IRWINDALE, California — Surprise lead changes were the order of the night in the top two series in action Saturday during Toyota Speedway at Irwindale “Armed Forces Appreciation Night' in front of about 3,500 spectators. The five event program featured NASCAR AC Delco Super Late Models in a 50-lap main on the banked half-mile. That race also awarded round two points for the Lucas Oil Slick Mist Super Six series within a series. Main event winners on the half-mile were Scott Dodd, 21, of Mira Loma, in the SLM 50 with 19 starters. Jeff Peterson, 19, of Riverside, won a 40-lap King Taco Super Truck run. On the third-mile, Darren Amidon, the 2007 track champion, won his second consecutive Legends 35-lap main in his own replica 1934 Ford sedan. Series rookie Ryan “Can Do” Cansdale, a 10-year old Laguna Beach resident, won a 20-lap Jan's Towing Bandoleros race with 13 starters. He also set fastest qualifying time and won the Friday night 12-car, 20-lap main at 8:00 pm during the weekly all division 5:00-9:00 pm open practice session.
The final event Saturday night was the track's third ever Trailer Race. Ten entries ran a 15-lap race from green to checkers clockwise on the third mile oval. Competitors raced counter-clockwise during the second trailer race at Irwindale last October 25. All drivers towed a trailer with a rowboat/skiff the most common towed item. One driver towed a Volkswagen “bug' and another towed an expandable tent structure. When the 15 laps ended versatile Robert Rice, a busy Figure 8, demolition derby and late model driver, won again. He also won the first TS@I trailer race last September 13 when the 13 entries also ran in a clockwise direction. Rice started third, took the lead on lap
4 in his orange Pick Your Part Chevy El Camino. After winning and making four more celebratory laps, the happy driver made a spinning stop at the finish line with the boat on the trailer spinning in perfect unison with the winning car. The all green flag race took only seven minutes and concluded at 9:58. Spectators cheered the action throughout the race as boats flew off trailer in turns and tow cars smashed into each other. Only four cars finished.
SLM: The 19 SLMs present qualified individually in reverse order of the current point standings from 7:07 – 7:23 following the National Anthem. Fast time changed four times. Fifteen drivers ran their fastest lap on their second lap. Next to last qualifier Rip Michels' No. 12 Ford set quick time of 17.916 (100.469 mph). A youngster from the grandstand rolled the huge dice on the main aisle in front of the grandstand to determine the inversion number. It landed on two, giving Michels the outside front row starting spot for the feature. At the first lap green flag Michels shot into the lead over second fastest qualifier/pole-man Scott Dodd. He had a five-yard lead on lap
4 at the first of of three caution flags in a 28-minute race. At the restart, runner-up Dodd ran into the back of Michels' Ford at the starting line after the Toyota Tundra pace truck pulled off turn four to the infield instead of before turn three. Dodd and other podium finishers later said he did not do anything wrong, although Michels was unhappy about the fourth lap contact.
Michels, the TS@I all-time leading main event winner with 57, appeared to be headed for his first victory this season, just in time to welcome his new sponsor (Hot Rod Hobbies of Santa Clarita). At lap 30 Michels had a 35-yard lead over Bear Rzesnowiecky, 16, with Dodd third, point leader Nick Joanides, from fifth starting position, and Danny Gay in a tight four-car pack battling for second. Dodd re-passed Bear for second on lap 34. On lap
35 third place Bear spun out low in the fourth turn, Seventh running Travis Thirkettle rammed the front of Bear's spinning Jackson No. 95 hard and stopped abruptly. Bear's car careened to the grass infield. Wreckers towed both cars to the pits with extensive damage. The drivers were uninjured..
At lap 46 Michels held a 15-yard advantage over Dodd when 13th place series rookie Mackena Bell, from Reno, spun to the start/finish line of the third-mile track. The yellow flag flew after she had not restarted after a lap. On the restart, the pace truck again darted to the infield exiting turn four and Michels' car did not accelerate quickly. He pulled to the left and slowed. Dodd's Lucas Oil Chevy shot by on the right into the lead. Michels was fourth after lap 47, behind Joanides and Gay. He slowed to 13th position by lap 49 and finished there. Later, Michels said his car had rear end damage and he finished the 50 lap race as the last car on the lead lap after leading the first 46 laps. Joanides said his second place “gave me a good point night and we gained points over the drivers we needed to beat. I can't believe I finished second. It felt like a tire was going flat and my brake pedal went to the floor.”
Winner Dodd said the last last few laps were hairy and the car was very loose and ill handling. He said, “This is my third super late win (second this year).” He won by 0.440. Joanides edged Gay by 0.313. Dan Moore and Ron Esau completed the top five as 13 of 15 finishers ran the full 50 laps. Dodd said during Friday night TS@I practice his car had a bad vibration. His team changed two rear ends and three drive-shafts Saturday during afternoon practice to correct the problem. He said he ran only a few practice laps, including one at 25 seconds during the second practice session at 3:15. All that work by his crew made the $1,250 first place check even more rewarding.
SUPER TRUCKS: The 14-truck King Taco Super Truck field had the Peterson father/son team on the front row. Son Jeff, 19, beat his pole-man father Ron, a two time series champion (2004 and 2006) and 31 main event winner at Irwindale, to the first turn. Jeff led the first nine laps. Fastest qualifier Rod Johnson, Jr, also a 19-year old second year KTST driver and the 2008 KTST rookie of the year, took second from the senior Peterson on lap 2. He waged a fan-pleasing battle with the leader to lap 10 when inside-running Rod edged Jeff at the starting line. Johnson opened a ten-yard lead by lap 20 when a solo spinner caused a brief caution. On the second of three yellows at lap 24 Johnson's No. 15 Chevy S-10 sounded rough as if it had lost a cylinder. He slowed as Jeff P took command for good in his No. 38 Chevy S-10. Johnson faded quickly to last place by lap 27 and then dropped out on lap 36 of 40, placing 13th.
Grant Hebner, a 20-year old from Fallbrook and another impressive second year KTST driver, raced hard all the way. He took second on lap 35 and closed to within 0.283 of his first victory. Ron P placed third, 1.022 second behind his son and jointed him on the podium for the first time. “I can't believe my kid won a race. He's better than I am and I've been doing it for 25 years.” The top five ran in close quarters that left some hard feelings, including for fifth place point leader Pat Mintey, Jr.. On lap 37 Ryan Partridge took fourth from Mintey, who had harsh words for runner-up Hebner after their hard side-by-side racing. Only nine of the 14 starters finished and all ran 40 laps. The third caution, four laps from the conclusion, involved three trucks running seventh, eighth and tenth. They tangled leaving turn two and spun out together to the infield. All three trucks were sidelined.
LEGENDS: A 20-car Legends field had a four-car inversion based on qualifying times. Donny St. Ours, 16, led the first two laps from the pole. A red flag flew on lap 3 after several cars got together. Tenth starter Mark Iungerich, 63, lost a tire and flipped in two and a half quick barrel rolls to the outer wall. Rescuers removed part of the roof to remove him. Shaken up initially, he walked away without assistance. Amidon led lap 3 to the lap 35 finish and won by 40-yards. Fastest qualifier Ryan Reed, a 15-year old from Bakersfield, passed St. Ours for second place on lap 30 and trailed Amidon by 2.090 seconds. Brent Scheidemantle, 16, took third from St. Ours on lap
31 and beat St. Ours for the final podium position by 0.416. Point leader Brandon Toy was fifth. All 18 finishers ran 35 laps in the 13-minute contest.
BANDOLEROS: Fastest qualifier Ryan Cansdale, 10, started fourth and led laps 13-20 in winning his fourth consecutive main event. The 14-car field had four cautions in a 16-minute event. Christian McGhee, 10-year old son of Joanides' SLM and late model car owner, started from pole position and led the first two laps. “Lil” Al Simpson took charge from lap 3-12. Cansdale passed Simpson on the inside at the starting line on lap 13. Their cars made contact entering the first turn with Simpson's car spinning out to the half mile near the attenuator. Mikael Lovas, 11, and Ricky Schlick, celebrating his 12th birthday, followed, with Blake Dunkleberger, 13, fifth in the 11-car finishing field. The top five finishers in the Friday 20-lap main
were: Cansdale, McGhee, Chancellor Tiscareno, 2008 track champion Aaron Anderson, 13, and Dunkleberger. Two cars retired with broken chains and one car exited with a broken tie rod.
TRAILER RACE: Adam Ditto, driving a red, white and blue hearse towing his trailer, led the first three laps over third starter Robert Rice, the September 2008 trailer race winner. Rice led the final 12 laps. Jonathan Destrfano's sedan with a trailered boat, Ditto's hearse and October 2008 trailer race winner Keith Johns, in the No. 3 Pick Your Part car towing a boat, finished second through fourth. All other starters were in the DNF column with various ailments. A green car and its trailer vaulted high over a huge tire marking the infield and continued briefly just before expiring with mechanical problems.
Hard charger $100 gift certificates went to (SLM) – R. Esau (12th to 5th);
(KTST) – R. Partridge (10th to 4th), and (Legends) – Michael Smith (18th to 11th). Fastest qualifiers were (SLM) – Michels; (KTST) – R. Johnson – 19.934
(90.298 mph); (Legends) – R. Reed – 16.920 (70.851 mph), and (Bandoleros) – Cansdale – 18.935 (63.311 mph).
