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IRWINDALE, CA., .Jun. 7 – Five racing series competed Saturday on a pair of TOYOTA Speedway at Irwindale tracks—three series on the half-mile and two on the third-mile. About 2,500 fans watched Nick Joanides,36, make the pass of the night and get past race-long leader Tim Huddleston on lap 31 to win the 22-car, 40-lap Auto Club Late Model feature. He drove Loyd McGhee's No. 77 J & M Construction Chevy Monte Carlo to his first ACLM triumph this year. The Woodland Hills resident won three ACLM races last season in the same car from August to November after he took over the ride in mid-season. A co-featured main on the banked half-mile was a 50-lap ASA Speed Truck Challenge Series event as the final race of the night. Todd McLauchlan started fourth in a 14-truck field, passed pole starter Jason Black on the second lap, and kept his Chevy Colorado in the lead for the final 49 circuits. It was his second main event victory in the ASA series. His initial triumph came at Irwindale two months ago on April 5. The all green-flag race took 17:18.726.
VPSS: Greg Crutcher, in a 1975 Chevy Camaro, won his second Vista Paint Super Stock main event in a 35-lap race on the half-mile. He started third and on lap 29 passed fastest qualifier/fourth starter starter Bryan Harrell, who was attempting to win his fourth consecutive feature. Harrell had opened a 35-yard advantaged over second place by lap 10, before his car got loose exiting the turns. Crutcher closed ground steadily and got under Harrell's 1977 Camaro when it got very loose and almost spun in the fourth turn. Harrell did bump the outer wall exiting turn four but he continued in second spot. Harrell finished three-quarters of a straight (4.090-seconds) behind his closest rival for the series track championship. Following race five of the 13 scheduled VPSS events, three-time winner Harrell now leads two-time winner Crutcher by two points (236-234). Rich DeLong III scored his third consecutive third place in his No. 84 Camaro and moved from fourth to third in series points. Larry Cerquettini and Jeff Grill finished fourth and fifth.
LEGENDS: In third-mile main events, fastest qualifier Eric Gunderson, driving in only his seventh Legend Cars event, won his second consecutive 30-lap contest. The 14-year old rookie from La Jolla, started third in a three-car inverted start aboard his No. 97 Maxima Oils coupe. He led all but the second lap in a 24-car field. He thanked the Landreth Racing team for all their help. Gunderson now ranks second to five-time series champion Tom Landreth who started second and finished sixth. Landreth,40,saw his point lead slip from 56 to 46 points over second ranked Gunderson. Darren Amidon, 22-year old 2007 series track champion, came from fourth to lead lap two. He chased Gunderson all 30 laps before falling five-yards short of victory (0.381 officially). A phalanx of 14-year old drivers must have seemed like a swarm of invading bees to veterans Amidon and Landreth. Donny St. Ours, who began racing karts seven years ago, and fellow 14-year old Ryan Reed finished a close third and fourth respectively. Reed won a TS@I Legends main event earlier this year and St. Ours won in the series last September. Another 14-year old, Brent Scheidemantle, finished eighth Saturday. Twenty-one of 24 starters reached the checkered flag with 20 drivers on the lead lap. A red flag incident stopped the Legends main for eight minutes on lap 21 after Jonathan Evans slammed into the first turn wall. His car slid about 20-yards to a halt against the crash-wall as a brief engine fire erupted. The track fire crew extinguished it quickly and Evans was uninjured.
PURE STOCKS: BG Pure Stocks began main event action with a fully inverted 13-car field running a 30-lap race on the third-mile. The race had four lead changes among four drivers, a black flag for a race leader and a close 1-2-3 finish. Mike Colato, Jr, 26, won his second 30-lap main this season. There was one brief caution flag despite the fastest cars coming from the back. Jeffrey Best, a 19-year old driving in only his second race, led the first lap from the pole. Harry Michaelian paced laps 2-6. Ninth starter Colato led laps 7-9 before yielding the point to 13th starter Tommy Agosta, who won his first feature earlier this year. Agosta paced laps 10-22 after making his inside pass at the starting line. However, leader Agosta received the black flag each lap from lap 20-23 for an infraction called by race control. After Curtis Drye's car emitted a cloud of smoke and caused a caution flag, officials stopped Agosta and sent him to the back. Colato inherited the lead. Agosta came from 12th to seventh at the checkers. Colato beat Michelle Rouse by 0.280, with Ken Michaelian 0.602 back. Point leader Chad Kelly and Dave Foster followed in the 13-minute race.
LATE MODELS: Two-time ACLM champion Tim Huddleston, trying to secure his second victory in a row, started second in his High Point Distributing Chevy Monte Carlo. He out-accelerated pole starter/series rookie Miles Copenhaver at the green flag. He led the first lap over third-starter Joanides, a five-time 2008 AC Delco Super Late Model winner, and fastest qualifier/fifth starter Andrew Myers, who won the first five ACLM features this year. The three late model veterans engaged in a three-way battle for all 40-laps and pulled away from the fourth place driver. Following the the second caution flag for a solo spin on lap 31, Joanides made his winning move. At the green flag Joanides dived to the inside entering the first turn and pulled even with leader Huddleston exiting the second turn. At turn four Joanides completed his pass for the lead by a few feet from turn four to the starting line. Both drivers told the media there was no contact between their cars during the close competition. Joanides beat Huddleston bu ten yards (0.624) and Myers was 15-yards behind the runner-up (0.844). Mike Johnson came from ninth to finish fourth, 2.437-seconds behind the winner. Myers saw his current point lead shrink from 40 to 36 points over Joanides after seven of 17 scheduled events.
Series rookie Ryan Kaplan, 21, came from tenth starting spot to earn fifth in the No. 51 Huddleston "blue crew" Monte Carlo. He missed the last event at TS@I to race a USAC Midget in the Anderson, Indiana "Night Before the Indy 500" and dropped from fourth to seventh in ACLM points. Kaplan, the leading rookie in ACLM points, climbed from seventh to sixth in points. Kaplan's fellow rookie and Huddleston teammate Colin Fleming, who had a late race tire rub, Travis Irving, Copenhaver, Sean Bennett and Daniel DiGiacomo completed the top ten. Only one of 22 starters failed to finish. All 21 finishers completed 40-laps in a 22:22.241-clocked race. There were three yellow flags for spins or debris. The top three ACLM finishers came to the press box. Winner Joanides said, "I wanted this one more than any of those Super Late Model races. I finally got one of these." He has finished second in four of the seven ACLM mains this year. "I got tired of finishing second." Huddleston voiced his belief that this season has the strongest ACLM field ever. He added, "Coming up to lap cars you notice how fast even lapped cars are moving this season."
ASA TRUCKS: McLauchlan, from Alpine in San Diego County, ranked second in ASA points (457-438) behind veteran Darren Young entering Irwindale's round seven of the 12-round touring Speed Truck Challenge. Their year to date series earnings were almost the same. Young had $3,300 and McLauchlan $3,400. Coming from fourth and fifth starting slots, McLauchlan and Young reached first and second during the third lap and waged a 47 lap contest for the victory. McLauchlan's ICM Chevy Colorado edged Young's United Nissan/Sudden Impact Chevy S-10 by 0.596, or about ten yards. During the final three laps the two leaders successfully weaved through three trucks fighting for tenth place. Third place Dallas Colodny, the quickest qualifier, finished third, 4.466-seconds behind the winner. Paul Bonaccorsi, the leading ASA series rookie, was fourth, 10.381-seconds behind McLauchlan. First lap leader Jason Black was fifth, 10.968-seconds back in another Chevy S-10. All 14 trucks finished and nine drivers ran all 50 laps in the 17:18.726-timed race.
Racing started with a pair of six-lap trophy dashes for the six fastest qualifiers with a black and white California Highway Patrol car, lights flashing, pacing the field. Young passed fellow front row starter Colodny on lap four and beat McLauchlan and Colodny in the ASA 2:01.046 run. In the fully inverted ACLM dash, 19-year old Lindsey King and rookie Copenhaver started in the front row. King led lap one and Copenhaver led the final five laps to win his first trophy dash by a foot (0.012) over inside challenger Joanides. Myers, King, Fleming and Huddleston followed in a 1:57.033 race. Hard chargers selected by race control were: (PS)--Jeff Elder, (VPSS)--Gerrit Cromsigt, (LC)--Bob Landreth, (ACLM)--Mike Johnson, and (ASA)--Shawn Steele. Fastest qualifiers were: (PS)--Ken Michaelian, whose 17.460 (68.660 mph) was a new track record that beat Colato's 17.472 (68.613 mph) on May 10; (LC)--Gunderson – 71.095 mph; (VPSS)--Harrell – 85.931 mph; (ASA Trucks)--Colodny – 90.171 mph, and (ACLM)--Myers – 94.767 mph.
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