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IRWINDALE, CA., Apr. 26 - Veteran Jim Pettit II withstood the closing charge of track-master Rip Michels to win the first ever Flashco SRL Southwest Tour Anderson Windows & Doors 100-lap feature Saturday on the banked, half-mile Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. Stock Building Supply Home Improvement Night attracted about 4,000 spectators. Fans witnessed the most competitive race of the season. The 24-car field had four race leaders during the first 14 laps and a closing duel during the final 53 laps between Pettit and Michels. They were two of the nine SRL competitors who were veterans of the NASCAR Elite Division Southwest Series, which ceased operations following the 2006 season.
Three past NASCAR Southwest Series champions, who won four of the last six championships, raced Saturday in the second 2008 SRL race of the season. Pettit (2004-05) and Michels (2006) were joined by 2001 Southwest Series champion Craig Raudman, who finished third Saturday. Winner Pettit, who jumped from third to first in SRL 2008 point standings, collected a $2,000 check from the SRL $38,000 purse. Michels earned $1,300 and third finisher Raudman collected $1,000 from SRL officials at their STL trailer in the pits. The 12-race SRL schedule this year for the former NASCAR Elite Division cars will visit seven different tracks in four states-California, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada-from March to November according to a printed schedule released by SRL head Steve Fensler.The new, unfinished Kern County half-mile track has four races booked from July 19 to November 1.
SRL STOCKS: When an inversion of ten pill came up, tenth quickest qualifier Dan Holtz had pole position and fastest qualifier Michels had tenth grid position. When racing commenced Holtz led the first lap. Third starter Dan Byrd led lap two after making an inside pass in the fourth turn. Holtz led lap 3-12. Greg Voigt started fourth, took second on lap 10 and then shot past Holtz to lead lap 13. On lap 14 ninth starter Pettit shot from third to first position, which he held to the finish of the 40:19.324-timed race. Three yellow flags consumed nine laps (43-46, 51-53 and 76-78) for a pair of solo spins and debris on the backstretch. Michels shot past two lapped cars and Voigt for second place on the outside at the starting line when the green flag reappeared on lap 47. Michels No. 12 Stock Building Supply Chevy Monte Carlo closed in on Pettit's
No. 03 Ford Fusion by lap 70 and they battled for the point with Pettit taking away Michels' preferred inside groove in the turns. Pettit led each lap by one to three lengths with third place Raudman 50-yards back.
On Lap 98 Michels made a major move for the lead in turn four but his car got loose and he fell back ten yards. He trailed by 15-yards (1.291-seconds) at the checkers with a lapped car between the leading duo. Raudman was 2.943-seconds behind the winner. Fourth place Voigt, Irwindales's 2000 Super Late Model champion, was 8.589-seconds back and Jamie Dick was fifth. Troy Ermish, SRL's point leader after he won the season opener at All-American Speedway in Roseville, CA on March 29, finished sixth. He gained two positions with passes on laps 95 and 98. Irwindale veteran Brandon Loverock, who has missed more than one season because of a leg injury in a motorcycle accident and complications, started ninth and finished seventh. He ran fifth from lap 39-70. Travis Bennett came from 14th to eighth, with Keith Spangler and Dave Byrd ninth and tenth respectively. Nineteen of 24 starters (from four states) finished, with 13 drivers on the lead lap. Outside front row starter Josh Combs finished 13th, 16.946-seconds behind the winner. He joined Byrd and Ermish as first-time competitors at Irwindale along with seven other SRL drivers.
LATE MODELS: In a 32-car field, point leader Andrew Myers, a NASCAR Grand National West veteran from Huntington Beach, started second in Eugene Dewberry's Chevy with a three-car inverted lineup. He led all 50-laps of the Auto Club Late Model feature. He set a series record by winning all four ACLM main events at the start of a season. He opened a 12-point lead over fourth starter Nick Joanides, who ran second all the way. He trailed by five yards (0.342) after a green, white, checkered flag finish. The most bizarre ACLM race of the season had five yellow flags and a red flag. The all-stop incident occurred on lap two when a spin at the starting line triggered an eight-car crash that sidelined three cars and inflicted major body damage on several cars. All yellow flag laps counted this week because of the five-division card and a 100-lap SRL
feature. ACLM drivers completed only 16 green flag laps.
Tim Huddleston, the 2005 and 07 ACLM champion, was in third place on lap 47 when he slowed in the fourth turn with a right front problem. On lap 48 as he exited the second turn his RF wheel came off and rolled to the third-mile fourth turn wall. He placed 22nd and dropped from fourth to sixth in current points. A pair of Huddleston's rookie late model teammates-Colin Fleming and Ryan Kaplan-finished third and fourth. USAC Midget and 2007 Western Sprint car champion Kaplan jumped from fifth to third in ACLM points based on his successive feature finishes of eighth, seventh, sixth and fourth in his first NASCAR late model season. Sean Bennett, Kevin Callahan, Brian Jones, Ray Robinson, Robert Rice and Travis Irving completed the top ten. Lindsey King, who spun across the starting line on the second lap after contact in traffic with her teammate Kaplan, charged from the back to finish 11th on the same scrubbed tires. There were 21 cars racing at the finish and 20 drivers completed every lap. The race actually ran 51 laps.
SUPER TRUCKS: The King Taco Super Trucks 40-lap main, also on the half-mile, had four race leaders among the 24 starters. Connor Cantrell, 17, led the first eight laps as he tried to replicate his victory in the last race. However, a mechanical problem under a caution flag caused him to retire to the infield. Spins by Eddie Tafoya and then a retaliatory spin of Joe Anderson by Tafoya sent both trucks to the pits. Security staff followed to keep the two angry drivers apart. Pole starter Paul Brennan led lap 9-17. He yielded the point to sixth starter Pat Mintey, Jr, who stayed in front for three laps. Joe Herold, in the Quality Chevrolet of Escondido Chevy, led lap 21-40 for his first victory this season. The 24-minute race had three caution flags. All 15 finishers in the 24-truck lineup ran 40 laps. Runner-up Mintey trailed Herold by 1.074 with Todd Cameron third, 1.772 behind Herold despite losing his power steering during the race. Rod Johnson, Jr and Brennan rounded out the top five.
MINI STOCKS: Tyler Rogers, the Justice Brothers Mini Stocks 21-year old champion, came from fifth starting slot to lead lap 14-35 on the third-mile. His 1970 Ford Pinto won by 0.528 over fastest qualifier Rich Garver's 1980 Toyota Celica, which started sixth. Jacob Rogers, 18-year old brother of the winner, led lap 4-13 after passing Tom Dye, the first three laps leader. Daryl Scoggins, the season opener winner, and Dye finished fourth and fifth as 15 of 18 starters finished the 10:19.024-timed all green flag race.
PURE STOCKS: Fastest qualifier Mike Colato, Jr., a 26-year old two year veteran of the series, started second in his 1976 Chevy Nova and led all 30-laps on the third-mile. The caution-free race took 9:05.066. It was his first career main event victory and topped his prior best finish of second place. Pole starter Ken Michaelian, in a 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner, finished second, 3.378-seconds behind Colato. Dave Foster's Chevy Monte Carlo finished third, 1.086-seconds behind the winner. Curtis Drye and Harry Michaelian placed fourth and fifth. Twelve of 14 starters finished and seven drivers completed every lap.
A 4-lap Performance Electrical Co. SRL trophy dash for the four fastest qualifiers went to Michels at 7:00 p.m in the opening race. He started fourth and led the final three laps after passing his teammate Dan Moore, a SLM veteran at Irwindale. Moore made his SRL Southwest Tour debut in a second Stock Building Supply Chevy Monte Carlo. Pettit, Moore and Ermish followed in a 1:13.768 timed-race. Fastest qualifiers on the half-mile were: (SRL)-Michels - 18.113 (99.376 mph); (ACLM)-Mike Johnson - 19.246 (93.526 mph) and (ST)-Brennan - 20.080 (89.641 mph). Third-mile FQ were: (MS)-Garver - 17.165 (69.840 mph) and (PS)-Colato - 17.599 (68.118 mph). Hard Charger Award winners were: (ST)- Uli Perez, (ACLM)-Robinson (P.28 to P.8), (MS)- Kevin Bernhardt and (PS)- Harry Michaelian.
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