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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| HERRERA AND GODWIN COLLECT RICH HOLLYWOOD HILLS WINS by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless Sprint Cars, Dirt Modifieds, Mini Sprints, Hobby Stocks |
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Pueblo San Felipe NM....July 2-3.....The long awaited first weekend of racing of 2005 at Hollywood Hills Speedway occurred on July 4th weekend and former WoO regular Johnny Herrera drove his family sprint car to a $1500 win in the Sunday night wingless sprint car feature. Herrera was chased across the finish line by Grant's Bo Baker and Las Cruces hard charger Rick Ziehl. Sunday's race was unsanctioned while the Saturday race under the NMMRA banner went to tenth starter Tom Ball ahead of 2004 series champion Jon Taylor and Herrera. Taylor started 11th and was celebrating his 25th birthday on Sunday. Herrera charged from 20th. The Sunday feature for the dirt modifieds was dominated by teams that raced elsewhere on Saturday night. Fresh off a pair of wins in his home area, El Paso's Troy Godwin was the $1000 winner on Sunday ahead of fellow Texas long tow Curt Barnett. Barnett had won super stock features in El Paso and Las Cruces on the previous two nights. A winner on the pavement at Sandia on Saturday, Butch Reid Sr ran third on Sunday. The Saturday night dirt modified feature was won by Aztec Speedway regular Chad Burson, who also took a heat win. Troy Treharn and Bo Martinez chased Burson to the win. Young 14 year old Derrick Ortega lapped the field in the Sunday night mini sprint feature after he won his heat race. J R Bonesteel won the hobby stock main on Saturday night ahead of Phil York. Sponsorship allowed the mini stocks to chase $250 wins both nights and several Aztec Speedway cars made the tow east. 2004 Aztec champion Brittany Tillerson got her first win of the year on Saturday night and Aztec point leader Joshua Brown got the Sunday night win with Tillerson in second. Brown had run second on Saturday night. The Saturday night sprint car action drew a 27 car field that was divided into four heat races. Paul Whitehead rebounded from a recent hard crash in Cortez CO to win heat 1 over rookie James Mosher and the only female entrant Kristi Smith. David Burns beat rookie Ronnie Smith and Friday night El Paso winner Don Grable in heat 2. Colorado's Gary Taylor ran away from the field in heat 3 with Ziehl second ahead of Mike Campbell. Charlie Fegan and James High flipped in turn 1 on the opening lap of this heat. Bo Baker and Tom Ball ran 1-2 in heat 4 over Kelly Dennison. The feature went to 10th starter Ball ahead of 11th starter J Taylor and 20th starter Herrera. Ball battled Whitehead for the lead early in the race and J Taylor late. J Taylor got a nose underneath Ball on the final round but couldn't finish the pass. Ziehl came from 14th to finish 4th and Dennison was fifth after being as high as 2nd. Rookie R Smith ran sixth ahead of fellow rookie Mosher. Burns was 8th ahead of Lubbock TX long tow Leighton Crouch and Jody Williams. The sprint car count fell to 21 cars for the Sunday weekend finale. J Taylor got a birthday win in heat 1 over cousin Williams and Baker. G Taylor outdueled Herrera in heat 2 as Campbell ran third. Ziehl got the heat 3 win as Robert Marfia Jr wheeled a Fegan car to second ahead of Jason Tanner. Herrera finished off his big weekend with a Sunday night win ahead of sixth starter Baker and Ziehl. G Taylor faded in the closing laps and finished 4th ahead of J Taylor. J Taylor ran third early, faded to 8th and then battled back to 5th. Dennison was sixth ahead of Sunday addition Scott Box, Tanner, Williams and R Smith. With the conflicting events in Cortez, Show Low and Las Cruces, the dirt modifieds had just ten cars on Saturday. Kirtland's Burson won heat 1 over Rick Boelter and Kenny Wheeler. T Treharn was a wire to wire winner in heat 2 over Mark McClarren and Martinez. Burson got his first feature win ahead of T Treharn, Martinez, Wheeler and David Sheffield. The dirt modified count on Sunday grew to 16 cars and was dominated by the Sunday additions. Las Cruces winner Godwin won heat 1 with his Salazar family owned GRT ahead of Cortez $1500 runnerup J J Harpole and C Barnett. Coming off heat and feature wins on the pavement, Reid Sr beat Cortez racers Ron Frazier Jr and Richard Johnson in heat 2. Godwin posted his third straight feature win ahead of C Barnett, Reid Sr, 10th starter Johnson and Frazier. Reid Sr and C Barnett traded second several times. The mini sprints appeared with 14 cars on Sunday night and Randy Smith beat usual Ronnie Smith crewman Jackson Cerkleski in heat 1 with Joe Monteith third. Cerkleski was given his chance to race because R Smith was busy in his full sprint debut weekend. Ortega won heat 2 over Lonnie Saiz and John Massey, then lapped the feature field. Cerkleski was second ahead of Massey, Monteith and Benny Pankey. The hobby stocks were a last minute addition to Saturday night's show and ten appeared. Thomas Hayes won the lone heat race over 8th starter York and Bonesteel. Lee Abers battled back from a spin to get fourth. Bonesteel led the whole feature with York second ahead of Abers, an unidentified #63 and John Cruickshank. Highway 64 Truck and Auto Salvage sponsored the $1000 purse for the mini stocks paying the $250 to win each night. The seven cars that raced on Saturday were all from Aztec and Tillerson won the heat race over Zach Rouse and Zach Hamilton. Tillerson then added the feature win ahead of J Brown, Rouse, Hamilton, Marissa Burson and Dave Whitaker. On Sunday night, four of the Sandia pavement cars joined the fun to produce a 9 car field. Tillerson again won heat 1 over Rouse and M Burson. J Brown beat pavement racers Patricia Gallegos and Melita Waldrop in heat 2. J Brown won the main event ahead of Saturday night winner Tillerson, Rouse, Hamilton and M Burson. The Oliver family that promoted Cortez CO in 2004 is doing Hollywood Hills in 2005, but the Indian Casino ownership was relunctant to produce a season after losing so many dollars on the track in the previous two seasons. No next event has been announced for the first class facility. Summary Saturday Mini Stock Dirt Modified Wingless Sprint Car Sunday Mini Stock Mini Sprint Dirt Modiifed Wingless Sprint Car |
