuhrman. Martin took heat 2 also from the pole as Kenny Neville ran second. Neville broke at the checkered flag and his night was over. Mark Cooper had a new engine that wasn't running right, so he jumped over to the Tony Oliveira car and Oliveira jumped into the Ewbank car with Ewbank trying out the Cooper car after a carburetor change for the feature. Because of the changes, these three cars tagged the 25 lap feature. This race ran with just a single yellow flag. Outside front row starter Kulvicki led the first 6 laps with 4th starter Pelphrey quickly following him into second. Cornick started fifth and took third from Bill Hyland on lap 5. Pelphrey took the lead from Kulvicki on lap 7 and Cornick was second two laps later. Martin moved to fourth ahead of Hyland and Priddy was fifth at the midway mark. Oliveira spun and Cooper was riding 7th behind Fuhrman. A flat right rear tire for Hyland forced the only caution on lap 18. Martin got a great restart as he climbed into second over Cornick, Fuhrman and Kulvicki. Cornick was able to retake second on lap 20 and Priddy moved up to take fourth from Kulvicki and Fuhrman. Pelphrey got his second 2005 win ahead of Cornick, Martin, Priddy, Kulvicki and Fuhrman.
The lone wingless spec sprint heat race was won by fourth starting Sal Mannina as he averaged 14.99 seconds per lap. Pemberton ran second ahead of Steve Mannina. A former dirt modified racer like Pemberton, Ken Fredenberg led the first lap of the 20 lap feature from his outside front row start, but ran off the top of turn 4 on lap 2. David Press led one lap and Pemberton was out front on lap 3. Fredenberg ran hard into the rear of
Sal Mannina and Sal spun. Fredenberg's race was over. Hammond settled into third behind Pemberton and Press. Newcomer Aaron Cearles fell out after racing as high as fifth. Hammond got underneath Press for second on lap 12 and Sam Mannina followed him into third. Pemberton was now 1/3 lap ahead and he stretched his advantage to 1/2 lap as the race ended. Hammond ran second ahead of Sal Mannina, Steve Mannina and Press.
S Kennedy continues to stretch his American Stock point lead as he chases another track title. He came from the back row to win the first 10 car heat race over his pole starting brother W Kennedy. John Dawson Jr came from sixth to win heat 2 over Norm Ayers and M Fuhrman showed her strength early by capturing heat 3 from the pole over fifth starting Ash. M Fuhrman is the lady hobby stock point leader in Chowchilla and won the fair night feature the previous week there. With the figure 8 joining in, there were 28 American Stocks and rookie Jesse Laverne won the B Main over Paul Champion and Billy Nelson II. Only one yellow flag slowed the action in their 20 lap feature and pole starter W Kennedy led five rounds. S Kennedy started 4th and gained third on lap 2. He took second from M Fuhrman on lap 3 and the lead from W Kennedy on lap 6. Nelson blew for the only yellow flag on lap 5. On the restart, J J Keldsen climbed the front wall and his race was over. M Fuhrman ran second until Ash got by her on lap 10. Dawson was now fourth over Ayers and W Kennedy. W Kennedy began to smoke and figure 8 star Matt Medina fell out. Rod Herrick was debuting his new Thunderbird and he raced through the infield on lap 17. S Kennedy took the checkered flag in front of Ash for his second feature win of 2005. The crowd was excited over M Fuhrman's third place run, but expressed their disappointment when it was announced that she had failed to make weight and been disqualified. Dawson was advanced to third ahead of Ayers, W Kennedy, Bill Sorg, Aaron Hill and Lucas Farmer. Herrick salvaged a 9th.
The figure 8 field was ten cars and their track was also in much better shape. A first lap incident damaged the cars of Richard Keldsen, Wayne Reeder and Ross Killian. J J Keldsen led the first 11 laps. J Gillespie made a contact pass on Keith Trusso for second on lap 4 and J J Keldsen began to smoke as John Keldsen climbed into fourth. J Gillespie began to pressure J J Keldsen for the top spot and he raced into the lead. J J Keldsen clipped a tire and limped to a stop forcing the early checkered flag. J Gillespie won ahead of Trusso, John Keldsen, Medina, R Keldsen and Killian.
The first of two visits for the Golden State Challenge Series winged 410 sprint cars occurs on June 3. They will be joined by the USAC Ford Focus midgets and Watsonville Speedway's own wingless spec sprint car class. All the car action is off on the following weekend as the Gene Romero flat track motorcycle tour hits Watsonville Speedway on Saturday night June 11.
Summary
Figure 8 Main-Jim Gillespie, Keith Trusso, John Keldsen, Matt Medina, Richard Keldsen, Ross Killian, Kim Gillespie, Wayne Reeder, J J Keldsen, Jimmy Fernandez.
American Stock Heat 1-Sam Kennedy, Wally Kennedy, Eli Mendoza Jr, Les Bowers, Matt Medina. Heat 2-John Dawson Jr, Norm Ayers, Tom Reily, Jennifer Rood, Aaron Hill. Heat 3-Melissa Fuhrman, Ray Ash, J J Keldsen, George Fernandez Jr, Rod Herrick. B Main-Jesse Laverne, Paul Champion, Billy Nelson II, Jimmy Fernandez, Gary Baker, Don Vesey, Tim Rodriguez, Jeremiah Roma. A Main-S Kennedy, Ash, Dawson, Ayers, W Kennedy, Bill Sorg, Hill, Lucas Farmer, Herrick, Bowers, Rood, Laverne, Mendoza, Reily, Champion, J Fernandez, Chris Rodriguez, Medina, J J Keldsen, Nelson.
Wingless Spec Sprint Heat-Sal Mannina, Steve Pemberton, Steve Mannina, Rob Hammond, Ken Fredenberg. Main-Pemberton, Hammond, Sal Mannina, Steve Mannina, David Press, Aaron Cearels, Fredenberg.
Super Stock Heat 1-Steve Ewbank, Scott Fuhrman, Stu Cornick, Bill Hyland, Chris Kulvicki. Heat 2-Ray Martin, Kenny Neville, Dennis Pelphrey, Tony Oliveira, Mike Calhoun. Main-Pelphrey, Cornick, Martin, Philip Priddy, Kulwicki, Fuhrman, Ewbank, Oliveira, Mark Cooper, Calhoun, Hyland. IMCA Modified Dash-Joe Antonetti, Joey Golz, Mark Sargent. Heat 1-Sargent, Golz, Todd Hermosillo, Garrett Steitz, Alex Stanford. Heat 2-Kenny Nott Jr, Antonetti, Larry Lundin, Chuck Harrell, Tim Balding. Main-Nott, Lundin, Sargent, Hermosillo, Steitz, Stanford, Troy Stone, Antonetti, Harrell, Golz.
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