TROY REGIER REAPS HARVEST GOLD

Source: Gerald Laurie
Date: 09/22/2008

The final Super Saturday Event at Madera Speedway was the Annual Harvest Classic, a race to honor the agricultural diversity of Central California. The Supermodified Racing Association and the Madera 360 Supermodifieds were the featured Division for the annual open wheel classic.

There were problems in practice that eliminated three cars even before time trials began. Whitey Janssen had an encounter with the fourth turn wall when the quick release steering wheel came adrift in the corner. Kenny White cracked a cylinder head in the C&M Motorsports entry during the first practice. Jim Birges suffered a holed oil pan in the number 89 when the car bottomed out in practice. Birges then moved to his back up number 32 car for the evening at the insistence of teammate Jim Tartaglia who was slated to drive the 32.

Troy Regier(98) was fast qualifier with a time of 12.531 seconds on the 1/3 mile banked oval. Birges(32) was second at 12.643 followed by Brian Warf(91) at 12.666, Jeff Russell(86) at 12.728, and Bobby Dalton(36) at 12.777. The top 360 Supermodified Qualifier was David Tuey(6) at 13.346 seconds. The top five included Kenny Kinchen(5) at 13.433, Lance Tatro at 13.581, Lance Jackson (18) at 13.731, and Donnie Large(26) at 13.799.

The 360 Trophy Dash featured Lance Tatro and David Tuey on the front row pursued by Lance Jackson and Kenny Kinchen in row two, At the drop of the green , Tuey and Kinchen moved the outside row forward and the first lap saw Tuey lead over Kinchen, Tatro, and Jackson. There were no further changes throughout the four lapper. The checkered flag order remained the same as the first lap.

The SMRA top qualifiers drew for starting positions in their trophy dash. Jim Birges and Jeff Russell made up the first row followed by Troy Regier and Bryan Warf. Russell and Birges went side by side for the first lap with Russell pulling out the lead over Birges

Regier, and Warf. Jeff began to pull away as Birges and Regier then enjoined a parallel battle. Regier took second after the white flag. The checkers fell to Russell followed by Regier, Birges, and Warf.

The eight lap heat race for the 360 Supers featured Donnie Large, Lance Jackson, Lance Tatro, and Kenny Kinchen. Rounding out the field were David Tuey, Larry Hinz, and newcomer Doug Riparetti. Large and Jackson went side by side for nearly two laps before Jackson prevailed. Kinchen was third, Tatro was fourth and Tuey was fifth. Kinchen took second and Tuey took fourth on lap three. Kinchen snagged the lead on lap four and Tuey displaced Large from third a lap later. Kinchen slowed dramatically on lap seven when a bolt in the driveline failed. This put Tuey in the lead over Jackson, Tatro, Large, and Larry Hinz at the finish.

The SMRA heat lined up with Tony Thomas on the pole followed by Bobby Dalton, Jeff Russell, Bryan Warf, Jim Birges, and Troy Regier. Dalton, Ward, and Regier sailed around the outside on lap one. Thomas wound up fourth with Russell fifth at the end of lap one. Russell moved to fourth on lap two and Birges assumed fifth a lap later. Lap four sent Warf to the lead. On lap seven, Regier acquired second position and that was the race. Warf triumphed over Regier, Dalton, Russell, and Birges.

The combined 360 Super and SMRA feature event started with nearly a full invert. Donnie Large, Lance Jackson, Lance Tatro and Kenny Kinchen made up the first two rows. Tony Thomas, David Tuey, Bobby Dalton and Jeff Russell made up the second two rows. Bryan Warf, Jim Birges, Troy Regier, Larry Hinz, and Doug Riparetti rounded out the field. Large led lap one over Tatro, Jackson, Thomas and Kinchen. Thomas used an inside move to go all the way to second on lap two with Tatro in third, Kinchen in fourth, and Dalton in fifth. Meanwhile, Jackson was experiencing a weird fluttering in the power plant and kicked the car out of gear and coasted to a stop in turn four with valve train damage. After the yellow flag to tow Lance’s Beach to the infield. Thomas snagged the lead on the ensuing green flag with Large, Kinchen, Dalton and Tatro in tow. Lap four saw Kinchen, Dalton, and Russell move past Large. Kinchen slowed dramatically with erratic braking (a bolt holding the caliper bracket to the rear end housing pulled out) on lap five and into the pits on lap six. Dalton passed Thomas on lap six with Russell, Warf, and Regier now entering the top five.

Thomas was dropped from second to fifth by lap eight. The order after lap 10 was Dalton, Russell, Warf, Regier, and Thomas. Regier took third on lap twelve and Birges moved to the top five on lap fourteen. At the lap twenty juncture, Dalton led over Russell, Regier, Warf, and Birges. After a determined attack, Russell finally took the lead from Dalton and Regier followed past on lap twenty four. Dalton continued to fade as the right rear tire grew by an inch and a half to make the car very loose. Bobby lost third to Warf on lap twenty seven. Regier was all over Russell for several laps before affecting the pass for the lead on lap thirty four. Birges took fourth on lap thirty eight and Dalton was eventually lapped by the leaders but managed to maintain fifth position to the end. Regier took the checkers over Russell, Warf, Birges, and Dalton.

Meanwhile, the 360 crowd was having a battle royal back in the pack between Tuey Tatro, and Large. By the end, Tuey was the top finishing 360 in sixth overall with Tatro, Large, Riparetti, and Hinz rounding out the top five 360 Supers.

There was a lot of passing and lapping during the feature as the last forty eight laps went non-stop. Regier took a while to carve his way through the field but then began pulling away from the crowd. Russell and Warf both had good runs. Birges waited until the last twenty laps to make his charge, but was a half lap and more back when he did. Having to deal with all the lapped cars kept interrupting his charge to the front, but he was nearly as fast as Regier at the end of the race. Overall, it was an exciting feature with great highlights from both groups of cars.

Madera Speedway was holding a point championship for Super Saturday separate from the SMRA point battle. With three Madera wins, Regier was crowned the Super Saturday Supermodified Champion and David Tuey became the 360 Supermodified Champ. Jeff Russell still holds the lead in SMRA points, but Regier gained some ground and the final race at Las Vegas on November 1 will determine the championship.

Madera Speedway Promoter Kenny Shephard has already planned six more Super Saturday events for the 2009 season, complete with a one hour, Primetime Television highlight show on the Outdoor Network for each event. Hopefully, the chance for television exposure will help the teams garner some sponsorship dollars and bring some dormant teams back to activity. Kenny is very high on the potential of Supermodifieds and is pushing to grow the class significantly. Let’s hope an enhancement of the economy will assist that effort. From the Sunnyside of Fresno, California, I am the Racing Widow’s Husband.

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