LAKEPORT, California -- Saturday night’s 17th annual Kelseyville Lumber Deake Lyndall Memorial auto race was an action packed night at the Lakeport Speedway from the drop of the first green to the final checkered flag. Six divisions of race cars competed for the honor of winning this prestigious event as well as for the increased purse, courtesy of the Patti Lyndall and family.
The Airport Auto Brokers late models supported a short field but produced excitement with each pass, and the race was not decided until the final lap when Mike Doss of Upper Lake shoved his way past Andrew Snider to take the $750 victory.
Darrin Knight of Kelseyville held off the 17 car modified pack, leading all 40 laps to claim the $1000 win in that division. Defending modified bomber champion Charlie Collins of Lucerne inched by Eddie Robinson to claim the $200 prize in his class. Windor’s Kevin Barba held off the challenges of fast qualifier Billy Shaul for a $200 mini stock victory. 17 year old Eric Johnson of Kelseyville came from the back to the front to win the 30 lap feature in the Guy Strohmeier Auto Center bomber division. And Redding’s Mike Hubert III ran wire to wire to capture the 30 lap B.C.R.A. midget event (see separate story by Floyd Busby.)
With several cars suffering injuries at the last late model event in Ukiah, and with the elimination of Kevin Estep in a trophy dash crash, the feature event only saw five cars take the green flag. It was Andrew Snider who took the early lead with trophy dash winner Dustin Knight swapping places with second place runner Dale Preston on lap three. Knight moved to the high side and passed Snider for the lead on seven. Two rounds later Snider drifted into the middle of the track which created a three-wide situation. Fast qualifier (12.672) Jeremy Hopkins dove to the inside and Doss chose the outside and both completed the pass on Snider.
Doss chased down Knight and once again challenged in the high lane. The leaders ran side by side for five laps while Hopkins stayed tight on Knight’s bumper. Doss slid back and rubbing began with Hopkins until Hopkins nudged Doss sending Doss into a spin.
The restart saw Knight and Snider side-by-side while Doss and Hopkins were sent to the back. Doss began his come-back and pasted Knight for the lead on lap 24. Hopkins was next to battle Knight, but the two make contact resulting in Knight spinning on the back stretch.
This set the stage for a four-lap sprint to the finish and it proved to be just that. Snider got the jump on Doss, drove down too soon and clipped Doss’ car. Doss slowed, regained his momentum, and was now on a mission to catch Snider. Doss caught Snider on the final go, and when Snider’s car pushed high, Doss filled the hole, the two crashed fenders resulting in Snider losing control and hitting the wall. Doss continued on to take the checkered flag with Preston in second and Knight third. Hopkins avoided the crash to finish fourth and Snider was credited with fifth.
The modified feature was increased to 40 laps to accomodate the Red/White/Blue modified mini series contenders. Knight and Jerold Christensen shared the front row with Knight forging ahead on the start. Corey James, Mike Sullivan and Bob Strauss all broke away from the pack and ran nose-to nose with Gary Lowblad and Thomas Wright battling for fifth. Lowblad finally got by Wright on lap six and rapidly chased down the lead pack.
Lowblad passed Strauss on lap 14 as the front-runners were slowed by lapped traffic. Strauss got trapped behind Mike Linnell and was passed by Mike Sullivan and Steve DeKeyser.
Lap 26 saw DeKeyser spin while trying to inch under James to bring out the first yellow.
The double-file restart saw Lowblad challenge Knight for five rounds before the race was red-flagged when Derrick Crayford and DeKeyser slammed hard together resulting in DeKeyser climbing the wall in turn three. Lance Blacker slowed to avoid the melee but ended up against the wall ending his run. Several cars pitted during the red including Strauss, Todd Coburn and Thomas Wright.
Points contenders Aaron Hicks and Terry McIntire picked off cars in the final 10 laps, and the finishing order was Knight, Hicks, Lowblad, McIntire and Sullivan. Rounding out the top ten were David Furia, James, Wright, Strauss and Mike Smithhart. Todd Coburn finshed 12th and lost the points lead to McIntire by six points. McIntire set fast time of 13.027 over the 17 car field and DeKeyser won the trophy dash.
Modified bomber action began with Ron Duke Sr. and Kevin Waycik running one-two for four laps as Collins was speeding to the front. Collins stole second from Waycik on lap five and took control away from Duke on seven. As Collins pulled away, the other 10 contenders fought to break free.
Eddie Robinson was next to challenge Duke and took over second on lap 11. Meanwhile points leader Kyle Medina and Gary Collins were trapped behind slower cars and some fender-crunching began. The race was slowed to stop the ramming, and the single-file restart saw C. Collins and Robinson nose-to-tail. The yellow flew again on 15 for a front-stretch spin by Waycik.
C. Collins and Robinson raced side-by-side the next 13 laps with Darren Tubbs and Mike Neilson in the second row. With only three laps to go Collins’ car slowed and Tubb’s bumped him. This set Tubbs car loose, he slowed and was tagged by Medina. Tubb’s drifted high and Medina filled the gap. On the way through Medina removed part of Tubb’s car, including the bumper. G. Collins ran over the bumper and stalled in turn three to bring out the caution number three.
The final three rounds were a dash to the line, and as the pack was coming down to take the checkers, Medina’s car slid into the infield. Medina kept the car in motion and at the checkered flag it was C. Collins, Robinson, Medina, Neilson and Jose Fernandez.
Tubbs set fast time of 14.066, G. Collins won the dash and heat wins went to Fernaadez and Neilson.
Only seven mini stocks were on hand for their 30 lapper and 15 year old Mitch Preston led the first two rounds before driving into the infield. This left Barba in the lead with points leader Kelly Gray in second. Preston spun on five to slow the action, and when racing resumed Billy shaul took over the second spot. Preston finally retired to the infield for good at mid race and Richie Schramm pulls into the pits on 19. The final rounds went without incident with Barba taking the win over Shaul, Gray, David Aceves and Fred Schmidt.
Shaul set fast time of 13.838 and Barba won the trophy dash.
The final event of the evening was the bomber feature which started 18 cars. Kevin Lane spun out of first place on lap one for a restart. When racing finally got underway Jim Stephens pulled out in front of Robert Byers with Shasta visitor Brian Smith in third and Richard Schwarm in fourth. Lap six saw Schwarm cut down on Smith causing Schwarm to spin. Five rounds later George Mavrakis spun in turn four and was clipped by Jon Warner just after Guy Minyard passed Stephens for the lead. Stephens lost ground on the restart allowing Johnson to take over second.
Lap 11 saw Dave Jones spun to slow the action again, and Johnson passed Minyard to take the lead on the restart. The running order at mid race was Johnson, Jimmy Sorrels, Minyard, trophy dash winner George Abella and Tom Luchese. Abella did a solo spin on 16 and Minyard left the race on 17. The second half of the event saw Sorrels challenge Johnson but could not make pass and settled for second behind Johnson. Fast qualifier (15.096) Scott Griffin finished third with Luchese fourth and Smith fifth.
Kelseyville Lumber Deake Lyndall Memorial trophies were presented to all six winners by Lyndall’s grandsons, David and Brandon Lyndall.
Auto racing returns to the Lakeport Speedway on July 16 after a one week break for the Lake County Rodeo. The Legends Cars of the Pacific will be the special event on July 16.
