Willow Springs Speedway, located within the massive Willow Springs International Raceway complex in Rosamond-California, closed its 2004 season, November 13th, with a special Saturday afternoon event that featured red hot action from five racing divisions on the quarter mile paved oval.
Chief among the action was the I-4 and I-6 Modified Series. This supercharged division allows both four and six cylinder engines that creates about 300 horsepower allowing the cars to turn lap times between 16 and 17 seconds. 19 of these ground shaking machines arrived at Willow Springs that Saturday afternoon enhanced by some visiting teams from northern California who made very quick work of making themselves at home at a track that many of them had never seen before.
Ventura, California's Rick Rodarte won the 35 lap modified feature but it wasn't easy. Four caution flags, two of which turned to red flags, created a wreck marred race and all of the caution flags had a direct impact on the outcome of the race.
On the initial green flag the field barely made one lap before the first, and most serious, yellow flag came out due to a massive pile up off of the turn two wall. The field was jockeying for posisition when some three wide bumping ocurred that triggered the chain reaction. The cars of Ken Gifford, Scott DeLeon, Andy Leuzinger, Shane Rungiatis, Brian Rungiatis, Davis Lindron and Codi Barba were all involved in the crash with many of them having to be towed behind the pit wall.
Once the red flag clean up was complete, the race resumed with Jody Davis and Jeff Goddard setting the pace. The modified drivers found their race rhythm and made it all the way to lap 21 before the second yellow came out. The lapped car of Darryl Scoggins spun in turn two and got collected by Goddard who soon found himself displaced from the front of the pack to the rear of the field.
This incident was just a sample warning of things to come in this feature race. The restart lasted just one lap when race leader Davis made contact with Perry Browning and went sliding through turn two. However Davis' late race hard luck was not quite over yet. The field made a full lap after the restart when Davis lost his engine. The car spun through turns three and four with a big ball of flame coming from the motor. Kevin Barba went into a spin in an effort to avoid hitting Davis. Mark Moise went high into the turn to avoid the Davis car and slammed hard into the frontstretch wall. This brought out the fourth yellow flag, and second red flag, of the race.
When Davis experiencing all that hard racing luck, Rodarte took over the lead and had to spend the final ten laps fending off a final charge from Goddard who had now worked his way back through the field from his earlier incident. Rodarte crossed under the checkers with Goddard literally glued to his bumper. Browning, Chris Stracka and Rick Bronson completed the top five.
In victory lane a very happy, but very fatigued, Rodarte said "we weren't the fastest car out here. We were able to avoid the wrecks and we tried our best to stay up front. Our car was loose all day long and we couldn't get a handle on it. Whew, this was a long race."
In the Super Sportsman 35 lap main event Palmdale, California's Chris Peedan passed Juan Gallezzi on lap 24 and eventually ran away from the field during a caution free race. John Penning, Gallezzi, Scott Gaston and Craig Rayburn completed the top five. In preliminary events Gallezzi and Richard Hooper won heat races, Gallezzi won the trophy dash and the wild card dash.
Peedan not only won the battle at Willow Springs that afternoon he also won the war. The feature win put on lock on the 2004 Super Sportsman points championship and he treated the fans to some smoking donuts. In victory lane Peedan said "It's been a long year and I want to thank my son for talking me through this thing. He helped to keep me straight. I also want to thank my fellow drivers for a season full of good sportmanship and hard racing. It's time to celebrate."
In the Limited Street Stock division Rosamond, California's Kelly Whitfield also wrapped up the 2004 Willow Springs season with a feature win and a points title. Whitfield passed Steve Blank on lap 11 and held the point all the way to the end of the 25 lap main event. Justin Blank moved into second during the final laps of the race. Steve Blank, Derek Butler and Tim Lucks completed the top five. In the preliminary events Whitfield made his afternoon even sweeter by winning the heat race. Butler won the trophy dash.
After the race Whitfield said the race was good and clean and thanked his sponsors adding "the championship is a great way to wrap this season up. I'm very excited."
The Lightening Cup divisions were also very much evident on the final day at Willow Springs. These miniature version of NASCAR Nextel Cup cars easily ran three wide around the quarter mile oval. In Senior Division action Grand Terrace, California's Dean Caskey became yet another driver to win a main event and wrap up a points chamionship. Caskey's Ford took the lead for good on lap three. Cody Hart, Rick Walton, Steve Cathey and Dick Laycock completed the top five. In the preliminary events Walton won the heat race while Cathey won the trophy dash.
In victory lane Caskey was joined by his wife Patti, who is also a Ligthening Cup driver, for a family style celebration. A very happy Dean Caskey said "this is great. I want to thank my fellow competitors for a great season and I want to thank my crew and especially my wife Patti. My mom and dad is also here today to see us race for the first time."
In Lightening Cup Junior action Paramount, California's Joey McKeag took the lead from Trevor Fitzgibbon on lap 10 and held on during a very close finish, by a half car length, to win the 15 lap feature. Taylor Hede finished third and also wrapped up the 2004 division championship.
With the racing complete, both for the day and the year, the teams headed over to the Budweiser Pavillion, located within the Willow Springs Raceway complex, for the annual awards banquet.
This was my first look at the Willow Springs Speedway program and I was impressed. The flow and quality of the program was very good and the facility is extremely fan friendly. You can even park your vehicles by the fences that surrounds the turns and get a bird's eye view of all of the action while sitting in the comfort of your vehicle. Believe me, that came in handy after the sun went down behind the mountains that surrounds the complex.
Here's anothe tip for those of you who have not visited the Willow Springs racing complex. From April through November they have scheduled events at three of their tracks: Willow Springs International Raceway, a mammoth nine turn road course, the Streets of Willow Springs, which is a slightly smaller road course and the quarter mile paved oval at the Willow Springs Speedway. A mere $20 will allow you to spend a Saturday and Sunday freely roaming from one track to the other to see action that includes high performance road racing teams, super fast motorcycles, karts and your favorite stock car divisions. Like I said, this complex is extremely fan friendly.
