Over one hundred and thirty drivers signed in for night number three of the opening round of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw Saturday night, January 25th at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande and it was Zach Johnson who took home the biggest prize when he topped the thirty lap Late Model feature. Other winners on third straight night of racing for the Mincy Than included Tom Berry Jr. in the Modifieds, Jess Brekke in the Limited Mods, Shelby Williams in the Stock Cars, Ryan Peery in the Sport Mods and Max Nelson in the Super Stocks.
Johnson had the pole position and he took the early lead after fighting off stiff challenges from both Clayton Stuckey and Ricky Weiss before he settled into the lead spot. As he continued to hold down the point, Stuckey and Weiss had an excellent battle of their own for second with Weiss prevailing by the halfway point of the race.
Lapped traffic became a consideration as the race neared its halfway point as Johnson worked his way through a considerable amount of slower traffic and Weiss began to take advantage as he closed the lead up considerably on Johnson. Zach had a couple of tail end cars that were racing for position, side by side and this cause him considerable difficulty, which Weiss took advantage of to pull to the Minnesota driver's rear bumper.
Going into turn three, Johnson attempted to make a move around the slower cars but he got too high and slid up the banking and Weiss was right there to take over the lead. Johnson, however, caught a monstrously large break as when they came to the line to complete that lap, the yellow flag had been displayed as Matt Gilbertson had blown a tire and was slowly trying to clear the track, causing the yellow to be waved.
This saved Johnson, who went back up front into the lead for the restart. Back luck struck Karl Tipton who was running a strong top five race when he spun in turn one and the yellow light came back on and Tipton's night was done.
Johnson retook the lead once again and opened up some distance on the pack as Stuckey surprised Weiss on the restart by grabbing the second spot back again. Johnson had opened up some distance on the field once the green was again displayed and despite Stuckey closing up some at the end, Johnson successfully negotiated a few slower cars and drove home for the win with room to spare. Stuckey settled for second ahead of Weiss while opening night winner Dylan Thornton settled for fourth and young Amelia Eisenchenk had a great race to complete the top five . Only two of the starting field failed to make the checkers.
For the "Millennial Farmer" from Lowry Minnesota, it marked his first Late Model win in the last seven years as he has been concentrating on Modified racing for the last number of years. He got to run a Late Model for Don Shaw last year at this event and that piqued his interest in getting back into the class. Interestingly, when he left Minnesota he had no race car and picked up this car at Vic Hill's shop in Tennessee where it had received one of his power plants to match up with the Longhorn Chassis that Mike Marlar had previously raced. Practice laps on Wednesday night were the first time that he had sat behind the wheel of the car and Saturday night was just his third night of racing the car.
Tom Berry Jr. got his first Modified victory of the Mincy Thaw series when he led from start to finish to take the twenty lap main. This was a two car race from start to finish as Kollin Hibdon chased Berry Jr. for the entire event, coming quite close on several occasions but never being able to make the winning move.
An early yellow with just two laps complete saw Beau Speicher slow in heavy traffic and Andrew Peckham launched over him when he ran out of racing room. Both cars were eliminated. Berry Jr. would continue to lead with Hibdon close behind. Tyson Blood was on the move and worked his way into the third spot by the halfway point of the race with Tate Johnson and Chaz Baca moving in behind them.
The race took a dramatic turn just three laps later when Johnson, running a strong fourth and in the lead group, suddenly blew a motor racing down the front chute. His car dropped copious amounts of fluid right in the racing groove and Troy Morris III, close behind, hit the fluid and slammed hard into the wall. Other drivers were slipping and sliding, spinning and dodging the mess as the front chute was wild with activity. A lengthy clean up period was needed and both Johnson and Morris III were done.
The seven lap finish of the race saw Berry Jr. pick up the pace and Hibdon wasn't able to get close enough to perhaps try a slide job as Berry Jr. drove on for the win. Blood got a solid third place finish with the running order behind him scrambled due to the incident. Ian Whisler and Logan Drake were able to complete the top five.
The Limited Modified feature would see the third different winner in three nights of racing with the largest field of cars in this division so far on hand Saturday. Jake Smith, who had won the previous night, sat on the pole after a dominating run in his heat race but it was Jess Brekke that got the jump on Smith to take the early lead. Smith began his chase of Brekke that would continue through the course of the contest.
A lone yellow slowed the action with six laps complete for a minor spin with the field quickly getting back to work. Tyler Johnson, out of the Sport Mod ranks, rode the high side as he moved into third but his bold line would back fire when he caught the wall and that slowed his effort.
By the halfway point, Brekke still had Smith closely following as former winner Lucas Rodin moved into third. Both of them would try their hardest to catch up to the high flying North Dakota driver but Brekke was up to the challenge on Saturday, maintaining his lead with a strong performance to take the win. Smith and Rodin would follow with Travis Saurer powering up to fourth driving one of Scott Bintz's cars and James Trantina finished up the top five.
The Stock Car numbers were up some on Saturday after an exhausting two weeks previous for that class but Shelby Williams continued on his hot streak as he won for the second time this week, driving around Kaden Woodie to grab the lead and eventually the win.
Woodie took the early lead with Mike Albertsen moving into second as Williams settled in early in the third spot. However, Williams was running at a hot pace and was able to power around Woodie to take over the lead with a move past both leaders. Jason Rogers, back in his own car on Saturday, was running a high risk line right up against the outside wall but he was making it work as he roared into second and threatened Williams until he clipped the wall in turn one and fell back to fourth.
Williams had control and drove on for the win, with Woodie and Rogers next in line. Albertsen would settle for fourth with track promoter Brad Whitfield rounding out the top five.
Ryan Peery took the win in the Sport Mod main as he controlled the top spot throughout the contest, which was a long one with five yellows slowing this race as spins were a hallmark of this contest.
Peery started out strong, taking the early lead while there was quite the scramble for position behind him, something that held throughout the race. While Peery was mostly in the clear, the positions behind him were jumbled with several scrums shaking up the running order.
Page Herrera was able to establish himself in second and drove his hardest trying to keep up with Peery with Noah Speicher moving into third by the halfway point. Bud Martini and Kaden Woodie were battling for top five spots and on lap twelve they would get together in turn three with both being eliminated from the contest. And just as it looked like things were settled, Speicher rolled to a halt while running third with just three laps to go.
Peery continued to maintain control and drove on for the win with Herrera pushing his hardest but settling for second. Jake Kierstad, close to victory earlier this week, came up late to get third ahead of Eric Winemiller, up from fourteenth and Aaron Spangler.
The Super Stocks again put on a good show for the fans as they introduced themselves to race fans in the desert. Max Nelson got his first win of the week, leading all laps but surviving pressure from three different drivers to do so.
Early on it was James Trantina that chased Nelson but then, following a restart, opening night winner Jordan Henkemeyer put the pressure on Nelson. But by the halfway point, it was defending national champion Dexton Koch who had driven up to second.
They produced a high speed chase over the last few laps of the race with Nelson holding on for the win. Jason Hobbs, with his brand new Dirt Dueller chassis from Les Duellman, had his best run to date as he finished third with Henkemeyer and Matt Sparby completing the top five.
It was the first win in four years for Nelson, who has raced in both the Late Model and Modified classes in recent years before settling into the Super Stocks last year. Interestingly, the three classes brought in this week to run with the three hold over divisions have produced different winners all three nights so far.
After three rounds of the Mincy Thaw, the drivers and crews now get a short break to relax and explore the sights of the desert. Round two of the Mincy begins on Wednesday night, January 29th with a practice night and the final three programs will then take place on January 30th, 31st and February 1st .
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