MADRID UPSETS THE LATE MODEL FIELD, DAVIS TAKES DWARFS AT MANZANITA

Source: W McDonald
Date: 06/29/2008

A ten time champion in five different divisions but a "rookie" in late models stocks overwhelmed the competition in his first try at the big, high horsepower cars Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway.

Anthony Madrid secured a ride for the first late model race in four years at Manzy when Mark Fowler took a vacation. Madrid took over the car and started ninth in the 30 lap feature and powered his way past the top late model drivers in the state as he made more history. In the process he sped by Lonnie Parker, Jr. who had won seven of the eight races run this year and was the pre-race favorite for the event which was staged on Manzy’s half mile track. Several laps later Parker blew a tire and retired from the race.

Madrid chased the pole sitter, Randy Carder, for ten laps before finally taking the lead on the 21st lap. In the remaining nine laps he pulled away and was 6.03 seconds up on the field at the checkered flag and the $2000 payday. He was a second a lap faster than Carder on several laps after taking the lead. His laps were the fastest he had ever turned on the half mile track. One lap was clocked at 21.30 seconds

The win marked a milestone in his career as the "Friday Night Flyer" who has scored most of his wins on the short track and mainly on Friday nights, moved into a tie with Lealand McSpadden with 118 feature wins which is third on the all time winner’s list.

Joey Moriarity finished third, Keith Noyes was fourth and Brad Willams finished fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Tommy Hussak III, Lonnie Parker, Sr., Jerry Fincher, Mike Tahtinen and Jason Noll. Jason was also taking his first ride in a late model and ran as high as fifth before having problems which forced him out of the race in the closing laps. The race was halted briefly when Lee Hoy made contact with the wall and rolled while working the third lap.

Madrid gave an indication of things to come when he started in the front row for his eight lap heat race and drove like a veteran as he finished well ahead of Fincher, John Stafford and Mike Ruebek. Parker, Jr. showed his championship form in his heat race as he made it look easy in finishing ahead of Carder, Noll and Parker, Sr. Noll looked sharp in his first time at the wheel. The final heat went to Moriarity who led all eight laps and beat Hussak, Tahtinen and Randy Anderson.

One of the high points of the race was when a young fan was picked to say the most famous words in racing and she made it loud and clear as she told the drivers, "Gentlemen, start your engines".

Steve Davis shared the winner’s circle with Madrid as he also started ninth in his race for the Desert Dwarf Cars. It took him nine laps to secure the lead and he led the final seven laps for his first win at Manzy. Behind him at the finish line were Brian Stehr, and the defending champion and current points leader Chris Snyder. Just behind them were Steve Kapaun and Troy Wilkinson. The rest of the top ten, in order, were Eddie O’Neill, Jesse Patterson, Todd Bennett, Mike McGrellis and Chad Stewart.

Patterson started the 15 lap feature on the pole and had the lead when the first lap was completed. He then held off all challengers until Davis, who had picked his way through the field, made a move that put him in the lead. He had taken the lead on the lead a lap before but a yellow flag moved him back. Once out front he hit his mark each lap and left it to Stehr and Snyder to fight over second place with Stehr, ranked second to Snyder in the points chase winning the battle.

All of the preliminary races for both the dwarf cars and the late models were run without incident and the yellow flag was not in use until the main events.

Davis took care of business as he came out of the third row to win his eight lap heat race. Right behind him were Bennett, JJ LeMoine and Kapaun. The second heat was won by Stewart who led the entire distance in beating Rat Stafford and Patterson. The final heat was a donnybrook as Randy Johnson came out of the third row to take the lead but had to settle for second when Snyder made an inside pass to snare the win. Wilkinson finished third with Stehr in fourth.

Jim Gemmell won the four lap trophy dash and looked strong in beating Chuck Vallone, McGrellis, Kapaun and Barbara Stafford.

SUMMARY

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