ROGER BROWN AND LINNY WHITE SCORE TWIN 50 MAINS AT THE ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY

Source: Dave Grayson
Date: 04/28/2008

A high quality, ASA sanctioned, racing schedule combined with beautiful weather brought a large group of racing fans to the Orange Show Speedway for a full night of action at the quarter mile paved oval located at the National Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino. The April 19th evening included racing from the ASA BSR West Super Late Models, the ASA Pro Fours, the ASA Factory Fours and Stock Car USA all of which were making their 2008 division debuts.

The ASA BSR West Super Late Models were the lynch pin of the show with their twin 50 lap main events while racing for a combined purse of $8,000. The twin features also launched Orange Show Speedway Super Late Model driver's intent to participate in the newly created ASA National Championship.

In the first 50 lapper 17 cars took the initial green flag only to have to start it all over again when two cars made contact and spun around in turn two. Following the restart Tony Barnes came off of the front row and paced the field for the first five quarter mile circuits before another yellow flag came out after cars driven by Ron Woods and Dave Scheidecker collided with each other in turn four. The next effort to restart the race resulted in the event's second yellow flag when race leader Barnes spun through turn four. Tony Forfa also spun to avoid a collision.

Barnes' bad luck became Roger Brown's good fortune because he became the new race leader. Brown paced the field until the next yellow flag of the race when Forfa spun down the backstretch on lap 14. Thirteen green flag laps later the final caution of this race came out on lap 27 when Frankie Gould took a hard hit off of the turn two wall. From that point it was all green and Brown as the race leader ran out the laps to take the win. Barry Karr, Glen Cummings, John Manke and Rick Chavez completed the top five.

After pulling his Lucas Oil Chevrolet into the Orange Show Speedway's victory lane, Brown said "I was able to clear a couple of slow cars and then I got the lead. After that it was case of just staying calm and that's what I did. I started where I did because I stepped on my toes during qualifying and then they inverted the field so that put me up there near the front and then it was a matter of getting the car fixed up. Both of those really helped me out but you also have to have luck too."

After some down time between races to repair and reset cars, the same 17 BSR West teams returned to the track for their second 50 lap main of the night. As in the case of the first event, the second race also resulted in a restart due to a turn four spin out. The second attempt to get the race underway only lasted one lap when front row starters Joe Perez and Tony Barnes collided on the backstretch. Dave Scheidecker inherited the lead but had to slow his race rhythm when the third yellow flag of the race presented itself on lap five this time due to a turn four collision between Tony Forfa and Jimmy Rouse Jr. Scheidecker continued his race lead while Linny White began to make his presence known. White moved into second by lap nine and then three laps later made a low line ;pass through turn four to take the lead for good. Unfortunately Scheidecker's night ended early when he collided with John Manke on lap 18. Both cars were too damaged to continue. From that point the race was green the rest of the way and White hit his race rhythm and ran out the final laps. Barry Karr was again second while Roger Brown, Rick Chavez and Jimmy Rouse Jr completed the top five.

In victory lane a very happy Linny White, also known as "The Colton Cowboy," said "we had an overheating problem during the first race and we were able to fix it between races. It was kind of hard for me to keep my focus during that first race while watching the water gauge at the same time. Mentally speaking, it was really starting to get to me. The biggest change we made between races was getting the car to cool down." Commenting on four caution flags in 18 laps during his winning race he said "It's opening night, everybody wants to win and we've just got to get used to running with each other again. Once we get that out of the way things will be good."

The ASA Pro Four Series also put on a very lively 40 lap main event. Kendall Scheidecker came off of the front row to lead the opening laps with series veteran Don Minut right on his bumper. By lap 11 the two drivers were wheel to wheel and door to door while racing each other extremely hard for the race lead. It all came unhinged on lap 13 when Minut went for a wild spin through turn three. Both drivers took their place at the rear of the field. Chuck Becker spent 13 laps in third watching the hard racing in front of him and was poised and ready to take over the command of the race. He paced the field all the way to lap 23 before three successive caution flags came out for three successive spins. Under green again Becker seemed to be in complete control of the race until he looked in his rear view mirror and saw Minut charging towards him. Minut was determined to recover from his earlier spin out and had re entered the top five by lap 24. With four laps left in the race Minut was all over the leader's rear bumper but time and laps ran out on him. Bryan Glidwell, Kyle McGrady and Kendall Scheidecker completed the top five.

In victory lane Becker said "I was watching them, (Scheidecker and Minut), because I seen what they were doing and I knew it was a long race. I was being patient and keeping tires on the car. Then once I got the lead I was busy keeping everyone a few car lengths in back of me. I could have ran a little harder if I had to but I really didn't want to." When asked about the hard charging Minut coming for him in the final four laps, Becker said "It was another reason to do what I was doing towards keeping my tires under me during the race because I knew that he would be coming back to the front at the end of the race so I had a little more during those last five laps if I needed it. "

The ASA Factory Four division also put on a typically exciting 30 lap feature. On lap eight Trevor Matcham pulled a daring move, that that had the race leaders running three wide off of turn two, and it appeared it was going to be a race winning pass not to mention a video highlight from the evening. But it all unraveled on him, on lap 18, when he crashed with a truck driven by Ken Lambert who was in the process of being lapped by the leader. Matcham's truck sustained right front wheel damage and he was through for the night. Glenn Diderrick inherited the lead and held the point all the way to the checkers despite a momentary collision with Art Ramirez, on lap 25, who was in second at the time. Both drivers did a great job of saving their vehicles. Drew Reid finished second, Ramirez was third while Kim Marzullo and Victor Gracia completed the top five.

Stock Car USA, a racing division dedicated to pure street stocks made out of genuine American steel, ran a 15 lap feature which was won by Tom Whitson. He was followed under the checkers by Mark Whitson, Justin Good and Jeff Elder.

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