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May 3, 2008...Bandit Sprint Cars, Mini Stocks, NMRA TQ Midgets and Factory Stocks provided plenty of racing action Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway.
*Justyne Hamblin ended her evening early when she hit the back chute wall in qualifying and flipped one time. That was a letdown for the Hanford driver who placed fifth in the April 19 feature event. Danny Sheridan, of Santa Maria, Peter Murphy, of Clovis, and Albert Pombo, of Fresno, put on a high speed show for race fans in the 30-lap main event. Visalia's Greg Bragg was part of that chase for the win until the mid-point of the 30-lap run before being passed in traffic by Pombo. Sheridan got by Pombo on the 24th circuit and Murphy passed him on lap 25. At the end it was Sheridan, Murphy, Pombo, Visalia's Richard VanderWeerd and Bakersfield's Rusty Carlile in the top-five. Sheridan, Ron Wade, of Bellflower, and Wes Gutierrez, of San Martin, captured 8-lap heats. VanderWeerd established a fast time of 13.992 seconds.
*Mini Stocks were 24 cars strong for their 20-lap main event. Nipomo's Justin Marsh scored his second victory out of two championship events for a perfect record so far in 2008. Jeremy Heroux and Justin Crockett came in second and third to keep the point spread close. Frank Nyback and Walker Irwin, of Santa Maria, were fourth and fifth. Eight-lap heat race wins went to Crockett, Atascadero's Aaron Cervantes and Lompoc's Mike Weigel.
*Kenny Wiley, of Sunland, had problems in hot laps, problems in qualifying but no problems the rest of the night as he handily won a 6-lap heat race and the 25-lap main event for the NMRA TQ Midget division. Bruce Hiroshima, of Camarillo, was second, followed by Chuck West of Clovis. Richard Ortega, Jr., of Camarillo, and Scott Dobson, of Newbury Park, were next in line. Fast time, 15.678 seconds, was set by West and Hiroshima won the second heat race.
*When it was discovered early in the week that a scheduling snafu had inadvertently left the Saturday night date off of the California Lightning Sprint schedule, Factory Stocks were hurriedly plugged in for a non-points run. The Factory Stocks were allowed a rare chance to qualify to attempt to break their track record, set back in 2000. Pete Lethcoe, of Santa Maria, was able to reset the record at 18.846 seconds for an average speed of just under 65 mph. Carpinteria's Theo Van De Sande scored his second consecutive 20-lap feature victory, beating out Santa Maria's Dave Thompson for the win. Santa Maria drivers Kirk Morgan, Glen Sparks and Michael Frazier filled out the top-five. Thompson and Morgan also won 8-lap heat races.
*Next Saturday night Late Model Stocks, D&S Automotive IMCA Modifieds, Factory Stocks and Mini Stocks will take to the 1/3-mile oval. Gates open at 3:00 p.m., with qualifying at 5:15 p.m. and racing at 6:00 p.m. Ticket prices will be $15.00 for adults, $11.00 for seniors (65+), $5.00 for children six to twelve, five and under free. Credit cards are not accepted. The Speedway is located 1/4-mile north of the 101/166 interchange on Hutton Road.
RACE SUMMARIES
Bandit Sprint Cars: Fast Time - Richard VanderWeerd, 13.992. Heat 1 - Ron Wade, Peter Murphy, R. VanderWeerd, Jonathan Logan, John Iturriria, Justyne Hamblin (DNS). Heat 2 - Danny Sheridan, Rusty Carlile, Greg Bragg, Steve DeMott, Rick Eberhardt. Heat 3 - Wes Gutierrez, Jace VanderWeerd, Albert Pombo, Bill Jones, Jared Little. Main Event - Sheridan, Murphy, Pombo, R. VanderWeerd, Carlile, Bragg, Wade, Gutierrez, Iturriria, DeMott, Little, Jones, J. VanderWeerd, Logan, Eberhardt (DNS), Hamblin (DNS).
*Mini Stocks: Heat 1 - Justin Crockett, Frank Nyback, Rob Gilbertson, Bill Jewell, Daylan Coffey, R.J. Shoemaker, Phillip Sewell, Darric Newman. Heat 2 - Aaron Cervantes, Justin Marsh, Matt Sweeney, Chris Larsen, Mike Pezzi, Robby Cervantes, Chuck Weber III, Kenny Smith. Heat 3 - Mike Weigel, Jeremy Heroux, Walker Irwin, Wade Bognuda, Ben Caswell, Greg Noah, Jeff Biggs, Justin Klucker. Main Event - Marsh, Heroux, Crockett, Nyback, Irwin, A. Cervantes, Sweeney, Weigel, Gilbertson, Caswell, Pezzi, Coffey, Biggs, Jewell, Bognuda, Noah, Shoemaker, Smith, Weber, Newman, Sewell, Klucker, Larsen, R. Cervantes.
*NMRA TQ Midgets: Fast Time - Chuck West, 15.678. Heat 1 - Kenny Wiley, West, Scott Niven, Scott Dobson, Ron Ahrendt, Jimmy Dodson. Heat 2 - Bruce Hiroshima, West Evans, Richard Ortega, Jr., Anthony Lopiccolo, Chris Hedge. Main Event - Wiley, Hiroshima, West, Ortega, S. Dobson, Niven, Evans, Ahrendt, Lopiccolo, J. Dodson, Hedge.
*Factory Stocks: Fast Time - Pete Lethcoe, 18.846 (Track Record). Heat 1 - Kirk Morgan, Glen Sparks, Michael Frazier, Lethcoe, Jose Guevara, Brandon Brickey, Sr. Heat 2 - Dave Thompson, Theo Van De Sande, Charlie Scovell, Ray Pezzi, Jim Ford, Bill Spratlin, Tim Correia. Main Event - Van De Sande, Thompson, Morgan, Sparks, Frazier, Scovell, Guevara, Ford, Brickey, Pezzi, Lethcoe, Spratlin, Correia.
POINT STANDINGS
Bandit Sprint Cars: 1. Peter Murphy, 230 2. Jonathan Logan, 185 3. Rusty Carlile, 176 4. Albert Pombo, 173 5. Richard VanderWeerd, 154.
Mini Stocks: 1. Justin Marsh, 101 2. Justin Crockett, 90 3. Jeremy Heroux, 89 4. Frank Nyback, 81 5. Matt Sweeney, 79.
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