LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The Supermodified Racing Association brought their Wild, Wooly, Winged Roadsters to Las Vegas Motor Speedway">The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night. When the rain clouds had passed and the features were completed, Troy Regier had taken an impressive win in the fifty lap main event, and, in so doing, grabbed the season points championship by a mere five points over Jeff Russell.
The evening’s competition began as usual with time trials. Englewood Racing Association Rookie and four time winner Nick Haygood snagged fast time and a new track record with a lap of 12.549 seconds. Troy Regier was second fast, also under the old record with a time of 12.682. Jim Birges at 12.773, Bryan Warf at 12.851, and Dale Lamborn at 12.941 rounded out the top five. Amy Barnes (now Silsby) brushed the front stretch wall during time trials and spent the next two hours or so repairing her wounded Hyder.
The first Heat race lined up with Rich Castor, Jr. on the poll followed by Pat Whittet, Jeff Russell, Bobby Dalton, Dale Lamborn, Jim Birges, Nick Haygood and A.J. Russell. Barnes scratched from the heat to complete repairs. A.J. retired to the pits after warm up laps. Before the green could wave, the sky started leaking and the Supers were removed from the track to facilitate track drying. With the track dry, the cars were restarted and the racing began. Castor grabbed the early lead over Whittet, J. Russell, Lamborn, and Dalton. Russell took second on lap two with Lamborn moving to third, Birges to fourth, and Dalton rounding out the top five. Haygood moved to fifth on lap three. Jeff took the lead on lap four with Birges and Lamborn both following him around Castor. Haygood took fourth a lap later. On lap seven, Dalton took fifth and that was the race. At the lap eight checkers it was Russell leading Birges, Lamborn, Haygood, and Dalton.
The second eight lap heat featured Matt Gilbert. Kenny White, Kirk Wartman, Harold Evans, Justin Belfiore, Eric Silsby, Bryan Warf, and Troy Regier. On the start Wartman grabbed the lead over Gilbert, Warf, Belfiore, and Silsby. Belfiore jumped from fourth to second on lap two with Warf third, Silsby fourth, and Regier fifth. Regier took fourth on lap three. Regier displaced Warf on lap five and that was the finish. Wartman won over Belfiore, Regier, Warf, and Silsby.
There was a six car, six lap trophy dash after the heats. Participants were Wartman, Dalton, Silsby, Birges, Regier, and Haygood. On lap one Birges charged from the second row to take second behind Wartman with Dalton, Haygood and Regier rounding out the top five. Birges snagged the lead on lap four and Regier took fourth. Regier took third at the checkers making the order Birges over Wartman, Regier, Dalton, and Haygood.
The fifty lap feature event was lined up with a twelve car invert. However, Whittet and Barnes chose to start from the rear for performance problems. This put Wartman on the pole followed by Evans, J. Russell, Belfiore, Dalton, and Silsby. Completing the invert were Lamborn, Warf, Birges, Regier, and Haygood. Behind the fast guys were Castor, Gilbert, A. Russell, Barnes, and Whittet. White scratched from the feature with Engine problems. At the green the inside line moved forward with Wartman leading over Belfiore, Jeff Russell, Evans and Silsby. Lap two saw Belfiore displace Wartman and Silsby displace Evans. Regier moved up to fifth a lap later. Regier took fourth on lap six and third on lap seven. The yellow flew on lap eight when Castor coasted to a stop in turn 2.
On the restart, Jeff Russell jumped to second behind Belfiore with Wartman third and Regier and Warf rounding out the top five. Regier took third again on lap nine and moved to second on lap 10. At the ten lap juncture, it was Belfiore, Regier, J. Russell, Wartman, and Birges in the top five. Birges took fourth on the eleventh circuit. Warf moved into the top five on lap fourteen. Birges passed Russell on lap fifteen. Belfiore had a slight bobble in turn two on lap seventeen and Regier dropped low and took the lead. The lap twenty order was Regier over Belfiore, Birges, Russell, and Warf. Birges blew by Belfiore on lap twenty one and the yellow flew on lap twenty three when Birges coasted to a stop in turn one with driveline failure .Belfiore headed to the pits under the yellow with overheating.
On the restart, Regier led over Jeff Russell, Warf, Silsby, and Haygood. The yellow flew again when Haygood spun down the backstretch. This moved Wartman up to fifth for the restart. At the green flag, Warf took second and set out in pursuit of Regier. At thirty laps distance, Regier led followed by Warf, Jeff Russell, Silsby, and Wartman. A.J. Russell moved into the top five on lap thirty one. By lap forty, the order was Regier, Warf, J. Russell, Silsby, and A. Russell. Warf charged after Regier and was gaining slightly in traffic when Regier cracked off a 12.457 lap on the forty seventh circuit to seal the deal. Troy Regier took the checkers over Bryan Warf, Jeff Russell, Eric Silsby, and A.J. Russell. It was a very fast, very safe race with only mechanical gremlins retiring various cars.
Jeff Russell had come into weekend with a very slim thirty-eight point lead over Troy Regier in the season Championship. Regier grabbed a quick ten points in Time Trials to close the gap a bunch. Jeff got a few back in the heat races. Then Regier proceeded to dominate the feature and the combination of his win plus his passing points (from tenth to first) eliminated Jeff’s advantage to give Troy a very close five point win.
SMRA Final Points
Car # Driver Points
1 98 Troy Regier 1620
2 85 Jeff Russell 1615
3 36 Bobby Dalton 1416
4 91 Bryan Warf 1289
5 50 Whitey Janssen 883
6 26 Donnie Large 726
7 89 Jim Birges 710
8 6 David Tuey 680
9 72 Lance Tatro 656
10 5 Kenny Kinchen 618
11 18 Lance Jackson 597
12 1 Pat Whittet 539
13 27 Martin McKeefery 488
14 96 Kenny White 427
15 4 Larry Hinz 423
16 8b Justin Belfiore 396
17 8 Ernie Coppo 298
18 5 Lonnie Adamson 289
19 6w Tony Thomas 261
20 66 Eric Silsby 257
21 14 Mike McCann 242
22 48 Dale Lamborn 242
23 21 David Prickett 215
24 78 David Gassett 199
25 40 Nick Heygood 166
26 24 Jimmy Waters 136
27 7 AJ Russell 136
28 74 Eric Barlow 127
29 56 Kirk Wartman 120
30 24 Doug Riparetti 115
31 54 Matt Gilbert 113
32 67 Amy Silsby 110
33 3 Harold Evans 106
34 2j Mike Johnson 104
35 2 Rich Castor Jr 90
36 32 Jim Tartaglia 0
| SMRA Supermodifieds |
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| Qualifications: 1.40 Nick Haygood, 12.549*; 2. 98 Troy Regier, 12.682; 3. 89 Jim Birges, 12.773; 4. 91 Bryan Warf, 12.851; 5. 48 Dale Lamborn, 12.941; 6. 66 Eric Silsby, 13.068; 7. 36 Bobby Dalton, 13.078; 8. 8 Justin Belfiore, 13.114; 9. 85 Jeff Russell, 13.250; 10. 3 Harold Evans, 13.379; 11. 1 Pat Whittet, 13.462; 12. 56 Kirk Wartman, 13.496; 13. 2 Rich Castor, Jr., 13.516; 14. 96 Kenny White, 13.546; 15. 67 Amy Barnes, 13.641; 16. 54 Matt Gilbert, 13.822; 17. 7 A,J, Russell, N/T. * new track record. Heat 1: 1. J. Russell; 2. Birges; 3. Lamborn; 4. Haygood; 5. Dalton; 6. Castor; 7 Whittet; 8. AJ Russell. Heat 2: 1.Wartman; 2. Belfiore; 3. Regier; 4. Warf; 5. Silsby; 6. Evans; 7. Gilbert; 8. White. Dash: 1. Birges; 2. Wartman; 3. Regier; 4. Dalton; 5. Haygood; 6. Silsby. Feature: 1. Regier; 2. Warf; 3. Jeff Russell; 4. Eric Silsby; 5. A.J. Russell; 6. Nick Haygood; 7. Lamborn; 8. Whittet; 9. Barnes; 10. Gilbert; 11. Wartman; 12. Evans; 13. Birges; 14. Belfiore; 15. Dalton; 16. Castor; 17. White (DNS). |
