After a three night break for the drivers, teams, track officials and fans to rest and rejuvenate themselves and their equipment, the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw came back in full force on Thursday night, January 26th as the second and final series of races would be held at the big three eighth mile oval here at the Pinal County Fairgrounds East of Casa Grande Arizona.
The biggest change for the second set of races that commenced on Thursday night for the final three night stand is that the IMCA Modified division will start their three night run on this night, replacing the IMCA Sport Mods who if so desired, could run with the Limited Mods this weekend with no changes necessary to their cars.
Three first time winners would grace victory lane on Thursday night, with only Late Model driver Ricky Weiss having won an event previously this week. New winners would include Lane Johnson in the Limited Mods, Jordan Zillmer in the Stock Cars and for the first appearance of the Modified class this week, Chaz Baca Jr would end up in victory lane.
Over half the field of entrants on Thursday night would be making their first appearance of the series with fifty seven drivers on hand that had not raced previously during the week. This was topped by an impressive field of forty seven Modifieds that showed up for the opening night of three straight runs by this class, obviously the most popular among the classes racing here weekly in the desert. One hundred and eight cars in all were on top in the four classes on this night.
The track had a different, and improved to me, look for the second half of this series. A Blue Grass festival in being held at the Fairgrounds here this weekend so the back side pit parking off turns three and four is needed to park campers and motor homes for folks attending that event. So a new pit area was created just to the West of the current pit area in an area that was flat, hard but not being used for any purpose. New entrance roads to this pit area were graded in since the last race here on Sunday and some temporary lights erected. Frankly, I thought this new area worked far better than the old pits did, were closer to the rest of the action and just made a lot more sense and hopefully they continue to juse this area for pitting long after this event is over. Scouring the pits now included a lot less long distance walking for me too.
Weiss became the most successful driver of the series when he won his third Late Model feature of the week and became the man to beat in this class. Dave Mass, recovering from an work related injury that saw him lose half of his thumb and delayed his racing in this series, would take the early in the car driving by Kenny Schrader last week. Weiss would quickly move up from the second row to pass Rob Mayea and move into second as the yellow flew when Clayton Stuckey suffered a flat tire.
Following the restart, Weiss would get up on the cushion and blast past Mass to take over the lead on lap three and that would be it as Ricky would lead the rest of the way. There was, however, an excellent battle for second that would rage for most of the race after another yellow, triggered when second running Mass slowed on the back chute.
Josh Zimpel would inherit second for the restart but would be challenged by Don Shaw, driving his own car after Billy Moyer headed back home. Shaw would work his way up from fourteenth to challenge Zimpel for second and they would trade that spot back and forth before Shaw finally gained control for certain at the halfway point of the race.
The last eighteen laps of the event ran off nonstop and while Weiss got into some traffic, his lead would then shrink as both Shaw and Zimpel would close in on him. Ricky was a bit reluctant to try and pass a couple of the slower cars and this allowed Shaw to close to within a few car lengths of the leader. With just a few laps to go, Ricky was able to get past and put two slower cars between himself and Shaw and that would guarantee victory. Zimpel would continue his string of strong runs here with his fourth top five finish of the week, while Cole Schill would also have another strong run with a fifth place finish, his second best of the week.
The Stock Car class would see another new winner as after a pair of repeat winners, North Dakota's Jordan Zillmer would visit victory lane for the first time this week. He would start on the pole and dominate the nonstop twenty lap main event as he let no one challenge his lead throughout the contest.
Zillmer would pull away from a great three car battle for second that would last throughout the race and not be determined until the final lap. Ryan Satter moved up from the second row to drive past Trent Grager for that spot but Grager would fight back and they would duel for the sport and be joined by two time winner Zach Madrid in that battle.
As Zillmer drove away from the field, lap after lap Grager would try to nose under Satter for second while Madrid rode just behind them both, looking for an opening. Finally, Madrid was able to squeeze past Grager for third and tail gate Satter.
As Zillmer drove home unchallenged, the battle for second was a three car wad off the last corner with Satter holding off Madrid by inches and Grager trying to race under both of them but settling for fourth. Jerry Flippo came from twelfth to complete the top five.
The Limited Mods were happy to get rid of the full blown Mods from their class starting this night as the Mods had their own class for the second half of the weekend. In response, three drivers from the upper Midwest battled it out for the win with South Dakota's Lane Johnson holding off a stiff challenge from Lucas Rodin for the win.
Jake Smith had the pole and would lead the first three laps with both Lane Johnson and Rodin closing in on him. On lap four, Johnson would surprise Smith with a bold outside move and would power past Smith on the banking to take over the lead. He would build up a slight advantage as Rodin took several laps to get past Smith for second but then he began to cut into the lead of Johnson. Rodin has consistently been the fastest driver in this class all week and he began to whittle away on the lead of Johnson.
The race was stopped just at the halfway point by a red flag as the first flip of the series was recorded. Wyoming's Cory Wilder caught the big berm in turn four and it tipped him over on his roof. He was OK as the car suffered moderate damage. The two car battle for the lead would continue with Rodin closing in again on Johnson as Lane ran the cushion and Rodin dug off the inside lane.
With just three laps to go, Rodin nosed ahead for the lead but Johnson fought back to lead the next lap as the leaders raced side by side. On the final tour they came up on a slower car that was running the lower line on the track and Rodin had to give way as his lane was blocked. This gave Johnson just the edge he needed and the third generation driver would win by a scant car length over Rodin. Smith would drive home for third, leading Preston Carr and Jamie Davis. Johnson would be the fifth different winner in five nights of Limited Modified action.
The IMCA Mods would complete the evening and twenty six of them would take the green for their twenty five lap main event. Paul Guglielmoni would surprise Tim Ward, getting the jump on Ward and leading the first three laps. However, Ward, who fell back to third, quickly drove to the bottom of the track and would make a low side pass on Guglielmoni to take over the lead.
And once in front, he would pull out to a big advantage, building his lead to nearly a full straightaway. A good battle for second would see Grey Ferrando battling with Zach Madrid, a charging Chaz Baca Jr, Shane Sabraski and Devin Fouquette. By the halfway point of the race, Ward seemed untouchable while the battle for second raged.
The first yellow of the race was triggered on lap sixteen for a car over the edge of the track and this would then set off a series of yellows, three more in total for spins and other cars over the banking of the track.
Each restart would see Baca Jr, now past Ferrando into second, challenge Ward who would then pull away. However, this changed dramatically following a lap eighteen yellow when Ward didn't take off down the back chute as the green came back out. As he came back around the track, the problem was clear as he had a flat right rear tire and he limped off the track as the race continued.
This handed the lead over to Baca Jr and while Sabraski, on a charge of his own, would make things tight at the end, Baca Jr would drive on for the win. Sabraski, who crossed the line second, would later fail technical inspection and would be disqualified from the race with Ferrando elevated to second. North Dakota drivers Spencer Wilson and Shawn Strand would then finish third and fourth with Wilson coming from twenty sixth on the grid as Braxton Yeager would complete the top five.
It was another unseasonably cold night in the desert with a biting wind making things even more uncomfortable but track officials hustled things along as best they could with all racing complete before 9 pm. The same four class program will be held on Friday night with Speed Sport TV covering the action.
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