Night number three of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals at the Central Arizona Raceway at Eleven Mile Corner near Casa Grande saw some dominating performances made by winning drivers. Dylan Thornton, Cameron Starry and Bud Martini all led from start to finish to win their feature races while Zach Olmstead was just a single lap away from continuing his sweep of Hobby Stock action when the win was stolen from him by Austin Jahnz with a perfectly executed slider on the final circuit.
Car counts for the event continued to remain strong with two hundred and seventeen drivers, plus the Mod Lites, signing in to race on Friday. In fact, the car counts in the Hobby Stock, Stock Car and Sport Mod classes were the highest of the week so far with fifteen drivers making their first runs of the week. The race teams are doing tremendous work returning crashed and rolled cars to the track to race while for the first time this week we see drivers like Zane DeVilbiss, Mike Petersilie and Wyatt Maxwell going to either back up rides or borrowed rides to continue racing.
To clarify some information from the Thursday night show, apparent fourth place finisher Ethan Braaksma was disqualified for losing a muffler during the race, a malady that also hit a couple of competitors in Modified action during the Wild West Shootout. Ethan told he that he saw it fall off and to the credit of the tech inspectors, they are doing their job and being consistent about the enforcement of the rule.
The Mike Wedelstadt team, that is supplying the car that Tom Berry Jr is racing this week, did not lose a motor during the Thursday night show. A fitting failed that allowed the oil to leak out of the motor, causing the big smoke that ended his night. They believe that the motor wasn't damaged but will find out when the racing starts. As it turned out later, everything was fine with Berry Jr. racing from eighteenth to sixth in the main event.
I must say it is amazing just how intolerant many race drivers are. Thursday night's track was indeed overwatered, leading to a choppy and "elbows up" track but despite having been served up a fine track for every other show, a number of the drivers were whining like they had been racing in a plowed field all week! Well, that one night hiccup was cured on Friday with the track being back on point again, as it has been for much of the last three weekends of racing.
Among the strong performances by drivers this opening week of racing, Thornton's has stood head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd, taking all three of the Modified feature races presented so far and only being challenged during the Thursday night show.
Total domination was again the order on Friday as Dylan started on the outside pole, grabbed the immediate lead and then drove away from the field. A yellow was triggered before a lap could be completed when Texas driver Jared Maupin, starting on the outside of the second row, went head on hard into the first turn concrete, slowing the action.
A second attempt saw Thornton again power away from the field with Braaksma moving into second. Chaz Baca Jr. and Kollin Hibdon were both on the move from the fourth and fifth rows respectively and by the halfway point of the race, had moved into third and fourth.
A lap fourteen yellow saw Tate Johnson, having his best run with a top five going, roll to a halt and be done for the contest and on the green, while Thornton again pulled away, both Baca Jr and Hibdon were able to get past Braaksma for position. They would finish in that order with Bryson Yeager cracking the top five at the end.
Only five drivers failed to finish the contest and all were on the lead lap at the finish with just the two yellows to slow the action.
While Thornton has been very fast for all three shows run so far, it is only fair to note that he has also been incredibly lucky when it has come to starting positions. With nearly one hundred Modified drivers in the pits, starting positions for qualifying races and features are incredibly important and in that regard, Thornton has been one lucky driver. In six races run so far, counting heats and features, he has only had to gain five positions in total to claim six wins and has started on the front row for five of the six races, with only the Thursday night feature not the case and in that race, he started third! It will be interesting to see just how fast he is when he has to come from mid pack in an event, if and when that happens this week.
Cameron Starry started on the outside pole and led the entire distance to win the Stock Car feature race and make it his second straight victory after also winning on Thursday night. Early on he was challenged by Shelby Williams driving a team car with the Texans running first and second after Williams got past Mike Vondrak for the spot.
The race was slowed three times in the first six laps including a big pileup in tricky turn one and a Braden Richards wall pounding but then the last fourteen laps ran off green to checkers. Vandrak and Williams had a nice battle for second, swapping the spot a couple times before Vandrak settled in at the halfway point.
Bo Partain moved up to third and that is how they would run the rest of the race with Starry holding off a couple of mild challenges from Vondrak. Chaz Baca Jr rounded out the top five with his second straight top five finish of the evening.
The Hobby Stocks again ran third in the running order on Friday with some familiar participants beating on each other in the early going. However, Zach Olmstead got the jump on Joel Magee to lead the first lap as he tried to get away from the madness going on behind him. Tyler Thompson made a strong move as he got past Magee to take second in the early going.
They would run in that order for the first half of the contest with Austin Jahnz, who started seventh, up to fourth at the crossed flags. A yellow with five laps to go for a spinner slowed the action and bad luck struck Thompson under the yellow as his car died on the back chute and needed a tow to the pits. This moved Jahnz, who had gotten past Magee, up to second when the final sprint took place.
Olmstead continued to lead but Jahnz remained close as the leaders rode the wall in the final few laps. However, Olmstead, who seemed to be in control, suddenly and surprisingly "cooked " the first turn, going into and over the berm and with his pause, Jahnz drove under him to take over the lead just as the white flag flew.
To prove the point that you just never know what's going to happen, with Olmstead seemingly in full control, suddenly there was Jahnz to collect the checkers as the winner with Olmstead several car lengths behind in second. Magee finished third while local driver Charles McDaniel III was next in line while Morgan Olmstead came from twenty fifth to round out the top five.
Bud Martini just rolled into town from Minnesota yesterday but it took him little time to thaw out his equipment and put a spanking on the Sport Mod crew. Martini, who does have a record of success at this track in recent years, added to that as he started on the pole for the feature, drove away in the early going and led the rest of the field far back in his wake in what turned out to be a nonstop main event. Cole Suckow moved into second early but had nothing for the leader.
The top five drivers lined up early and spaced themselves out, with the midpoint running order of the event being carried all the way to the checkers. However, no one had anything for Martini, who built up a lead that was nearly a full straightaway over the rest of the pack. Suckow would finish second with Danny Wagner, Danny Concelman and Tyler Frye completing the top five.
Rain showers skirted the Pinal County Fairgrounds for much of the racing program and while they brought a chilling wind and falling temperatures, they did not hamper the racing program which was the quickest one run to date this week.
Racing will resume on Saturday with another full program of IMCA racing.
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