|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| June's Southwest Report by June Lowitz |
|
|
|
Canyon Raceway-ASCA Sprints |
|
April 30, 2005... I thought I'd start
off with how surprised I was to find myself going to Canyon
Raceway. I wasn't sure if I was going to go because of the
last time I was there. It was extremely dusty and dry and
the bugs were out in full force. I figured what the heck,
I've heard they've been making improvements so why not give the
place a second chance. One of my new racing buddies, Mike
came by and off we went up north to Canyon.
Now the drive to the
track is about an hour and thankfully is mostly all freeway.
Major thanks to the Bullet, Bob Ream, Jr., his EXCELLENT
directions on how to get there. I found the turnoff to the
track and we bounced our way down the road dodging the potholes.
I was a bit surprised to find that it was $15 to get in, but I
thought to myself, OK ASCA is worth it. I went in with
Mike and instead of sitting where I normally do down towards
turn one, I thought I'd give turn four a try.
We got there just as hot laps had ended and racing was going to start. I was very excited as I noticed the track seemed really wet and they were running on time. The heat races were awesome. I was so happy for Jeff Henry in the #12 ABC Motorsports car getting a win in heat #1. Jeff celebrated his birthday on 4/29 so I'm sure that was a great present for him. He sure had a big smile on his face when I saw him walk by when they interviewed the heat race winners. Matt Rossi, Jeremy Sherman and Mike Leslie were other heat race winners. Each winner really seemed to have to earn their win as the track was very racy for the heat races.
I have to make
mention of my buddy Bruce St. James. Everyone knows I'm a
big fan of Bruce's but all that aside, he really has improved as
a driver. Bruce was very aggressive in his heat race and
only allowed one car to pass him. That car was the #77 of
Jeremy Sherman. Bruce held of Jeremy for a couple of laps,
but Jeremy being Jeremy was able to get around him. I
haven't seen Bruce look this good and I have to give him a big
high 5 for the great driving job.
Mike Martin had some
tough luck Saturday night. Mike came out in heat one and
I'm not sure what happened, but he flipped and ended up in the
fence coming out of turn 4. Thankfully, Mike was not hurt,
and the car wasn't hurt either. Mike attempted to fire off
to finish the heat but was unable to get it started. He
found that there was a loose wire in the ignition system and got
it fixed to come out in the semi. Mike didn't hold back as
he ended up winning the semi and made the transfer into the Main
event.
I was really looking
forward to the main event. Knowing that the ASCA sets up
their mains by points, I knew Bruce was going to be on the pole
or in the front row. Thomas Ogle had the pole with Bruce
outside. Thomas got the lead from Bruce but there was a
quick red for Mike Leslie. I don't really know what
happened but Mike Leslie went for what looked like a wild ride.
Again, thankfully he wasn't hurt, just the car was. On the
restart, Bruce was able to overtake Thomas, but unfortunately
for Bruce a yellow came out. On the next restart Bruce
again overtook Ogle, but the yellow was thrown again. The
next restart Ogle kept the lead but Bruce was right behind him.
Bruce was doing the huggy pole thing and Ogle was doing the rim
riding. Something happened to Bruce and he ended up
stopped in the middle of turns one and two. Come to find
out he hit the tire that Canyon uses to mark the infield with
and that messed up his front end. Bruce's night was over,
but the race wasn't. Chuck Buckman driving the #91az car
had a great night. He was leading the race and holding off
Jeremy and Jeff Henry until coming out of turn 4 Jeremy got
around Chuck. Chuck didn't let Jeremy out of his sight and
he kept trying to get around him but it just wasn't his night to
win. Jeremy won with Buckman second and the birthday boy
Jeff Henry third. It was an exciting race to watch as
there was a lot of passing.
I have to say that
the powers that be at Canyon really tried to keep the dust to a
minimum. It didn't start to get dusty until the sprint car
main which was a great change from the last time I was there.
In my opinion, Canyon is really trying to make things better for
the fans. I just hope they can try and do something about
all the bugs. However, it didn't get as bad as it did the
last time I was there. I'm glad I gave the track another
chance and since they are attempting to make their track more
fan friendly, I'm going to continue to go back. I know a
lot of people don't like the track, and believe me, I was
amongst those who didn't. Give the track another chance.
You might be pleasantly surprised the way I was. The staff
is very friendly there and you can get some great souvenirs at
the souvenir stand. They also offer a chance to ride along
in one of their stock cars during intermission. The guy
who won that ride sure seemed to enjoy it as he was trying to
get the driver to go faster and faster.
ASCA has really been
putting on some great shows. They've been averaging 28-35
cars per race making for some great racing. Thanks to all
of the car owners and sponsors for making this possible. I
really appreciate it.
I heard about the
USAC/CRA race at Perris this past weekend with Damion Gardner
coming from 23rd to first. Sounds like a great race.
Congrats to Damion and the entire Ron Chaffin team.
Remember to
introduce someone new to the world of sprint car racing.
So far this year, I have brought 3 new people to the track.
I think that we as fans need to show our support for our
favorite division by introducing new people to our world of
racing. Some will love it and some won't. However,
unless they go and watch it, they won't know. Just think,
if we all brought just one new person to the track how much the
attendance would go up. I can honestly say that in the new
people I've brought only one person didn't like it. One of
my friends is now a weekly spectator and the other person comes
once or twice a month. If I can do this so can you.
Take care, have a
good one and I hope to see you in turn 1 at Manzy on Saturday
night. Email me with your thoughts, suggestions or gripes
at
|
