As the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series reaches its half-way point of 2009, here is mid-season race by race re-cap of the SRL season:
• At the April 4th season opening event of the 2009 Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series, M.K. Kanke led every lap to win the Riebes Auto Parts 125 presented by AmeriPride Uniform Services in front of a capacity crowd at All-American Speedway in Roseville, CA. Fast qualifier Dave Byrd was second, Jim Pettit II third, followed by Greg Voigt and Todd Bammer. Kanke missed the 2008 SRL season due to a work related injury. It was quite a comeback for Kanke and the entire Dan Nikolai owned RPM-PSI Motorsports team who showed they were ready for the green flag to drop on the 2009 SRL season.
• On May 3rd the SRL returned to the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for only the second time in history. In contrast to the season opener in Roseville, the Bullring saw ten lead changes during the “Blackjack 121”. Josh Combs, Kevin Callahan, David Mayhew, Darrell LaMoure, Troy Ermish and Kanke all took turns at the front. Kanke, who pitted for repairs just before half-way took advantage of contact between leaders Combs and Craig Raudman to move into second behind Ermish with 19 laps remaining. Kanke drove under Ermish with 5 to go to win his second race of 2009. Ermish finished second, with Mayhew, Callahan and Raudman rounding out the top five.
• The big news leading up to the May 23rd stop at Madera Speedway, was that 2003 NASCAR Southwest Tour champion Auggie Vidovich would make his SRL debut in the Bob Strandwold Racing #1 Chevrolet. Vidovich kept his name in the headlines by holding off repeated challenges from Kanke, to win in his inaugural SRL event. Vidovich, Kanke, Pettit, Justin Westmoreland and Voigt were your top five.
• The July 4th Madera Speedway “Performance Electrical 120” line up had the top two drivers from the May 23rd event on the front row, and from the drop of the green, the race quickly resembled the previous race with Vidovich leading Kanke. But Kanke showed he was not content to follow Vidovich as he powered into the lead on lap 59. Kanke went on to win his third race in four starts. Behind Kanke the battle for second wasn’t settled until the last few feet before the finish line as Callahan held off Voigt by inches for second, Pettit was fourth and Josh Combs fifth.
• Troy Ermish, the “Iron Man” of the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series, with a series leading 78 career starts, came into Toyota Speedway hoping to improve on his 2009 season. Prior to the “Spears Manufacturing 100”, Ermish had one top ten in four starts. Ermish turned his season around in a big way by setting a new track record in qualifying (18.045 sec) and then taking home the $4,000 prize for his second career SRL win, after a wild final five laps of the 100 lap event. Pettit, who was running third blew an engine on lap 96 and hit the turn three wall, collecting Jason Gilbert who was fourth. Voigt, who was running second, pitted to change a flat tire while under yellow one lap later. As the green flag waved, Kanke suffered transmission problems as Ermish charged into turn 1 to lead the final four laps for the win. At the checkered it was Ermish, Callahan, Voigt, Gilbert, Mike Mendenhall and a spinning Keith Spangler, who crossed the line backwards for sixth. David Mantooth, Kanke, Jerry Allec, Jr., and Josh Combs rounded out the top ten.
Other Notable SRL News:
• On Friday, July 3rd during a dinner for SRL teams and sponsors, it was announced that Spears Manufacturing would be the series title sponsor for the remainder of 2009.
• With the support of Rub It Graphics, Ron’s Rear Ends and Ringers Gloves, all but one race in 2009 has paid $4,000 in prize money to the winner of the SRL events.
• At the SRL driver’s meeting at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, a new program was introduced to that would increase the minimum prize money to $600 for any driver who competes in two or more consecutive SRL events.
• Defending Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series champion Jim Pettit II blew two engines in four races, including last race at Irwindale and currently is unsure of his probability to compete at the upcoming race at Stockton 99 Speedway on August 8th.
• After two consecutive second place finishes (Madera and Irwindale) Kevin Callahan has extended his lead over Scott Sanchez in the Victory Circle Chassis Rookie-of-the-Year challenge.
• Series points leader M.K. Kanke has led laps in every race in 2009, except the May 23rd Madera Speedway event where he finished second to Auggie Vidovich.
About SPEARS MANUFACTURING: Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Spears Manufacturing is a world leader in plastic pipe fittings and valves. SPEARS maintains over one million square feet of manufacturing facilities in four states and nine distribution centers across the USA for worldwide distribution. For more information go to www.SPEARSMFG.com.
About the SRL SPEARS Southwest Tour Series:
Celebrating its ninth season in 2009, the SRL Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S. The series utilizes cars based on the former NASCAR Elite Division Series rulebook. www.SRLSouthwestTour.com
