IRWINDALE, California - - Could he win again from the 12th starting position in a 21-car, 50-lap NASCAR AC Delco Super Late Model feature at Irwindale Speedway? Point leader Rip Michels supplied the affirmative answer Saturday night in front of more than 3,000 spectators present to watch Whelen All-American competition despite the NASCAR Nextel Cup Richmond, VA 400 race on TV. Michels won his Irwindale-record 55th feature and 11th SLM main this season in round 17 of the 19-race season. He opened a 62-point lead for the track championship. It was the deepest starting position any SLM winner has come from at IS this season. Two prior SLM winners started seventh. Michels, a three-time IS track champion in two series and the champion of the touring NASCAR Elite Division Southwest Series last year, set his 12th fastest qualifying time in the SLM series this season. He drove the Bob Bruncati No. 12 Sunrise Ford 2007 Fusion. He
SLM: Michels became the fourth and final race-leader on lap 23 after starting on the outside of row-six. He sliced his way through an impressive field quickly and was seventh on lap 6, sixth on lap 9 and fifth two laps later. He passed two cars on lap 13 to take third and moved into second on lap 18 with his usual inside-groove passes in turn four. Michels trailed the race leader by 15-yards at lap 22. A single-car spin on the front straight on lap 23 caused a caution flag. When racing resumed, Michels shot to the inside entering the first turn and outran Derek Becker on the inside through the third and fourth turns. Lap 16-22 leader Becker a 19-year old impressive series rookie, tried to improve his SLM career-best second place in his 2007 Monte Carlo. He kept the pressure on Michels and trailed him by two-lengths with a lap to go. He fell back a bit on the final lap and trailed Michels across the finish line by four lengths (0.447 officially).
David Ross, an 18-year old Legend Cars winner and graduate, enjoyed the best SLM feature of his career. He had several top five finishes before he started fourth and led lap 9-15. His Lucas Oil 2007 Monte Carlo passed early leader Stephen Peace on the inside exiting turn four. "I'm getting use to running on these new Hoosier tires now," he said in the pits. Becker, one of three brothers in the race, battled Ross closely from lap 11-16 when he made an inside pass in the third and fourth turns. Chris Johnson, in Speed Wong Racing's No. 21 Chevy, started fifth and finished fourth in his first series start of 2007 because of an injury.
David Beat, lap 1-8 leader Peace, Dan Moore, Greg Pursley, the 2004 IS SLM and NASCAR short track national champion, Andrew Phipps and Nick Joanides, in Speed Wong's No. 20 Chevy, completed the top ten. Joanides started ninth and was fourth on lap 37 when he spun into the backstretch infield and dropped to 12th. Pursley drove the car raced all year by Mike Price who reportedly quit the ride owned by his father. The senior Price then hired Pursley, who now works as the chief driving instructor at the IS-based race driving school. Sixteen of 21 starters finished and 13 drivers ran all 50 laps. Four caution flags slowed the action and caused the race to run almost 44-minutes.
Travis Thirkettle, the September 1 feature winner and second-ranked SLM driver in points, started in 13th position. He was in mid-pack on lap 24 when he became involved in a four-car crash that sent pole starter Tony Jackson spinning to the start/finish infield. Thirkettle drove to the pits trailing sparks from a flat tire. He returned to the race, without his hood, before the caution period ended. The SLM rookie and 2006 IS Auto Club Late Model Series champion finished 11th and dropped from 42 to 62 points behind Michels. Second generation driver Thirkettle now leads third-ranked Phipps, the 2005 SLM track champion, by six points with the final series events scheduled September 22 and 29.
SUPER TRUCKS: Matthew Hicks, in a Chevy S-10, started fourth and became the third and final King Taco Super Truck race leader on lap 9 with an inside pass in the second turn. Dana Higgins started in the front row next to pole starter Bob Barker, who led the first lap. After passing Barker, Higgins led lap 2-8 and pressured Hicks all the way before he settled for second place, 0.420 back. It was the best feature finish of his career in the series. Hicks, the KTST 2006 rookie of the year ranked second in 2007 points, scored his sixth victory in 12 races this season. He still trails point leader Pat Mintey, Jr by 14-points after starting the race 22-points back. Two races remain in the 14-race season as both drivers seek their first IS track championship. Fastest qualifier Logan Henson started sixth and finished third, 0.983-back, with Grand National West driver/crew chief Bill Sedgwick fourth, 0.948 back, and Mintey fifth, 2.070-seconds behind Hicks.
Connor Cantrell, a Legend Cars 2005 rookie of the year and winner on the third-mile and truck rookie on the half-mile, started fifth. He was second from lap 20-32 after he passed Higgins on the inside in turn three. The blond youngster, who ranks fourth in series points, was trying to win his first feature on the half-mile before he turned 17 the next day. He has three runner-up finishes in his family-owned No. 9 Chevy Silverado. He ran over debris on lap 31 after a five-truck crash on the front straight. A deflating RF tire caused Cantrell to slow and he faded to the back in the final nine laps. He was lapped three laps from the end and finished 13th, last in the 20-truck field. Ian Miille made his truck debut and qualified 16th best of 21 drivers. He was involved in one of two multi-truck crashes and finished 15th with 30-laps. The17-year old veteran of the USAC Ford Focus Midget Series won the August 11 USAC FF Midget feature on the IS third-mile.
SUPER STOCKS: Greg Crutcher started fourth in his 1976 Chevy Camaro and led the Vista Paint Super Stock 35-lap main on the half-mile for all but the first nine laps. It was his second triumph this season. Rich DeLong III started his No. 84 1974 Camaro from pole position as sixth fastest qualifier. He paced the first nine laps and finished a career-best second, topping his fourth place earlier this season. DeLong was 15-yards (0.802) behind Crutcher. Point leader Darren Cheek and second in points Bryan Harrell followed. Eric Sunness took fifth from Dan Fitzpatrick three laps from the finish. Thirteen of 17 starters completed all 35-laps in a 21-minute race slowed by two cautions.
MINI STOCKS: Rich Garver, in a 1980 Toyota Celica, started third in the Justice Brothers Mini Stock 35-lap main on the third-mile. He chased pole-man Eric Reed's Ford Pinto for 31 laps with the first three drivers nose-to-tail. Then Garver took a chance and went to the outside on lap 32 and took the lead from the fourth corner to the starting line. He paced the final four laps and beat Reed by 1.263 seconds. Steve Rogers, patriarch of the Rogers racing clan from Riverside, came from sixth in the 16-car field to place third. His series point-leading son Tyler, 21, was a close third on lap 21 when he contacted a slower car at the starting line and spun to turn one. He pitted and returned, finishing in P. 12 as the last driver on the lead lap. He saw his point lead shrink from 40 to 38-points over Kevin Bernhardt with two races remaining in the 13-race season.
TRAIN RACE: With apologies to Santa Fe and Southern Pacific RR, six teams raced in the second ten-lap Train Race of 2007 on the water-soaked Figure 8 course. With a driver in the lead car, an unoccupied middle car, and a brake-man in the third car, the hooked together cars raced as one train. Four of the six teams finished, with the winners being John Zimmerman in the lead car (a big American-made sedan) and brake-man Scott McMichael in a small economy car. Their unmanned middle car was a double for Herbie the Love Bug VW beetle. The second place team of Robert Rice and April Shaw also finished ten laps. Red flags stopped action twice for a stalled train on lap 2 and then an engine fire on lap 6. The 16-minute event concluded racing at 10:21 p.m.
All four series ran four-lap trophy dashes for the four fastest qualifiers.
Each winner started in the first row and led all the way. They were (MS)-Reed,
(SS)-Cheek, (ST)-Hicks, and (SLM)-Joanides. Fastest qualifiers by division
were (MS)-Tom Dye at 17.087; (SS)-Harrell at 21.055; (ST)-Henson at 19.847, and
(SLM)-Michels at 18.147. Hard Charger $100 award winners were (MS)-Rod Schmitt
(P 11-5); (SS)-Ken Brown (P 12-7); (ST)-Steve Latina (P 18-11), and (SLM)-Beat
(P 14-5).
