Round number four of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande was an afternoon matinee on Sunday afternoon, January 29th. With a 3pm start time, this planning was fortuitous in that we thus avoided the coldest weather so far this week, with sub freezing temperatures forecast for "The Valley of the Sun" for Sunday night as the weather here is just as below average as in much of the rest of the country. However, no snow shoveling or Winter weather driving skills are required here as of yet.
Round number four of the series would produce some wild and crazy action with the Late Model feature standing out as one that saw plenty of things going on during it. And while many specials of this sort find the winners being produced right from the front of the pack, such was not the case on this Sunday afternoon. While Trent Grager would win the Stock Car feature from the front row, the three other winners would start eighth, twelfth and eleventh in their mains, thus showing that yes indeed, passing could be done on this three eighth miler in the desert.
The Late Model feature would prove to be the most action packed and unpredictable as the forty lap event saw five different leaders of the event before Billy Moyer locked down the top spot and fought off his car owner Don Shaw to take the win.
Rob Mayea would get the jump on Cole Schill to lead the first two laps of the race before Schill would drive to the inside of the track and slip past Mayea for the lead, seconds before a spin would trigger the first yellow of the event. The restart would prove to be a disaster for many as Schill would lose control in turn one while heading the field, resulting in a stack up that would collect several cars, including Mayea, two time winner Ricky Weiss and last night's winner Bricen James. All would continue but from deep in the pack.
Arizona veteran Karl Tipton would inherit the lead and he would pace the field for the next four laps before North Dakota driver Jason Strand would blast past him exiting turn four to take over the lead. Meanwhile, Clayton Stuckey and Moyer were quietly and smoothly advancing through the field.
Strand was running good and with three top five finishes in three nights, it looked for all the world that he was poised to take his first win in this series. However, he was running the top side of the track with little margin for error on the slick afternoon oval and on lap fifteen, with a comfortable lead, he would slip over the edge in turn one and drop from the event.
Tipton would then get the lead back and lead through the halfway point of the race with Moyer moving past Stuckey for second while series co-promoter Don Shaw would have advanced up to fourth with Josh Zimpel next in line.
Tipton managed to hold off Moyer until a yellow flew with twenty four laps complete for yet another driver that slipped over the banking as the yellow flag slowdowns continued to mount. On the restart, Moyer gassed up his Longhorn chassis and blasted past Tipton on the high side of the track to take over the lead, a lead he would not relinquish after that point. He still had to hold on through three more yellow flags, including a one lap burst to the checkered after Steve Stultz and Tipton got together on what should have been the final lap.
Moyer would get a good restart on the final attempt to complete the race and would put several car lengths between himself and Shaw as he would drive on for the win. Stuckey would hold on for a fine third place finish ahead of Lance Schill and Zimpel as nineteen of the original starters would still be running at the end. For Moyer it was a historic eight hundred and forty eighth win of his Hall of Fame career and the first win for him in a Mincy event since way back in 2005.
While the Late Model feature would be a long and drawn out event, the Stock Car feature was quite the opposite as only one minor yellow for a spin slowed that event and North Dakota's Trent Grager would win his second straight in the class. Grager would draw the pole on the redraw and would lead from start to finish to take the win. Jordan Zillmer would move into second early and hold that spot until he suddenly slowed and headed for the pits, giving the second spot to two time winner Zach Madrid who had started the race from the eighth spot.
Madrid had plenty of time to catch Grager if he could but on this day, Grager was just the faster car and he maintained and in fact, put distance on Madrid as the final fifteen laps of this race ran green to checkered. Kevin Roberts would come from eleventh to finish in the third spot and lead Ryan Satter, from twelfth, and Jeff Nowak across the line.
The largest purse of the week so far would be on the line for the Limited Modifieds and it would be the "Marion Nightmare", Lucas Rodin who would flex his muscle and make a stirring drive from the sixth row to get the win.
North Dakota's Scott Bintz would get the early lead but on lap three he would be replaced by South Dakota's Lane Johnson as the race leader. Rodin would find the low side of the track to his liking and would gradually march forward into the top five and continue to charge. By lap ten he was up to third as he made passes on both Jamie Davis and Shane Sabraski to move into contention.
Rodin would continue to advance, driving under first Bintz and then on lap thirteen, Johnson for the lead. Also on the move was Jake Smith who has started thirteenth and was also headed to the front. A late yellow would prove to be bad for Johnson, who slipped out of the top five following the late slow down.
Rodin would pull away on the final short run to the checkers with him recording his third top five of the week but first feature win to match his efforts in New Mexico while Smith would complete his charge by racing into second. The top five would be complete with Davis, Bintz and Devin Fouquette, from eleventh, in that order.
Iowa's Joe Docekal has been just one bad wheel that probably cost him a win early this week, from sweeping the competition on the opening week of the Mincy series. On Sunday he drew the number eleven pill but that didn't slow him down at all, as he charged through the field to take the lead on lap six and then drive off into the setting Arizona sun to record his third win of the week.
Andy Clower would take the lead from the pole and lead the opening laps but once Docekal got a head of steam going, there would be no stopping him and he drove through the field like a hot knife through Wisconsin butter.
With the last eighteen laps of this race going nonstop, there would be no catching, much less passing of Docekal from that point on. He would take the win by nearly a full straightaway over the field as Clower fought off some attempts by Matt Sanders to hold on to second. Kyler Reynolds would make a nice charge to get up to fourth with Andy Sole completing the top five.
The Ernie Mincy Winter Thaw has now reached its half way point with four races complete and three to go. The drivers and fans will take Monday and Tuesday off with a scheduled practice session available to everyone on Wednesday. Racing will then resume with three more shows scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, all with 5 pm start times. The biggest change for the coming three events will be that the IMCA Mods will be in action all three nights, as they replace the Sport Mods for the final three shows. Many of the Sport Mods, however, are expected to run with the Limited Mods as they are legal for that class just as they are.
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