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FRIDAY NIGHT:
Thirty-nine IMCA Modifieds presented themselves at Ocean Speedway on Friday, October 2nd. Their quest was two nights of racing with two complete shows and an elevated purse. Teams that ran regular programs at many of the tracks throughout Northern and Central California were on hand to vie for the spoils.
There were four nine-car heats, with the top three finishers going to the feature event, The balance of the field would compete in one of the two “B” Mains, where the top five finishers in each Semi would tag the field for a total of twenty-two starters. Heat race winners were Jeff Mead, Randy McDaniel, Kellen Chadwick and Michael Dalton. The two “B” Main winners were Randy Brown and Paul Stone.
On the first lap of the feature, Cody Burke suffered a malady going into turn three and collected Chadwick and Ryan McDaniel. Chadwick went straight off three and hit the K-rail head-on. None of the drivers were hurt, but Kellen’s frame looked like a spoon with the front tipped up from the impact.
A couple of other tangles ensued during the event with several cars retiring, but the show enjoyed some long runs and one car brought notice as Tim Balding was making a charge through the field. Methodically, he picked off car after car and made a daring move in turn two, slicing between two cars side-by-side and squirting out front.
Eventually, Balding caught up to leader Jerry Movrich and soon dove under Jerry in turn four, beating him to the line to take the point. In the meantime, Paul Stone had closed up on Movrich from his seventh row starting position and slipped by to second. At the checkers, it was Balding, Stone and Movrich.
The companion 4-Banger show was all Matt Sotomayer. He won his heat, the Dash and feature. It was a hot night for the Sotomayer Family, as Mom claimed the 50/50 spoils.
A number of drivers from both classes acknowledged the track preparation crew, saying the surface was tacky and fast all night. Saturday will present the second thirty of the Shootout.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Thirty-three Modifieds were available for the Saturday action, including Kellen Chadwick, bringing his own #83 car to replace the #7 that was badly damaged on the first lap of last night’s feature. 4-Banger entries grew to twenty-five.
Heat race victories were tallied by Ryan McDaniel, Kenny Nott, Nick DeCarlo and Tim Balding, who came back to claim the Modified Dash. Michael Dalton and Danny Lauer scored wins in the two “B” Mains.
Paul Stone claimed the feature with his patented late lap charge to the front, overtaking Randy Brown and Austin Burke, who was impressive moving to the lead early and dicing for many laps with Brown for the point. Fred Ryland was victorious in the 4-Banger feature, putting on a great drive for thirty laps.
It was another beautiful autumn day and evening. The fans were treated to some challenging racing in both classes again tonight as the track changed during the evening with teams adjusting throughout the night.
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