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Irwindale, CA, Sept. 27 – It was a Toyota Speedway at Irwindale six-event night Saturday. About 3,000 fans watched two more track series champions for 2008 determined and point battles tightened in other series. Six of the ten track championships are now known and three more will be decided next Saturday. "Truckers Night"attracted more than 20 working trucks and big rigs for judging as the best appearing truck. The rigs included 18-wheelers, cement trucks, a fire truck and a car hauler, plus assorted trucks from area firms.
SUPER TRUCKS: The King Taco Super Trucks race, the fifth feature of the night, provided the greatest ebb and flow of a season title battle between a pair of Chevy S-10 drivers. The series largest field—27 trucks—of the 2008 season and longest race distance—100-laps on the half-mile--awaited KTST drivers. Pat Mintey, Jr. started the race 18-points ahead of Valencia High School senior Connor Cantrell,18. Mintey was the KTST 2007 champion and Cantrell was the KTST 2007 rookie of the year. Cantrell was the second fastest qualifier to quickest qualifier/pole starter Rod Johnson, Jr., the 19-year old son of the TS@I 1999 Super Late Model champion. Johnson, in the No. 88 Chevy S-10 with Racecar Factory sponsorship, led all 100 laps. The leading rookie finished fourth in final point standings. Cantrell ran second all the way. Johnson won by 1.667 seconds (35-yards). He finished the season with three seconds and two victories in his final five KTST features. Cantrell had a 0.389 advantage over third finisher Scott Dodd. Sacramento-based driver Mason Britton, 19, and rookie Grant Hebner, 20, completed the top five. Twenty of 27 trucks finished the 38-minute race that had three yellow flags. Fifteen drivers ran all 100 laps. Johnson thanked his crew for replacing two broken transmissions during afternoon practice sessions.
Mintey, as fifth fastest qualifier, started fifth. He was sixth on lap 8 when seventh place Joe Herold made contact and both trucks spun across the starting line to the third-mile track. Herold was sidelined with damage to his truck, while Mintey had to restart his truck and rejoined the field at the back in 26th position. If Cantrell won Mintey had to finish ninth or better to win the championship. If Cantrell remained second Mintey needed only a tenth finish or better to win his second consecutive series championship. Cantrell owned the tie-breaker advantage (six victories to three for Mintey). Mintey charged through the field from 26th and was 19th at lap 20, 14th at lap 30, 11th at lap 40 (still not good enough). He was ninth from lap 45-79 and eight from lap 80-100. When the checkers flew, Mintey was the champion by six points over Cantrell (604-598). Mintey told spectators he couldn't believe it when Herold got into him and they spun to the infield. He said he had to restart his engine and thought the championship was history. His determined charge to eighth (with 20 trucks still racing a the conclusion) was enough at two points per position, even if Cantrell had won the race.
SUPER STOCKS: Bryan Harrell became the other 2008 champion Saturday when he dominated the Vista Paint Super Stock 13-car field as usual. It was his sixth consecutive victory. As fastest qualifier for the 11th time in 12 races this year, Harrell started second in a two-car inversion and led all 35 laps in his No. 55 1977 Chevy Camaro. The Riverside resident and shop foreman at Racecar Factory in Irwindale, won his ninth feature in 12 events this season. With one race remaining next Saturday and 50-points awarded to the winner, Harrell holds an insurmountable lead of 58 points over Rich DeLong III, who finished fourth Saturday. Pole starter/second fastest qualifier Larry Cerquettini gave Harrell a race-long contest and finished 0.650 back (about ten yards). He tied his career-best finish in his third year racing his No. 42 Camaro. Garret Cromsigt started fourth and finished third. Gary Frankovich came from last (13th) to fifth in a 22-minute race with one caution for a three-car accident at turn three. The lap 10 crash eliminated Curtis White's Camaro with a broken radiator. Eleven drivers finished and ten drivers ran all 35 laps. Harrell now has 27 Irwindale main event victories, ninth best on the list of feature winners at the track. He has one more victory than the 26 posted by Greg Pursley, the 2004 track and NASCAR Weekly Racing Series National Champion. All of Harrell's triumphs have come in the VPSS series.
LATE MODELS: A 20-car Auto Club Late Model field took the green flag with title-contenders Tim Huddleston (the 2005 & 2007 series champion) and Nick Joanides (the 2008 AC Delco SLM champion) only 16 points apart. Both drivers experienced trouble during the feature, yet Joanides still managed to cut 10-points from Huddleston's point lead. Andrew Myers started fifth in the No. 15 Eugene Dewberry Chevy and led laps 8-40 for his sixth victory in 17 races this season. He won the first five main events of 2008 and then experienced various problems in subsequent races. His best results were a pair of thirds. With his 50-points Saturday, Myers now trails Huddleston by 40-points. He has a mathematical chance to win his first track championship in the 100-lap feature on Saturday, October 4. Huddleston has 722 points to 716 for Joanides and 682 for Myers.
Lindsey King, a 19-year old NASCAR developmental driver, started second and led the first seven laps in her No. 59 Justice Brothers High-Point Racing 2008 Chevy Monte Carlo. Fastest qualifier/fourth starter Huddleston ran second for the first five laps until Myers dropped him to third. With King high and Myers low, he raced her hard into the first turn, made metal to metal contact and moved her car up the track as he assumed the lead. He then sailed away to a straightaway lead by lap 30 and won by 5.128 seconds over King, who tied her second best ACLM result. She won her first ACLM feature on the half-mile in event 12 on August 2 after finishing second to her team owner Huddleston a week earlier. King maintained her seventh place rank in current points and she is only 18 points out of fifth place. Pole starter Ray Robinson finished third after racing fourth place Colin Fleming side by side and exchanging positions for the final 30 laps. Rookie Fleming, 24, settled for fourth, 0.302 behind Robinson. Series rookie Logan Henson started 11th and finished a career-best fifth, which bettered his prior best result by two positions.
Misfortune came early for Huddleston and Joanides. On lap 11 exiting the fourth turn, fourth place Joanides got into the back of third place Huddleston, who spun out to the third-mile track. He rejoined the field at the back after pitting for new tires. Track officials also sent Joanides to the back of the 20-car field for causing Huddleston's spin. With no further yellow flags to aid their position climbing, the two title contenders charged forward. At the lap 40 checkers Joanides was ninth and Huddleston 14th. All 20 starters finished the 19-minute race that had two caution flags on laps 7 and 11. Terry Henry, from Bakersfield, came from 16th to place sixth. Rookie Ryan Kaplan, a 22-year old USAC open-wheel sprint car and midget winner, Travis Irving, Joanides and rookie Miles Copenhaver rounded out the top ten. Sixteen drivers completed all 40 laps.
FF MIDGETS: The USAC K & N Filters Ford Focus Midget California Paved Track Series fourth race this year on the TS@I third-mile produced a season-high 16-car field. Nine of the top 11 drivers in points raced. They included 18-year old Ian Miille, the point leader by 23 points, and second place and Alex Bowman, 15, from Tucson. Fastest qualifier Miille started sixth and Bowman's Beast combination car (dirt & paved tracks) had pole position as the sixth quickest qualifier. Bowman led all 35 laps and barely held off Miille's passing attempts during the final three laps. Miille took second place on lap 16 and waged an intense, fan-pleasing battle with Bowman to the finish. Last week Miille led laps 12-29 of a 30-lap race at Lake Havasu, AZ and Bowman passed him with minor car contact on the last lap in the final turn. Miille hoped to return the late pass move on Bowman and bumped Bowman in the late stages at turn four. However, the younger driver recovered and won by 0.137 over Miille. He earned 61 points but Miille collected 63 points including qualifying points and extended his point advantage from 23 to 25 points (894-869) with two paved track series races remaining on the schedule—October 18 at Blythe, CA and on November 27 in event five of the year at Irwindale. Impressive and articulate Bowman, a quarter midget graduate and FF Midget rookie, now has ten FF Midget feature victories this season. He has won six of 16 USAC FF Midget paved track features and four of eight dirt track mains this year. His paved triumphs have come at the Las Vegas, NV 3/8-mile "Bullring", Altamont Raceway in Tracy, CA, Lake Havasu, AZ and in three of the four races at Irwindale. His four dirt track victories came at Ventura and Bakersfield with a pair of trophies from both tracks. Bowman ranks second in paved track points with a deficit of 25 points; he is the point leader by 2-points over Walt Johnson in the California FF Midget dirt track series.
Third place series point driver Brendan Langlois, 15, started fifth and finished third, 2.480 seconds back. The British Columbia, Canada native won the March 29 main event at Irwindale in one of four Ron Sutton Winner's Circle Driver Development Program cars built by former sprint car driver Steve Kent, of Fresno. His teammate Jessica Brunelli, 15, was fourth, 3.394 seconds behind the winner. Sprint car and midget driver Rick Hendrix, 55, came from 14th to fifth place in his first FF Midget attempt at Irwindale. He has raced his own 360 sprint car and midget at Irwindale on the half-mile oval since the track opened in 1999. Cody Swanson, an 18-year old Norco resident and Irwindale's 2007 Legends rookie of the year driving for Speed Wong Racing on the third-mile, drove his family-owned Dave Ellis-built combo car to sixth. Jeff Oleen, rookie Brody Roa, Brennan Newberry and Zack Stout, a 23-year old rookie in a Stealth chassis, completed the top ten. Thirteen of 16 starters were racing at the lap 35 finish with all drivers on the lead lap. Mike Maier, a 30-year old owner/driver, started third and was third on lap 34 when his four-cylinder Focus engine blew on the backstretch. He quickly pulled off the third-mile to the half-mile backstretch and parked at turn four. His older brother Charles finished 11th in a brand new Beast chassis that they assembled. J. R. Williams, a 73-year old retired airline pilot, and 17-year old Austin Williams, the second of 2004 USAC/CRA sprint car champion Rip Williams' three sons, were the other finishers. The 12:24.025 timed-race included two brief yellow flags on laps 16 and 17.
PURE STOCKS: The track's low budget pure stock division had a 16-car field for third-mile action in round 11 of 12. Two drivers—Tommy Agosta and Chad Kelly—were tied in points at 544, with Ken Michaelian (522) and fastest qualifier Mike Colato, Jr. (520) still in title contention. Kelly's 1979 Olds Cutlass had a master brake cylinder failure during afternoon practice sessions and he could not get parts to repair it. He drove Harry Michaelian's 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner in the feature. Kelly started last because of the driver change following qualifying and finished eighth in the 16-car field. Agosta, 18, started on the pole as second fastest qualifier and led the first 23 laps before fourth starter Mark Whitson, in a 1973 Chevy Laguna, passed him on lap 24 and won the 30-lap contest by 0.130. Agosta was second after poking the nose of his car in front of Whitson on the backstretch during the last lap. Tom Whitson placed third. Michelle Rouse and Justin Good completed the top five. Twelve of the 16 starters finished the 15-minute race that had one caution. Eleven drivers ran every lap. Agosta now leads Kelly by 12 points (592-580) with one race remaining.
AUTO SOCCER; The final event was the third "Auto Soccer" $600 event this year. Three orange cars from Pick Your Part competed against three white cars from Jan's Towing with an empty 450-pound propane tank painted to resemble a soccer ball. Large tires functioned as goals at both ends of the infield. The nine minute event produced a 2 to 1 victory for the PYP team, which is now 3-0 against Jan's Towing in the three contests this year. Racing commenced at 7:20 pm with an ACLM six-lap trophy dash for the six slowest qualifiers. Rodney Peacher led the first five laps from the pole. Travis Motley went to the inside in the third and fourth turns on the final lap and edged Peacher by a fender at the finish line (0.025 officially).
Fastest qualifiers on the third-mile track were: (Pure Stocks)--Coleto – 17.430 (68.778 mph) a NTR that beat the 17.460 (68.660 mph) mark set by Ken Michaelian on 6-7-08; (USAC FF Midgets) – Miille – 14.566 (82.301 mph). Quickest qualifiers on the half-mile were: (Super Stocks) – Harrell – 20.902 (86.116 mph); (Super Trucks) – R. Johnson, Jr. - 19.664 (91.538 mph); (Late Models) – Huddleston – 19.034 (94.568 mph). Hard Charger Awards went to: (PS) – Good (P. 8 to P.5); (FF Midgets) – Hendrix (P. 14 to P. 5); (SS) – Frankovich (P. 12 to P. 5); (ST) – Joe Anderson (P. 22 to P. 9), and (LM) – T. Henry (P. 16 to P. 6). .
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