Enough with practice, it's time to go racing! And that is what they did on Wednesday night, January 5th at the Cocopah Speedway as the 2022 version of the IMCA.TV Winternationals kicked off at this southern Arizona track that borders hard on both California and Mexico.
Opening night action saw two hundred and fifteen race cars sign in to compete with the headlining Modified main event topped by Nevada racer turned North Dakota resident Kollin HIbdon who led from wire to wire to top the twenty five lap main event. Other winners on opening night included Jim Horesji in the Stock Cars, Josh Most in the Sport Mods, Bobby Horton in the Hobby Stocks and Kaytee Devries in the Sport Compacts. Midwestern visitors did well on opening night with only Horton being a local racer while the rest pulled from Iowa and Minnesota to get the wins. It was reported that there were drivers on hand from eighteen different states to race on opening night and with this series being extended over two weeks and each night a new and separate entity, there will likely be new drivers showing up on each and every night.
It was a long night of racing with thirty seven events playing out and a huge number of laps being put on the race track. They did stop briefly twice to "tickle" the track in the corners with one of the stoppages actually due to the fact that the sun was in the driver's eyes down the back chute as the sun set and they had to wait a few minutes for safety's sake, during which they also took advantage of that time to freshen up the track. However, despite the fact that so many laps were put on the track and lots of racing including the five feature events since the last upkeep of the track, the racing surface remained very racy with drivers using multiple grooves and lots of side by side racing. Despite the fact that the track looked "rubbered up" with squeezing tires, I didn't actually see the track narrow up to one groove, even as the Modifieds completed their main event. It was surprising to me and the sticky surface produced some very fast speeds. Perhaps the recent rains that the Yuma area has received had something to do with this.
Last night they had a speed gun to check speeds down the front chutes on the race cars with the fastest lap last night just over eighty miles per hour but I think tonight's track is much faster.
Early on during the afternoon, I had quite a surprise as I ran into a driver from my home area who has moved out to this part of the country and had dropped out of sight for quite some time. Randy Grams used to live in central Minnesota and raced all over that area and when I saw a #85 blue Sport Mod, the coincidence was just too strong so I had to stop and ask. It seems that Randy moved out to El Paso several years ago and now resides in Tucson but after stopping racing for several years, the urge returned and he is back in the Sport Mods racing at various Arizona tracks as the mood strikes him. He has a number of relatives still racing back in central Minnesota that I see in action from time to time and he still keeps close watch on how the racing is progressing in my area of the country. Randy is driving an older chassis that he is using while trying some tricks learned over the years to keep it competitive as he doesn't want to sink big money into racing as he is mostly retired these days. It was good to run into him and talk about some of the days of past when he used to race.
Jerry Van Sickle, the voice of the Marshalltown and Boone Speedways in Iowa flew out here to call the races along with the local track announcer and they made for a good combo, never missing a beat and catching a long of the "inside" goings on that many announcers just miss. Plus there is no one in the world that out does Jerry for enthusiasm and retelling of trivial information that boggles the mind and astounds.
For the first time this year, passing points were used to set the starting lineups for the main events instead of the draw/redraw format that is as old as the hills. Despite a disagreement with IMCA Western Director Paul Vetter over this issue, I still prefer passing points over the draw/redraw, especially for events that have an many cars as this show offers. Drivers must race their way hard in the heats and pass cars rather than just drawing a lucky number and then trying to block those behind them. But despite your preference on this issue, there can be no doubt that there were some fine heat races to be had on this night, with the Stock Cars seeming to stand out especially. Multiple B Features were required for all classes but the Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts and there were as many cars sitting in the pits come feature time as there were on the track.
With the hour getting late, they took no break and moved directly from the B Features in the main events with the Stock Cars coming out first. The twenty four car starting field saw Bubba Stafford Jr. jump into the early lead with heavy pressure on him. By lap five, Jim Horesji, who started in the second row, drove inside Stafford to take over the lead. Moving in to challenge were Damon Richards and Chanse Hollatz, who had moved up from the fourth row.
A lap ten yellow saw big collision in turn three and eliminated contenders Brock Badger and Jake Nelson. Horesji continued to lead with Richards and Hollatz all over him as they fought for second and also tried to drive around Horesji for the lead. Surprisingly, Horesji, better known as a Sport Mod driver, remained strong in the groove and despite as late yellow that packed the field, no one was able to put a strong challenge on Horesji who drove home for the win. Hollatz and Richards would follow Horesji for the runner up spots.
A late race pass would see Josh Most take the win in the Sport Mods. It was a struggle for the Red Oak Iowa driver though, as he had to fight his way past early leader Andrew Pearce and then hold off a late race challenge from Chris Toth to get the win.
Pearce started on the outside pole and would lead the first twenty one laps of the race with challenges from Phillip Shelby and Most who moved up from the third row, running right up against the wall like Josh likes to do. He is always exciting to watch and he made the far outside work on Wednesday once he got his momentum up.
Following the first yellow on lap eleven, the restart saw a huge pack of racers charge down the back chute where several got together, triggering a big wreck in turn three that saw Matthew Mayo flip. He was OK but it took a bit to separate everyone and get the race restarted.
Pearce continued to lead past the halfway point with Most finally moving past Shelby for second while Toth was on the move after starting ninth. Most had just edged into the lead when the final yellow waved with just four laps left. In fact, his margin at the line on the lap that allowed him to restart in front was just .003! The four lap sprint saw Most a little slowed getting his momentum back up and Toth pulled up beside him to challenge. They were side by side at the white but Toth bobbled coming off turn two and that gave Most the edge that he then held to the finish. Behind Toth, a hard charging Shane Paris finished third.
The Hobby Stock feature saw Jason Duggins take the early lead with Eric Knutson and Zach Tate all over him battling for the lead. The three of them continued to battle when suddenly, local driver Bobby Horton came storming up from the fifth row as he showed great speed. He dropped to the inside line and blew past Duggins to take over the lead. As Horton pulled away, it was left to Knutson and Tate to battle for second and they fought it out for the rest of the race, trading the spot back and forth.
A late yellow set up a four lap finish and while Horton again pulled away as he showed big dominance, the battle for second continued right to the end with Knutson getting the spot.
Quite frankly, the Modified feature had the fewest number of passes of any class with the top five quickly being determined and not much movement after that. Hibdon got the jump on Don Shaw to take the early lead and with their only being one yellow flag and that being on lap two. the top five pulled away from the pack.
With this being the race with the longest green flag run, lapped traffic was an issue in this race but leader Hibdon, with that being his only worry, he handled it well and kept Shaw comfortably behind him. On the last lap, Shaw got hung up with slower cars and he barely edged out Tanner Black to hold on to the second spot.
Sport Compacts wrapped up the night and just as she often does in her native western Iowa tracks, Kaytee Devries grabbed the initial lead and would hold it all the way to get the win. The "Lady Eagle" winner started off her season on a strong note and even a one lap sprint to the finish couldn't spoil her night as he led Waylon Hale and Kevin Reuter across the line for the win.
With the late hour, victory lane ceremonies were postponed until the final checkered waved which was well after Midnight. I would say that the only "downer" of the night was the length of the show which while it started within just a couple minutes of the 4 pm advertised time, turned into an over eight hour program. Certainly, with so many cars and events, you knew that it would be a long evening but somehow they must shorten up the event some. I think the laps for the heats and B Features were excessive for a big track like this and the one spin rule for the heats works much better if the starter holds the yellow just a bit longer instead of being so quick on the trigger. There were plenty of them too as the roll back, which I'm very glad they had, was on the move almost constantly all night as many crews will be burning the late night oil as they put their cars back together.
The jets were back flying over the speedway once again on Wednesday as they went through their maneuvers, much like the side entertainment we see in Vegas and Tucson and for the cold weather fans , I would like to point out that I was in a T shirt only for the first green flag, however here on the desert when the sun sets, the heavy clothing still must go on.
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