Jim Courage Jr. held off two late charges from Aaron Days to win the SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout race Saturday night at Madera Speedway. Days held onto the second position with current points leader Eric Schmidt third, Mike Mendenhall fourth, and Jeff Belletto sixth. The win was the first career SRL victory for the Roseville, California driver. Just finishing outside the top five was Troy Ermish, Angelo Queirolo, Bryan Herzog, Dennis Schlundt and Joey Zampa.
“I can’t even explain it.” Courage said. “It probably won’t sink in until tomorrow, but we finally won a SRL race. This is our third year with the SRL and we thought we would have won one of these races a lot sooner but the competition is so tough out there. I know we earned a lot of respect from the other drivers tonight, if you looked around tonight to see who was in the pits and who we beat, it is pretty amazing. Dan and Junior Joiner helped us get our program going in the right direction this year, without them and the rest of my crew I would not be standing here in victory lane.”
Joey Zampa was the quickest of 25 drivers in qualifying and captured his third consecutive fast time award at Madera Speedway. Zampa’s quick lap of 14.642 seconds was good enough to beat Ken Boyd’s lap of 14.667 who held the quick time for most of the session. Eric Schmidt was third quick, followed by Jeff Belletto and Jim Courage Jr. Jeff Belletto won the four lap trophy dash with Boyd, Zampa, and Schmidt close behind.
The six car invert put Aaron Days of Patterson, California on the pole with Jim Courage Jr. on the outside. As the green flag waived Days and Courage raced side by as Courage was credited with leading lap one. Days would fall to second with Jeff Belletto third, Eric Schmidt fourth and Ken Boyd fifth after ten laps. The first caution flag of the night waived on lap 13 for a spin by Mike Lay of Fresno, California. As the field was set to take the green flag on lap 15, 2004 SRL Champion Steve Belletto made contact with the rear of Kyle Gottula’s car. Belletto retired his car for the remainder of the race.
The second caution of the evening waived on lap 42 and Kyle Gottula hit the turn four wall hard and also collected 2005 rookie of the year Jeremy Wood. Both drivers would have to retire their cars for the rest of the evening. The red flag was displayed on lap 43 to allow track workers to clean the turn four racing surface from fluids produced from Gottula’s and Wood’s car.
At the half-way point Courage continued to lead with Days, Jeff Belletto, Ken Boyd, and Eric Schmidt close behind. Joey Zampa, Mike Mendenhall, Troy Ermish, Dave Byrd, and Angelo Queirolo rounded out the top ten. The yellow flag waived again on lap 55 as Dave Byrd suffered a flat and retired his car for the remainder of the race. With just 14 cars left and 40 laps to go it was anybody’s race. Ken Boyd moved from fourth to third on lap 66. Eric Schmidt took the fourth position away from Jeff Belletto on lap 78 as Courage continued to lead the race.
With just ten laps to go, Courage looked untouchable until a lap 95 caution was brought out for Ken Boyd who was running third at the time. Boyd broke a rear-end and would finish 14th. Courage was able to hold off Days on the lap 95 restart and once again looked as if he was going to cruise to victory until the caution flag waived once again on lap 97. Courage Jr. once again held off Aaron Days and led the final three laps to win his first ever SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout race.
“We have finished third and now second, we just need to get that number one” (position). Days said. “A big thanks to Granite Construction and all the guys on my team who make this happen.” Days finished second followed by current point’s leader Eric Schmidt, Mike Mendenhall and Jeff Belletto.
The 20 lap non-qualifiers race was won by 2001 SRL Champion Nathan Tucker who returned to the SRL for the first time in 2006 for car owner Ken Whalen of Fresno. Mike Lay finished second, Dennis Schlundt third, and Bryan Herzog fourth. The top four transferred into the 100 lap main event. Justin Westmoreland, Jamie Dick, Wes Banks, David Mantooth, and Carl Pearce all failed to transfer into the race. A very scary incident took place on lap 3 involving #5 David Mantooth and #11 Carl Pearce, both drivers were ok.
Eric Schmidt continues to lead the current point standings. Schmidt has a 34 point lead over Mike Mendenhall and Jim Courage Jr. who are both tied with 202 points. Jeff Belletto is fourth in the standings and trails Mendenhall and Courage by just three points. Joey Zampa moved into the fifth position after setting quick time and finishing tenth at Madera.
The SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout next race is on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at Stockton 99 Speedway. The race at Stockton 99 Speedway will be the last SRL race at the famed high-banked ¼ track as the track is set to close their doors at the end of the 2006 season. Courage Captures First Career SRL Victory at Madera
Photo: #33 Jim Courage Jr. and Crew in Victory Lane at Madera Speedway
Photo: #33 Jim Courage Jr.
Photo Credit: www.faninturn4.com / David Misco
Madera, Calif. (Aug. 19th)-- Jim Courage Jr. held off two late charges from Aaron Days to win the SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout race Saturday night at Madera Speedway. Days held onto the second position with current points leader Eric Schmidt third, Mike Mendenhall fourth, and Jeff Belletto sixth. The win was the first career SRL victory for the Roseville, California driver. Just finishing outside the top five was Troy Ermish, Angelo Queirolo, Bryan Herzog, Dennis Schlundt and Joey Zampa.
“I can’t even explain it.” Courage said. “It probably won’t sink in until tomorrow, but we finally won a SRL race. This is our third year with the SRL and we thought we would have won one of these races a lot sooner but the competition is so tough out there. I know we earned a lot of respect from the other drivers tonight, if you looked around tonight to see who was in the pits and who we beat, it is pretty amazing. Dan and Junior Joiner helped us get our program going in the right direction this year, without them and the rest of my crew I would not be standing here in victory lane.”
Joey Zampa was the quickest of 25 drivers in qualifying and captured his third consecutive fast time award at Madera Speedway. Zampa’s quick lap of 14.642 seconds was good enough to beat Ken Boyd’s lap of 14.667 who held the quick time for most of the session. Eric Schmidt was third quick, followed by Jeff Belletto and Jim Courage Jr. Jeff Belletto won the four lap trophy dash with Boyd, Zampa, and Schmidt close behind.
The six car invert put Aaron Days of Patterson, California on the pole with Jim Courage Jr. on the outside. As the green flag waived Days and Courage raced side by as Courage was credited with leading lap one. Days would fall to second with Jeff Belletto third, Eric Schmidt fourth and Ken Boyd fifth after ten laps. The first caution flag of the night waived on lap 13 for a spin by Mike Lay of Fresno, California. As the field was set to take the green flag on lap 15, 2004 SRL Champion Steve Belletto made contact with the rear of Kyle Gottula’s car. Belletto retired his car for the remainder of the race.
The second caution of the evening waived on lap 42 and Kyle Gottula hit the turn four wall hard and also collected 2005 rookie of the year Jeremy Wood. Both drivers would have to retire their cars for the rest of the evening. The red flag was displayed on lap 43 to allow track workers to clean the turn four racing surface from fluids produced from Gottula’s and Wood’s car.
At the half-way point Courage continued to lead with Days, Jeff Belletto, Ken Boyd, and Eric Schmidt close behind. Joey Zampa, Mike Mendenhall, Troy Ermish, Dave Byrd, and Angelo Queirolo rounded out the top ten. The yellow flag waived again on lap 55 as Dave Byrd suffered a flat and retired his car for the remainder of the race. With just 14 cars left and 40 laps to go it was anybody’s race. Ken Boyd moved from fourth to third on lap 66. Eric Schmidt took the fourth position away from Jeff Belletto on lap 78 as Courage continued to lead the race.
With just ten laps to go, Courage looked untouchable until a lap 95 caution was brought out for Ken Boyd who was running third at the time. Boyd broke a rear-end and would finish 14th. Courage was able to hold off Days on the lap 95 restart and once again looked as if he was going to cruise to victory until the caution flag waived once again on lap 97. Courage Jr. once again held off Aaron Days and led the final three laps to win his first ever SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout race.
“We have finished third and now second, we just need to get that number one” (position). Days said. “A big thanks to Granite Construction and all the guys on my team who make this happen.” Days finished second followed by current point’s leader Eric Schmidt, Mike Mendenhall and Jeff Belletto.
The 20 lap non-qualifiers race was won by 2001 SRL Champion Nathan Tucker who returned to the SRL for the first time in 2006 for car owner Ken Whalen of Fresno. Mike Lay finished second, Dennis Schlundt third, and Bryan Herzog fourth. The top four transferred into the 100 lap main event. Justin Westmoreland, Jamie Dick, Wes Banks, David Mantooth, and Carl Pearce all failed to transfer into the race. A very scary incident took place on lap 3 involving #5 David Mantooth and #11 Carl Pearce, both drivers were ok.
Eric Schmidt continues to lead the current point standings. Schmidt has a 34 point lead over Mike Mendenhall and Jim Courage Jr. who are both tied with 202 points. Jeff Belletto is fourth in the standings and trails Mendenhall and Courage by just three points. Joey Zampa moved into the fifth position after setting quick time and finishing tenth at Madera.
The SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout next race is on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at Stockton 99 Speedway. The race at Stockton 99 Speedway will be the last SRL race at the famed high-banked ¼ track as the track is set to close their doors at the end of the 2006 season.
The SRL Wild West Shootout would like to thank their 2006 Sponsors, which include: Afco, Bassett Racing Wheels, Brodix Inc., Dynatech, DPI, Eibach Springs, FRE, Five Star Stock Car Bodies, Frank’s Radio Service, G. P. Fabrication, Hoosier Tire West, Impact Racing, Fensler Racing Inc., Madera Auto Center, MUD-Racing, Paul Oil Co., Performance Electrical, Peterson Fluid Systems, Pit Stop USA, Sunoco, U.S. Brake, and Victory Circle Chassis and Parts.
