When the Orange Show Speedway opened its spectator gates, August 5th, the weather brought a most welcome cool evening and a large crowd settled into the brand new, and very comfortable, stadium seats ready for a full evening of ASA sanctioned racing. By the time six main events had concluded, on the quarter mile paved oval in San Bernardino, the driver's temperatures were red hot and the fans spent virtually no time at all sitting in those brand new seats.
The ASA Super Late Models highlighted the schedule on this night and their 40 lap feature was filled with hard racing and crumpled sheet metal. Glenn Cummings and Robbie Hewitt led the field under the initial green flag but that didn't last very long. Going into turn one, the field bunched up and the result found Franke Gould spinning through turn one.. The field barely made a lap when the yellow flag came right back out when Gary Rodriquez did a 360 spin on the frontstretch. Still another restart resulted into a another spin and the race now had three yellow flags with only two laps on the books. It was a sign of things to come.
By the time the race restarted, on lap three, it appeared that the Super Late Model drivers had regained their race rhythm. Cummings jumped into the lead and the field lined up behind him, on the low side of the track, like an ASA freight train.But, once again, back bumper thumping became a factor and the fourth yellow flag of the race appeared on lap 16 when Alex Roberson spun through turn three. Yellow number five produced itself when Rob Keimele's car went sliding down the frontstretch following some contact. Three green flag laps later Frankie Gould, who had nothing but bad luck all night long, spun down the backstretch. At the same time John Manke, who's very much involved in the series points championship, stalled on the track due to engine failure. That combination brought out the sixth yellow of the race on lap 24.
The drivers were given a few extra caution laps to reign themselves in and cool off those in car tempeatures a little but the high jinks of the crash marred race were far from over.Lap 26 began with a backstretch spin and the seventh yellow flag of the race. But before the field could come around the track to take the yellow a three car crash erupted in turn four that involved the cars of Rick Chavez, Tony Forfa and Jeff Thompson who was in third at the time. An effort to get the race restarted immeadiately resulted in yellow flag number 8 due to a three car spin in turn four. The already snake bit Frankie Gould sustained heavy sheet metal damage in this melee.
Three green flag laps later the ninth, and thankfully final, caution flag came out due to a spin. At the same time John Manke's car stalled again on the track. Manke had returned to the race, from earlier engine problems, in an effort to salvage some points but this time the loud popping sound coming from the car's engine proved to be terminal and the potential series champion became the next victim of attrition.
Meanwhile race leader Glenn Cummings did a masteful job of hitting his marks and keeping his race rhythm while managing to avoid all of the sheet metal carnage going on around him. He ran out the final ten laps unencumbered. In victory lane he was very happy but very tired. He probably felt like he had just finished running the Orange Show 500. Mark Shackleford, Ron Overman, Rick Chavez and Greg Beresford completed the top five. In the division's preliminary events, Brian Fitzgibbons and Robbie Hewitt won the heat races while Ron Overman took the trophy dash.
The Super Late Models may have been the highlight on the race schedule but it was the ASA Pro 4's that stole the show. These full bodied stock cars, powered by four cylinder engines, are a real crowd pleaser at the Orange Show Speedway and no one sat in their seat during this race.
Kendall Scheidecker and Don Minut came off of the front row and literally ran side by side for three laps before Scheidecker finally took the lead. The pair later got together again, on lap 12, and literally placed rubber donuts on each other's car numbers.They swapped the lead back and fourth for five laps before Minut finally made what would turn out to be the race winning move.
But the thrilling aspect of this race was far from over because John Soares had now become a factor in the final outcome. The Pro 4 Series veteran was a late arrival at the track and lined up dead last in the field. But anyone who has seen Soares race on the Orange Show Speedway knew he wouldn't be there for long.
It didn't take Soares long before he had worked his way to third and set his sights on the second place Scheidecker. On lap 16 Scheidecker's car wiggled just a little, coming off of turn two, and now the fans had another multi lap side by side racing show to watch.
But the one person who loved that side by side battle the most was race leader Don Minut. While the door to door race for second continued Minut, to coin an old racing phrase, just checked out of the hotel and left everyone behind. With the checkered flag in the air, the battle for second was still a side by side affair that resulted in Scheidecker spinning wildly under the flag which ultimately cost him second place.
Sam Newcomer and Kyle McGrady completed the top five. In the division's preliminary events Minut and McGrady won the heat races while Bryan Glidwell won the tropy dash for his first ever series win.
The Inex Legend Car Series were also a big part of this Satrurday night at the Orange Show Speedway. Stefan Rzesnowicki came off of the front row to lead the first two laps of the feature before being overtaken by Chad Schrug who held the point to lap 10 when Austin Murphy made the race winning move to take the lead for good. His race rhythm was disrupted once by the event's only caution flag due to a two car spin. On the restart, the Lancaster driver put his foot down and quickly reinstated his lead.
K J Garrison, Darren Amidon, Schrug and Albert Fflores Jr completed the top five. In the division's preliminary events Robbie Meyer, Bree Brewer and Murphy won heat races while Garrison took the trophy dash.
Austin Murphy will soon be concluding his final season in the Inex Legend Car Series. It was announced earlier in the evening that the young driver will be taking his racing act on the road when he joins the prestigious ASA Speed Truck Challenge in 2007. He's still not quite old enough to get a California drivers liscense, but his racing future is extremely bright.
The always popular ASA Golden West Tire Sport Trucks, a racing division for mini pick ups, again thrilled the crowd during their feature. Butch Reid paced the field under the initial green flag and led the first two circuits before being overtaken by Jim Edministon who claimed the lead for good. There were three caution flags in this feature with the worst being a hard crash on lap nine when Eduardo Garcia hit the front stretch wall. Despite the hard impact, his tough little truck was able to continue.
Following Edministon under the checkers were Ed Reid, Spencer Samaro Butch Reid and Jeff Imbriani to complete the top five. In the preliminary events Butch and Ed Reid won the heat races while Imbriani took the trophy dash.
The small, but very swift, Inex Bandeleros were also on hand at the Orange Show Speedway. In the Bandelero Bandit Division Jeremy Birch was the feature winner. Andre Prescott led the first three laps before his effort was upset by a turn two spin. Eric Sloan led the fourth lap only to have his engine go sour on him. Birch pounced on the opportunity and led the remainder of the laps for his second Orange Show Speedway feature win.
Tyler Fabozzi, Aaron Anderson, Jacob Bishop and Prescott completed the top five. In the preliminary events Prescott won the heat race while Fabozzi took the trophy dash.
The Bandeleros Young Guns Division feature got off to a rough start. The first effort to start the race was foiled by Ryan Bragdon's spin on the backstretch. The next effort to start the race resulted in William Kozak and Kyle Spade doing a perfect sychronized spin also on the backstretch. ASA officials decided to restart the race with a single file line up and even that effort was foiled by a turn four crash involving the cars of Brent Scheidemantle, Dennis Meyer and Frank Rouse.
Rouse sustained a slight leg injury from the accident but was otherwise declared to be okay. He was the second Bandelero driver of the night to sustain a slight injury. Earlier, during a four lap trophy dash, Jack Madrid injured his left foot after hitting the frontstretch wall.
Once the Young Guns feature finally got underway Ryan Bragdon led the first lap, Andrew Anderson led the second lap and then Jimmy Rouse made his winning move and took the lead for good. Anderson, Scheidemantle, Bragdon and Meyer completed the top five. In the preliminary events Scheidemantle won the heat race and Anderson won the trophy dash.
