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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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END OF THE YEAR WARMUP
by Norm Bogan |
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As the season winds down for the Irwindale regulars, USAC appeared
with their Western Sprint series and Ford Focus Midgets to tune up
for Turkey Night.
Tonight’s faire was a little crowded as Irwindale Speedway
plans to go dark next weekend in honor of the final competition at
Mesa Marin Raceway. It
was a class move by Jim Williams, Bob De Fazio and the I.S. staff to
allow racers, fans, officials and track staff to make one last visit
to the Bakersfield oval, where so many spent their formative years,
before Irwindale Speedway was created. Tonight, six Bandolero cars ran a preliminary feature along with
the Legends final competition for 2005 with twenty-seven entries.
This was the point finale for the Super Stock sporting a
nineteen-car field. Joining
this group were twenty-five Jasper Engines West Coast Pro Trucks and
thirty Dodge Super Trucks. Twenty-two
Ford Focus Midgets and eighteen Western Sprints from the USAC
contingent rounded out the field. All groups used the European style of qualifying, with a portion
of each class running Hot Laps together, while being electronically
recorded and the fastest lap being their qualifying time. As the evening’s agenda got underway, the show began with two
eight-lap heat races for the Sprint Cars, which saw Michael Lewis
and Kody Swanson claim victories.
This was followed by a thirty-five lap Legends Main Event,
won by former Late Model driver, Austin Grabowski followed by
fourteen-year-old Connor Cantrell in second. Next on the agenda was the Ford Focus thirty-five lap feature.
The just turned seventeen, Jace Meier assumed the lead on lap
26 after advancing from sixth starting position to slip by Chris
Veach and hold him off for the win.
Audra Sasselli moved from seventh to third to keep her
challenge for the championship alive going into the finale on Turkey
Night. She trails fifth
place finisher, Alex Harris by six points.
Another young lady, Lindsey Kernohan scored her first top
five finish in fourth tonight. Ron Peterson captured the fifty-lap Dodge Super Truck Main Event
followed by former Western Grand National Champ and Craftsman Truck
campaigner, Bill Sedgwick. Cory
Fancy scored fifth with enough points to collect this year’s
championship.
Michael Lewis made a clean sweep tonight with quick time, a heat
race win and collected the feature victory.
Point Leader, Kody Swanson, another talented seventeen year
old pilot had second quick time, won a heat race and finished second
to Lewis. Swanson will
carry a substantial point lead into the Turkey Night shootout.
Michael plans to make a trip to Charlotte and knock on doors
trying to lock up a stock car ride.
Lewis advanced from sixth to first on the initial lap of
forty and stretched to a straightaway lead over second place in a
race that went from green to checker without any delays.
Swanson, son of former Super Modified champ, Mike Swanson,
will be back in high school, completing his senior year.
Keep an eye on Kody, as he is very smooth and fast.
There was another clean sweep in the Super Stock ranks as Bryan
Harrell had quick time, and won the forty-lap feature from the pole.
Ken Brown finished second and Jimmy Sloan scored a third,
accumulating enough points to claim the 2005 championship.
After a short celebration spraying the crew with champagne,
Sloan fell to one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, who readily
accepted in Victory Circle. The final event of a full evening of racing was the fifty-lap
West Coast Pro Truck Main Event.
Defending champion, Chris Johnson parlayed seven wins in
thirteen races to repeat as the Champ! This feature saw the front four trucks run nose to tail and
side-by-side for most of the race without incident. For fans that enjoy close racing, it couldn’t get much
better. Left on the plate for the balance of the year is the Toyota
All-Star Event; pitting the top fifteen in points from regional
NASCAR series against each other for an end of year shootout with
expanded purse money. The
final event is a Thanksgiving tradition, “Turkey Night”,
offering a serving of Ford Focus, Western Sprints and the main
course, USAC National Midgets.
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