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| TENTH WIN OF 2005 PUTS BALDING BACK IN IMCA POINT LEAD by Gary Jacob |
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IMCA Modifieds, Super Stocks, Wingless Spec Sprints, Limited Late Models, American Stocks and Four Bangers |
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Watsonville, CA….July 29.…..Having started the night in a three way tie for the track point lead with 2004 champion Kenny Nott Jr and State of California point leader Garrett Steitz, Tim Balding chased down Nott and grabbed the lead on lap 23 to score a win in the 25 lap IMCA Modified feature at Watsonville Speedway on Friday night. Balding is a runaway point leader in Chowchilla and his win tonight was his 10th of the season between the two dirt tracks. Balding and Nott both wheel Harris Chassis mounts. Joey Golz continued his strong season with a third in front of previous race winner Alex Stanford and Steitz. Balding came out of the night one point in front of Nott and four ahead of Steitz. Dennis Pelphrey took the lead from Bill Hyland on lap 2, but had to fend off a late challenge from Mark Cooper to win the 25 lap NASCAR super stock feature. Cooper was just a half-car back at the checkered flag. The race ran without a caution and Pelphrey shattered the division’s 25 lap track record. Hyland ran third. Forced to battle from the back of the pack to third in the heat action, wingless spec sprint point leader Steve Pemberton got his third win in their 20 lap feature. He started third and had the lead on the opening lap. Craig Smith challenged him, but settled for second two cars behind at the checkered flag. Rob Hammond lost third when he was found with an illegal carburetor in post race tech. That moved improving Ken Fredenburg into third. A hard crash between second place duelers Bobby Scott Jr, Mitch Lettunich and Ken Gregg elevated Jeff Mead to second on lap 7 of the limited late model feature. Mead grabbed the lead from Hyland on the restart and raced to the 20 lap win. Gregg pitted for repairs and stormed back to finish second, just 3 car lengths behind the race winner. Hyland ran third. Reverting back to his early season form that saw him the opening night feature winner, Aaron Hill won the 20 lap American Stock feature. He led the final 18 laps. John Dawson Sr raced for the first time in two seasons and ran second ahead of an improving Lucas Farmer and point leader Sam Kennedy. The only four banger driver to be racing both at Antioch and Watsonville, Lisa Riordan led the final 12 laps to win their 15 lap feature. It was her first Watsonville win. Newcomer Kyle Thorn was second in his debut race ahead of Mike Dalton. Ramie Stone arrived after the heat action to give the IMCA Modifieds a 13 car turnout. Coming off his $1000 win in Santa Maria, Joe Antonetti won the first heat with a quick 15.42 best lap. Balding started sixth and ran second ahead of Golz. Nott won heat 2 from third with a best lap of 15.79 as Todd Hermosillo ran second over Stanford. T J Etchison was a feature scratch and new track regular Ray Mayer from North Fork started on the pole alongside Antonetti. Antonetti raced into the lead over Mayer and Hermosillo. The race was red flagged on lap 2 when Greg Lazarini tangled with Raymond Keldsen Jr. Andy Obertello pitted after he ran off the top of the track and Golz, Stanford and Nott all raced by Hermosillo on lap 5. Nott gained fourth on lap 8 as Balding worked his way from 9th to sixth. Antonetti enjoyed a quarter lap lead in his Harris and second place Mayer pitted with a broken rocker arm before Keldsen stalled for a lap 13 yellow. Antonetti bobbled on the next restart and Nott took the lead only to have the move nullified when Obertello and Lazarini tangled for another yellow. Antonetti stayed in front for lap 14, but broke a driveline and spun off the end of the track on lap 15 with Nott the new leader over Golz, Balding and Stanford. The Balding team had changed engines between hot laps and the heat action. Balding passed Golz for second and chased down leader Nott. Nott had a right rear tire going flat and Balding raced into the lead after a three lap side by side duel with Nott. Some contact racing between the leaders produced a flat right rear tire for winner Balding in the claim area. Balding led the final 3 rounds for the win over Nott, Golz, Stanford, Steitz, Stone and Hermosillo. The super stock field again down with just 9 cars on hand. Pole starter Chris Kulvicki won the lone heat race with a best lap of 17.04. Cooper ran second ahead of Pelphrey. Ray Martin broke in hot laps and Chris Messmer brought his car to the track for Martin to race in the 25 lap feature. Hyland had the pole for the feature and he raced into the lead over Pelphrey and Tony Oliveira. Kulvicki pitted with a flat and Phillip Priddy spun. Paul Meeks was out on lap 3. Cooper took third from Oliveira on lap 5 and second from Hyland on lap 6. Pelphrey had raced into the lead on lap 2. With ten laps to go, Cooper closed to the rear nerf of leader Pelphrey, Dennis responded by turning laps of 17.13 and 16.91 to maintain the top spot. Priddy was out on lap 22 and Pelphrey clicked off a late lap of 16.87 as he won just a half car over Cooper. Hyland ran third ahead of Oliveira, Martin and Steve Peyla. All 9 wingless spec sprints raced in a single heat race and outside front row starter Sal Mannina won with a best lap of 14.85. Pole starter Hammond ran second and Pemberton came from 9th to get third. The Hammond team put together last year’s car and put Dusty Renteria behind the wheel to improve the track car count. The feature had just a two car inversion putting Hammond and Sal Mannina in front of Pemberton and Scott Merrell for the start of their 20 lap feature. Sal Mannina jumped into the lead, but bicycled in turn 1 and nearly flipped as Pemberton raced into the lead over Hammond, Merrell and Smith. Smith was third on lap 2 and he took second from Hammond on lap 4. Fredenburg clipped the front wall on lap 5, but continued in fifth. Smith chased down leader Pemberton and Merrell broke on lap 10. The only caution fell on lap 11 when Steve Mannina stalled. Pemberton got a big jump over Smith on the restart, but Smith again reeled him in. Smith was just two car lengths back at the checkered flag. Hammond was disqualified from third to move Fredenburg into third over Sal Mannina, David Press and Renteria. Seven cars raced in the limited late model heat race with Scott racing a 16.30 best lap as he won from the outside front row in the John Harville car. Gregg ran second ahead of Mead. Scott also had his dirt late model on hand to get some laps before the Dart Heads Western Dirt Late Model Tour race on August 20 and he clicked off a 14.20 best lap. A J Kirkpatrick also hot lapped his dirt late model. The late arriving Messmer and Kulvicki both tagged the limited late model feature. Lettunich and Hyland shared the front row ahead of Oliveira, Mead, Gregg and Scott. Hyland led the first lap and Lettunich lap 2. Joe Lopez Jr and Messmer crashed on lap 2 and Mead made contact with the front fence. Hyland was back in the lead on lap 3 and both Scott and Gregg were putting pressure on second place Lettunich. The three cars came together on the back stretch and the race was over for both Scott and Lettunich. Gregg received more damage when he was rear ended on the front stretch by Oliveira. He pitted and returned at the rear with Kulvicki falling out. Mead took the top spot from Hyland on lap 7 and Gregg grabbed third from Messmer on lap 11. Gregg then went underneath Hyland for second on lap 12. Gregg chased down leader Mead, but could only close to within three cars when the checkered flag fell on lap 20. Hyland got his second third place run of the night ahead of Messmer and Oliveira. 18 American Stocks were divided into two heat races. Hill won the first from sixth with a best lap of 19.34 as Wally Kennedy ran second ahead of Britton Carr. Jimmy Fernandez spun and got hit hard by Rod Herrick. With John Dawson Jr stepping out of the car upset with the track officials, Dawson Sr jumped in and won heat 2 over Les Bowers and S Kennedy with a best lap of 19.66. The 20 lap feature was slowed just a red flag on lap 2 and a single caution on lap 8. The feature lineup was just a four car inversion and W Kennedy led the opening lap over Bowers and Hill. On lap 2, W Kennedy blew a right rear tire and he was limping down the front stretch at a very slow rate of speed when he was rear ended hard by J Fernandez, Bill Sorg and Rich Wilson. Both R Wilson and Tommy Laliberte were making their American Stock debuts after moving up from the four bangers. No one was injuried, but the cars were heavily damaged. Bowers had led lap 2, but it was Hill in front for the final 18 rounds. Bowers settled into second over Dawson and Carr. Farmer took fourth on lap 6 and George Fernandez Jr blew a tire for a lap 8 yellow flag. Dawson and Farmer both got around Bowers on lap 9 and S Kennedy was fourth on lap 10. The two leaders pulled away from the pack and Remy VanHoose fell out late. Dawson tried to make an outside run at leader Hill, but lost ground. Steve Taddei fell out and Hill posted his second win of the season ahead of Dawson, an overheating Farmer, S Kennedy, Bowers, Herrick, Carr, Norm Ayers, R Wilson and Eli Mendoza Jr. There were 13 four bangers, but two trailered before the heat action. Jeff Wilson won heat 1 over Dalton with a best lap of 21.44. Art Sioria spun Thorn out early in heat 2. He then went on to pass everyone and was in front at the checkered flag, but the rough driving penalty dropped him to fourth behind Thorn. Alex Camperud gained that win over Riordan. Riordan thanked her father for spending so much time repairing her car after a recent Antioch crash and she took the lead on lap 4 of the 15 lap feature. Another newcomer, Paul Seafelt, led the first 3 laps. Riordan gained second from Thorn on lap 3. Kyle Camperud slowed with a flat and got hit hard by Sioria, whose race was over. Seafelt was slow to fire on the restart and Riordan was the new leader over Thorn. The front twosome ran away and Seafelt lost third when he ran off the end of the track in turn 2. Riordan went on to win ahead of Thorn, Dalton, J Wilson, A Camperud and Joe Padilla with Seafelt in 7th ahead of Alex Bieser. An open wheel night on August 5 will see the IMCA Modifieds and wingless spec sprints returning to join the Bay Area dwarf cars and the USAC Ford Focus Midgets. Summary Four Banger Heat 1-Jeff Wilson, Mike Dalton, Alex Bieser, Kyle Camperud, Nick Collins. Heat 2-Alex Camperud, Lisa Riordan, Kyle Thorn, Art Sioria, Paul Seafelt. Main-Riordan, Thorn, Dalton, Wilson, A Camperud, Joe Padilla, Seafelt, Bieser, K Camperud, Collins, Sioria. American Stock Heat 1-Aaron Hill, Wally Kennedy, Britton Carr, Don Vesey, Tommy Laliberte. Heat 2-John Dawson Sr, Les Bowers, Sam Kennedy, Lucas Farmer, Norm Ayers. Main-Hill, Dawson, Farmer, S Kennedy, Bowers, Rod Herrick, Carr, Ayers, Rich Wilson, Eli Mendoza Jr, Laliberte, Vesey, George Fernandez Jr, Remy VanHoose, Steve Taddei, W Kennedy, Jimmy Fernandez, Bill Sorg. Limited Late Model Heat-Bobby Scott Jr, Ken Gregg, Jeff Mead, Tony Oliveira, Bill Hyland. Main-Mead, Gregg, Hyland, Chris Messmer, Oliveira, Mitch Lettunich, Chris Kulvicki, Scott, Joe Lopez Jr. Wingless Spec Sprint Heat-Sal Mannina, Rob Hammond, Steve Pemberton, Scott Merrell, Ken Fredenburg. Main-Pemberton, Craig Smith, Fredenburg, Steve Mannina, David Press, Dusty Renteria, Sal Mannina, Merrell. Super Stock Heat-Chris Kulvicki, Mark Cooper, Dennis Pelphrey, Bill Hyland, Phillip Priddy. Main-Pelphrey, Cooper, Hyland, Tony Oliveira, Ray Martin, Steve Peyla, Priddy, Kulvicki, Paul Meeks. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Joe Antonetti, Tim Balding, Joey Golz, Garrett Steitz, Andy Obertello. Heat 2-Kenny Nott Jr, Todd Hermosillo, Alex Stanford, Ray Mayer, Greg Lazarini. Main-Balding, Nott, Golz, Stanford, Steitz, Ramie Stone, Hermosillo, Raymond Keldsen Jr, Obertello, Antonetti, Mayer, Lazarini. |
