Round three of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals presented by Yuma Insurance was held on Friday night, January 8th at the Cocopah Speedway, once again under sunny skies and warm desert temperatures. While three new winners emerged as a result of the third straight night of competition, one of the big stories of the week so far has been the dominance of Iowa's Eric Knutson as he won his third straight Hobby Stock feature. And most impressive about the win was the way that he earned it, coming from the tenth row in the main event to get the victory.
Other winners, all getting the first victory lane appearance of the year included California's Kevin Johnson in the Sport Mods, Iowa's Blake Adams in the Stock Cars and North Dakota Modified racer Casey (Deuce) Arneson.
Things continue to roll along smoothly for this Winter series as they continue to break records every night in terms of competitors flocking to this "Diamond In The Desert" to race in January. The one night car count record only lasted for twenty four hours as it was broken again on Friday with one hundred and sixty four competitors signing in to race while the individual class record was once again broken in the Modified division as sixty six Modifieds from seventeen states were on hand to race.
A tour of the pits before the races found that as promised, even though he was still and sore, Mitch Mohler Sr would return to Hobby Stock action following a trip to the hospital on opening night after a side slacking trip into the wall on the back chute, the result of a slimy race track that wasn't fully packed in yet when the racing began. and not only did Mohler return, he ran very well, running with the leaders throughout the Hobby Stock main.
It was also noted that extra time was spent rolling in the track for the opening races of the night, which were the Hobby Stock heats after crashes resulted on both the opening two nights of action when the track wasn't ready for racing yet, even though the green flag was dropped. Tonight thoug Hh, eventual winner Eric Knutson was sent to the pits early after he inadvertently rear ended another competitor as the field tip toed around the track during the slippery opening laps(more about that later).
Several crews made some unbelievable repair jobs to get their cars race ready for night three after the toll of racing back to back nights started to show on some of the cars. One driver, Stock Car racer Andrew Burg had the whole front end off his car but was one of the very few that didn't get it fixed in time and sat out the Friday night action.
I also found out the heart breaking story on Alex Stanford, who appeared to have the Modified feature well in hand last night until he suddenly rolled to a halt while holding a commanding lead. It turns out that a minor wire broke on a connection for his MSD box and he lost all power when he lost his "juice." However, I guess it's not a minor issue when it ends up costing a grand in lost revenue.
The race meet is starting to take a toll on the drivers or perhaps some are tired of having to deal with the same issues from some of their competitors but the gloves appear to have come off as the driving in some of the classes started to get a bit rougher on Friday night and tempers appear to be shorter as a number of drivers were venting their feelings toward competitors as the result of several incidents, most that saw other competitors planted into the concrete. Most riled appeared to be the Sport Mod drivers with a couple venting their frustrations toward fellow drivers after collisions that saw contending cars go off on the hook following some aggressive racing by both sides.
The top winner of the week so far has been Knutson and while he has run strong, he has a way of winning that doesn't make him appear that dominate yet he somehow finds his way to victory lane. Friday night the dynamics of the Hobby Stock feature were very exciting as the top two competitors so far in this class, Knutson and Steve Bitting Jr, were starting twentieth and twenty second following problems for both in their heats. Bitting Jr had a flat tire while Knutson had to go to the back as mentioned earlier for getting into another car.
Once the green flag dropped in the Hobby Stock feature, Minnesota's Matt Olson took the early lead and in fact would hold the top spot for the first twelve laps. While he raced on top of the board, Knutson and Bitting were making a charge through the field and by the half way point of the race, Bitting was third with Knutson just one spot behind him.
And just at the halfway point, leader Olson was sent spinning by another competitor in the fight for the lead and he was sent to the back for the restart, which didn't set well with him but he made a fine drive to get back into the top ten before the race was over.
Brandon Bombardo, polished off bumper and all, then took over the lead but he soon had Knutson and Bitting challenging. A late yellow set up a four lap sprint to the finish and on the final green, Knutson dropped to the inside of Bombardo and the race was on. On the final lap Knutson eased into the lead down the back chute and Bombardo's last corner challenge came up short as Eric took his third straight win in the Hobby Stocks. Brett Vanous rounded out the top three with Bitting Jr right behind him.
Bo Partain took the early lead in the Sport Mod feature which saw a lot of close racing during the first half of the event. While Partain maintained the lead, there was a wad of cars close behind him exchanging positions on nearly every corner. A minor slowdown for a flat tire brought out the first yellow and the restart proved problematic as the wad of cars turned into a wad of a wreck in turn three with Partain right in the middle of it. He proved to be the first of several pointing fingers and registering disgust with a fellow competitor as he took a trip on the wrong end of the wrecker to the pits.
Kevin Johnson took over the lead at this point and he then turned the race into a dominating performance by himself as he pulled away from the field with the last half of the race going nonstop. By far the best part of this race was a great battle for second between Shane Paris and Brian Osantowski as they exchanged slide jobs on nearly every corner in a thriller before Osantowski finally claimed the spot for good.
The Modified feature ran off nonstop once close personal friends Tanner Black and Kelsie Foley goThe t together, triggering a multi car mess in turn two just one lap into the race with Stanford having more bad luck as he ended up right in the middle of things and was done for the night.
Arneson then used the outside line to take the lead on the restart and Casey, who likes to pound the cushion, found the track to be perfect for him as he pulled away in what was a dominating performance as he led the rest of the way and with not a yellow to slow things down, he was impossible to beat. Ricky Alvarado drove the wheels off his car but he simply couldn't cut into Arneson's lead and had to settle for second while a solid run by Braxton Yeager yielded the third spot to him.
The Stock Car feature continued to produce the wild body rubbing, tire smoking action that we have seen from this class for three straight nights now. What seemed to be a dominating performance however, was completely changed by a yellow flag.
Kyle Heckman, Thursday night's winner, started on the pole and immediately pulled away to a large sized advantage in the opening laps. However, a yellow changed all that as his large lead evaporated and when he slid up the track, Iowa's Blake Adams was right there to take over the top spot. The rest of the race found Heckman trying his hardest to reclaim the top spot but Adams would give him no openings and while Heckman hung around, there simply was no chance for him to make a move to reclaim the point.
Adams made no mistakes as he drove on for the win with Heckman trailing him closely but having to settle for second while Partain partly eased his anguish from the Sport Mod results by claiming third.
A mention must be made to the driving effort of Grey Ferrando and perhaps even greater work by his crew. Ferrando was one of those drivers "escorted" into the concrete wall by a fellow driver during his heat race and the entire front end on his car was twisted and torn. Somehow though, during the quick turnaround time they managed to get the car fixed and Ferrando drove the wheels off of it during a B Feature, coming from sixteenth to get the last qualifying spot for the main. However, the story doesn't end well as he was one of the first retirees in the main as he dived off the track at the turn one entrance with issues.
A stunning sight, one that was so distinctive to this area that it was even mentioned by the announcer, will be a lasting memory of this night. While the first races were underway a low flying plane was making "dive bomb" runs over the vegetable fields that border the track. Seems that is southern Arizona they even crop dust the fields in January, a sight that would only be possible in an area like this. At home right now, a plane might be doing dive bomb runs also but they would much more likely be looking for someone buried in the snow!
Night number four of the Winter Nationals will continue on Saturday night and the odds of a rainout look to be minimal so the aggreged drivers from this night will get a shot at redemption on Saturday.
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