Santa Maria, CA - May 11, 2002... J.B. Dewar/Southwest Bandit Series
non-winged 360 sprint cars had their first run of the season at Santa Maria
Speedway Saturday night. In a night of racing that ran much too long (the
45-minute clock that sets a time limit on main events ran out for the first
time since its inception) Davey Pombo, of Kerman, came from his second row
starting position to pass leader Aaron Altaffer, of Visalia, on lap 26. The
race was checker flagged on lap 28 of 30, while under yellow, when the clock
reached zero. Gene Manhire, of Fresno, took over the Series point lead with
his third place finish. Jeff Fiscus, of Los Osos, and Wade Griest, of Arroyo
Grande, were fourth and fifth. Pombo coupled his feature victory with an 8-lap
heat win and fast time of 15.235 seconds to score a sweep for the night.
Manhire and Altaffer also won heats.
After setting fast time of 15.928 seconds and winning an
8-lap heat race, Santa Maria's Rick Coffey looked like he would pick up his
first 30-lap Late Model Stock feature victory of the season. That possibility
evaporated on lap 13 when his Camaro went through a rut in turn two and quit
running. A couple of visits to the pits brought Coffey back to a fourth place
finish behind two-time winner Steve Drake, of San Luis Obispo; Devin
Crockett, of Arroyo Grande; and Jerry Stewart of Bakersfield. Craig Gardner,
of Paso Robles, was fifth in the feature and Donnie Hampl, of Atascadero, won
the other heat race.
Santa Marians Scotty Preast and point leader Thad
Bennett battled for the victory in the 20-lap Factory Stock main event. Preast
took the lead for good on lap 19, after leading four laps early in the run.
Third through fifth were: Dan Herlihy, Arroyo Grande; Gary Rayburn, Sr.,
Arroyo Grande; and Tim Breshears, Santa Maria. Eight-lap heat wins were taken
by Herlihy and John Acosta of Santa Maria.
Mini Stocks showed up with another large field, led by
Brad Smith, of Lompoc, who bacame the first multiple winner of the season with
his victory in the 20-lap "A" main event. Point leader Darrin Davis,
of Atascadero, was the runner-up. Scott Fowler, of Santa Maria; Mike Weigel,
of Lompoc; and Chris Claborn, of Santa Maria; completed the top-five. Weigel,
Nipomo's Bill Pinette and Smith took 8-lap heats and Anthony Melin, of Arroyo
Grande, snared the 10-lap "B" main.
Next Saturday night the winged 410 sprints of the
Budweiser Golden State Challenge return to the 1/3-mile oval for their second,
and final, visit of 2002. Late Model Stocks will join the winged
warriors.
Gates will open at four with qualifying scheduled for
six and racing at seven. The Speedway is 1/4-mile north of the 101/166
interchange on Hutton Road. Their web address is SantaMariaSpeedway.com.
RACE SUMMARIES
J.B. Dewar/Southwest Bandit Series Sprint Cars:
Heat 1 - Davey Pombo, Richard Harvey, Jr., Greg Keegan, Wade Griest, Davey
Knott, Gary Rayburn, Jr., Darren Simas.
Heat 2 - Gene Manhire, A.J. Burgin, Jeff Fiscus, Buck Cox, Joey Layman, Steve
DeMott, Jason Yount.
Heat 3 - Aaron Altaffer, Dick Stevens, Jimmy Thompson, Sherman May, John
Jewett, Raymond Knight.
Main Event - Pombo, Altaffer, Manhire, Fiscus, Griest, Harvey, Knott, Layman,
Stevens, May, Simas, Keegan, Knight, Yount, Cox, Burgin, Rayburn, DeMott,
Thompson.
Century 21 Filer Realtors Late Model Stocks:
Heat 1 - Rick Coffey, Doug Jeffers, Steve Drake, Devin Crockett, Tom
Johnson, Tim Esmay, Jerry Stewart, Craig Gardner.
Heat 2 - Donnie Hampl, Phil Barrow, Vance Beltran, Pete Van Iderstine, Casey
Johnson, Mike Riccardi, Brian Wirtz, Jimbo Clark.
Main Event - Drake, Crockett, Stewart, Coffey, Gardner, T. Johnson, Hampl,
Wirtz,
Riccardi, Esmay, C. Johnson, Beltran, Jeffers, Van Iderstine, Barrow (DNS).
Crossroads Community Church Factory Stocks:
Heat 1 - Dan Herlihy, Scotty Preast, Thad Bennett, Kirk Morgan, John
Dietrich, Peter Murphy, Chad Shaffer.
Heat 2 - John Acosta, Gary Rayburn, Jr., Kelly Pusley, Mike Norlock, Ray
Sayre, Dan Smith, Tim Breshears.
Main Event - Preast, Bennett, Herlihy, Rayburn, Breshears, Morgan, Norlock,
Shaffer, Acosta, Dietrich, Murphy, Pusley, Sayre, Smith.
Mini Stocks:
Heat 1 - Mike Weigel, Jimmy Lauderdale, Scott Fowler, Darrin Davis, Scott
Wolf, Ed Roberts, Ron Spencer, David McMullin.
Heat 2 - Bill Pinette, Ben Caswell, Wayne Nunes, Tom Grzincic, Dennis Gregory,
Anthony Melin, Oswald Heinrich, Jenise Ferrara.
Heat 3 - Brad Smith, Jeremy Heroux, Chris Claborn, Alex Dimitrisevic, Gary
Bunn, Kenny Whitehead, Frank Clyburn.
"B" Main Event - Melin, Spencer, Roberts, Whitehead, Ferrara,
Heinrich, Clyburn.
"A" Main Event - Smith, Davis, Fowler, Weigel, Claborn, Lauderdale,
Melin, Ferrara, Spencer, Grzincic, Wolf, Whitehead, Pinette, Gregory, Roberts,
Nunes, Caswell, Bunn, Dimitrisevic, Heroux.
POINT STANDINGS
CAR# DRIVER - 5/11/02 J.B. Dewar Sprint Cars POINTS
(POINT STANDINGS CONTINGENT ON DRIVERS JOINING SMS SPRINT CAR
DIVISION)
1 3 Davey Pombo 55
2 84 Aaron Altaffer 50
3 4 Gene Manhire 47
4 13 Jeff Fiscus 43
5 6 Richard Harvey, Jr. 42
6 33 Wade Griest 41
7 46 Dick Stevens 39
8 28 Davey Knott 38
9 11 Joey Layman 37
10 8 Sherman May 36
11 10NZ Greg Keegan 35
12 91 Darren Simas 34
13 99K Raymond Knight 32
14 2 A.J. Burgin 32
15 25 Jason Yount 31
16 87 Buck Cox 31
17 98 Gary Rayburn, Jr. 28
18 71 Jimmy Thompson 28
19 35 Steve DeMott 27
20 12 John Jewett 0
CAR# DRIVER - 5/11/02 Dewar/Bandit Series POINTS
1 4 Gene Manhire 179
2 2 A.J. Burgin 175
3 71 Jimmy Thompson 159
4 6 Richard Harvey, Jr. 157
5 84 Aaron Altaffer 157
6 8 Sherman May 152
7 46 Dick Stevens 150
8 10NZ Greg Keegan 147
9 13 Jeff Fiscus 146
10 3 Davey Pombo 127
11 87 Buck Cox 126
12 33 Wade Griest 123
13 68 John Burnett 105
14 21 Scott Nail 105
15 25 Jason Yount 102
16 28 Davey Knott 101
17 57X Bobby Davis 94
18 9 Dale Cross 82
19 45 Jonathan Logan 59
20 21 Danny Sheridan 49
21 11 Joey Layman 37
22 97 Matt Day 34
23 91 Darren Simas 34
24 75T Tom Stansberry 32
25 99K Raymond Knight 32
26 1X Terry Shank 31
27 6A Bobby Elliott 30
28 98 Gary Rayburn, Jr. 28
29 35 Steve DeMott 27
30 14X Rick Gifford 26
31 27 Tony Domingos 24
32 70 Brian Stansberry 22
CAR# DRIVER - 5/11/02 Late Models POINTS
1 11 Steve Drake 158
2 55 Rick Coffey 144
3 21 Devin Crockett 124
4 20 Craig Gardner 98
5 7 Doug Jeffers 94
6 30 Donnie Hampl 92
7 3c Jimbo Clark 90
8 27 Brian Wirtz 74
9 15 Mike Riccardi 60
10 4S Jerry Stewart 58
11 3 Tom Johnson 54
12 78 Casey Johnson 54
13 29 Phil Barrow 54
14 17 Tim Esmay 48
15 4 Vance Beltran 44
16 25 Steve Vogt 36
17 47 Chet Buckley 20
18 32 Pete Van Iderstine 12
19 87 Doug Powell 10
20 57 Dana Beattie 0
CAR# DRIVER - 5/11/02 Factory Stocks POINTS
1 77 Thad Bennett 190
2 91 Scotty Preast 148
3 81 Gary Rayburn, Sr. 134
4 11 Kelly Pusley 106
5 34 Peter Murphy 102
6 68 Dan Smith 88
7 19 John Dietrich 80
8 47 Tim Breshears 72
9 32 Kirk Morgan 70
10 66 Chad Shaffer 68
11 1 Ray Sayre 60
12 42 John Acosta 56
13 9 Brian Signorelli, Sr. 52
14 91 Robert Mathews 50
15 22 Dan Herlihy 44
16 98 Ben Harper 44
17 1X Mike Norlock 26
18 32 Justin Biely 26
CAR# DRIVER - 5/11/02 Mini Stocks POINTS
1 6 Darrin Davis 162
2 88 Brad Smith 148
3 8 Tom Grzincic 124
4 67 Scott Fowler 116
5 4 Jeremy Heroux 116
6 34 Chris Claborn 108
7 27 Mike Weigel 106
8 18 David McMullin 104
9 41 Jenise Ferrara 102
10 9 Wayne Nunes 86
11 92 Anthony Melin 76
12 63 Scott Wolf 62
13 24 Alex Dimitrijevic 60
14 13 Ron Spencer 58
15 5 Bill Pinette 54
16 44 Ben Caswell 50
17 3 Kenny Whitehead 48
18 02 Ed Roberts 42
19 35 Frank Clyburn 42
20 10 Jimmy Lauderdale 34
21 22 Scott Stephen 26
22 02 Tom Hutchinson 20
23 15 Ryan McNamara 14
24 96 Dennis Gregory 12
25 31 Gary Bunn 12
26 55 Pam Rodriguez 12
27 31 Joel Estrada 10
28 31 John Grabowsky 6
29 3X David Mullet 4
30 75 Jimmy Christianson 4
