Round two of the Wild West Shootout returned to the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway on Wednesday night, January 9th. Without the postponed Sunday race, it fills like it has been an eternity since the last race here and in many ways feels like the series opener all over again. Under partly cloudy skies and cool temperatures, the drivers assembled again for another three division program climaxed by twenty, twenty five and thirty lap features respectively.
Car counts for night two were thirty nine X Mods, forty Mods and forty five Late Models. While the X Mods numbers remain higher for the second race compared to last years rounds, the other two division remain slightly down from last year. Unlike most of the years past, the number of new drivers that showed up to start their rounds for the midweek show was considerably smaller with only six first time racers including just one in both the Late Models and X Mods. Actually, the Russ King prepped Late Model for Big Block Modified ace Mike Maresca has been on hand since last Saturday, waiting for the driver to make an appearance.
Track conditions were again fast but the issue of the bumpy corners still persisted. The first and second turns seem fine while the bumps continue on the other set of corners. They did move around a bit on Wednesday night though with some new ones appearing on the approach to turn four and while they are still there, it appears that the drivers have learned how to avoid them for the most part except for situations when they weren't able to avoid them. Mike Montgomery, who does the track prep for this series, has been working hard to rectify the situation but as they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day" and they continue to spend many hours doing track prep. A practice session slated for Thursday night may help to pound in the track too.
Let's discuss the Late Models first. As it does for most shows of its type, qualifying remains a paramount issue in having a successful night. With the fast cars starting up front in the heats, not putting down a good qualifying effort generally means a long night is ahead. Three of the four Late Model heat races were won right off the pole and of the sixteen available qualifying positions for the feature, only two were "stolen" by drivers not starting in the front two rows of each heat race. Therefore, while the X Mod and Mod heats have been scintillating with much passing and action, the Late Model heats have been high speed contests to get in line and follow each other around the track. While it can be said that the Late Model features have both produced some exciting racing when we have gotten to that point, one can only wonder what kind of action the Late Models could generate if they were allowed to run "mixed" up heats. Of course, this series started out with passing points in all classes back in the Tucson days, but a couple of "whiners" cried out loud enough and backed management into a corner that they were forced to change the rules and now of course, both of the biggest complainers no longer come out to Arizona anyway!
Pierce was again right on point from start to finish on Wednesday to earn his second feature win in a row. He qualified quickest for his heat, won that event and then redrew the outside pole for the main. After letting Chase Junghans get the jump on him for one lap. Pierce flew by for the lead and then led the remaining twenty nine laps in the nonstop contest. Brandon Overton moved into second and gradually reeled in the leader until he was within a couple of car lengths as the laps ran down.
He made a sliding attempt on the final lap but couldn't pull it off in turn one and then was the race as Pierce remained clean on the final circuit and drove home for the win. Amazingly, with the tough competition here, the top five finishing positions cars were the exact same five as on Saturday, although their finishing order was somewhat juggled.
As Pierce pointed out, now he is racing for fifteen grand to win on Friday night, as the bonus money starts to kick in for him if he can get to the three win plateau which only he has a chance at. Scott Bloomquist, a recipient of a wicked "slider" from Overton in the early going, fell back into the pack but then worked his way back up to third at the finish. Bloomquist has been trying to work the bottom groove of the track, along with a few others in an effort to make some passes, but again on Wednesday finally gave up and went to the cushion. I have been hearing from several drivers that the reconfigured corners have picked up the speeds but they are finding that the low groove is so flat that it is hard to pass down there and if everyone lines up along the cushion, it's a fast freight train but a freight train nevertheless.
Cade Dillard continues to impress in his MB Customs car while the stars of last year's show, Ricky Weiss and Don Shaw continue with their struggles. Weiss has been a mid pack finisher both nights while Shaw failed to even make the show on Wednesday.
You knew it wouldn't take Ricky Thornton Jr too long to figure out his new Modified and Wednesday night he made an early race pass on Tyler Peterson and then led the rest of the way for the win. There were numerous yellow flags in the race and that allowed Dustin Strand and Matt Gilbertson chances to catch up but on each green it was Thornton Jr who pulled away as he controlled the action to take the win.
Both Strand and Gilbertson were, however, noteworthy for their performance. Stand dropped a cylinder in his motor and it was making some bad noises and well as smoking heavily the last half of the race but somehow it hung together and he finished second. Earlier, Strand was electrifying the crowd as he came from tenth to second, utilizing a line through the corners that no one else thought to run and making it work very successfully.
Gilbertson proved that he is a master of both open wheel classes. Arriving in Arizona with just his helmet bag and no car, he caught a ride in Lance Schill's back up X Mod for Saturday's show and promptly finished a strong second in it. When Schill wrecked his own car on Saturday, he moved over to the car that Gilbertson had driven on Saturday for tonight's show. But being a man of many resources, he had his Modified trucked down to Arizona for tonight's show and Gilbertson was behind the wheel of that car tonight. Showing his moxie, he turned around and drove that car to a third place finish. The interesting thing is that Gilbertson was driving a WISSOTA legal Modified which means he was probably giving up a hundred horsepower to the open motors but he was still right there to challenge for the win.
A number of contenders didn't last until the checkered flag on Wednesday with Darrell Nelson, Rodney Sanders and Dereck Ramirez all dropping out with mechanical issues. Even worse, Saturday night's winner Casey Arneson, who fought through problems to even make the feature through the B, ended up going for a flip on the back chute after some cars got bottled up in front of him and he was launched into the infield and up and over.
The X Mod field seems remarkably balanced, yet for the second straight night it was South Dakota's Cole Searing who took the win. He came from the third row to challenge early and it probably didn't hurt that challengers Brock Gronwald, Scott Bintz and Schill all dropped out early with various issues. For Schill, it was the second straight race where he hurdled his X Mod into the concrete wall and this car, the one that Gilbertson drove on Saturday, was heavily damaged also. New Mexico's Josh Cain, probably tired that the WISSOTA cars have been stealing all the glory, made a concerted charge from eleventh to second but on an open track, he couldn't keep up with Searing. Jason VandeKamp had a strong run too as he claimed the third position.
Only one more car than half the field completed the X Mod feature as unlike Saturday, there was much damage in both the open wheel classes. Many cars were dealing with major damage and there will be a lot of teams working hard tomorrow to get their cars back on the track for Friday night. In fact, there were three flips on Wednesday night as along with Arneson's wreck, the Mod of Kody Scholpp and the X Mod of Adam Unrau were both involved in flips with much damage to both and the two Canadians were treated rather rudely.
In an effort to speed up the show which is a big consideration for the midweek shows particularly due to neighbor complaints, all the Mods and X Mods were combined into just one B Feature in each class. This proved to be a big mistake as both events were caution plagued which dragged out the length of each but of greater concern, resulted in a high number of torn up cars. One particularly hates to see cars getting wrecked so early in the series which is both expensive and potentially can end a team's participation artificially early.
It was reported that the Wednesday night crowd was the biggest in the event's history which is a positive sign. Certainly there seems to be a lot of fans following the series this year and the fact that the Sunday show was dampened may have caused some people that might normally skip the midweek show to get their racing "fix" tonight.
From now on, things get very serious and perhaps more work than fun as over the course of the coming days, there will be four full shows of racing to be completed in just over forty eight hours. Drivers and crews will be stressed the rest of the way to keep their equipment upright and operational.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Wild West Shootout; Round Two Postponed
Round two of the thirteenth annual Wild West Shootout at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway was postponed on Sunday due to wet grounds. This did not come as a huge surprise to me as it had started raining fairly hard before I called it a night on Saturday night and when I arose on Sunday morning it was still raining fairly steady. It did stop soon after but there were still a few times when it would drip for a few minutes and it remained very overcast and cool as the morning progressed.
I had talked to a track official on Saturday about what the odds of them racing on Sunday were, based on the amount of rain weather experts were stating would fall. He felt that they could race but the potential trouble areas would be the pits, not the track itself.
I'm not sure if it indeed rained more than they had planned for but there was certainly an issue with the pit area and the approaches to the track. We took a spin out to the track after the program had been postponed just to see how things looked and it was a muddy mess. There would have been no way that they could have gotten the cars through the pits and run off any kind of a program. Many of the haulers are currently stuck and won't be going anywhere, even if they wanted to head out.
I'm not a believer in all the "black helicopter" theories, but I'm being to wonder if the Arizona Speedway has some kind of a jinx over it. All the years I attended this event at the U.S.A. Raceway(or whatever name it was going by at the time) in Tucson and we never got rained out a single time. If fact, I remember one night when it was misting but it was so light that they ran the whole show off while it continued to do so. This is the third year for the event at the Arizona Raceway and this is the third time that the rain has already spoiled the action.
However, I was pleased and hopeful when they made their announcement and called it a postponement and not a cancellation as that indicated that they were trying to find an avenue to still hold the race at some point. Later in day they did indeed announce what plan B would be.
They will now hold a doubleheader event next Saturday with full programs in both the afternoon and evening to go along with already scheduled events next Wednesday and Sunday. However, due to time restraints next Saturday, that program will be slightly modified with the X Mods and Mods doing timed hot laps that will set their lineups. In an attempt to speed up the afternoon program, those two classes won't run heat races and B features and will instead run double feature races. This way, both classes will still get to run six nights of racing and the good news for both classes is that everyone will make a feature that afternoon with no one left on the sidelines and all getting to run a main event. While some will not like the fact that those two races will now be started heads up by time, at least there will be a complete number of shows for those two classes rather than perhaps dropping them from the Saturday afternoon event. The Late Models, meanwhile, will run a complete and full program using their normal qualifying procedures. Then, on both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, they will go back to their normal qualifying procedures.
It will make for a hectic time for the racers and their crews with three shows crammed in such a tight time window but that certainly beats the alternative of not getting to race at all. I'm suspecting that part of the reason they chose to run the doubleheader on Saturday was that typically the crowds are considerably larger for the weekend shows as opposed to the midweek shows and after all, the promoters are putting on this event to make themselves a few bucks(hopefully) too. They also stated that it is tough to get their track crews fully manned for midweek shows because of work commitments and that seems reasonable to me also, particularly on the short notice that this schedule change would require. And also the fact that they have moved their practice night from Tuesday to Thursday also tells me that they are afraid that things won't be dried off completely until Wednesday which would make a Tuesday night makeup a mote point.
Typically also there tend to be quite a few new entrants that show for the first time on either Wednesday or Friday night and this change might spur even more of them to come, knowing that they will get to race five of the total number of shows originally scheduled.
I give full credit to the promoters for working with the drivers an making their best attempt to make a tough situation work as smoothly as possible. Drivers pulled a long way out here to race, and they want to run as many times as they can. Fans have traveled a long way for the same reason. The promoters will likely come out better if they get the full number of shows in but this change also creates a number of headaches for them and we should all be pleased that they are willing to go through the work involved to make this all happen.
Now lets just hope for some drier weather, sunny skies and warmer temperatures. Is that too much to ask for?
I had talked to a track official on Saturday about what the odds of them racing on Sunday were, based on the amount of rain weather experts were stating would fall. He felt that they could race but the potential trouble areas would be the pits, not the track itself.
I'm not sure if it indeed rained more than they had planned for but there was certainly an issue with the pit area and the approaches to the track. We took a spin out to the track after the program had been postponed just to see how things looked and it was a muddy mess. There would have been no way that they could have gotten the cars through the pits and run off any kind of a program. Many of the haulers are currently stuck and won't be going anywhere, even if they wanted to head out.
I'm not a believer in all the "black helicopter" theories, but I'm being to wonder if the Arizona Speedway has some kind of a jinx over it. All the years I attended this event at the U.S.A. Raceway(or whatever name it was going by at the time) in Tucson and we never got rained out a single time. If fact, I remember one night when it was misting but it was so light that they ran the whole show off while it continued to do so. This is the third year for the event at the Arizona Raceway and this is the third time that the rain has already spoiled the action.
However, I was pleased and hopeful when they made their announcement and called it a postponement and not a cancellation as that indicated that they were trying to find an avenue to still hold the race at some point. Later in day they did indeed announce what plan B would be.
They will now hold a doubleheader event next Saturday with full programs in both the afternoon and evening to go along with already scheduled events next Wednesday and Sunday. However, due to time restraints next Saturday, that program will be slightly modified with the X Mods and Mods doing timed hot laps that will set their lineups. In an attempt to speed up the afternoon program, those two classes won't run heat races and B features and will instead run double feature races. This way, both classes will still get to run six nights of racing and the good news for both classes is that everyone will make a feature that afternoon with no one left on the sidelines and all getting to run a main event. While some will not like the fact that those two races will now be started heads up by time, at least there will be a complete number of shows for those two classes rather than perhaps dropping them from the Saturday afternoon event. The Late Models, meanwhile, will run a complete and full program using their normal qualifying procedures. Then, on both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, they will go back to their normal qualifying procedures.
It will make for a hectic time for the racers and their crews with three shows crammed in such a tight time window but that certainly beats the alternative of not getting to race at all. I'm suspecting that part of the reason they chose to run the doubleheader on Saturday was that typically the crowds are considerably larger for the weekend shows as opposed to the midweek shows and after all, the promoters are putting on this event to make themselves a few bucks(hopefully) too. They also stated that it is tough to get their track crews fully manned for midweek shows because of work commitments and that seems reasonable to me also, particularly on the short notice that this schedule change would require. And also the fact that they have moved their practice night from Tuesday to Thursday also tells me that they are afraid that things won't be dried off completely until Wednesday which would make a Tuesday night makeup a mote point.
Typically also there tend to be quite a few new entrants that show for the first time on either Wednesday or Friday night and this change might spur even more of them to come, knowing that they will get to race five of the total number of shows originally scheduled.
I give full credit to the promoters for working with the drivers an making their best attempt to make a tough situation work as smoothly as possible. Drivers pulled a long way out here to race, and they want to run as many times as they can. Fans have traveled a long way for the same reason. The promoters will likely come out better if they get the full number of shows in but this change also creates a number of headaches for them and we should all be pleased that they are willing to go through the work involved to make this all happen.
Now lets just hope for some drier weather, sunny skies and warmer temperatures. Is that too much to ask for?
Pierce, Arneson and Searing Top Night One at Arizona Speedway
Late Saturday afternoon, race number one of the thirteenth annual Wild West Shootout at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway took place and about four hours later three opening night winners had been crowned. Making their way to victory lane after the opening night action was completed were Bobby Pierce, Casey(Duece) Arneson and Cole Searing. All three feature races were highly contested with plenty of battling back for forth for the lead and for positions right behind the leader and the large crowd was very entertained by the opening night action.
Opening night car counts saw forty six Late Models in the pits along with forty Modifieds and forty six X Mods. Car counts were up four from the opening night event last year while the Mods were down eight and the Late Models down four although there was a car in the pits for New York's Mike Maresca but he has failed to show up just yet after completing some indoor racing on the East Coast over the weekend.
Weather was an issue for the opening night of this racing series with various agencies predicting that the rain could start any time from 7 pm to 11 pm (they covered their bases quite nicely) and race management was well aware of this possibility and did everything possible to keep the show moving. At the driver's meeting it was announced that the Late Model dash, which will be held on three nights of the series, had been postponed from tonight to be held during the Friday night meet just to keep the action moving. It was emphasized just how important it was to line up quickly both when starting races and when restarting events and they held to that credo, keeping things moving all night. The only "downer" was that neither Searing or Arneson got to shoot off the revolvers after their feature wins, a tradition of this event that was foregone again just to keep things moving with only Pierce getting to celebrate after all was said and done. They even started the races about ten minutes early as everyone was ready to go so they dropped the first green and those fans who like to cut things close probably missed the first couple of heat races before they found a seat.
Other topics covered at the driver's meeting included a new set of "firing cones" in turn three that drivers had to fire at and if they hadn't "pulled the trigger" by the time they crossed the second cone, Race Director Kelly Carlton was going to call for the green whether they fired or not.
Mufflers are a big issue here this year as the track continues to get complaints about noise issues even though the nearest houses seem to be miles away. Apparently the sounds carry a long way on the desert. In any event, the mufflers and tires will be the big issues this year and "Super Fan" Ron Rodda tells me that the rules are much more liberal here on decibel levels than they are in California where a trash compactor may be dq'd for being too loud!
The other big thing was to make sure that the teams stayed herded in their "penalty box" on the inside of the front chute if they felt the need to signal with their "sticks" to the drivers as they raced. Noted was the fact that there was only one X Mod that chose to go that route, no Modifieds but an infield packed with "seeing eye dogs" for the Late Model drivers when they hit the track. Another "monkey see, Monkey do" strategy that is so prominent in racing.
Promptly at 3:30 pm the first set of hot laps takes to the track and after the X Mods and Mods hot lap the Late Model forgo practice, instead moving right into group qualifying. Pierce, as the third car out, would serve notice that he was quick as he timed in at 14.769 seconds to set the standard for the night. Late Models would line straight up for their heats and qualify in that manner while the X Mods and Mods would draw numbers and then use passing points to determine their starting order for the mains and last chance races. And this does make a difference. While we did see some spirited battles for position in the Late Model heats, it was drivers racing side by side to hold their positions while in the other two classes we saw some real charges from the back of the pack to the front. For example, Arizona rookie driver Austin Ellis started eleventh and charged all the way up to fourth in his X Mod heat that allowed him to earn a second row starting spot in the main event while we saw no such charges like that in the Late Models. But that's the way the Late Model drivers wanted it and management acquiesced several years ago and that horse will never be led back into the barn again.
After a series of heat races that included four for all three classes and B Features, the fields were set for the three main events. Some sprinkles started to fall during the X Mod feature from time to time and again returned later but none were of the heavier variety and the few times it did start to drip, it was not nearly hard enough to affect the racing. But it did reinforce the fact that the show must move on quickly.
Heat winners redrew in the Late Models and the front row showed Hudson O'Neal and Chase Junghans up front. After a first lap yellow, nearly half the race was completed before the yellow waved again and there was some intense racing going on among the top eight or so drivers with Junghans holding the lead but being pressured by Pierce, O'Neal, Chris Simpson, Brandon Sheppard and others. Soon they were joined by Jimmy Mars, Cade Dillard, Scott Bloomquist and Ricky Weiss who started to join the top group also as there was some real heavy battling going on.
Pierce was able to drive into the lead and as Junghans slipped back slightly, Sheppard moved into second and looked to be ready to charge. Then it was Dillard who picked up the pace and he looked like he would challenge for the lead. A key moment took place on lap twenty five when Weiss and Junghans got together, triggering a yellow and also triggering Junghan's ire.
This brought the field back together and a challenge to Pierce by Sheppard was expected, but Bobby was up to the challenge as he was able to pull away slightly as he was riding the banking and extremely fast. Bloomquist then started to flex some muscle as he got under Sheppard for second while Pierce still had a little breathing room. However, Pierce was approaching lapped traffic and a particular car that he had actually side slapped earlier when he got into traffic loomed directly of him again. Things got very tight the last couple of laps as Pierce couldn't get by the slower car and Bloomquist reeled him in. Coming off the last corner, Pierce got stuck on the outside and Bloomquist made a heavy charge on the bottom and as they crossed the line, it was very close indeed. Since Pierce's transponder had stopped working mid race, it was up to the Dirt on Dirt crew to show the replay and it verified that it was Pierce by a nose for the win with Sheppard in third over Dillard and Brandon Overton, in his first ride in the Coulter car. It was an entertaining race with only three yellows to slow the forty lapper.
Bad luck struck Tyler Peterson as he couldn't get his car to fire and so the Modified feature field started twenty three cars for their twenty five lap event. This was another intense race with front row starters Arneson and Derrick Ramirez having a great battle for the lead as they fought back and forth, trading the top spot between them. Ricky Thornton Jr was on the move and suddenly it became a three car battle for the lead. Just when it looked like Thornton Jr was ready to make a move, he slowed dramatically on the front chute and rolled into the pits.
While the top two continued to go at it, slowly moving forward was Darrell Nelson. A first timer here in the Desert, Nelson was driving a car owned by Jimmy Mars and one that Mars raced is a few races at special events back home in Wisconsin last Fall. Plain as plain could be, the car was nevertheless fast and Nelson is a veteran wheelman with accomplishments as long as his arm in the Upper Midwest area even though he might be unknown to local fans.
As Ramirez seemed to slip back just a little, Nelson drove past him to take over second and he seemed to be closing slightly on Arneson. And a late race yellow when Christy Barnett hammered the front stretch wall gave him his chance. However, Arneson was strong on the restart and on the final three laps he pulled away as he drove to a most impressive win in his Vanderbuilt chassis. Ramirez hung around for third and was followed by Dustin Strand and Tyler Wolff who looked very fast during preliminary action.
An interesting side note to Arneson's win was the fact that he was using a crate motor under the hood of his car. However, it was a 525 crate and not the motor that most IMCA drivers run these days. Still, it does give pause to those that are spending considerable amounts of money on open USMTS spec engines to run this sanctioned event.
The X Mod feature was also a very intense race although that intensity slopped over in the form of a considerable number of yellow flags needed to complete the twenty lap distance and the yellow bunting flew seven times for mostly spins and one hard crash.
In the early going it was wild with some unusual circumstances. The first corner was a cluster run with cars going in every direction as all lines around the track were packed like a Los Angeles freeway. Josh Cain, who came from the second row to make a wild dive into the lead, suffered a flat tire and was forced to change it while outside front row starter Austin Hunter spun and went to the back too.
On the restart, Jason VandeKamp, a previous winner here last year had worked up to the second row when he suddenly headed to the pits also as the running order continued to shuffle. As some green flag racing took place, it was the team cars of Lance Schill and Matt Gilbertson battling with the likes of Cole Searing for the top spot.
Schill, always an aggressor, made a strong move out of turn two to take the lead briefly before the concrete wall came up to say hello, and he clobbered the wall and then was clipped for good measure by Dane Durbin which finished the night for both cars and may have put Schill's MB in the trailer for the week. However, Schill had loaned his back up car to Gilbertson who was without a car to drive this weekend and his "loaner deal" may have been a short one.
Suddenly, it was defending champion Searing that flexed his muscle and despite a number of yellow flags that bunched the field, Searing was always dominant on every restart and pulled away from Gilbertson to score the win. Lucas Rodin made a great charge from eleventh to finish third and was followed by two time WISSOTA national champion Sketter Estey who came from thirteenth to fourth. Missouri veteran Steve Muilenburg rounded out the top five as WISSOTA drivers took eight out of the top ten finishing positions with nearly half the starting field gone by the time the checkered flag waved as the X Mod pit area will likely be the scene of much pre race activity on Sunday.
Searing dominated this division here last year and once again is off to a strong start with his MB chassis. The interesting thing is that Searing only races this X Mod here in Arizona and at a very small number of large events back home as he focuses on the WISSOTA Super Stock class at his area tracks where he is a very accomplished racer, finishing the top five in national points in both of the last two years. For those that don't know, a Super Stock is much like a Pro Stock or Limited Late Model with a 350 two barrel motor and a stock front clip.
Racing here is of the "elbows up" variety as there is no finessing a race car around the Arizona Speedway. While it doesn't look like a high speed track, the generous banking and wide corners allow many different lines to attack the track and they really make some speed here. Many in the pits afterward were commenting on how hard everyone has been racing so far this week. Somewhat surprising so far also has been the less than smooth nature of the track so far. That has not been an issue in previous years but there were some considerable bumps and holes in the track on Saturday but the trick was to avoid them as slowing down was not an option.
Still desperately needed at this track is a scoreboard, if for no other reason than to monitor the lap situation. It is very surprising with the number of special events that this track holds for both fendered and open wheel cars under various sanctioning bodies that there isn't some kind of scoreboard on site.
Calling the action for Dirt on Dirt and the live fans in attendance has been Ben Sheldon and Dustin Jarrett with commentary. They have been joined this year by Ruben Mireles who has been doing the X Mods. Sheldon remains the standard that all track announcers should strive to reach.
Opening night car counts saw forty six Late Models in the pits along with forty Modifieds and forty six X Mods. Car counts were up four from the opening night event last year while the Mods were down eight and the Late Models down four although there was a car in the pits for New York's Mike Maresca but he has failed to show up just yet after completing some indoor racing on the East Coast over the weekend.
Weather was an issue for the opening night of this racing series with various agencies predicting that the rain could start any time from 7 pm to 11 pm (they covered their bases quite nicely) and race management was well aware of this possibility and did everything possible to keep the show moving. At the driver's meeting it was announced that the Late Model dash, which will be held on three nights of the series, had been postponed from tonight to be held during the Friday night meet just to keep the action moving. It was emphasized just how important it was to line up quickly both when starting races and when restarting events and they held to that credo, keeping things moving all night. The only "downer" was that neither Searing or Arneson got to shoot off the revolvers after their feature wins, a tradition of this event that was foregone again just to keep things moving with only Pierce getting to celebrate after all was said and done. They even started the races about ten minutes early as everyone was ready to go so they dropped the first green and those fans who like to cut things close probably missed the first couple of heat races before they found a seat.
Other topics covered at the driver's meeting included a new set of "firing cones" in turn three that drivers had to fire at and if they hadn't "pulled the trigger" by the time they crossed the second cone, Race Director Kelly Carlton was going to call for the green whether they fired or not.
Mufflers are a big issue here this year as the track continues to get complaints about noise issues even though the nearest houses seem to be miles away. Apparently the sounds carry a long way on the desert. In any event, the mufflers and tires will be the big issues this year and "Super Fan" Ron Rodda tells me that the rules are much more liberal here on decibel levels than they are in California where a trash compactor may be dq'd for being too loud!
The other big thing was to make sure that the teams stayed herded in their "penalty box" on the inside of the front chute if they felt the need to signal with their "sticks" to the drivers as they raced. Noted was the fact that there was only one X Mod that chose to go that route, no Modifieds but an infield packed with "seeing eye dogs" for the Late Model drivers when they hit the track. Another "monkey see, Monkey do" strategy that is so prominent in racing.
Promptly at 3:30 pm the first set of hot laps takes to the track and after the X Mods and Mods hot lap the Late Model forgo practice, instead moving right into group qualifying. Pierce, as the third car out, would serve notice that he was quick as he timed in at 14.769 seconds to set the standard for the night. Late Models would line straight up for their heats and qualify in that manner while the X Mods and Mods would draw numbers and then use passing points to determine their starting order for the mains and last chance races. And this does make a difference. While we did see some spirited battles for position in the Late Model heats, it was drivers racing side by side to hold their positions while in the other two classes we saw some real charges from the back of the pack to the front. For example, Arizona rookie driver Austin Ellis started eleventh and charged all the way up to fourth in his X Mod heat that allowed him to earn a second row starting spot in the main event while we saw no such charges like that in the Late Models. But that's the way the Late Model drivers wanted it and management acquiesced several years ago and that horse will never be led back into the barn again.
After a series of heat races that included four for all three classes and B Features, the fields were set for the three main events. Some sprinkles started to fall during the X Mod feature from time to time and again returned later but none were of the heavier variety and the few times it did start to drip, it was not nearly hard enough to affect the racing. But it did reinforce the fact that the show must move on quickly.
Heat winners redrew in the Late Models and the front row showed Hudson O'Neal and Chase Junghans up front. After a first lap yellow, nearly half the race was completed before the yellow waved again and there was some intense racing going on among the top eight or so drivers with Junghans holding the lead but being pressured by Pierce, O'Neal, Chris Simpson, Brandon Sheppard and others. Soon they were joined by Jimmy Mars, Cade Dillard, Scott Bloomquist and Ricky Weiss who started to join the top group also as there was some real heavy battling going on.
Pierce was able to drive into the lead and as Junghans slipped back slightly, Sheppard moved into second and looked to be ready to charge. Then it was Dillard who picked up the pace and he looked like he would challenge for the lead. A key moment took place on lap twenty five when Weiss and Junghans got together, triggering a yellow and also triggering Junghan's ire.
This brought the field back together and a challenge to Pierce by Sheppard was expected, but Bobby was up to the challenge as he was able to pull away slightly as he was riding the banking and extremely fast. Bloomquist then started to flex some muscle as he got under Sheppard for second while Pierce still had a little breathing room. However, Pierce was approaching lapped traffic and a particular car that he had actually side slapped earlier when he got into traffic loomed directly of him again. Things got very tight the last couple of laps as Pierce couldn't get by the slower car and Bloomquist reeled him in. Coming off the last corner, Pierce got stuck on the outside and Bloomquist made a heavy charge on the bottom and as they crossed the line, it was very close indeed. Since Pierce's transponder had stopped working mid race, it was up to the Dirt on Dirt crew to show the replay and it verified that it was Pierce by a nose for the win with Sheppard in third over Dillard and Brandon Overton, in his first ride in the Coulter car. It was an entertaining race with only three yellows to slow the forty lapper.
Bad luck struck Tyler Peterson as he couldn't get his car to fire and so the Modified feature field started twenty three cars for their twenty five lap event. This was another intense race with front row starters Arneson and Derrick Ramirez having a great battle for the lead as they fought back and forth, trading the top spot between them. Ricky Thornton Jr was on the move and suddenly it became a three car battle for the lead. Just when it looked like Thornton Jr was ready to make a move, he slowed dramatically on the front chute and rolled into the pits.
While the top two continued to go at it, slowly moving forward was Darrell Nelson. A first timer here in the Desert, Nelson was driving a car owned by Jimmy Mars and one that Mars raced is a few races at special events back home in Wisconsin last Fall. Plain as plain could be, the car was nevertheless fast and Nelson is a veteran wheelman with accomplishments as long as his arm in the Upper Midwest area even though he might be unknown to local fans.
As Ramirez seemed to slip back just a little, Nelson drove past him to take over second and he seemed to be closing slightly on Arneson. And a late race yellow when Christy Barnett hammered the front stretch wall gave him his chance. However, Arneson was strong on the restart and on the final three laps he pulled away as he drove to a most impressive win in his Vanderbuilt chassis. Ramirez hung around for third and was followed by Dustin Strand and Tyler Wolff who looked very fast during preliminary action.
An interesting side note to Arneson's win was the fact that he was using a crate motor under the hood of his car. However, it was a 525 crate and not the motor that most IMCA drivers run these days. Still, it does give pause to those that are spending considerable amounts of money on open USMTS spec engines to run this sanctioned event.
The X Mod feature was also a very intense race although that intensity slopped over in the form of a considerable number of yellow flags needed to complete the twenty lap distance and the yellow bunting flew seven times for mostly spins and one hard crash.
In the early going it was wild with some unusual circumstances. The first corner was a cluster run with cars going in every direction as all lines around the track were packed like a Los Angeles freeway. Josh Cain, who came from the second row to make a wild dive into the lead, suffered a flat tire and was forced to change it while outside front row starter Austin Hunter spun and went to the back too.
On the restart, Jason VandeKamp, a previous winner here last year had worked up to the second row when he suddenly headed to the pits also as the running order continued to shuffle. As some green flag racing took place, it was the team cars of Lance Schill and Matt Gilbertson battling with the likes of Cole Searing for the top spot.
Schill, always an aggressor, made a strong move out of turn two to take the lead briefly before the concrete wall came up to say hello, and he clobbered the wall and then was clipped for good measure by Dane Durbin which finished the night for both cars and may have put Schill's MB in the trailer for the week. However, Schill had loaned his back up car to Gilbertson who was without a car to drive this weekend and his "loaner deal" may have been a short one.
Suddenly, it was defending champion Searing that flexed his muscle and despite a number of yellow flags that bunched the field, Searing was always dominant on every restart and pulled away from Gilbertson to score the win. Lucas Rodin made a great charge from eleventh to finish third and was followed by two time WISSOTA national champion Sketter Estey who came from thirteenth to fourth. Missouri veteran Steve Muilenburg rounded out the top five as WISSOTA drivers took eight out of the top ten finishing positions with nearly half the starting field gone by the time the checkered flag waved as the X Mod pit area will likely be the scene of much pre race activity on Sunday.
Searing dominated this division here last year and once again is off to a strong start with his MB chassis. The interesting thing is that Searing only races this X Mod here in Arizona and at a very small number of large events back home as he focuses on the WISSOTA Super Stock class at his area tracks where he is a very accomplished racer, finishing the top five in national points in both of the last two years. For those that don't know, a Super Stock is much like a Pro Stock or Limited Late Model with a 350 two barrel motor and a stock front clip.
Racing here is of the "elbows up" variety as there is no finessing a race car around the Arizona Speedway. While it doesn't look like a high speed track, the generous banking and wide corners allow many different lines to attack the track and they really make some speed here. Many in the pits afterward were commenting on how hard everyone has been racing so far this week. Somewhat surprising so far also has been the less than smooth nature of the track so far. That has not been an issue in previous years but there were some considerable bumps and holes in the track on Saturday but the trick was to avoid them as slowing down was not an option.
Still desperately needed at this track is a scoreboard, if for no other reason than to monitor the lap situation. It is very surprising with the number of special events that this track holds for both fendered and open wheel cars under various sanctioning bodies that there isn't some kind of scoreboard on site.
Calling the action for Dirt on Dirt and the live fans in attendance has been Ben Sheldon and Dustin Jarrett with commentary. They have been joined this year by Ruben Mireles who has been doing the X Mods. Sheldon remains the standard that all track announcers should strive to reach.
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Wild West Shootout Practice Begins
Friday night, January 4th, the thirteen annual Wild West Shootout at the F.K. Rod Ends Arizona Speedway near San Tan Valley began as over one hundred and twenty cars took to the oval for practice sessions that began at 6 pm and lasted for three hours. Drivers in the three classes participating in this six event series including Late Models, Modifieds and X Mods were all out on the track during the course of the three hour session with virtually every car in the pits taking at least one shot at the oval before they called a halt to the proceedings just after 9 pm.
All three classes were well represented during the practice sessions with drivers from far and wide on hand, including the usual hardy delegation from North of the border in Canada with drivers from both Manitoba and Saskatchewan on hand. Another particularly well represented area was North Dakota with many of their drivers in all three classes ready to go for this weeks worth of racing. Iowa race fans might be just a bit disappointed as so far only Chris Simpson is on hand to represent the Hawkeye State with drivers such as Justin Kay, Jason Rauen, Ryan Gustin and Brad Dierks, who all raced here last year, not in attendance so far. Of course, there will also be a number of drivers that show up for tonight's first race and indeed, throughout the week, that have not been on the grounds yet this year.
It would appear that the Late Model field will be similiar in size to last year's group of fifty as unofficially, forty three Late Model drivers took practice sessions last night. The list of drivers on hand was a stout one including such names as Simpson, Pearson Jr, Alberson, Phillips, Sheppard, Junghans, Overton, Shaw, Pierce, O'Neal, Mars, Dillard, Bloomquist and Weiss all on hand along with plenty of other regional stars and local drivers from the Arizona area.
Arizona Speedway seems to prep their race track unlike any other in the country when it comes time for a night of practice sessions. Most tracks seem to run their tracks dry and slick on nights like this, certainly in part to help the tracks get firm and prevent ruts and bumps from forming as a prelude to a long week of racing. Not Arizona Speedway however. They till the track up beforehand and water it generously and it is bad and fast for practice sessions. In fact, the speeds turned by all classes of cars were blinding fast on Friday night(in fact, perhaps, too fast). Everybody is bad fast these days on a tacky track and it's only when the track dries out that drivers begin to find out just how their cars handle and what they need to do to make them so they can pass other drivers. What we mostly saw was a speed exhibition on Friday night and there were many that were flat out flying around the three eighth mile oval. In fact, the track built up a healthy berm as the evening progresses and how many times can you say you've seen that happen during a practice night? Usually it's just the opposite with tracks tending to get dry and slick up like ice.
However, Kevin Montgomery, who does the track prep here for this event, is a Sprint Car guy and he likes to prep a track so as that it builds up a healthy cushion which they periodically knock down and perhaps one of the few criticisms I've ever heard about this event is that they tend to "rip" the track too often to keep it bad fast and it gets just so fast that it is hard to pass on. However, since not a single lap of racing has been turned in competition yet, we'll wait to see just how this all plays out.
Among the quickest under the clock were Brandon Sheppard in his family's car, Brandon Overton in the Coulter car, Bobby Pierce back in his family's car, Hudson O'Neal and Cade Dillard. Of course, new to the desert this year is Scott Bloomquist and he finally came out for the last practice session of the night. Interestingly to me, he ran a groove totally different than anyone else as while all the other cars were pounding the cushion and getting big speed, he was experimenting with running the low groove which was not as fast on Friday night but will be where the passing will need to be done when real racing begins on Saturday if track conditions do not change. And with a cloudy and cool forecast for Saturday, this might very likely be the case as if conditions hold and the track builds up a berm, everyone tends to line up on the outside and blast around the track, making passing tough and the only way to gain positions is to drop low and work under other drivers. Stay tuned for Saturday to see how this plays out.
Of note, R.C. Whitwell was driving a car owned by Jessie Hoskins from Oklahoma and it was reported that R.C. is now residing in Longdale. USMTS star Stormy Scott was making laps in his new Bloomquist car and with both Stormy and his brother Johnny leaving Modifieds, USMTS head Todd Staley will be losing two of his biggest stars for the coming season. Wisconsin's Steve Isenberg, who hasn't raced in about three years has come out of retirement, having grown tired of spending his retirement hours fishing, he purchased a new Rocket chassis that he will drive in open shows as he desired. He will be teaming with Terry Casey, a driver many remember from the national tours from a few years ago himself as one of the most exciting drivers around. They will take turns driving the car will Casey likely to see most of the duty when they race in Florida. At this point they haven't yet decided whether that will be in East Bay or Volusia. Steve also noted that his son Tim, who also did much Late Model racing and got out of it just about the same time as his father, will also return to racing this year, doing mostly weekly shows and running other WISSOTA special events as Tim now runs the family business. Ricky Thornton Jr will be driving a car owned by Casey Skyberg from South Dakota this week. Colorado's Dean Moore has also come out of retirement to return to racing with a new Rocket chassis.
It is possible that the Modified field might be just a bit smaller this year than previous years. Approximately thirty three of them practiced on Friday night will others still likely on the way but a number of regulars from years past likely won't be on hand this year. Minnesota drivers Shane Sabraski, who hasn't received his new Lethal chassis yet and Matt Gilbertson, who sold his car, both will be missing this year. There will still likely be several Las Cruses cars show up that didn't practice on Friday. Iowa Modified fans, who have grown to enjoy the racing of Ricky Thornton Jr, may be interested to know that he has switched chassis brands once again, as he will be driving a new Lethal chassis by David Stremme this year. The Lethal chassis has come to be one of the hottest on the market recently.
It would seem that the X Mod field for 2019 will be larger than most years. With forty seven of them practicing on Friday, that is nearly as many cars as they had race any night last year and surely there will be a number of local and regional drivers that will be added to the field once real racing begins. Once again there are a large number of drivers from Minnesota, South and North Dakota in this class as they look to get away from Winter's blasts and get some early racing action in. Also, there appears to be one of the strongest fields of Las Cruses cars ever on hand this year with most of that tracks' high point cars from last year present as well as four of the top six drivers in WISSOTA national points last year on hand too. A new driver in the desert this year is 2017 WISSOTA national rookie of the year Calvin Iverson. He brought two cars to shake down as well as Modified ace Dave Cain to guide him this week.
Even though there was a lot of high speed practice sessions going on, the attrition rate was surprisingly small. Other than a couple of flat tires and a bent front bumper on Lance Schill's car, the only real mechanical issue observed was when South Dakota's Troy Randall spit out a driveshaft on his X Mod. It may also have damaged the transmission as there was a lot of liquid left on the track in his wake.
A large crowd of spectators was on hand for a practice session as there would appear to be many people from out of the local area on hand for the races. It was sunny but cool day and after the sun set it got quite nippy. Saturday brings the threat of rain showers at markedly different times of the evening, depending on the source one monitors so it will be incumbent that the track crew here, led by Chris Kearns, crack off a rapid program and that is one thing that they can do very well.
All three classes were well represented during the practice sessions with drivers from far and wide on hand, including the usual hardy delegation from North of the border in Canada with drivers from both Manitoba and Saskatchewan on hand. Another particularly well represented area was North Dakota with many of their drivers in all three classes ready to go for this weeks worth of racing. Iowa race fans might be just a bit disappointed as so far only Chris Simpson is on hand to represent the Hawkeye State with drivers such as Justin Kay, Jason Rauen, Ryan Gustin and Brad Dierks, who all raced here last year, not in attendance so far. Of course, there will also be a number of drivers that show up for tonight's first race and indeed, throughout the week, that have not been on the grounds yet this year.
It would appear that the Late Model field will be similiar in size to last year's group of fifty as unofficially, forty three Late Model drivers took practice sessions last night. The list of drivers on hand was a stout one including such names as Simpson, Pearson Jr, Alberson, Phillips, Sheppard, Junghans, Overton, Shaw, Pierce, O'Neal, Mars, Dillard, Bloomquist and Weiss all on hand along with plenty of other regional stars and local drivers from the Arizona area.
Arizona Speedway seems to prep their race track unlike any other in the country when it comes time for a night of practice sessions. Most tracks seem to run their tracks dry and slick on nights like this, certainly in part to help the tracks get firm and prevent ruts and bumps from forming as a prelude to a long week of racing. Not Arizona Speedway however. They till the track up beforehand and water it generously and it is bad and fast for practice sessions. In fact, the speeds turned by all classes of cars were blinding fast on Friday night(in fact, perhaps, too fast). Everybody is bad fast these days on a tacky track and it's only when the track dries out that drivers begin to find out just how their cars handle and what they need to do to make them so they can pass other drivers. What we mostly saw was a speed exhibition on Friday night and there were many that were flat out flying around the three eighth mile oval. In fact, the track built up a healthy berm as the evening progresses and how many times can you say you've seen that happen during a practice night? Usually it's just the opposite with tracks tending to get dry and slick up like ice.
However, Kevin Montgomery, who does the track prep here for this event, is a Sprint Car guy and he likes to prep a track so as that it builds up a healthy cushion which they periodically knock down and perhaps one of the few criticisms I've ever heard about this event is that they tend to "rip" the track too often to keep it bad fast and it gets just so fast that it is hard to pass on. However, since not a single lap of racing has been turned in competition yet, we'll wait to see just how this all plays out.
Among the quickest under the clock were Brandon Sheppard in his family's car, Brandon Overton in the Coulter car, Bobby Pierce back in his family's car, Hudson O'Neal and Cade Dillard. Of course, new to the desert this year is Scott Bloomquist and he finally came out for the last practice session of the night. Interestingly to me, he ran a groove totally different than anyone else as while all the other cars were pounding the cushion and getting big speed, he was experimenting with running the low groove which was not as fast on Friday night but will be where the passing will need to be done when real racing begins on Saturday if track conditions do not change. And with a cloudy and cool forecast for Saturday, this might very likely be the case as if conditions hold and the track builds up a berm, everyone tends to line up on the outside and blast around the track, making passing tough and the only way to gain positions is to drop low and work under other drivers. Stay tuned for Saturday to see how this plays out.
Of note, R.C. Whitwell was driving a car owned by Jessie Hoskins from Oklahoma and it was reported that R.C. is now residing in Longdale. USMTS star Stormy Scott was making laps in his new Bloomquist car and with both Stormy and his brother Johnny leaving Modifieds, USMTS head Todd Staley will be losing two of his biggest stars for the coming season. Wisconsin's Steve Isenberg, who hasn't raced in about three years has come out of retirement, having grown tired of spending his retirement hours fishing, he purchased a new Rocket chassis that he will drive in open shows as he desired. He will be teaming with Terry Casey, a driver many remember from the national tours from a few years ago himself as one of the most exciting drivers around. They will take turns driving the car will Casey likely to see most of the duty when they race in Florida. At this point they haven't yet decided whether that will be in East Bay or Volusia. Steve also noted that his son Tim, who also did much Late Model racing and got out of it just about the same time as his father, will also return to racing this year, doing mostly weekly shows and running other WISSOTA special events as Tim now runs the family business. Ricky Thornton Jr will be driving a car owned by Casey Skyberg from South Dakota this week. Colorado's Dean Moore has also come out of retirement to return to racing with a new Rocket chassis.
It is possible that the Modified field might be just a bit smaller this year than previous years. Approximately thirty three of them practiced on Friday night will others still likely on the way but a number of regulars from years past likely won't be on hand this year. Minnesota drivers Shane Sabraski, who hasn't received his new Lethal chassis yet and Matt Gilbertson, who sold his car, both will be missing this year. There will still likely be several Las Cruses cars show up that didn't practice on Friday. Iowa Modified fans, who have grown to enjoy the racing of Ricky Thornton Jr, may be interested to know that he has switched chassis brands once again, as he will be driving a new Lethal chassis by David Stremme this year. The Lethal chassis has come to be one of the hottest on the market recently.
It would seem that the X Mod field for 2019 will be larger than most years. With forty seven of them practicing on Friday, that is nearly as many cars as they had race any night last year and surely there will be a number of local and regional drivers that will be added to the field once real racing begins. Once again there are a large number of drivers from Minnesota, South and North Dakota in this class as they look to get away from Winter's blasts and get some early racing action in. Also, there appears to be one of the strongest fields of Las Cruses cars ever on hand this year with most of that tracks' high point cars from last year present as well as four of the top six drivers in WISSOTA national points last year on hand too. A new driver in the desert this year is 2017 WISSOTA national rookie of the year Calvin Iverson. He brought two cars to shake down as well as Modified ace Dave Cain to guide him this week.
Even though there was a lot of high speed practice sessions going on, the attrition rate was surprisingly small. Other than a couple of flat tires and a bent front bumper on Lance Schill's car, the only real mechanical issue observed was when South Dakota's Troy Randall spit out a driveshaft on his X Mod. It may also have damaged the transmission as there was a lot of liquid left on the track in his wake.
A large crowd of spectators was on hand for a practice session as there would appear to be many people from out of the local area on hand for the races. It was sunny but cool day and after the sun set it got quite nippy. Saturday brings the threat of rain showers at markedly different times of the evening, depending on the source one monitors so it will be incumbent that the track crew here, led by Chris Kearns, crack off a rapid program and that is one thing that they can do very well.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Wrapping Up 2018 and turning the calendar
My 2018 racing season is now complete and I am more than ready to turn the calendar to 2019. However, before I do that, it is time to take one more look back at the ending season, to confirm if nothing else what my gut tells me should be my response if anyone asks me what I thought about 2018.
It definitely was not a very good season in many ways. In fact, large parts of the season just plain sucked! I can not remember a season in recent memory at least where it seemed like every single trip to a race turned out to be a battle to outlast the elements and dodge the rain. The weather would certainly be the number one topic when talking about the soon to be complete year. It certainly affected my race schedule dramatically throughout the Summer and made the planning of many of my race outings more of a chore than a pleasurable experience.
There certainly were some highlight events and some great individual races but there were also a considerable number of nights that were marked by low car counts matched by half full grandstands.
It is tough enough to be a race promoter in these uncertain times but with all the battles with the weather in 2018, it had to have been a real "gut check" for a lot of race promoters and their employees. So many things for 2019 remain uncertain at this point and a large part of that unquestionably is a carry over from some difficult seasons endured by tracks in 2018.
My personal race statistics from 2018 reflect what a tepid year 2018 was. In fact, I'm somewhat embarrassed to even publish the stats on what was one of my worst personal years in quite some time.
In 2018 I attended one hundred and fifty two nights of racing which was a full thirty nights less than 2017. In fact, it was my worst year since 2008 in terms of races attended. Part of that was due to the fact that after having been able to get to Florida the last two years, there was no Florida trip in the budget for 2018. The other big loss was simply the high number of races that were rained out in 2018. It's not that I gave up on racing, but rather that there were so many shows that just weren't held or were cut back in the number of days they were held.
On the positive side, 2018 did mark the thirty eighth consecutive year that I attended over one hundred races during the season but most of the other stats are grim indeed.
In 2018 I attended races at fifty four different tracks but that is the lowest number of different tracks for me since 2005. I also attended races in twelve states but again that is low, with 2012 being the last year I traveled to that few of states for racing.
And perhaps most stunning to myself, I failed to get to any new tracks in 2018, the first time that has happened since 2003. I failed to keep a close eye on that mark, since if I would have realized it, I would have scheduled a trip to someplace new, no matter how far or irrelevant, just to keep the streak alive.
So, with no new tracks to report, I continue to sit at three hundred and eight tracks attended in twenty nine states and three Canadian Provinces.
Perhaps a bit surprising, the highest number of tracks visited in 2018 was in Iowa where I got to thirteen different tracks with Wisconsin and Minnesota close behind with a dozen each. Other states were considerably farther behind and I also failed to make it across the border into Canada in 2018. Perhaps that was in part because I was a bit afraid that they wouldn't let me back in! (Just kiddin').
Anyway, it was a sub par year for me and I am more than anxious to celebrate the New Year later today and move on with the hopes that 2019 will be a much better year, both for racing and for the country and world in general.
Plans are already starting to take shape in this area with some tracks having announced their schedules already while others wait a while longer with the hopes that they can craft a schedule that avoids the inevitable conflicts which split a rather limited fan base even more.
Our first races of 2019 will be at the FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway for the Wild West Shootout upcoming in just over a weeks time. A number of drivers from this area have already loaded up their cars and headed West and I hope to report on the goings on in the Valley of the Sun shortly. The weather forecast to this point is not particularly favorable but I'm hoping that it changes soon. It's time to race and once again, it's dejavoo all over again.
It definitely was not a very good season in many ways. In fact, large parts of the season just plain sucked! I can not remember a season in recent memory at least where it seemed like every single trip to a race turned out to be a battle to outlast the elements and dodge the rain. The weather would certainly be the number one topic when talking about the soon to be complete year. It certainly affected my race schedule dramatically throughout the Summer and made the planning of many of my race outings more of a chore than a pleasurable experience.
There certainly were some highlight events and some great individual races but there were also a considerable number of nights that were marked by low car counts matched by half full grandstands.
It is tough enough to be a race promoter in these uncertain times but with all the battles with the weather in 2018, it had to have been a real "gut check" for a lot of race promoters and their employees. So many things for 2019 remain uncertain at this point and a large part of that unquestionably is a carry over from some difficult seasons endured by tracks in 2018.
My personal race statistics from 2018 reflect what a tepid year 2018 was. In fact, I'm somewhat embarrassed to even publish the stats on what was one of my worst personal years in quite some time.
In 2018 I attended one hundred and fifty two nights of racing which was a full thirty nights less than 2017. In fact, it was my worst year since 2008 in terms of races attended. Part of that was due to the fact that after having been able to get to Florida the last two years, there was no Florida trip in the budget for 2018. The other big loss was simply the high number of races that were rained out in 2018. It's not that I gave up on racing, but rather that there were so many shows that just weren't held or were cut back in the number of days they were held.
On the positive side, 2018 did mark the thirty eighth consecutive year that I attended over one hundred races during the season but most of the other stats are grim indeed.
In 2018 I attended races at fifty four different tracks but that is the lowest number of different tracks for me since 2005. I also attended races in twelve states but again that is low, with 2012 being the last year I traveled to that few of states for racing.
And perhaps most stunning to myself, I failed to get to any new tracks in 2018, the first time that has happened since 2003. I failed to keep a close eye on that mark, since if I would have realized it, I would have scheduled a trip to someplace new, no matter how far or irrelevant, just to keep the streak alive.
So, with no new tracks to report, I continue to sit at three hundred and eight tracks attended in twenty nine states and three Canadian Provinces.
Perhaps a bit surprising, the highest number of tracks visited in 2018 was in Iowa where I got to thirteen different tracks with Wisconsin and Minnesota close behind with a dozen each. Other states were considerably farther behind and I also failed to make it across the border into Canada in 2018. Perhaps that was in part because I was a bit afraid that they wouldn't let me back in! (Just kiddin').
Anyway, it was a sub par year for me and I am more than anxious to celebrate the New Year later today and move on with the hopes that 2019 will be a much better year, both for racing and for the country and world in general.
Plans are already starting to take shape in this area with some tracks having announced their schedules already while others wait a while longer with the hopes that they can craft a schedule that avoids the inevitable conflicts which split a rather limited fan base even more.
Our first races of 2019 will be at the FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway for the Wild West Shootout upcoming in just over a weeks time. A number of drivers from this area have already loaded up their cars and headed West and I hope to report on the goings on in the Valley of the Sun shortly. The weather forecast to this point is not particularly favorable but I'm hoping that it changes soon. It's time to race and once again, it's dejavoo all over again.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Pierce, Bell and Harrison Top Gateway Dirt Nationals Finales
After two days of preliminaries, it was time on Saturday night, December 1st to crown some champions in the third annual Gateway Dirt Nationals at the Dome at America's Center in downtown St. Louis, Missouri.
Last chance qualifying would start off another long day as promptly at 3 pm, the first of the Late Model Last Chance races would take the green flag. There would be six Last Chance races for the Late Models, followed by four each for the Midgets and Modifieds. Twelve to fourteen cars would start each of the races with only two in the Late Models and three in the Midgets and Modifieds moving up to the main events. Based on the scenario, you can just imagine the intensity level of the races and the lengths that some drivers would go to try and make it into the main events. Needless to say, the racing was aggressive to the highest level and the number of yellow flags and wrecked cars would attest to that premise. In fact, of the fourteen races that were run in the afternoon, only three went green to checkered and there were a few ruffled feathers among some of the drivers when they got spun or had tires speared flat by other drivers, all in an effort to get to the front.
After the preliminaries were completed, a break was taken to freshen up the track and get all the extra presentations set for when the official race program would start at 7:30 pm. There were lots of pyrotechnics and other flashy eye catchers to start of the show and the crowd was more than fired up to see all the special things that have been a part of this event. The crowd appeared to be a huge one with the entire lower bowl of the area appearing jammed and some people even sitting in the upper sections of the arena.
Driver introductions are a big part of this show and a great source of entertainment to get the fans fired up to see the first green flag. By far, the Late Model drivers put on the best show and it was left to those two drivers that brought down the house last year to again get the crowd revved up. First, Scott Bloomquist was introduced and he broke through the smoke and haze with Rico Abreu on his shoulders that nearly brought down the house. But if anything, he was "one upped" again by Jason Welshan who produced a banner that stated" no provisional needed", a telling commentary on Bloomquist's efforts which required some sort of past champions provisional to get him into the show. His telling commentary was worth a howl for all, and I suspect even Scott B. was probably chuckling a little bit himself on that one.
With all the hoopla behind us, it was time to wave off the first of the three feature races with the Late Models going first. Unfortunately, on this night the hype would be much better than the substance as it was not a night for any classic racing action. Truly, the only one of the three features that would come any where close to expectations was the Modified main.
In my opinion, racing inside on such a tight track is very much a crap shoot to begin with and some nights are great and others not so go. And I would say that much of what made this weekend probably not the best this show has had to offer would center on the race track. Other years, the track would be at its worst for the opening night but each following night would produce a track that was much more raceable and not nearly so hard on the equipment. However, that was not the case this year as the track was brutal all three nights and it seemed that no matter what they did, it just did not show much improvement.
The attrition rate was very high in all three feature races with only half the Late Models and Modifieds around at the end while a slightly higher percentage of the Midgets would complete the full distance.
Bobby Pierce totally dominated the Late Model forty lapper. He started on the pole and led the entire race and seemed to be just cruising most of the distance. He was driving a smart race and his car's set up seemed to be supreme and he was able to roll around the track without getting airborne and bouncing around like most of the others did. It seemed that the only real challengers would be Brandon Sheppard and Shannon Babb and after Sheppard got a flat tire early and Babb did his best to destroy his car before finally throwing in the towel, the only way that Pierce would lose would be if he had some kind of mechanical issue.
Even the race played into his favor as both times he caught the back of the pack, and lapped traffic would likely be the only thing that could mess him up, the yellow flag waved and he had a clean track in front of him again. His margin at the finish was a solid one and runner up Billy Moyer was in a defensive mode, just trying to finish and protect his position. Don O'Neal finished third.
The Midget feature, I thought, might be the one where the cars would be able to go all over the track and we would see a lot of slide jobs and changing of positions. However, that proved not to be the case either. Early on, Christopher Bell and Tyler Courtney had a pretty good race for the lead, but once Bell got established, the race was for second. Ten yellows slowed the action including a couple of minor flips, but fortunately there were no big time wrecks which seemed a bit surprising, especially given the fact that the cars were taking a lot of air, depending on the line that the drivers were running. Courtney and Kyle Larson took shots at getting to the front but for both it resulted in them getting DNF's when their cars and the track came to odds.
It took three tries to get the last lap in but it was Bell that held his ground and didn't make a mistake that would open the door to any challenger. Shane Golobic drove a careful race and he advanced as others fell out and he would finish second while Rico came from tenth to third.
The Modified feature produced the only real battle for the lead. Josh Harris started in front and maintained that lead for the first half of the race as almost as if by magic, the first fourteen laps ran nonstop before the first spin produced a yellow. That first yellow saw a tail end car spin and race challengers Ray Bollinger and Dean Hoffman couldn't get stopped in time and were forced to go to the tail of the field. One lap later the same scenario played out yet this time Mike McKinney was allowed to maintain his position, which had many of the crowd in our area scratching their heads and worse.
Harris continued to lead but he was blocking the low side and going so slow that while McKinney couldn't get under him, defending UMP national champion Mike Harrison said, "nuts to this" and he jumped to the cushion. It was a bold gamble and one that while we had seen it work successfully in other years, so far in 2018 it hadn't worked out.
However, Harrison kept the hammer down and he was able to edge past Harris on the outside of turn one and for the first time in three nights, the roar of the crowd could be heard over the engine noise as his move was roundly applauded. Harris eventually went out with a flat tire and while McKinney was digging on the bottom and trying to get pat Harrison, Mike held on for the highly appreciated win. Levi Kissinger finished in the third spot.
And so the final night of the third annual event was in the books. Certainly the crowd size was spectacular as the popularity of the race seems to just grow and grow. I'm sure that there were many in the pits, however, not too pleased with the large amount of damage done to a high number of the race cars. While there will always be plenty of contact when racing in such tight corners, the issues associated with the rough track will have to be addressed to both minimize the damage to the cars and improve the overall racing action.
Between pre race activities, post race interviews and necessary track prep, the final three feature races took nearly three and a half hours to complete so it was again quite a long night. I am still of the opinion that a three class program, done as it was this year, will not fly for a number of reasons next year and I am anxious to see what the plans are for 2019. That being said however, there is no denying what a spectacular event this has grown into so quickly and for those people that have not been to this race yet, it is something that any race fan, no matter what your favorite class is, must experience once.
Last chance qualifying would start off another long day as promptly at 3 pm, the first of the Late Model Last Chance races would take the green flag. There would be six Last Chance races for the Late Models, followed by four each for the Midgets and Modifieds. Twelve to fourteen cars would start each of the races with only two in the Late Models and three in the Midgets and Modifieds moving up to the main events. Based on the scenario, you can just imagine the intensity level of the races and the lengths that some drivers would go to try and make it into the main events. Needless to say, the racing was aggressive to the highest level and the number of yellow flags and wrecked cars would attest to that premise. In fact, of the fourteen races that were run in the afternoon, only three went green to checkered and there were a few ruffled feathers among some of the drivers when they got spun or had tires speared flat by other drivers, all in an effort to get to the front.
After the preliminaries were completed, a break was taken to freshen up the track and get all the extra presentations set for when the official race program would start at 7:30 pm. There were lots of pyrotechnics and other flashy eye catchers to start of the show and the crowd was more than fired up to see all the special things that have been a part of this event. The crowd appeared to be a huge one with the entire lower bowl of the area appearing jammed and some people even sitting in the upper sections of the arena.
Driver introductions are a big part of this show and a great source of entertainment to get the fans fired up to see the first green flag. By far, the Late Model drivers put on the best show and it was left to those two drivers that brought down the house last year to again get the crowd revved up. First, Scott Bloomquist was introduced and he broke through the smoke and haze with Rico Abreu on his shoulders that nearly brought down the house. But if anything, he was "one upped" again by Jason Welshan who produced a banner that stated" no provisional needed", a telling commentary on Bloomquist's efforts which required some sort of past champions provisional to get him into the show. His telling commentary was worth a howl for all, and I suspect even Scott B. was probably chuckling a little bit himself on that one.
With all the hoopla behind us, it was time to wave off the first of the three feature races with the Late Models going first. Unfortunately, on this night the hype would be much better than the substance as it was not a night for any classic racing action. Truly, the only one of the three features that would come any where close to expectations was the Modified main.
In my opinion, racing inside on such a tight track is very much a crap shoot to begin with and some nights are great and others not so go. And I would say that much of what made this weekend probably not the best this show has had to offer would center on the race track. Other years, the track would be at its worst for the opening night but each following night would produce a track that was much more raceable and not nearly so hard on the equipment. However, that was not the case this year as the track was brutal all three nights and it seemed that no matter what they did, it just did not show much improvement.
The attrition rate was very high in all three feature races with only half the Late Models and Modifieds around at the end while a slightly higher percentage of the Midgets would complete the full distance.
Bobby Pierce totally dominated the Late Model forty lapper. He started on the pole and led the entire race and seemed to be just cruising most of the distance. He was driving a smart race and his car's set up seemed to be supreme and he was able to roll around the track without getting airborne and bouncing around like most of the others did. It seemed that the only real challengers would be Brandon Sheppard and Shannon Babb and after Sheppard got a flat tire early and Babb did his best to destroy his car before finally throwing in the towel, the only way that Pierce would lose would be if he had some kind of mechanical issue.
Even the race played into his favor as both times he caught the back of the pack, and lapped traffic would likely be the only thing that could mess him up, the yellow flag waved and he had a clean track in front of him again. His margin at the finish was a solid one and runner up Billy Moyer was in a defensive mode, just trying to finish and protect his position. Don O'Neal finished third.
The Midget feature, I thought, might be the one where the cars would be able to go all over the track and we would see a lot of slide jobs and changing of positions. However, that proved not to be the case either. Early on, Christopher Bell and Tyler Courtney had a pretty good race for the lead, but once Bell got established, the race was for second. Ten yellows slowed the action including a couple of minor flips, but fortunately there were no big time wrecks which seemed a bit surprising, especially given the fact that the cars were taking a lot of air, depending on the line that the drivers were running. Courtney and Kyle Larson took shots at getting to the front but for both it resulted in them getting DNF's when their cars and the track came to odds.
It took three tries to get the last lap in but it was Bell that held his ground and didn't make a mistake that would open the door to any challenger. Shane Golobic drove a careful race and he advanced as others fell out and he would finish second while Rico came from tenth to third.
The Modified feature produced the only real battle for the lead. Josh Harris started in front and maintained that lead for the first half of the race as almost as if by magic, the first fourteen laps ran nonstop before the first spin produced a yellow. That first yellow saw a tail end car spin and race challengers Ray Bollinger and Dean Hoffman couldn't get stopped in time and were forced to go to the tail of the field. One lap later the same scenario played out yet this time Mike McKinney was allowed to maintain his position, which had many of the crowd in our area scratching their heads and worse.
Harris continued to lead but he was blocking the low side and going so slow that while McKinney couldn't get under him, defending UMP national champion Mike Harrison said, "nuts to this" and he jumped to the cushion. It was a bold gamble and one that while we had seen it work successfully in other years, so far in 2018 it hadn't worked out.
However, Harrison kept the hammer down and he was able to edge past Harris on the outside of turn one and for the first time in three nights, the roar of the crowd could be heard over the engine noise as his move was roundly applauded. Harris eventually went out with a flat tire and while McKinney was digging on the bottom and trying to get pat Harrison, Mike held on for the highly appreciated win. Levi Kissinger finished in the third spot.
And so the final night of the third annual event was in the books. Certainly the crowd size was spectacular as the popularity of the race seems to just grow and grow. I'm sure that there were many in the pits, however, not too pleased with the large amount of damage done to a high number of the race cars. While there will always be plenty of contact when racing in such tight corners, the issues associated with the rough track will have to be addressed to both minimize the damage to the cars and improve the overall racing action.
Between pre race activities, post race interviews and necessary track prep, the final three feature races took nearly three and a half hours to complete so it was again quite a long night. I am still of the opinion that a three class program, done as it was this year, will not fly for a number of reasons next year and I am anxious to see what the plans are for 2019. That being said however, there is no denying what a spectacular event this has grown into so quickly and for those people that have not been to this race yet, it is something that any race fan, no matter what your favorite class is, must experience once.
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Gateway Dirt Nationals Day Two
For those, like myself, that had been "grousing" that we spent a long day and night at the races on Thursday yet saw only a handful of races, they more than made up for it on Friday night. When a long day on Friday settling into the early overnight hours, we had seen a mind boggling thirty two races plus Midget qualifying that left us all limp and ready for a break.
Along with the Midget qualifying, we saw heats, B Features and twin Feature races for the Late Models and Midgets along with the B Features plus double features for the Modifieds. Not having been able to keep up with the schedule from early on yesterday, they continued on that path as everything seemed to take longer than was bargained for in the very optimistic schedule for the weekend and the Late Model features, which were last on the agenda, dragged on into the first hour of the new month. Of the huge number of races, only four all night didn't have at least one yellow flag and some had a multitude.
Track conditions started out OK but they quickly deteriorated and no matter what the track crew did, the moguls quickly returned and made racing a real challenge. The amount of torn up equipment was astronomical and just repair and replacement on front bumpers alone could have been a "gold mine" for some entrepreneur
The qualifying showed that, not surprisingly, the Midgets would be the quickest of all three classes but this track is far more suited to them than to the other two classes, even though this race was not conceived for them.
It was announced that the Thursday night crowd was the largest yet for the opening night and with the huge throng of people that were on hand Friday night, it would not be surprising to hear that the same thing held true for the second night of racing.
All the qualifying pared the fields down to twin twenty lap feature races with only the top four finishers in each one locked into Saturday night's finales. Everyone else, apparently, gets one more shot to make the main events and that could lead to another long afternoon of banging and rooting as everyone wants to get introduced under the bright lights on Saturday night.
The twin Modified features went first and these were the longest and slowest paced of the six features. They just didn't seem capable of making more than a lap or two without either spinning or crashing into each other. And of course, with the UMP rules in effect, if you don't stop during a wreck you get your spot back so when a crash is inevitable, many drivers just "gas up" their cars so they hit hard enough that they can keep on moving, no matter the cost!
Josh Harris led the distance to win the first Modified feature with Ray Bollinger, Mike McKinney and Chad Sellars also making the grade and moving on. Brent Mullins made a strong charge from seventeenth to get into the top four but then he got a bit too bold and went for more and got himself hung on the outside and he couldn't get back in line quick enough and missed the cut.
Kenny Wallace also led all the way to win the second Mod main. Dean Hoffman drove a very smart race and moved up as others fouled up and came from fourteenth to second. Nick Hoffman was next in line and in a real body slamming battle for fourth, Gary Bentley got the spot. Local and area drivers seem to have the advantage in this class with their experience racing on some of the tiny ovals that populate the St. Louis and across the river into Illinois scene.
Both the Midgets and Late Models raced much better than the Modifieds on this night, for whatever reason. The Midgets had very little trouble with the conditions and they were able to move to the top side of the track and avoid many of the bumps that seemed to dominate the low side of the track. Christopher Bell and Zack Daum had a good early battle in the first Midget main before Bell took control and after that he checked out on the field. Logan Seavey and Shane Golobic were also locked in. Ricky Stenhouse Jr was making a great run toward the front until he pushed corner number four too hard and went for a tough tumble, which resulted in no injury to himself. Somewhat surprisingly, this would be the only flip of the night.
The second Midget feature saw Tyler Courtney and Kyle Larson have a very nice battle for the top spot as they traded the lead several times before Courtney locked in and took over the top side groove and then was able to stretch out his lead to the finish. Tanner Thorson and Jason McDougal also made the show through this race. I think non Midget fans were probably pleasantly surprised how smooth their part of the program went but truly, the drivers on hand for this event are the best around in these little cars.
The Late Models wrapped up the night with the majority of the crowd sticking around in the wee hours to see their feature races, as after all, wasn't this first organized as a showcase for the Late Model class and don't the Midgets have their special indoor event next month? But I digress.
Brandon Sheppard dominated the first feature, leading from wire to wire while a good battle for position played out behind him. Tim McCreadie ran a solid second and after some shuffling, it was Jason Welshan and Billy Moyer that also made the show. Jonathan Davenport was battling for that last spot for quite some time but came up short. The only yellow of this race was when Billy Moyer Jr. ran over his nose piece and hammered the turn three wall.
Bobby Pierce won the finale of the evening as again, Illinois drivers with tons of experience on these little bullrings once again shined. Don O'Neal provided a good challenge before settling for second while local drivers Jason Zobrist and Jeff Herzog provided the spark for the local fans with both also making the show. This race saw a late event pileup that shook up the finishing positions and allowed Herzog to slip into the top five.
Everyone piled out of the building at this point, only to discover that it was raining hard on the outside. Certainly this is one advantage of racing indoors as no matter what the conditions are like outside, as long as the fans and drivers can make it to the building, racing will take place. Crazy as it sounds, the forecast for Saturday is for temperatures in the sixties and sun.
I suspect that they can not continue on each year with shows that run this late at night and something has got to give. Whether it be to eliminate a class or perhaps make the Late Model field an invitation only class too, I will be waiting to see if some kind of announcement is forthcoming for the fourth annual edition of this race.
Along with the Midget qualifying, we saw heats, B Features and twin Feature races for the Late Models and Midgets along with the B Features plus double features for the Modifieds. Not having been able to keep up with the schedule from early on yesterday, they continued on that path as everything seemed to take longer than was bargained for in the very optimistic schedule for the weekend and the Late Model features, which were last on the agenda, dragged on into the first hour of the new month. Of the huge number of races, only four all night didn't have at least one yellow flag and some had a multitude.
Track conditions started out OK but they quickly deteriorated and no matter what the track crew did, the moguls quickly returned and made racing a real challenge. The amount of torn up equipment was astronomical and just repair and replacement on front bumpers alone could have been a "gold mine" for some entrepreneur
The qualifying showed that, not surprisingly, the Midgets would be the quickest of all three classes but this track is far more suited to them than to the other two classes, even though this race was not conceived for them.
It was announced that the Thursday night crowd was the largest yet for the opening night and with the huge throng of people that were on hand Friday night, it would not be surprising to hear that the same thing held true for the second night of racing.
All the qualifying pared the fields down to twin twenty lap feature races with only the top four finishers in each one locked into Saturday night's finales. Everyone else, apparently, gets one more shot to make the main events and that could lead to another long afternoon of banging and rooting as everyone wants to get introduced under the bright lights on Saturday night.
The twin Modified features went first and these were the longest and slowest paced of the six features. They just didn't seem capable of making more than a lap or two without either spinning or crashing into each other. And of course, with the UMP rules in effect, if you don't stop during a wreck you get your spot back so when a crash is inevitable, many drivers just "gas up" their cars so they hit hard enough that they can keep on moving, no matter the cost!
Josh Harris led the distance to win the first Modified feature with Ray Bollinger, Mike McKinney and Chad Sellars also making the grade and moving on. Brent Mullins made a strong charge from seventeenth to get into the top four but then he got a bit too bold and went for more and got himself hung on the outside and he couldn't get back in line quick enough and missed the cut.
Kenny Wallace also led all the way to win the second Mod main. Dean Hoffman drove a very smart race and moved up as others fouled up and came from fourteenth to second. Nick Hoffman was next in line and in a real body slamming battle for fourth, Gary Bentley got the spot. Local and area drivers seem to have the advantage in this class with their experience racing on some of the tiny ovals that populate the St. Louis and across the river into Illinois scene.
Both the Midgets and Late Models raced much better than the Modifieds on this night, for whatever reason. The Midgets had very little trouble with the conditions and they were able to move to the top side of the track and avoid many of the bumps that seemed to dominate the low side of the track. Christopher Bell and Zack Daum had a good early battle in the first Midget main before Bell took control and after that he checked out on the field. Logan Seavey and Shane Golobic were also locked in. Ricky Stenhouse Jr was making a great run toward the front until he pushed corner number four too hard and went for a tough tumble, which resulted in no injury to himself. Somewhat surprisingly, this would be the only flip of the night.
The second Midget feature saw Tyler Courtney and Kyle Larson have a very nice battle for the top spot as they traded the lead several times before Courtney locked in and took over the top side groove and then was able to stretch out his lead to the finish. Tanner Thorson and Jason McDougal also made the show through this race. I think non Midget fans were probably pleasantly surprised how smooth their part of the program went but truly, the drivers on hand for this event are the best around in these little cars.
The Late Models wrapped up the night with the majority of the crowd sticking around in the wee hours to see their feature races, as after all, wasn't this first organized as a showcase for the Late Model class and don't the Midgets have their special indoor event next month? But I digress.
Brandon Sheppard dominated the first feature, leading from wire to wire while a good battle for position played out behind him. Tim McCreadie ran a solid second and after some shuffling, it was Jason Welshan and Billy Moyer that also made the show. Jonathan Davenport was battling for that last spot for quite some time but came up short. The only yellow of this race was when Billy Moyer Jr. ran over his nose piece and hammered the turn three wall.
Bobby Pierce won the finale of the evening as again, Illinois drivers with tons of experience on these little bullrings once again shined. Don O'Neal provided a good challenge before settling for second while local drivers Jason Zobrist and Jeff Herzog provided the spark for the local fans with both also making the show. This race saw a late event pileup that shook up the finishing positions and allowed Herzog to slip into the top five.
Everyone piled out of the building at this point, only to discover that it was raining hard on the outside. Certainly this is one advantage of racing indoors as no matter what the conditions are like outside, as long as the fans and drivers can make it to the building, racing will take place. Crazy as it sounds, the forecast for Saturday is for temperatures in the sixties and sun.
I suspect that they can not continue on each year with shows that run this late at night and something has got to give. Whether it be to eliminate a class or perhaps make the Late Model field an invitation only class too, I will be waiting to see if some kind of announcement is forthcoming for the fourth annual edition of this race.
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