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Irwindale, CA. May 15- Rod Johnson, Jr., a 20-year old rising star in stock car racing, won his second consecutive NASCAR Auto Club Late Model 50-lap feature Saturday at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. The 2009 track champion and rookie of the year in the King Taco Super Truck Series drove one of five Justice Brothers High Point Racing Chevy Monte Carlos. Approximately 2,300 persons watched the five division evening on Armed Forces Appreciation Day at the track. ACLM rookie/current point leader Johnson started fourth, took second on lap two, and passed 2009 ACLM champion Nick Joanides on lap 15. Joanides had led the first 14 circuits from pole position. Joanides picked the outside for a two abreast restart of lap 15 following a one-car spin that caused the first of two caution flags during the race. Johnson shot to the inside entering the first turn and emerged from the second turn with the lead that he maintained to the conclusion.
Following a yellow flag on lap 22, Johnson picked the outside for the double-file restart after input from his spotter. He out-gunned fellow front row driver Joanides and retained the lead. Joanides said his clutch slipped a bit on restarts and wished the race had gone green all the way. He kept applying pressure to the end, but Johnson prevailed by 0.764 at the checkers. Bakersfield's Chris Holloway, 22, started and finished third, 0.981 in back of the winner. He traded third place five times with Mike Johnson before emerging for good with the last podium position on lap 26. Mike Johnson placed fourth, 1.708 back with fifth fastest qualifier/second starter Tim Huddleston fifth, 2.963 seconds in back of the winner. Comparing his two victories, Johnson said he won from the front row on May 1 and from fourth starting spot this week. “You have to drive by people, so its a little more satisfying this week. But a win is a win.”
Derek Thorn, the SRL Series point leader from Bakersfield fresh from his SRL victory last Saturday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway three-eights mile Bullring, finished sixth. He drove the No. 43 team car for Holloway's team. Thorn spun to the third-mile infield at the lap one green flag and returned to the track three-quarters of a lap behind the last place car. He used the two cautions (laps 15 and 22) to his advantage. Thorn passed cars high and low in the 19-car field and nipped fastest qualifier/sixth starter Travis Motley on lap 45 for P 6 and finished 6.405 seconds from the lead. Motley, Bakersfield's Kenny Smith, Christian Copley and Darren Cheek completed the top ten. Cheek earned hard charger honors despite having to repair his stripped flywheel during afternoon practice. All 17 finishers completed 50 laps in a 28 minute event.
A lap 22 crash in turn four involved rookies Brandon Davis and Joey Licata in two of the five HPR “blue crew” cars. Davis looped and Licata hit the side of Davis' car, breaking his radiator. Johnson, son of Irwindale's 1999 super late model champion, became the first repeat winner after four ACLM 2010 events. “RJ” Johnson extended his ACLM point lead to 28 points (194-166) over opening night winner Travis Irving. Rookie Copley, 18, is third, with 162 points, four digits in front of Holloway. Joanides is now fifth in points with 156.
SUPER TRUCKS: The 15 King Taco Super Truck field used a five-truck inverted start. That fact didn't faze point leader/fastest qualifier Ryan Partridge. All he did was start fifth, take the lead from second starter Todd Cameron on the third lap, and lead the final 38 laps of another feature on the half-mile. It was event four of the 14 race KTST season. “Perfect” Partridge, in the still un-sponsored No. 48 Steve Latina truck, has set the fastest qualifying time four times and won all four of the 40-lap truck events. He now has a 12-point lead (200-188) over Cameron, who was runner-up for the second time this season as he tries to nail his initial victory. He also has a pair of thirds in the four races and trailed the winner by 0.526 this week. KTST 2007-08 champion Pat Mintey, Jr. started fourth and finished third. Rookie Andrew Anderson started third and placed fourth. Ex-super stock veteran Ken Brown had his best truck finish with a run from eight to fifth. All 15 starters finished the 20-minute race that had two cautions. Only two trucks were down a lap. Bill Sedgwick, Kenny Smith –the hard charger award winner (12th to 7th), rookie Brandon Toy, Matt Kimball and rookie Lucas McNeil rounded out the top ten. Ken Maler, Jr. received the hard luck award. Smith started last in a four-lap trophy dash for the four slowest KTST qualifiers and led all but the first lap in the first race of the night.
SUPER STOCKS: Point leader Rich DeLong III won his fourth 30-lap Vista Paint Super Stock feature in the fifth race of the season aboard his No. 84 Chevy Impala SS. It was the first main event of the evening. As Partridge did later, DeLong, 22, started fifth in a five-car inversion and led all but the first two laps. Bryan Harrell, in his No. 55 Camaro, started fourth in the season-high 11-car field and took second on lap 4, but he trailed the winner by 0.801. It was his third runner-up finish this year. Gary Frankovich, in one of three Impala SS cars, finished third. Eric Sunness, winner of the last VPSS main on May 1, and Gary Read followed in Camaros. Nine of 11 starters finished the 12-minute race on the half-mile. The race had one caution on lap 6 for a solo spin by Curtis White on the backstretch. He returned and finished sixth as the last driver on the lead lap and received the hard luck award. Sunness was the race hard charger recipient. DeLong now holds a 22-point lead over Harrell after five of 15 scheduled races.
OUTLAW FIGURE 8: A season-high nine cars took part in the 20-lap Pick Your Part Outlaw Figure 8 race. FQ Steve Stewart started from pole position and led all the way for his initial TS@I victory this year in round three. He defeated Billy Ziemann, a two-time main event winner this year, by 3.854 seconds. The two past track champions have won all the 2010 mains and also have split the FQ time honors Stewart has two and the Z-man has one FQ time. Andy Schoening placed third,16 seconds back. Tony Curtis earned fourth, 20-seconds back and the last driver on the lead lap. Robert Rice, in his first ride aboard the No. 57 F-8 Special, took fifth, a lap down. Seven of nine cars reached the finish line. The all-green flag race took 6:08.052. Ziemann is the point leader by eight points over Schoening (148-140) after three of seven races.
DEMO DERBY: The final event of the night was a five-car, $2,000 derby on the third-mile infield arena marked off by huge white tires. A track water truck soaked the playing field with soapy water to reduce traction before the motorized mayhem commenced. Two cars exited quickly after solid hits. Two orange cars combined to eliminate a black sedan driven by track official Mike Atkinson. Then versatile 16-time TS@I winner Robert Rice's orange sedan outlasted Keith Jones' orange station wagon to win the $1,000 first place check in an eight-minute “war” that concluded activity at 9:57 pm.
FASTEST QUALIFIERS: (ACLM) – Travis Motley, 18.713 (96.190 mph); (KTST) – Ryan Partridge, 19.717 (91.292 mph); (VPSS) – Rich DeLong III, 20.953 (85.907 mph); (PYP F8) – Steve Stewart, 19.040 (71.282 mph). As part of the Armed Forces Appreciation Day activities, a group of military personnel took their reenlistment oaths at the finish line following the National Anthem.
On Friday afternoon, May 14 Mario Andretti, the 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1978 Formula One World Champion, drove many laps on the TS@I progressively banked half-mile. His mount was the IZOD Indy Car Series two-seater Dallara. He and a passenger, along with a full television commercial production crew, were taping a TV commercial for airing later this year.
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