Night number two of the Winter Nationals for the IMCA cars was held on Friday night, January 10th at the Cocopah Speedway South of Yuma Arizona. And for the second straight night, while the sun shown brightly all day, once again as soon as the sun set, the temperature dropped and most of the fans were bundled up like it was a Midwestern opening night. But at least the sun had shown and with the wind much less by evening and the program moving quite a bit smoother than it had on opening night, it was not near as cold out by the time the last checkered flag flew.
For the crews in the pits, there was not the time to even consider the weather as opening night had been a rough one for a lot of the teams and there was some wild activity taking place as teams tried to get their cars back on the track for racing action after suffering a variety of maladies on opening night.
Among those that I witnessed was a motor change by California Modified racer Jerry Flippo and Stock Car driver Leslie Gill. Gill didn't even get the chance to race his Stock on Thursday night after blowing a motor on practice night but they secured another motor in Lubbock Texas, had it transported to the track and lashed it in their Stock Car so they were ready to pull double duty as they also were running a Mod. Others that were hustling just to get their cars ready and on the track as heat races were called to staging included Regan Tafoya, John and J.C. Parmeley, Javier Navarro and Ty Rogers.
Several drivers made their first appearance of the week including New Mexico Modified driver Dillon Hill who last week was running an open Modified at Vado and now was debuting an IMCA car with his Super Man design on it.
Car counts were remarkably similar to opening night racing with the exact same number of Modifieds drawing a number while the Sport Mods was up slightly with an infusion of new drivers from California and both the Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks were down slightly. One car that won't be action for sure the rest of the race meet is the Stock Car of Race Fisher. This car was sitting in the pits and I'm sure they are still trying to figure out how to even get it on a trailer. Involved in the wild two car wreck last night, the back half of the car is folded up like a cheap lawn chair and it won't be back on any race track anytime soon. With the smaller car count in the Stock Cars and a couple of more grinders taking place Friday night, track officials may have to make an emergency phone call and rustle up some more cars for next weekend so they have enough for a full show.
One driver that was missing on Friday night was Thursday night winner Ricky Thornton Jr who opted to attend the practice session at Arizona Speedway where he will get to run a Late Model for a six night stand that begins on Saturday at the Mesa area track so this class was wide open for the taking on Friday night.
A B Feature was needed for the Sport Mods for the first time along with a couple for the Mods while the other two classes qualified on the draw/redraw format for their main events. The track seemed just a bit better on Friday night with the groove being wider early and more passing taking place in the early going than on Thursday night. By the end of the night however, the surface did start to take a bit of rubber which made the Modified feature a bit dicey for those front runners trying to work their way through traffic. While the track was different the head starter was not, and it must be frustrating for those drivers that spin or other wise stop on the track briefly that while they are trying to get their cars refired, he throws the yellow so quickly that they are almost doomed to be sent to the pits for any heat race irregularities, particularly when this big three eighth oval provides ample time for spinners to fire up and go.
The Hobby Stocks were up first for their main event with all seventeen that were on the grounds taking the green flag. After Nathan Deragon took the lead briefly, it was Minnesota driver Tim Gonska who drove around him to take the top spot. Once in front, Gonska fought off challenges from both Josh Cordova and then Eric Knutson to take the win. Knutson made a late charge and closed to the rear bumper of Gonska but he chose to drive a clean race and rode the rear bumper of Gonska rather than boot him over like some would have done. Four yellows slowed this race but the last ten laps ran off nonstop. The "Alaska Squirrel" by way of North Dakota, Brad King and Scott Tenney would complete the top five.
The Stock Car honors went North across the border as Brendan Labatte scored a popular win. Chanse Hollatz was the early leader but Labatte drove around him to take over the top spot and then powered away from the field. The race took a decided turn early when Thursday night winner Troy Jerovetz got turned on the second lap and had to go to the back of the pack for the restart.
While Labatte pulled away from the field with the last nineteen laps going green, Jerovetz gradually worked his way back up through the field while settling for fourth at the finish. Gene Henrie, Steffan Carey and Kevin Roberts also finished in the top five.
For the second straight night the Sport Mods over tried the patience of the Race Director and after six yellows, their main event was cut by three laps and finished under a green, white and checkered procedure. Things started out with a bang as contender Tyler Inman was turned into the wall on the front chute and was out of the event early. Miles Morris, who started on the pole, built up a big lead early as the first nine laps were run off nonstop after the first yellow. He built up nearly a full straightaway lead on the field, but then it started to rain yellow flags and getting laps in was a challenge.
Meanwhile, Cody Thompson, who started seventh, was using the frequent slow downs to gradually work his way up through the field and by the time the race reached its midpoint, he was up to second. On the green, he drove around Morris to take over the lead and that was it as he pulled away in what ended up being a seventeen lap event. Morris slipped up the track in the late going and Manny Baldiviez snuck past him for second. Rogers and David Pitt completed the top five.
Last up was the twenty five lap, twenty five car Modified feature. After a two lap side by side battle with Braxton Yeager, Chaz Baca took over the lead and that was the show as he put on a dominating performance to take the win and earn a grand for his run.
He pulled away from the field during an extended period of twenty green flag laps, building up nearly a full chute on the field until ge hit lapped traffic. Then things got dicey as his pace was slowed and Yeager and Tom Berry were both able to close up on him.
However, Baca showed great patience, going when the opportunity to pass was there but not risking anything and he soon found his margin built back up as Yeager and Berry battled hard for second, weaving through the slower cars. It all blew up on Berry though, as he pushed too hard in turn four and spun with only three laps to go and he then called it a night.
The final sprint saw Baca pull away again on a clean track and he drove home for the win with Yeager pulling in a strong run to secure second. Veteran Marlyn Seidler had another strong run in his Vanderbilt car and finished third, with Lance Mari and Bobby Hogge IV completing the top five.
The show went a lot smoother than opening night with not nearly as much time consuming track prep needed and the program was completed a full hour sooner than on Thursday night. The crowd was also quite a bit bigger than for opening night but that seems only logical given that no one had to get up and go to work on Saturday morning where as the predicted late night on Thursday surely kept a few from making the trip out. There were no repeat winners from Thursday night and it appears that the balance will make that hard to happen, particularly in the classes with more cars entered.
No comments:
Post a Comment