The Ernie Mancy Early Thaw Concluded on Saturday night, February 1st at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande. On the warmest day of the event this year and in front of by far the largest crowd, a series high one hundred and thirty eight drivers signed in to wrap up the series with the largest paying events of the week and to crown series point champions.
All six divisions had multiple feature race winners who won the point championships topped by Sport Mod driver Ryan Peery who topped his class on four occasions.
Feature winners on Saturday night included Dylan Thornton in the Late Models, Kollin Hibdon in the Modifieds, Dexton Koch in the Super Stocks, Rob Moseley in the Limited Mods and Peery in the Sport Mods.
The program began with words from track promoter Brad Whitfield who detailed to the crowd what the Mincy family meant to the sport of racing to the state of Arizona and in particular, how Ernie Mincy had worked to develop and strengthen Late Model racing in the state. The very early efforts of Mincy way back in the early 2000's brought Late Model specials in the Winter to the state which continues on today through the efforts of current promoter Whitfield. The daughter of the late Mincy also spoke to the crowd.
With the big field of cars, B Features were needed for both the Limited Mods and Modified classes but some smooth running preliminary events allowed the field to get to feature race action early.
The first feature to take the green was the Limited Mods where twenty six drivers would take the green flag for twenty laps. Lucas Rodin held the pole position and grabbed the early lead over Jerod Klein and Rob Moseley who had quickly moved up from the third row. Moseley and Klein continued their good battle for second while running very close behind leader Rodin.
Following a yellow flag, Moseley nearly snuck by Rodin on the high side of the track but Rodin managed to close him off. After another yellow at the halfway point, the bunched up field again took off and Moseley used his greatest advantage, a quick take off, to get outside of Rodin and edge past him in turn one to take over the lead. Rodin started to slip back in the field, with Jake Smith moving up from his eighth starting spot to take over second and he then tried to slide job Moseley for the lead.
That didn't work however, and he went high, giving the runner up slot to James Trantina III. Moseley withstood one more late yellow and one more attempted slider to drive home the winner. For "Mr. Rob", it was his first win of the series with him running just the second week here. An issue in post race inspection saw Smith elevated to second with a late charge by Adam Bohlman from twelfth saw him get his best finish of the week. Rodin and Travis Saurer completed the top five. Smith and Rodin each won two feature races with the WISSOTA Midwest Mods winning five of the six features and Smith being crowned the point champion.
Dylan Thornton came from the thirteenth starting position to make a late race pass on Tyler Peterson to win the Late Model feature. Peterson grabbed the lead in the race from the get go and led the vast majority of the race until Thornton was able to sneak past him in the late going.
Peterson was challenged early by Ricky Weiss and Austin Kuehl with Thornton gradually moving up through the field. He was up to third by lap twelve when the first yellow flag waved and got by Rob Mayea one lap later for third.
While Thornton was making a move up through the field, Peterson was holding a fairly comfortable advantage. But that went away on lap sixteen when a scramble in turn four sow Lyndon Bolt turned sideways and then topple over on his roof. He was fine but the resulting red flag bunched the field.
Thornton got by Weiss on the restart for second and the battle for the lead was on. Several times Thornton tried to get a run off the top side but each time Peterson would slide up the track and block his path.
Finally, with just six laps to go, Thornton was able to squeeze by and in the clear, he pulled away over the last few laps to to take a resounding victory. The win was his third of the series and he claimed the point title as well. Behind Peterson, Weiss, Mayea and Justin Kay completed the top five. Spec engine cars would win five of six main events.
Troy Morris III was the clear favorite to win the Modified feature. He had already won three main events during the series and was starting on the front row for the twenty lap main event.
And indeed, he took the lead right from the start with Ian Whisler, Luke Silber and Braxton Yeager chasing him in the early going. A lap two spin by promoter Whitfield bunched the field. Whitfield is quite the busy guy. No only does he have all his promoter's responsibilities, he has raced both Stock Cars and Modifieds this week.
Morris III pulled away again on the restart, eventually extending his lead to nearly a full straightaway. On the move was Kollin Hibdon who had started eighth but had moved up to third by the halfway point.
One lap later disaster would strike the leader. Barreling into turn one, he jumped the cushion and hit the wall hard and immediately slowed, triggering the yellow. A quick tire change and Moris III was back on the track, eventually finishing thirteenth.
Whisler inherited the lead but just a lap later Hibdon made a strong move on the low side of the track and drove past Whisler to take over the point and he would extend that advantage over the final five laps.
It was a good night for the Whisler's as Eston would move up to finish third, ahead of Chaz Baca and Bryson Yeager with Braxton right behind him.
Morris III had three wins during the series but his wall banging incident cost him the point title when he was edged out by Hibdon.who had just the single win but consistent finishes.
The non stop Super Stock feature saw Dexton Koch, who dominated the clas s all week, drive off from the outside pole and lead from start to finish for the win. Matt Sparby moved quickly into second and held the position for the rest of the race. Koch would expand his lead to nearly a full straightaway as he glided home for the win. Sparby had his best run of the week to finish second with James Trantina III, Beau Brown and Jon Tribble in the top five. Koch won half the feature races and the points title.
The Stock Car feature went twenty laps nonstop and the driver that had dominated victory lane, Shelby Williams, would visit for the third time this week. He got the jump from the outside pole and controlled the race from start to finish. Kaden Woodie did his best to keep up with the Texas driver but he wouldn't be able to offer any challenges for the lead.
The race ended at just the right time for Williams however, as on the last lap his hood came loose and was pushing up toward his wind screen and making visibility a challenge. He manage to get through the final revolution but he might have been in trouble if he would have had to run that way for any distance.
Behind Woodie, it was Jason Storbakken, Mike Albertsen and Trevor Hidalgo across the line. While Williams won half the feature races, Albertsen's two wins gave him the title when Williams had a couple bad DNF's.
The last race on the card for the evening and last race of the Mincy was the Sport Mod feature. Unfortunately, it was also the most trying feature of the entire series. Plagued by mostly spins, this race had eight yellow flags and tried the patience of most on hand, including the track officials.
It had to have been a tough one for Ryan Peery also. Even though he led all twenty laps, he did have some pretty good competition from Joe Docekal and Payce Herrera who kept close to the leader. And every time there was another restart, he had to be careful to get a good break, as both challengers were ready to pounce. Herrera's run was short circuited by a flat tire but Docekal refused to give up, haunting Peery for the whole race.
But Ryan wouldn't slip up and he drove to his fourth win of the series, plus the point title. A great run was made by Jorddon Braaten who started twenty fifth and moved all the way up to third at the fiish. Dakota Girard and Kaden Woodie finished off the top five.
With the Mincy Thaw now complete, we mark the end of our almost three week invasion of CAR. There are plenty of folks to thank, starting with promoter Brad Whitfield and his entire staff, especially Rowdy Briggs, who under took this gigantic task of running back to back multi week shows and they did a great job of doing so. They over saw racing in ten different classes over the nearly month long series of races but they aren't done yet. Next week they have another show and they feature Sprint Cars!
The changes and upgrades to the track were excellent and everybody approved of the looks of the new CAR. More things are planned for the future and we look forward to seeing those changes come early January 2026. Discussions and planning for the 2026 Ernie Mincy Early Thaw are already under way relative to format, scheduling, sponsorships and classes racing. Look for further announcements as the season progresses.
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