DACONO, Colorado -- Rick Smith driving the Hydrotex Chevrolet Monte Carlo out of Gering NE. used patience and a late race caution to win the 40-lap feature event Saturday night. Joe James Jr. brought the field to the green and jumped out to a nice lead with Chris Archer in chase as the rest of the field was slowly working towards the front. A backstretch wreck that took 3 of the 21 fast contenders out for the night quickly gave the race a new look. Patience would have to be the key. Jim Sykes Jr. took the re-start as the leader with 2nd place Darren Crocker fading to the rear quick with right front suspension issues. That opened the door for the "Iceman" Roger Avants to put pressure on Jim Sikes Jr. Roger Avants made the pass and brought Scott Backman, Dan Savage and Rick Smith along as well relegating Jim Sikes Jr. to 5th. Closing in on halfway Rick Smith moves in to 3rd as the Moose Bruce Yackey breaks into the top 5. With 10 laps to go Rick Smith moves under Scott Backman for second. As the field comes to the line with 5 to go Robert Prilika spins in turn 4 setting up an epic battle for the finish. Rick Smith used a great power move on the restart and never looked back leaving Roger Avants to battle Scott Backman for 2nd and 3rd place.
In Grand American Modified action D.L Clementson started on the pole and used a clean and steady line to hold off defending champion Joel Hanson for his first modified main event win. Clementson and Hanson used patience, as lapped traffic became a factor. Joel Hanson started to look under the #55 of Clementson to make a pass but was unable to make it stick lap after lap, then shifted his sights to the high side for a pass but again was unable to make it work and began to lose ground as D.L. Clementson took the win.
In Legend Action the season starts out with a familiar name in the winners circle. Danny Medina was able to chase down early race leader, defending champion Terry Plummer and take the lead but 16 year old hot shoe Chris Eggleston had different ideas as he gave Danny Medina a battle that had the Colorado crowd on its feet with Chris Eggleston making the pass for the lead with 2 laps to go but pushed just enough to open the door for Danny Medina to re-capture the lead and get the win.
The crazy Figure Eights were on tap to thrill the crowd and when all was said and done Harry Bragg was the victor but it did not come easy. The always-fast Al Duran had a very good lead but Harry Bragg was able to work the "X" and lapped traffic to his advantage and made the pass on lap 12 with defending champion Lance Proctor and Joe Martinez in tow. With 5 to go Lance Proctor began to fade from the charge and quickly went to the rear as Al Duran tried to make a late surge but it was to late with Harry Bragg taking the first checkers of the 2005 figure eight season.
The RMMRA made their return to the famed 3/8-mile paved oval and what a return it was. Keith Rouch set a new track record with a 15:733 lap and looked to be the favorite to win the feature event. Chris DeShon made the most of his outside front row starting position by taking the lead for the first > of the race, the top 5 were in a pack that again had the fans on their feet lap after lap and with the help of a late race caution the field was even tighter than before. On the drop of the green Tony Rossi had a great jump and made the car stick to take the lead and the main event win with Keith Rauch moving past Chris DeShon late for 2nd place.
