After chasing pole starter Darrell LeMoure from Arizona for 45 laps, NASCAR Southwest Series veteran Bob Lyon from Agua Dulce took advantage of a bobble by LeMoure and paced the final 55 laps to win the 100 lap Food 4 Less MDA 100 at Madera Speedway Saturday night. A huge crowd estimated at 3,000 watched and Eric Holmes drove a borrowed car to a second ahead of NASCAR Tri-Track Challenge Series regular Nathan Tucker from Sonora. There were 3 non-Tour regulars in the top five as Madera Speedway’s own Jeff McCoun ran fifth behind M K Kanke. Street Stock point leader Frank Borges Jr made a late race pass around Bobby Hurst to win their 30 lapper and Chris Lewis forced the Toyota Sedan championship fight down to the final race with a win. Lewis lost the point lead the previous race when John Bray Jr won the fifth straight time. Pure Stock point leader Frank Mazzei won for the 6th straight time and 9th time in 12 point races.
The tour event drew a solid 30 car turnout with several Central California teams joining the tour regulars. Point leader Matt Crafton was quick time with his 14.350 lap on the 1/3 mile paved oval. Kanke was second fast ahead of Holmes and Lyon. Holmes began the season as a Series regular in the Star Nursery car, but recently lost that ride and was wheeling an entry owned by Scott Masellis at Madera. As usual, the two car transfer from the B Main turned ugly on the final lap. Madera racer Kenny Kinchen had run second until that final round. He was not only taken out by Ed Coughenour, but recent Quincy dirt modified winner Scott Busby was also collected up in the incident. Earlier, another Madera former champion Randy Nason was running 3rd when he tangled with Mike Ledbetter. They were joined as non-qualifiers by Rocky Nash, Tim Spurgeon and Gary Matranga. With an 8 car inversion for the 100 lapper, LeMoure started on the pole and paced those first 45 laps. Only two short cautions closed the race during that period, but LeMoure bobbled and lost the top spot to Lyon. Holmes jumped from 4th to 2nd on a lap 70 restart and he used the inside line to pull alongside Lyon on lap 87. Holmes’ use of the bottom line wore out his brakes and he fell a car length back of Lyon. With only two more brief cautions, the 100 laps were completed in a NASCAR record of just under 30 minutes. Outside front row starter Tucker ran third ahead of Kanke, J McCoun, point leader Crafton, Crafton’s stablemate and rookie Todd Souza in his best run, Bob McCoun, Greg Pursley and Idaho’s Scott Lynch. Souza now holds a solid point lead in the rookie of the year race and Crafton’s championship point lead is 110 over Auggie Vidovich. While his two brothers enjoyed strong runs, series regular Doug McCoun struggled to a 19th and fell 197 points back of Crafton, but hung onto third in points. He is just 9 points ahead of Sean Woodside and 20 ahead of Pursley. Jason Fensler was riding fifth when he broke late and failed to complete the final lap, falling to a 14th.
Borges was the fastest of the street stocks with his 16.43 timed lap. Hurst ran a 16.58 and Justin Westmoreland a 16.63. Their 30 lapper had a four car inversion and Borges chased Hurst and Randy Reeves for five laps before moving into second. Borges caught Hurst on lap 15, but it took a series of side by side runs before Borges pulled off his winning pass on lap 22. Borges won by several car lengths over Hurst with Cindy Clark third over Marc Utheim, Reeves, Dave Conway and Westmoreland.
Lewis was the fastest of the 22 Toyota Sedans with his 18.18 lap. John Bray Jr, seeking a sixth straight week, was a tick back at 18.24 and David Lander ran a 18.34. With a bigger invert, Lewis started in the fifth row, but was up to second by lap 10. He waged a duel with Mark Stegall before taking the lead on lap 14. Stegall finished second with Bray closing late for 4th behind Lander. Bobby Allison was fifth ahead of Jeff Fitch and Jeff Doran. Mazzei was the quickest of 13 pure stocks with his 18.86 lap as Rob Mello ran a 19.14 and Bryan Herzog a 19.18. Mazzei started in the 4th row and took the lead from Howard Holden on a lap 10 restart. Mazzei stretched his lead over Holden in the remaining rounds and Justin Greer ran third over Mello, Paul Spencer, Herzog and Jimmy Reeves.
Summary Pure Stock Fast Time-Frank Mazzei 18.86 Main-Mazzei, Howard Holden, Justin Greer, Rob Mello, Paul Spencer, Bryan Herzog, Jimmy Reeves, Aaron Mullins, John Hatz, Adam McEwen, Stephanie Wasson, Brian Liles, Tracy Stavig. Toyota Sedan Fast Time-Chris Lewis 18.18 Main-Lewis, Mark Stegall, David Lander, John Bray Jr, Bobby Allison, Jeff Fitch, Jeff Doran, Wayne DePriest, Lloyd Green, Nathan Kircher, Rick Minor, Rick Martin, Steve Nugent, Tim Wood, John McCollum, Robert Hurst Jr, Shannon Kawahata, Jimmy Groff, Stuart Ruckman, Randy Catanzarite, Clint Madron, Bill Harris. Street Stock Fast Time-Frank Borges Jr 16.43 Main-Borges, Bobby Hurst, Cindy Clark, Marc Utheim, Randy Reeves, Dave Conway, Justin Westmoreland, Doc Bryan, Jim Earl, Jerry Cutler, Britt Wasson. Southwest Series Fast Time-Matt Crafton 14.350 Main-Bob Lyon, Eric Holmes, Nathan Tucker, M K Kanke, Jeff McCoun, Crafton, Todd Souza, Bob McCoun, Greg Pursley, Scott Lynch, Greg Fowler, Auggie Vidovich, Frank Maronski Jr, Jason Fensler, Wes Banks, Darrell LeMoure, Mark Reed, Sean Woodside, Doug McCoun, Ken Boyd, David Philpott, Kenny Shepherd.
