The SuperClean Modified Racing Series spent this past Saturday night at the Havasu 95 Speedway, a quarter mile oval in Lake Havasu City-Arizona, for the running of the Sunoco Fuels 75. For the third time in a highly competitive year the series produced a first time winner. But it really came with no surprise. All season long series observers said it was just a matter of time before Jim Mardis parked his race car in victory lane. He did it in a very big way Saturday night by leading every lap of the race. In fact, Mardis' performance was so dominant he was, at times, practically racing in his own personal zip code.
"All the guys that we raced with tonight were great."— Jim Mardis
The series's afternoon at the Havasu 95 Speedway began with qualifying where Andrew Phipps blistered the track with a lap of 15.649 seconds to win the Budweiser Pole Award. However the pre race inversion ceremony turned up a different pre race scenario. Phipps drew the number four which placed Mardis and Jimmy Dickerson on the front row of the Sunoco Fuels 75.
The race got off to somewhat of a rocky start when a trio of cars found themselves spinning through turn two on the very first lap of the race. A hand full of laps later there was a second caution flag so officials could get the attention of a driver who didn't realize a black flag was intended for him because something loose underneath his car was showering sparks.
After that the race settled into an open wheel to wheel racing rhythm where the action was intense from third to twenty second. Mardis was running a strong pace up front with Jimmy Dickerson lurking behind him until lap 60 when the race leader just simply checked out on the remainder of the field. Chris Gerchman, Tim Morse and Phipps completed the top five.
In victory lane Mardis was all smiles and said "I can't even tell you how good this feels. Beating some of these guys is amazing because they are the very best from the west coast. Man, these guys really bring their game and we finally put one together and got to the finish line before they did."
"All the guys that we raced with tonight were great. Dickerson really ran me clean from the beginning and we had just enough to pull away from him at the end. The really interesting thing is: I hate this place. Every time we've raced here I've struggled even though I led some laps. It's ironic that the one track I hate is the track where we got our first win at," the race winner said.
Mardis also made quick work in saying thank you to the people who helped find victory lane on this night. "I have to thank Jam Sportswear, out of Redlands-California, along with Hot N Nasty and Mommy Inc they all do a lot for me. Of course there's also STR-Short Track Race Cars who build a good car for me and thanks to Dave Arce who builds us a good engine. Thanks also goes to MTS Construction: those guys work hard on my car as well. Most of all there's Mom and Dad who have put so much into this and I've got to thank them a bunch."
The win at the Havasu 95 Speedway was sweet redemption for Mardis and his team in comparison to what happened to them at the previous, September 5th. race at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. On that night a major problem was discovered with the car's transmission. An effort to repair the situation got Mardis to the starting grid, and shotgun on the field, but the repair efforts didn't gel and the team found themselves having to settle for a 22nd place finish. That was devastating for their points run because, prior to that night, the team was considered to be championship contenders.
Commenting on the concept of sweet redemption Saturday night, Mardis smiled and said "yeah it is. I told everyone at the Orange Show, after the night that happened, that I was coming to Havasu with a vengeance. We're really not points racing anymore so now we're not scared to change things to try and make our car faster. I was on a mission tonight."
El Cajon-California's Jimmy Dickerson has been visiting the series on a part time basis this year after winning the 2008 championship. But every time this team unloads their Applied Decorative Concrete-Arce Engines-Gary Camp-Competitive Metals modified they are automatically considered to be pre race favorites for another win.
Always a class act, Dickerson began his post race interview by saying "first off I have to congratulate Mardis on his good run. He's been working hard at it. I thought we had him in the beginning but after a few laps we just didn't have it anymore. The car loosened up a little bit and was just all we had. I think maybe I was driving off the right rear tire a little bit."
Chris Gerchman, the pride of Lake Havasu City-Arizona, brought his Peggy Sunrise Cafe-G&G Automotive-Hoosier Tires-K&N Performance Filters-Bridgewater Homes-Gibbs Propellers sponsored modified to a hard fought third place finish.
"It was a good night," Gerchman said after the race adding "we had to really wheel this car for awhile and I ended up burning up the right rear wheel a little bit early but, overall, it was a good run. I think we figured out a lot for the next time we race here. We just need to get our rear suspension down a little better."
After rolling snake eyes two times in races at Las Vegas earlier in the season, Burbank-California's Tim Morse is on the come back trail.Last Saturday night marked his third consecutive top five series finish. Commenting on his race Morse said "It was a very good night. We took (Chris) Gerchman's line away and we were on the outside working through the lapped traffic. It was good racing tonight and we were very happy getting a fourth place finish. Everyone drove with respect tonight and I thought it was a great race. Everyone is happy at the end of the night. That's a great thing about Havasu, we really don't have any bad issues. We had a good car but we just didn't quite get it done."
Morse also made it a point to say a huge thank you to his line up of race sponsors which included CMJ Racing Inc,Ron's Rear Ends, Solar Head Service and Sunoco Fuels. Morse especially expressed appreciation to Sunoco Fuels for also being the race sponsor.
Simi Valley-California's Andrew Phipps, driver of the Spartan Trucking-Vision Airline-Ron's Rear Ends modified, arrived in Lake Havasu City tied for the series points lead with James Cole. His fifth place finish allowed him to leave Arizona with a six point lead over his season long championship opponent.
Despite that good news, Phipps described his night at the Havasu 95 Speedway as "a little frustrating" adding "I thought that we had a little bit better of a car than we did but apparently we just knocked off a really fast lap in qualifying. From lap one to 75 the car just didn't change, it just stayed the same. It was just too loose for me. It was loose in and loose off and I just couldn't make any progress. I thought we had a car capable of winning and bringing it home in fifth is somewhat of a bummer."
Also one of the class acts of this series, Phipps made it a point to congratulate the race winner and said "I'm happy to see Mardis get his first win. He's a good guy who works really hard and I know how that first win feels. I'm happy for him."
Series co-promoter Greg Scheidecker was thrilled at watching the sight of his series' latest first time winner in victory lane and said "anytime that you have a first time winner, especially when it's someone who has had so many ups and downs, your heart just has to go out to that person. The man earned that win. It wasn't given to him by any means. The man flat had his car hooked up and earned that first main event win."
Scheidecker was also very pleased with the level of competition, during the Sunoco Fuels 75, and said "the side by side racing from tenth all the way to third was just unbelievable tonight. I can't wait to see the final score sheets to see how the points land. We had some guys tonight, all the way back to tenth, who had the race of their life. A perfect example of that is David Gerchman Sr. The man didn't particularly qualify that well but he finished the race on the lead lap and in the ninth position. That man really earned some respect tonight. He really got up on his steering wheel and that always feels good."
One of the prominent members of the Arizona based Gerchman racing family, David Sr was indeed all smiles after the race and highly encouraged with the night that he had at his home track. "The car was good," he said adding "it felt good, it's the best finish that I've had since we started racing in this series and I had a lot of fun. We've learned a lot this year in the series and next year I'm looking forward to being way up there most of the time."
Greg Scheidecker also sent a shout out to Austin Barnes, the 14 year old rookie driver in his series, and said "here's another good example . He had a race car, that within the first 25 laps, just wasn't up to par and went backwards. But I'll tell you what, when that car came in half way through the race the man went forward and it was exciting to watch."
Barnes, who finished seventh in the race, commented on his night at the Havasu 95 Speedway and said "there were quite a few lapped cars and some various cautions. We started the race in eighth and then fell back a few positions. The car was loose at the beginning. Then it went the other way, fell into the groove and became perfect. It allowed to me run on both the inside and outside. I ran the outside line for at least 25 laps of the race."
Like many young drivers his age, Barnes spent approximately three years cutting his teeth racing karts and then last year spent a season on dirt tracks behind the wheel of a 600 mini sprint. When asked about his leaning curve, in the SuperClean Modified Racing Series, the young San Diego driver said "it's all horsepower and no grip. Another racing series is weak in comparison and in those series you can recover quickly from a mistake. Make a mistake here and you're going to lose at least three positions very quickly."
Series co-promoter, and Havasu 95 Speedway promoter, Bill Rozhon was also very pleased with what he observed during the course of the Sunoco Fuels 75 and said "these guys are amazing. They were racing hard from last place to first tonight." Then, smiling, Rozhon added "well, maybe Jimmy kind of stunk up the first place deal but the rest of the field was racing hard for the entire 75 laps. The guys really put on an exciting show."
Series head technical inspector Allan Brown also liked what he saw on this night and also noted that the cars were all so evenly matched. "The tech inspections have improved greatly during the four years we've been doing them," he said adding "the crew know exactly what we want, know what we're looking for and the procedure is getting easier and easier every race. Even if we find a malfunction it's resolved smoothly."
The stage is now set for the final points race for the 2009 SuperClean Modified Racing Series championship. That race will be held October 17th at the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway in Blythe-California.
In addition to support from its title sponsor, the SuperClean Modified Racing Series is also supported by a highly potent marketing concept known as "Team Lucas." Team members include: Lucas Oil Products Inc, E3 Spark Plugs, R&L Carriers, Dixie Chopper, General Tire and K&N Performance Filters.
Additionally there is a great deal of support from series sponsors that include: SuperClean Products, Hoosier Tire West, Budweiser, Blue Water Resort & Casino, Sunoco Fuel, Franks Radio, DJ Safety, Steve Teets of STR-Short Track Race Cars, Polydome Plastic Products and Racing Plus.
