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Irwindale, CA. June 26 - It appears all you had to do to reap success Saturday as a Toyota Speedway at Irwindale driver was set the fastest qualifying time in your division. That was the ticket to the top podium step and feature victories in four of the five divisions that ran time trials. The sixth division in action on Pipe Trades Night was the fan-favorite skid plate cars in the fifth ever TS@I race for the innovative series. It was the final race of the night and concluded on track action at 9:32 pm in front of approximately 2,000 spectators.
Fast timers and feature winners on the half-mile (starting position in parenthesis) were: Nick Joanides (Auto Club Late Models--sixth), Ryan Partridge (King Taco Super Trucks--sixth), and Gerrit Cromsigt (Vista Paint Super Stocks--second). Darren Amidon (Echo Equipment Legend Cars--sixth) duplicated their efforts on the third-mile. The Justice Brothers Mini Stock main event went to sixth fastest qualifier Rod Schmitt, the sixth starter in the third-mile event. The third skid plate 20-lap race of the season on the third-mile oval went to JBMS 2009 champion Daryl Scoggins, who started third in a front-wheel drive 1991 Ford Festiva. It was his initial race in the fastest growing division at the track. Car counts have increased from seven (August) to 16 (October) last year when skid plate cars made their TS@I debut. This year skid plate car counts have climbed from 20 (March 27) to 22 (May 29) and 28 (June 26).
ACLM – Reigning ACLM champion Joanides gave himself a belated 40th birthday (DOB June 17) present by turning his fastest qualifying time into his dominant 40th feature triumph at Irwindale. He drove Loyd McGhee's No. 77 Chevy Monte Carlo from sixth spot at the green to first by lap 4. He then extended his advantage to 40-yards, or three seconds, despite two cautions on laps 15 and 20 for spinners. He backed off a bit coming to the checkers and won by 25-yards (1.275 seconds). Pole sitter Travis Irving, the leader of the first three laps, drove his CHP-backed Toyota Camry to second place. Series rookie Rod Johnson, Jr., the 2009 KTST champion and rookie of the year, started fifth and finished a close third, only 0.119 behind Irving. Chris Holloway (-1.595) and rookie Brandon Davis (-1.813) completed the top five. The P.2, 3,4, 5 drivers battled in a tight pack during the closing laps. Third place Holloway No. 44) bumped the back of Irving's No. 85 exiting turn four on lap 39 and lost third place to Johnson before he resumed speed after the brief contact. ACLM rookie Christian Copley, Travis Motley, Kyle McGrady, Darren Cheek and Dylan Kwasniewski, from Nevada, rounded out the top ten. All 13 starters finished 40 laps in a 17-minute event. Joanides told the crowd, “We had a fourth place car each week lately, so we rebuilt the car and a new axle and spindle made the difference.” He now has three victories in the eight ACLM feature to date and increased his series point lead from four to six points over Johnson.
KTST -- “Perfect” Partridge, 22, kept his winning streak on track in a highly competitive 16-truck field. He now is seven for seven in both fastest qualifying times and feature victories aboard the No. 48 Steve Latina-owned PPL Motorsports Dodge with crew chief Scott Appell. He needs a main event triumph in three weeks to tie the one season series consecutive victories mark of eight. The track record for consecutive victories is 11 by Ron Peterson, a 31-time KTST winner and two-time series champion (2004 and 06). The race had three leaders and four lead changes. Andrew Anderson, a 17-year old Bandolero, Legends and super stock graduate, started second and led the first two laps plus lap 5. Third starter Matt Kimball, 19, paced laps 3-4. The top three drives races three-wide for five laps with Partridge low, Anderson in the middle, and Kimball on the outside. Partridge took command on lap 6 and lengthened his lead to half a straightaway by lap 25. He won by 4.175 seconds over fast-improving Ken Maler, Jr, a 19-year old Legends graduate. Maler, from seventh starting spot, took second from Anderson on lap 38 and earned his career-best finish on the half-mile. Anderson's third (-4.476) was his best result as well. Kimball took fourth, 5.998 back. Todd Cameron, second to Partridge all season in points, placed fifth, 6.612 back. He now trails Partridge by 24-points. Ryan Fortier, Dennis Arena, series rookie Ken Brown, Jameson Spies and Legends veteran/truck rookie Brandon Toy, 19, completed the top ten. Twelve of 15 finishers raced all 40 laps. The all-green flag race took 13:34.037.
VPSS – Second starter Cromsigt led all but the first lap in his Camaro after spotting pole starter Rich DeLong III to a first lap lead. It was his second consecutive VPSS victory. Point leader DeLong finished second, 0.257 back, in his No. 84 Chevy Impala SS. Bryan Harrell, a two-time VPSS champion (2006 & 08), joined the battle for the lead during the closing laps and trailed DeLong by 0.283. Camaro drivers Curtis White, Gary Read, rookie Brad Keegan (hard charger winner), Jason DeLong and Mark Brinksma were the only other finishers in a nine-car field. All eight drivers ran all 30 laps of a race that had one caution flag to remove a slow car. DeLong, seeking his first track championship, now leads Harrell by 24 points.
EELC – The Legends 35-lap contest had four race leaders. Jordan Hyland led the first three laps from the pole. Chad Schug, from fifth, nosed in front on lap 4. Then fourth starter/point leader Brent Scheidemantle, 17, was in front from lap 5-15. Amidon, from sixth, took fourth on lap 7, third on lap 10, second a lap later and then took command on lap 16. He won by ten yards or 0.990 officialy. It was his fourth straight victory in the eighth race this season. Scheidemantle was second. Schug finished in P. 3, 2.259 seconds behind the winner. Mark Iungerich, Reno teenager Hunter Colodny, Hyland, Rick Clark, Gary Scheuerell, Jack Madrid and Blake Dunkleberger, a rookie from the Bandolero ranks, rounded out the top ten. Twelve of 14 finishers in a 17-car field ran all 35 laps of a 13-minute race with two brief cautions. Scheidemantle now sits atop the points by 12 (348-336) over Schug. Amidon was not present for three of eight races and now ranks seventh with 242 points.
JBMS –Rod Schmitt scored a surprising second career feature victory in his green No. 55 Ford Pinto . As sixth quickest qualifier he was tooling along in third place when problems befell the two cars in front of him. On lap 12 point leader Daryl Scoggins' second place Pinto slowed and parked at the half-mile second turn apron after his camshaft broke in three places. He was attempting to win his fifth consecutive main in seven races. He still sits atop the points by 16 digits over Schmitt. Jacob Rogers started second in his Pinto and opened half a lap lead by lap 28. His car got increasingly loose on old, worn tires. Suddenly, on lap 29 with no cars near him, Rogers spun out in mid-track while leaving the fourth turn. He resumed in fourth place after Pintos driven by Schmitt, Kevin Bernhardt and Fred Adams had passed his car. They finished in that order in P. 1-4. Schmitt, a JBMS veteran of four years, won his only other main event on August 15, 2009. The happy winner facetiously told the crowd, “He (Rogers) must have got nervous with us putting all that pressure on him. I am on my way to Vegas.” The top three drivers are an informal team. They pit together and give assistance to each other at every race. Adams, who had not raced in four or five years, thanked Dusty Morgan for letting him use his No. 11 Pinto when he could not be present. Of special interest, Richie Zimmerman, age 91, finished eighth, down a lap. He is the oldest driver to have turned a lap at the track and comes to the track from his Pomona home without a crew.
SKID PLATE CARS – An all-time record 28 FWD cars were on the starting grid for a standing start. Drivers drew for starting positions and raced with the backstretch lights turned off to accentuate the effect of sparks rising from the metal skid plates used on each car instead of back tires. During 4:00 pm practice 12 cars turned up to five laps. James Altman ran the fastest lap at 35.892 (33.400 mph) to edge second quickest Bryan Harrell by 1.041 mph. The slowest speed was 20.107 mph. Past skid plate races had numerous leaders, spins, crashes and general mayhem as the leaders raced for $250 paydays. This race had one leader, JBMS 2009 champion Scoggins. He made made his skid plate debut in the No. 10 Ford Festiva raced this year by his brother Ed. The winner started third, cut to the inside and led the opening lap and eventually all 20 laps. However, his winning ride wasn't incident-free. Leading on lap 10, he spun in turn four in a two-car incident. He continued non-stop and led that lap narrowly over his spin partner James Altman. Fifth starter John Zimmerman, the March 27 skid plate winner, finished second, a straightaway in back of the winner. Gabriella Hansen, 18-year old daughter of Outlaw Figure 8 driver Sean Hansen, used her dad's helmet and raced in her second-ever race. She started her No. 08 Honda Accord 18th and drove smoothly through spins and debris to reach P. 2 by lap 11. Zimmerman passed her on lap 13, but she re-passed him a lap later. Zimmerman took second for keeps on lap 15 and she trailed him by a straightway at the conclusion. Only the top three finishers completed all 20 laps.
Eighteen of 28 starters were racing at the finish. Crashes and mechanical problems claimed ten cars. The all-green flag race lasted 12:29.892. Jonathon DeStefano and Angela DeFazio, daughter of the track VP/COO, finished fourth and fifth. Drivers from fourth through tenth ran 19 laps. Innovative Robert Rice has been building and selling more skid plates to teams and individuals, so many first-time skid plate racers took part in the entertaining event for the first time. Among the raw rookie skid platers were super late model veteran Scott Dodd (P. 27-DNF), two-time VPSS champion Bryan Harrell (P. 6), P. 19 Tom Joanides (ACLM winner Nick's father in skid plate rookie Nick's May 29 winning skid plate car), P. 17 Loyd McGhee (Nick's Pepsi One SLM and ACLM car owner), and of course “rookie” Scoggins, 38, the winner. The contest for skid plate rookie of the year could get interesting,with “rooks” Nick and Daryl batting 1,000 in the unique racing class.
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