Friday night, January 27th would see event number six for the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande Arizona take place. It would be an interesting night of racing with several subplots to add to the action. First time winners would include Stock Car driver Jerry Flippo who would inherit the lead when the dominant driver in the division, Zach Madrid, would go flying straight off turn two while leading the event. Tim Ward would also be a first time winner in the IMCA Modifieds after he was denied victory on Friday night when a tire when flat while he was running away with the race.
Ricky Weiss continued hid dominating performances in the Late Model class as the event's biggest winner added to his totals with his fourth win in six nights and Lucas Rodin became the first repeat winner in the Limited Modified class when he crossed the line second in the feature but was elevated to the winner's circle when apparent winner Preston Carr failed technical inspection.
A big crowd was on hand for the Friday night show as the second weekend of the series began and the car count continues to increase with one hundred and twenty one drivers signing in to race for the four class event including a sterling count of fifty six IMCA Mods. Three B Features would be included in the show before the fields could be set for the four main events of the night along with heat races for all classes with the Modifieds requiring six heats. The two IMCA divisions would use the draw/redraw format for their show while the other two divisions would qualify using passing points.
An update on last night's IMCA Mod feature that would see runner up Shane Sabraski disqualified revealed that his car was seven pounds light on the scale following the feature event and that proved to be his down fall.
The Stock Car feature would see everyone chasing two time winners Madrid and Trent Grager for feature win honors and with Madrid drawing the outside pole for the start, it seemed like feature win number three might well be the result of this race. However, nothing is certain in auto racing and while Zach would take the initial lead, there would be a surprise lurking ahead for him and us.
Madrid would indeed take the early lead with Jerry Flippo moving into second and Chris McCurdy Sr third. Madrid would have a nice early lead when the unthinkable happened as when he charged into turns one and two, his car simply went straight off the end of the track, shooting over the banking and out of the lead. While he limped back to the pits, his race was over and Flippo took over the top spot.
As Flippo continued to lead, he was challenged by several drivers including Ryan Satter, Scott Miller and finally Grager for the top spot. Grager moved into second at the halfway point of the race and with the second half of the contest going without a single yellow, Grager would have to track down Flippo under racing conditions.
And while Grager pushed as hard as he could, he simply couldn't cut into the lead of Flippo who would go on to record his first win of the series in only his second night out. Grager would finish a solid second and would be chases home by Satter, Kevin Roberts and Miller. Flippo would also qualify for the most spectacular driver's suit worn as his fire suit is designed to look like a pair of breeches with a bow tie and suspenders and is certainly quite unique.
The Late Models would be going thirty five laps on Friday with more money on line for the drivers but the result would be the same as it has been for four of the six nights so far as Ricky Weiss would again come home the winner. Clayton Stuckey would start on the pole and lead the first seven laps of the feature as the Louisiana driver would fight off Weiss in the early going.
However, Weiss would find an opening as he moved to the high side of the track in turn four and would blow past the leader to take over the point and the last twenty seven laps of the main would be his. Weiss would move out to a comfortable advantage while the battle for second would heat up considerably. Stuckey would try to hold off the competition as both Jason Strand and Cody Laney would move in on him with those two taking over the second and third places by the halfway point of the race.
A long period of green flag racing would then ensue with Weiss catching the back of the pack and finding some difficulty in getting by some of the slower cars. The lead began to shrink considerably with Strand and Laney catching him. The leaders jockeyed with the slower cars and Strand was able to pull up beside Weiss and he went for the win in turn one. However, he got just a bit high in the corner, got out of the groove just enough to spin his tires and fell back to fourth as both Laney and Josh Zimpel would get past him.
Ricky would still have to deal with the slower cars in the late laps but he carefully maneuvered around them and kept Laney behind him as he drove on to win number four this week. For Laney, who started fifth, it was a great second place run in the Pete Van Iderstine car which he plans to bring to the Midwest along with his Modified and run there all Summer. Zimpel too had another great run as he quietly earned his fifth top five finish of the week. Strand would hold of for fourth ahead of Stuckey's best run of the week also.
The Limited Modified class has been remarkably balanced so far with five different winners in five nights of racing. This would end on Friday but the results would still be surprising, even after the checkered flag was waved. Preston Carr would start on the pole and the story line of the race would show that he led all twenty five laps to apparently take the win. However, that wasn't exactly what happened.
Carr would be chased in the early going by Canadian Jamie Davis and Jake Smith with both Lane Johnson and Lance Schill also moving up. Climbing his way through the field too was Lucas Rodin who has started twelfth on the grid.
By the halfway point of the race, Carr had a nice lead over Davis and Johnson with Rodin all the way up to fourth. Rodin continued that charge as he worked the low side of the track and following a late race yellow, he would get past Johnson to take over second. The drivers had one last short burst to the finish and while Rodin tried, there would be no stopping Carr from driving to victory lane.
However, there was one force that could prevent victory and that would be the inspection by the tech inspectors. And unfortunately, Carr's vehicle would come up short in the area of its wheelbase and he would have to forfeit his win and the top prize. Rodin would thus inherit the win, his second of the week and fifth top five finish of the week. Davis would end up second while Terry Reilly would get his best run of the week in third and would be trailed by Johnson and Jory Berg.
The Modifieds would wrap up the evening with twenty six cars going twenty five laps in their main event. Zach Madrid, seeking atonement for his Stock Car difficulties, would start on the pole and lead the first few laps with Chaz Baca Jr, last night's winner and Kollin Hibdon close behind. However, the driver to beat would quickly be established as Tim Ward, who would start eighth but waste little time as he drove to the front.
Passing some quick cars early, he drove past Shawn Strand and then Hibdon and Baca Jr as he set his sights on Madrid. Working the low side of the track like no one else seemed capable of, he drove under Madrid and would take the lead on lap eight and that would be the contest. From them on, there was a good battle for second but Ward was gone, eventually opening up nearly a full straightaway over the field with the last fifteen laps of the track going nonstop.
Hibdon would eventually pull into the second place but he had nothing for the winner while Strand made a fine drive in Spencer Wilson's second car to round out the podium finishers. Madrid and Baca Jr would then complete the top five.
The seventh and final round of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw is scheduled for Saturday night with a 5 pm start. All four classes that raced on Friday night will again be in action.
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