The Ernie Mincy Early Thaw moved into night two of its run at the Central Arizona Raceway on Friday night, January 24th with another six division program that drew one hundred and thirty four drivers from throughout the Southwest and Midwest. Largely due to the level of competition in the pits, there were no repeat winners from the opening show on Thursday night with drivers from Louisiana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and California taking the honors.
The headline class for the Mincy is the Late Models as they are brought in for this six night extravaganza with drivers on hand from all parts of the country. However, unlike Thursday night's opener when a remarkably smooth main event was presented with not a single yellow flag and very few quarter panels even ruffled, Friday night's feature was quite the opposite with several cars going off on the hook and more than a few drivers upset.
Things developed quickly in the twenty five lap feature race for the Late Models that saw Clayton Stuckey and Thursday night's winner Dylan Thornton flanking each other in the front row. They went barreling into turn one on the opening lap with Stuckey moving up the track into the path of Thornton. The next thing we saw was Thornton up on two wheels and riding the wall as other drivers tried to take evasive action. Thornton felt he was run out of racing room and he may well have been and after an opening night win in a brand new car, Thornton was left to stew in the infield as the race was restarted.
At the same time, third starting Ricky Weiss stalled in turn three with some kind of rear end mechanical issues that required a wrecker so before one lap was completed, two of the favorites were done for the night.
Stuckey again took the lead on the restart but before a lap could be completed, a large pileup occurred in turn three and this dust up eliminated three more cars plus dinged up several more.
Finally racing would break out and seven laps were run off before a stalled car slowed the action once again. The best battle was for second where Don Shaw and Zach Johnson exchanged the spot with Johnson getting by before Shaw turned up the wick and repositioned himself in second.
By the halfway point of the race, Josh Leonard had moved into fourth, having gotten past Cole Schill for that spot. Shaw and Johnson settled in as second and third and with a period of green flag racing, leader Stuckey had caught up to the back of the field, and he had some issues getting through the traffic. Before long, it was clear that both Shaw and Johnson were catching him as the distance between them started to shrink at a considerable rate.
But then Stuckey was able to work through the traffic and although Shaw pushed as hard as possible, the lead stabilized and Stuckey was able to hold off the challengers by several car lengths as he drove on for the win. The top five stayed the same as they crossed the line but nine of the starting field failed to finish the event.
The Modified feature proved a great way to end up the night of racing as the open wheel drivers did a great job and provided a thrilling finish. In a race that ran off green to checkers, there were three different leaders and the winning pass was executed with just two laps remaining in the contest.
The race started out with a bang as with the dropping of the green flag, front row starters Tate Johnson and Bryson Yeager were joined by second row driver Luke Silber and they drove into the first corner three wide. Somehow they managed to survive that wild start with Johnson securing the lead as Yeager dropped into second behind him. Tom Berry Jr. moved into position behind the top two and began his own challenges to get past both of them.
Johnson continued to carry the top spot through the halfway point of the race but Yeager was all over him with Troy Morris III getting past Berry Jr. for third. And just one lap later, Yeager made a bold move to the outside and was able to drive past Johnson and take over the lead with Johnson slipping back a few more spots as his car started to get very loose.
Leader Yeager caught the back of the pack and he had his difficulties navigating through the slower cars with the field quickly catching him and suddenly, the top seven drivers were lined up bumper to bumper with them trying to decide where to go and how to use traffic to improve their position.
Morris III is a bold driver and he made his move decisively with just two laps to go as he stepped to the outside of Yeager and blew past him coming off turn four to take over the lead. And in the final two laps he extended that advantage as he pulled away to score the win over Yeager, Berry Jr., Ethan Braaksma and Chaz Baca as only two cars failed to go the distance.
One of the most successful drivers since January racing has come to Central Arizona Raceway and other Southwestern tracks has been Lucas Rodin. The North Dakota driver has won a number of special events in January and he added to that total on Friday as he led from start to finish to top the Limited Modified main event.
He started on the pole and took an immediate lead in what would be a nonstop main event. As he pulled away, the battle was for second where James Trantina was trying to hold off Jake Smith, the winner last night. As Rodin maintained his strong pace, Smith was all over Trantina for second with James finding his car getting looser and looser in the corners.
Just past the halfway point of the race, Smith was finally able to move by and take over second but he had much ground to make up on Rodin. Jake pushed hard and narrowed up the lead, but was never able to offer a serious challenge as Rodin rode home for his eighth special event win here at CAR. Trantina held on for third with young Payce Herrera being the most successful of those drivers attempting to race in two classes as he finished fourth ahead of Jess Brekke.
The Sport Mods would join their faster cousins, the Modifieds, with a late race battle and ultimate pass for the lead with just q few laps to go also. In this case, it was a pair of Minnesota drivers that battled it out for the win with Avon's Bud Martini pulling off the big move late for the win.
Jake Kierstad had gotten the jump on Herrera to take the early lead with Martini moving into second following a lap five restart when he passed Herrera. Travis Peery, last night's winner, Kaden Woodie and Joe Docekal were all right in the running as the lead group was tight.
This race was tough on patience, as the yellow flew an even high six times for spins, stalls and a couple of jingles that left the leaders packed together tightly. Through all the restarts, Kierstad continued to lead with Martini challenging him at every turn.
Following a lap eleven multi car tangle in turn four, Martini made his move on the restart, bolding pulling out of line and making a strong drive through turn four that allowed him to pull past Kierstad and take over the lead. And once in front, Bud would pull away from the pack.
There was one more yellow when while battling for third, Woodie and Peery would come together with Peery spinning out of contention and setting up a two lap sprint to the finish. However, Martini had the field covered and he pulled away to win the feature in his ten year old built by the Martini brothers.
Kierstad would come home a disappointing second after having led so many laps with Woodie, Herrera and Docekal trailing.
The Stock Cars have been strangely absent this week after running in big numbers here for the last two weeks. However, the short field didn't bother "Wahoo" Albertsen as he led from start to finish to claim the win.
He got the jump on Shelby Williams as they raced start to finish in first and second in a race stopped only once by a yellow. Don Earven drove home for the third place with Woodie and promoter Brad Whitfield next in line.
Defending WISSOTA Super Stock national champion Dexton Koch led from start to finish in another nonstop main to take the win for these upper Midwestern based cars. Koch, who is working on a deal to drive Late Models in 2025 when he gets back to Minnesota, broke out his title winning car at the last minute for a trip to Arizona and made it pay with a strong effort. Jordan Henkemeyer, last night's winner, chased Koch for fifteen laps but simply couldn't catch him and settled for second. Max Nelson finished third ahead of Jason Hobbs and Trantina, who changed a motor this morning after blowing one up in winning a heat race last night.
The first round of the Mincy will conclude with another full show of racing beginning at 5 pm Mountain time on Saturday before everyone takes a few days off and the final round begins again next Thursday.
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