IRWINDALE, California — Toyota Speedway at Irwindale “Family Night” had six classes in action and seven main events, including twin-40 lap features for NASCAR AC Delco Super Late Models Saturday in front of about 2,500 spectators. Bandolero teams raced 20-lap mains Saturday and Friday during the evening open practice session for all divisions. Rip Michels and Nick Joanides won the SLM twin-40s from pole position in events two and six Saturday. Both drivers received $1,250. It was round four in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist Super Six series within a series. Michels win was his 58th feature triumph at Irwindale and Joanides win was his 28th at the track. Michels ranks first and Joanides ninth on the TS@I list of all-time feature winners.
The new Langers Juices S-2 sportsman stock car class first point-paying race had six cars present and a fully inverted starting lineup in the first race of the night. First-time S-2 driver Randel King, 17, started third, took the lead on lap 3 and won the 20-lap race on the banked half-mile. He drove the same Position One Motorsports No. 77 car in which Luis Martinez, Jr,, 19, won the July 4 non-point, exhibition race. The other main event winner on the half-mile was undefeated Larry Cerquettini in a 20-lap Vista Paint Super Stock race with a fully inverted lineup for eight starters. Fastest qualifier Cerquettini came from the back to the front not once, but twice. He only led the final few feet and won by a mere 0.006, in one of the closest 1-2 finishes in 11 years of racing a the track. It was his sixth victory in six races this season and his only feature victories at the track. He also has set the FQ time for all six races this season.
Winners on the third-mile oval were fastest qualifier/pole starter Aaron Anderson, 13, in a 14-car Jan's Towing Bandolero 20-lap race. He led all the way and won his third feature of 2009 and second in a row by 0.245 over track point leader/rookie Ryan Cansdale, 10. The race, with one brief caution for a solo spin, took 9:06.545. A 29-car Legend car field followed the Bandos on the third-mile as the fourth feature. FQ Tom Landreth, starting first in the straight-up starting lineup, led the first six laps. Outside front row starter Darren Amidon, the 2007 track champion, made an inside pass entering the third turn and led laps 7-35 for his second TS@I main event victory this season.
The closing race of the warm night was a fan-pleasing “Train Race” with five teams of three connected cars each competing on the watered Figure 8 course in the infield. Each “train” had a driver in the first car, an unoccupied middle car and a brakeman in the third car. The team of Richard “Flipper” Walker/Chico Powell led the first seven laps from the pole with Robert Rice/Keith Johns closing quickly to their back bumper and challenging for the point. Then the leading team and a slower team tangled at the X intersection and came to a stop at the half-mile front straight They restarted but lost a lap. Rice/Johns won by half a lap over driver John Zimmerman and his brakeman Jose Navarete. All five trains were racing at the end of an eight-minute contest that ran 13 all-green laps (one more than scheduled) and concluded at 10:00 pm.
S-2 Langers Juices: Fastest qualifier Kendall Lopez, an 18-year old from Independence, MO, set FQ time of 20.551 (87.587 mph) in the High Performance Racing No. 59. She fell just short of the 20.527 fast time set last Saturday by Rod Johnson, Jr., who did not compete this week. Mark Reed, a 39-time NASCAR Grand National West competitor with four poles and two feature victories in that touring series, subbed in the HPR No. 56. It was his first race since the October, 2003 Toyota All-Star Showdown in which he raced the GN West No. 3 Chevy. Reed's son Ryan, the TS@ I Legends point leader, will drive the No. 56 S-2 car after he turns 16 on August 12. Mark turned second quickest qualifying time, started fifth and passed early leader Andrew Anderson on lap 14. He trailed winner King by 40-yards at the end of the 8:50.623 race. There was one caution flag on lap 13 when fourth place Lopez spun and damaged her RR fender at the first turn outer wall. She restarted and finished fifth after challenging her two HPR teammates closely at mid-race. All six S-2 starters finished 20 laps with 16-year old Bando and Legends graduate and current super stock rookie Anderson third. Kyle Longmore, 18, was fourth for HPR, followed by Lopez and pole starter Robert Tallini. Seven S-2 cars raced last week, but VPSS point leader Cerquettini parked his S-2 car this week to concentrate on his Chevy Impala SS. The new division offers a cost-effective (under $25,000) race car that resembles NASCAR Sprint Cup cars with splitters and rear deck wings. Chevy 350 cu. in crate engines power S-2 cars that are produced by Racecar Factory in Irwindale. Six more S-2 races are on the TS@I 2009 schedule. Reed will keep the seat of the No. 56 HPR S-2 car warm for his talented son Ryan once more on August 1. Ryan will make his debut in the S-2 car August 15. Series sponsor Bruce Langer made the first trophy presentation at the finish line to 2008 AC Delco SLM rookie and 2009 ASA Speed Truck racer R. King. It was his first TS@I main event triumph in any series.
SLM 1ST 40: With a 20-car field and an inversion of three, Michels had pole position and he used it to lead all 40 laps in a three-way fight with second starter Alex Haase, 19, of Las Vegas, and FQ/third starter Joanides. The race had a frightening crash on lap 16 that caused a 14-minute red flag. Battling for 15th position, the car of Jeff Eshleman careened hard at the right front into the first turn wall just past the pit entrance and attenuator after left rear contact from Dennis Schlarbaum. Eshleman, 38-year old son of former GN West driver and Fontana mayor David Eshleman, was uninjured. Both cars were damaged severely and eliminated for the night. Michels pulled away to a 30-yard (1.458) victory margin over Haase. He had a 0.183 edge on Joanides, who said, “My radiator has a hole in it from debris.” Travis Thirkettle, Danny Gay, Luis Martinez, Jr., 17-year old Las Vegan Bear Rzesnowiecky, David Beat, David Ross, 20, and SLM rookie Mackena Bell, 18, from Carson City, NV, completed the top ten. Twelve of the 14 finishers ran all 40 laps. It was Michels' first feature victory since September 13, 2008 when he won AC Delco SLM twin-25 mains in his No. 12. “I can't believe how good it feels to win.” he told the crowd. “I forgot what it felt like to win. I never thought I'd beat Nick again. I wondered if I've lost it and if I can't drive anymore. You doubt yourself. I won the battle tonight, but Nick's winning the war (championship).” Joanides' third place in the first 40 was his worst SLM finish this season. Later he scored his ninth SLM victory o f 2009.
SLM 2ND 40: Joanides, 39, used his pole position as FQ to out gun fellow front row starter Michels at the green flag. He was never more than ten to 20 yards in front of the pressing Michels, who trailed by 0.822 at the conclusion. The 19-minute race, run from 9:24 to 9:43, had one caution flag on lap 6 when eighth place Ross lost a transmission plug bolt in turns one/two and oiled the track, causing Rzesnowiecky to spin in oil. A key mid-race battle involved outside running Haase and inside running Gay fighting for third place. Gay made the pass on lap 27. Fourth place Haase dropped out four laps later. Fourth place Thirkettle dropped out on lap 36. Gay slowed during the final three laps with a sour-sounding engine, but he finished third, 6.134 seconds in back of winner Joanides. Rzesnowiecky was fourth, 7.840 back and Rickey McCray was a season-best fifth. Beat, Bell, Martinez, Duane Hunt, Jr. and Scott Dodd completed the top ten. Nine drivers ran all 40 laps as 12 of the 16 starters finished. Following the SLM twin 40s, nine-time SLM winner Joanides had a 62-point lead (640-578) over Michels after 13 of 21 scheduled races. Joanides also leads Gay by 20 points (244-224) in the Lucas Oil Slick Six point standings with a race remaining.
VPSS: Just before the fully inverted start, officials radioed drivers that their scheduled 35-lap main would be 20-laps. Fifth starter Rich DeLong III led the first seven laps and FQ/last starter Cerquettini ran second all seven laps. On lap 8 Cerquettini bumped leader DeLong and passed him on the inside leaving turn two. Unhappy DeLong dived into turn four low and exiting that turn his right front hit new leader Cerquettini's left rear, spinning Cerquettini's car across the starting line to the infield. He continued non-stop, but with the caution flag flying, officials sent both drivers to the back, leaving Kenny Brown's 1973 Camaro in the lead. He ran out front despite heavy pressure from Gary Frankovich's Chevy Impala SS and Cerquettini's Chevy Impala SS during the final ten laps in a three-way dogfight. Cerquettini took second from Frankovich on lap 17 with an inside turn four pass. He battled outside running Brown during the final three circuits with fans cheering the action. Cerquettini made an inside pass without contact from the fourth turn to the finish line on the final lap. He won by less than a foot—0.006 officially on AMB electronic scoring. “That was fun,” both drivers told spectators after the top three finishers stopped at start/finish and received their TS@I plaques. Frankovich was third, 0.589 back, with Camaro driver Gary Read fourth and DeLong fifth. Camaro drivers Gerrit Cromsigt, Scott Corrigan and Brad Keegan finished sixth through eighth and all completed 20 laps in the 9:47.653-timed event.
LEGENDS: Amidon's winning pass in the 35-lap Legends race on the third-mile came via an inside pass in the third turn on lap 7. Championship contender Brandon Toy, 17, also dropped six-time Legends track champion Tom Landreth to third in the same turn. A pair of 15-year old rookies--Dallas Montes and Ryan Reed—dropped Landreth to sixth on lap 8. Third through sixth place drivers waged a tight, position-changing battle as they lapped slower cars in the 28-car field. On lap 25 Amidon and Toy were nose-to-tail for the lead with Reed on their tails. Landreth, Brent Scheidemantle, 16, Montes and Chad Schug ran in a tight pack for fourth place. During the final five laps the top three drivers—Amidon, Toy and Reed—were nose-to-tail as they lapped cars in unison. They finished in that order with Toy 0.246 back and Reed 0.450 back. Landreth (-2.071) and Montes completed the top five. Schug, Scheidemantle, Kenny Maler, Jr., Michael Smith and Gary Scheuerell rounded out the top ten as 20 of 28 finishers ran all 35 laps.
BANDOLEROS: Saturday: FQ/pole-starter Aaron Anderson paced all 20 laps on the third-mile and beat series point leader/rookie/five-time main event winner Ryan Cansdale, of Laguna Beach, by 0.245. Rookie Christian McGhee was third, 1.569 back. Ricky Schlick and rookie Chancellor Tiscareno comprised the top five. Twelve of 14 starters ran all 20 laps, with two drivers down one lap. Friday: At 8:35 the 13 car Bandolero field ran a ten-minute, 20 lap race. Cansdale led the first five laps before third starter Anderson passed him on the inside at turn two ands won by 0.359 over Cansdale. McGhee finished third, 0.767 back, with Schick and Graydon Smith next across the finish line. All 11 finishers ran 20 laps. Second generation drivers Lexi Moore, 10-year old daughter of SLM driver Dan Moore, and Trevor Huddleston, 12-year old son of late model three-time TS@I champion Tim Huddleston, battled for ninth place most of the race. Moore passed him on lap 16. Huddleston placed tenth in his first ever Bando race in his new Briggs & Stratton-powered No. 50.
TRAIN RACE: The five “train” race was the first such race of the year at Irwindale. There were two leaders of the three-car “trains” event. Versatile Robert Rice and Keith Johns were in victory lane at the end. Rice is a TS@I late model, Figure 8, auto soccer and demolition derby driver. This was his first “train race” victory at the track, which ran three train races last season. The planned 12-lap race actually ran 13 laps but the extra lap did not change the outcome of the eight-minute, all green-flag race.
Hard chargers who received $100 gift certificates were: SLM 1st 40 – Gail Chase and SLM 2nd 40 – Rzesnowiecky; Legends – Donny St. Ours (28th to 11th after he had to start last because he missed the mandatory drivers meeting). Fastest qualifiers were: SLM – Joanides L 1 -18.123 and L 2 – 18.217; S/S – Cerquettini – 20.868; S-2 – Kendall Lopez – 20.551; Legends – Landreth – 16.893; Bandoleros – Anderson – 18.902 (Sat.) and Mikael Lovas – 18.709 (Fri.).
