The Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway concluded its 2008-2009 Winter Blast Racing Series last Saturday night, April 18th. The quarter mile paved oval, located at the Colorado River Fairgrounds in Blythe-California, treated a packed grandstand of racing fans to a full evening of racing as well as a demolition derby.
The evening also featured the conclusion of the track's season championships. Blythe's Bryant Sutterfield arrived at the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway that afternoon with a big smile on his face. He was holding an 18 point lead over season rival Ralph Adams in the speedway's Street Stock division. His team had already done the math and the car count for the scheduled 30 lap feature told them that he was going to be the new division champion. Sutterfield's rise to the top of the series' points standings was based on a highly consistent four wins along with eight top five finishes.
In that 30 lap feature Richard Selph came out of the front row and paced the field for the first 21 laps before contact from Sutterfield, running second, sent him spinning down the front stretch. Both cars were sent to the rear of the field due to their involvement in the yellow flag scenario. Ralph Adams, Sutterfield's chief season rival for the championship, inherited the lead and made quick work of running out the final laps. D J Lonie, Danny Dill, Selph and Sutterfield completed the top five. In the preliminary events Dill won the heat race while Selph took the trophy dash.
After the race ageless wonder Ralph Adams celebrated his fourth win of the season in the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway's victory lane. He was also celebrating his 69th birthday that evening as well. Adams told the capacity crowd "I just turned 34 again." But it was also a bitter sweet moment for Adams who spent the winter racing season campaigning to win Street Stock championships at both the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway and the Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu City-Arizona. While the Arizona title is virtually locked up, the California program became a problem area, during the April 4th race, when a flat tire hurt Adam's points numbers. The best he could do in that race was an eleventh place finish. Meanwhile Sutterfield was going through a point in his racing season when he was literally on fire. Sutterfield won the April 4th race and his third consecutive feature event. He collected 50 championship points to Adams' 30. That was the deal breaker in the season long championship run.
It's been an outstanding winter racing season for Chris Gerchman the second generation member of the famed modified racing family from Lake Havasu City-Arizona. In March Gerchman won the Modified Division track title at the Havasu 95 Speedway. Family members Larry and David Gerchman were second and third in those final standings. Then on March 28th Gerchman won round one of the 2009 SuperClean Modified Racing Series opener also at the Havasu 95 Speedway.
The racing Gerchman family arrived in Blythe last Saturday night to compete in round two of the SuperClean Series. This event was a race within a race that also determined the final standings for the track's modified championship. Chris Gerchman finished third which locked down the local track championship. He was followed by family members Larry, David and David Gerchman Jr in the final standings. The third place finish also has Chris Gerchman tied for first in the SuperClean regional standings with six races left on the schedule. El Cajon-California's Jimmy Dickerson won the SuperClean Modified 75 lap feature flag to flag.
The speedway's Factory Stock division also concluded their portion of the 2008-2009 Winter Blast Racing Series. Justin White was declared the new division champion. He accomplished that feat on the strength of consistent top five finishes including one feature win. In the division's final race of the season Bret Robinson led the first seven laps of the main event before Kenny Foster made a race winning move with an inside pass coming out of turn three. Connor Sprawls, White, Ronny George and Robinson completed the top five. In the preliminary events Tom Nordell and Vince Hull won the heat races while Billy Lacey won the trophy dash.
The always exciting USAC Ford Focus Midget Series ran a 30 lap feature. Nick Romano came off of the front row and appeared to have the race under complete control only to have that unravel on lap 21. The field was bunched up due to a minor incident that brought out the yellow flag on lap 19. Two laps later Romano's car went spinning up turn three and slammed hard into the wall after some contact was made. The accident brought out the red flag while safety officials checked on the driver. Romano was not hurt but the same could not be said for his car.
On the restart Zack Stout led the field under the green flag but it was short lived. Cody Gerhardt made a beautiful low line pass in turn two to take the lead and the win. Stout, Cody Swanson, Jeff Oleen and Connor Kassik completed the top five. In the preliminary events Oleen and Kipp Posey won the heat races while Gerhardt took the trophy dash. In the Junior Ford Focus Midget event Andrew Murray held off a strong challenge from Kyle Edwards to win the ten lap feature.
The evening concluded with the carnage of a 13 car demolition derby. The last car rolling belonged to Stan McDonald and that earned him $1,000 and a beautiful six foot trophy. McDonald's derby weapon of choice was a 1974 Chevrolet Impala. He's a veteran of demolition derbies and drove in his first event at age 13 in his native Ohio. Now at age 41 he still loves crashing cars in front of cheering fans. McDonald is also a veteran in another area. He's a member of the U.S. Marine Corp and is currently assigned to the Marine Detachment at the Miramar Naval Air Station. Last January McDonald returned from his third tour of duty in Iraq.
All through out the evening Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway Promoter Greg Scheidecker made it a point to thank his track sponsors, race teams and especially the loyal fans. Reflecting on that after the race he said "We have been so fortunate here in Blythe with the support of the community as well as the support of the fans. We get a great crowd here. Tonight we have over a thousand paid admissions. There are race tracks that are drawing half that many. We are doing really well here."
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was on live television last Saturday night. It's been often said these special Saturday night broadcasts often hurts the local Saturday night tracks many of which are actually NASCAR sanctioned. In fact a national marketing survey generated several years ago indicated that local speedways lose approximately 600 paid admissions every time NASCAR races on Saturday night. Scheidecker said he was well aware of the television broadcast and was acutely aware of the fact that NASCAR was racing in nearby Phoenix approximately 100 miles from his race track. "Yes there is a good majority of our crowd who did go to Phoenix because it's so close," he said adding "Blythe and Phoenix are so close that it is a draw for race fans. However the type of entertainment that we put on tonight brought the people out and we had a full crowd."
