Round number five of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw was held on Friday night, January 31st at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande. Six divisions of racing would be held again on Friday night for the fifth round of this six race mini series at CAR. New winners emerged in two of the six feature races with James Trantina III and Kaden Woodie winning their first mains during the Mincy while repeat winners included Dylan Thornton, Jake Smith, Ryan Peery and Troy Morris III.
One hundred and thirty two drivers signed on to race on Friday, a high water mark for the series so far on what was probably the nicest night for racing so far in the last two weeks.
The pit area was a bee hive of activity before the event with crews scrambling to get cars fixed and ready to race on Friday night. A couple of the worst damaged looking cars from Thursday night action included those of Limited Mod driver Scott Bintz and Late Model driver Don Shaw but hard work by both crews got both cars put back together in time to race on Friday. The Bintz crew even had to weld the frame on their car back together after it was broken from the hard hit sustained during the Chad Ayers flip on Thursday.
Following the norm of the series, heat races for all six divisions produced passing points that were used to line up all six mains. Two classes were required to run B Features on Friday due to the larger car counts but the remarkably smooth qualifying events saw the yellow flag waved only four times during the eighteen preliminary events with the one spin rule certainly helping that situation.
The WISSOTA Super Stock feature saw a couple of Stock Cars added to their program on Friday as they requested to run with the Super Stocks. James Trantina III became the fourth different winner in the class in five nights of racing when he got the jump on pole sitter Dexton Koch to grab the early lead and then held off constant pressure from Koch to record the fifteen lap victory.
This race was completed nonstop and the two leaders pulled away from the field. For the first half of the race as Trantina III motored away, Koch and Jordan Henkemeyer had a good battle for second with them swapping that spot several times but just past the halfway point of the race, Koch would secure it for good and then start to close in on Trantina III.
Dexton was able to close up the distance to a couple car lengths but Trantina III remained in the groove and drove home for the win. Trantina III, who among his race holdings include ownership of Dan Ebert's Super Late Model team and the Granite City Motor Park race track, recovered from his share of early series woes when he lost a motor on opening night and his crew had to change that power plant to get him back on the track for round two of the series.
Henkemeyer would finish third ahead of Montana driver R.C. Geiss and Matt Sparby.
Thornton earned his second Late Model victory of the series, having won on opening night before a wall banging incident on night two slowed his efforts. There were several dramatic and surprising turns during this race, but none involved leader Thornton.
Only one lap was completed before the first incident when contender Ricky Weiss spun in turn one and Tyler Peterson, last night's winner, was launched over the front of Weiss' car. Both cars were able to continue with Weiss heading to the tail of the pack. One lap later, the race was slowed again as Shaw slowed on the back chute.
Finally back on green, the race resumed with Thornton continuing to hold the point but Peterson was on the move. He passed both Denver Nickeson and Laela Eisenschenk to move into second and then started challenging Thornton for the lead. On lap six he threw a slider to take over the top spot but one lap later Thornton returned the favor to regain the lead. Another yellow slowed the field and on the restart, the race took a big turn.
It appeared that Peterson tried to cut the berm just a bit short in his effort to get a big run on the green, the car came around and he spun down the front chute into the infield, triggering yet another yellow flag. Peterson opted to call it a night at this point.
Thornton was then able to put considerable distance on the field while the battle for second was intense as Nickeson moved past Eisenschenk for second with both Chad Olsen and Josh Leonard on the move. Olsen used the outside line to drive into second past the halfway point but was still quite a distance behind the leader when one last yellow so the action with just five laps to go.
Thornton was not about to yield the lead and he pulled away from Olsen on the green and would stretch his advantage over the final few laps to take the win. Eisenschenk and Leonard completed a great battle for third with Laela taking the spot and Rob Mayea moved up to complete the top five.
Smith drove one of the finest races of the series as he came from the fourth row to catch and then pass Rob Moseley to win the Limited Mod feature race. Moseley had just come off a hot streak where he won four of five X Mod feature races during the Wild West Shootout in Vado and with him starting on the pole, he seemed like a very strong candidate to take the win.
Moseley did take the early lead with Lucas Rodin moving into second ahead of Jarod Klein. Smith was flying up through the field quickly though, and he worked his way into third and then set out after the leaders.
After a first lap yellow for a spin, this race ran off green to checkers so Smith had to track other cars down under the green, making his run even more impressive. He caught Rodin by the halfway point of the race and then took off after the leader. He narrowed the gap on each lap, driving very hard into the corners and he soon caught Moseley for the lead.
With another deep run into the corners, he got past the leader with just four laps to go and then proceeded to pull away, giving the New Mexico driver no chance to return the favor. Smith continued to pull away to earn the impressive win over Moseley and Rodin. Klein finished up fourth with Tyler Doell finishing up the top five.
The Stock Car feature proved to be a heart break for Shelby Williams who was in control of the event until he broke with just five laps to go.
Early on, Williams had grabbed the lead from the pole after fighting off Kaden Woodie who then had his own battle with Mike Albertsen before claiming the second spot. The top three pulled away from the pack with them spreading out by a few car lengths between themselves.
Everything looked good for Williams until he suddenly slowed on the front chute and drove into the infield, handing over the lead to a surprised Woodie. While the offending issue appeared to be a drive line problem, for Woodie it was like opening the door as he then drove on to an uncontested win over a charging Jason Storbakken who had passed Albertsen. Casey Murdoch and Todd Heinrich completed the top five. For Woodie, who did win a feature race during the Winter Nationals, it was his first Mincy win.
After a tough two car battle, Ryan Peery was able to fight off all challenges of Bud Martini to take what was a long and somewhat tedious Sport Mod main event. Eric Winemiller was on the pole with Peery outside him but the start was called back repeatedly as the front row couldn't get together for a decent start. Finally, Winemiller was docked a row and the race began with Martini making a bold drive into the first corner and edging past Peery to take the early lead.
The leaders would put on a good show as they diced for the front spot but multiple yellows for spins slowed the action. Martini and Peery traded the lead before Ryan finally grabbed it for good on lap three and while Bud would make a dive for the front spot following every yellow, of which there were six, Peery would fight him off each time and retain the point.
Late in the race, Ryan struggled up on the cushion with turn four giving him fits but he did manage to hold off Martini and claim the win. Payce used a fast car and the yellows to come all the way from fourteenth to finish third as he and Tyler Johnson, along with Aaron Spangler, had a great battle for that spot.
With Troy Morris III and Chaz Baca on the front row for the Modified feature, it was expected to be spectacular and the drivers didn't disappoint. Morris III and Baca both flew for the cushion from the opening green with Morris III beating Baca to the spot. Things got wild early when Spencer Wilson was steered into the wall on the front stretch and somehow, everyone avoided him as he sat dead in the water.
More slide jobs broke out when racing resumed but Morris III weathered the storm provided by Baca and held on to the lead. All the front runners were running a high risk, up against the wall strategy but everyone remained in control as Morris III started to pull away. Baca started to receive a challenge for second from Kollin Hibdon and just past the halfway point, Baca got hung up on the cushion and Hibdon took over second.
After that, the top three were pretty equal and without a mistake by anyone, they would finish in that order. Ian Whisler and Bryson Yeager finished up the top five.
The final leg of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw will be held on Saturday night, February 1st with point champions to be crowned in all six classes. The race is available for viewing on IMCA TV.