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Bandit
Nationals, 10.11.08 by Norm Bogan |
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The closing program at Santa Maria Speedway for the 2008 season showcased the Bandit Sprints, which have been a headliner all year at this Central Coast speed plant. Supporting classes tonight were the VRA Pro (under 45) and Senior (over 45) Dwarf Cars and the always popular Mini Stocks. Two of the top Sprint Car pilots for the past several years are currently on the shelf with injuries however the field was filled with capable replacements. Current Bandit Champion, Peter Murphy suffered a back injury about two weeks ago and is sitting out a few races to mend. Perennial challenger, Davey Pombo, recovering from season ending back surgery is now helping out his cousin, Albert Pombo from the sidelines. The sprint car roster was filled with youngsters who are still a couple of years away from high school graduation, but these eager warriors have been racing for about two-thirds of their lives and progressed to this level. Many have already copped a feature victory and most have secured rides in superior equipment and brought along the skills they developed in Quarter Midgets and Micro Midgets. Their biggest adjustment is the driving style from the winged Micros to the traditional Sprints. Keep an eye out for these names as they will be the headliners in the seasons to come. In no particular order are the VanderWeerd twins, Jace and Richard, T.J. Smith, Tyler Schmidt, Jared Little, Justyne Hamblin, Wes Gutierrez and Michael Faccinto. These racers hope to climb the racing ladder to positions of fame and fortune. While some may realize their dream, most will become journeyman drivers, fighting off the attack from the next wave of neophyte racers. Twenty-two sprints cars staged for the evening’s action with Jace VanderWeerd setting the standard in qualifying at 13.680 on the well prepared third-mile racing surface. The four heat race winners were T.J Smith, “Hollywood” Danny Faria, Jayson May and the local veteran, Mike Knopf. In the meantime, the Mini Stocks put on a good battle and Tate Loftus took the checkers for the feature, but failed tech inspection and the win was given to second place Mike Pilatti. The VRA Dwarf Cars saw Kent Benson capture the Senior Main Event and Jeff Shelton was victorious in the Pro Main event. With the preliminaries over and we were down to the last feature of the night and of the Santa Maria 2008 season. Twenty-two Bandit Sprinters were set to attack the third mile clay for forty laps of all out racing. Pole starter, Mike Knopf experienced mechanical problems on the first lap and pulled to the infield. Then Albert Pombo, Kevin Barnes and Rusty Carlile diced with each other, before Rusty decided to stay in the lead, opening up a comfortable gap. Wes Gutierrez staged a charge from his fourth row starting spot and soon over came all but Carlile, whom he dogged for several laps, jumping down low, then high. With Rusty protecting the bottom on lap 12, Wes got a good drive on the top to overtake Carlile and assume the point. On lap 19, T.J. Smith while scrambling to get to the front-runners on the main straightaway, got over a wheel of Bill Jones’ car and took a nasty flip. T.J. emerged from the car as it came to rest at the edge of the infield and appeared to be fine. Gutierrez restarted in front and soon approached lapped traffic with a sizable pad between himself, Carlile and Richard VanderWeerd, who joined the mix. Late race incidents on laps 34, 37 & 38 caused the front-runners to be bunched up, but Gutierrez drove away from his pursuers. VanderWeerd was able to make a last lap pass and claimed second at the checkers. Wes Gutierrez, who recently turned seventeen, scored his second feature win in a row adding to his victory at Kings Speedway last week. The evening was an entertaining event for the fans. They were treated to good racing in all three divisions on a well prepared track, which stayed in prime condition throughout the evening. A number of the racers in all the divisions acknowledged close, clean racing and were complimentary to their fellow competitors. The fans were rewarded with some outstanding racing, regardless of their personal choice of competition that evening. Racers and fans alike departed the venue with fond memories of the season finale. All are posturing for the 2009 Opener, next April. |
