Saturday morning saw 16 stockcars show up for the race, despite the inclement weather that kept many home. ASC was the first group out on the grid for practice. The air and track were cold and the rain had washed all of the rubber off of the track. Practice was spent with everyone looking for grip. Qualifying was run mid-morning. The first pole of the season was captured by Mike Arnheiter at 1:25.863. Steve Carvajal’s motor broke in the first practice, but he was able to run Chris Evans’ # 96 Monte Carlo, thanks to Chris and Kevin Culver. Ken Stinnett had a mechanical failure in qualifying which removed him for the weekend. There were no other mishaps.
The race began on time with everyone charging for the lead in turn one. There were no incidents for several laps, until Scott Ivie, last year’s series champion, spun in turn three and suffered a motor failure. The course remained with a local yellow between the exit of turn two and the top of turn four for four laps, until officials decided to double yellow the course and then black flag the race, bringing everyone to pit lane. Chris Evans, driving the # 10 Ford, had taken the lead from Mike Arnheiter in the # 80 Monte Carlo on lap one and had not relinquished it. Ivie had been dogging the # 80 relentlessly for second when the spin occurred. Al Balding in the # 71 Monte Carlo was right there in fourth. Carvajal and the # 96 had moved from 7th to fifth, then fourth, when the track went black. Jeff Glowniak had fuel problems and dropped from 5th to 7th then ended up back in 4th by race end. Ed Ochylski drove a solid race but dropped to 8th as a result of a flat tire. When the race was restarted, Evans and the # 10 Ford kept the lead, Balding was able to pass the # 80 of Arnheiter, Carvajal followed Balding for 3rd, but was involved in an incident with Kevin Para, the # 45, an ASC-X competitor, attempting to pass on the outside of turn three. There wasn't’t enough room for three wide in that turn so Carvajal and Para bumped themselves off the track and out of contention. This was the only contact related incident of the race, which resulted in anyone going off the track. Balding and Evans battled continuously for the lead through turns four and five, with the # 71 finally dropping two wheels in the dirt, giving Evans the edge to make it to the finish line first. After the race, however, Evans was disqualified for passing under a yellow flag, and Balding won the first race of the season! Jamie Dick, a newcomer to the series, driving the # 99 Carvajal Motorsports Monte Carlo, took fifth place in his first stockcar road race ever.
Top Five Al Balding, Jr. Mike Arnheiter Jeff Glowniak Dave Arnheiter Jamie Dick
Sunday’s qualifying saw the times start to tighten up substantially. Scott Ivie was now driving the Evans Metal Manufacturing # 10 Ford Taurus, with Chris Evans back in the # 96 Monte Carlo. Manuel Gil del Real rectified the problems they had on Saturday with their new Ford Motor. Carvajal and Stinnett watched from the sidelines. The # 96 of Evans and the # 55 of Ochylski qualified within 8/100s of a second of each other with Evans grabbing the pole. Ivie and Gil del Real also qualified within 1/10th of second for the next two spots.
The race had a clean start with the # 96 taking the lead, which was never relinquished. The # 55 stayed right on Evans’ rear bumper. The # 10 car driven by Ivie and the # 27 of Gil del Real got together at the top of turn four, spinning the # 27. Balding and the # 71 drove to the 3rd position after a bad qualifier, starting 8th. On lap 8, one of the Super 7 Mazda’s had a mechanical that required too much time to rectify. The course was brought to full course yellow and the race ran the remaining 8 laps behind the pace truck. Once again, Evans dominated race crossing the finish line first, and once again, he was disqualified for un-sportsmanlike behavior. Ochylski picked up his first win of the season as a result of being the second car to cross the finish line. Ivie, Dave Arnheiter, Alan Huston, and Manuel Gil del Real made up the top five.
Sunday’s Top Five
Ed Ochylski
Scott Ivie
Dave Arnheiter
Alan Huston
Manuel Gil del Real
The American Stockcar Challenge series continues next month at California Speedway for round two. ASC anticipates 25 or more entries for this event. Come out and join the fastest stockcar road-racing group in the west!
