IRWINDALE, California — Justin Johnson celebrated his 25th birthday on Monday and gave himself two presents Saturday night in the form of twin-40 lap NASCAR Pepsi Super Late Model Toyota Speedway at Irwindale feature victories on Firefighters Appreciation Night. The Las Vegas resident drove the Vision Airlines Ford Fusion-bodied No. 98 that uses a Chevy engine from a Lakeport, CA-based engine builder. His twin-wins, in a season-high 24 car field, were his eighth and ninth in 16 TS@I SLM races this year for a 562 winning percentage. Johnson and his Las Vegas-based Vision Aviation team are seeking their first TS@I championship with four races remaining in the 20-race season. He increased his point lead from 48 to 64 points over his teammate Dusty Davis, who placed sixth and fourth Saturday. There are 200 first place points remaining in four upcoming SLM main events at 50-points per race for twin-40s on August 28 and September 18. It was Johnson's second twin-40s sweep this season and the fourth for the VAL team with Johnson and Davis co-winners twice. The VAL team now has won 12 of the 16 (75%) of the SLM features at Irwindale this year.
Ryan “Perfect” Partridge continued his amazing feature-winning streak for any TS@I series. He took his single-season record tenth consecutive King Taco Super Truck 40-lap main in Steve Latina's Brockrentals.com Dodge Dakota. His fastest qualifying time streak of nine in a row ended Saturday afternoon when he finished second quickest by 0.049. Partridge started fourth with fastest qualifier/two-time series champion Pat Mintey, Jr. the fifth starter in a l9-truck field. Partridge, a 22-year old from Rancho Cucamonga with one KTST feature triumph (8/18/09) on his resume before this season, led the final 31 laps. “This is just crazy,” he told the crowd when interviewed. “We started the season winning the first two, then three and then four. Are you kidding me? I'm just blessed. There's no other way to describe it,” Partridge told the crowd.
Other events that entertained the almost 3,000 spectators included an auto soccer match won by Jan's Towing over a Pick Your Part team. Three cars per team pushed a round 450-pound propane tank painted to resemble a soccer ball. Second generation driver Jim Busby started second and led all 25-laps of the Langers Juice S2 car race. It was his first victory at Irwindale in his tenth start. He became the eighth different feature winner this season after 11 races. His No. 51 Lake City Ford-backed car won the first 2010 race on March 27 with Rod Johnson, Jr driving the High Point Racing team car, one of four S2 cars HPR owns in the nine-car series.
The final event of the six event program was a 15-lap race on the third-mile for 27 skid plate cars, second highest car count to 28 on June 26. Daryl Scoggins, the 2009 Justice Brothers Mini Stock track champion, led every lap in driving to a dominating two-lap victory. Series originator Robert Rice, who built all the metal skid plates that replace the two back tires and rents out about half the field, finished second. Scoggins started fifth and fired into P. 1 in the first turn. He kept his car straight as competitors spun and hit spinning cars all around the track during the all-green flag race. The winner drove the No. 10 Ford Festiva to his first skid plate victory in his first try in the fun event two months ago. His brother Ed Scoggins had that car this week, but he pulled to the infield with a problem and did not start.
1st SLM 40: As the first race of the night at 7:20 pm, it took 17-minutes to complete the first lap. Three collisions required a pair of double-file restarts and finally a single-file restart at 7:37. Five cars did not complete a lap. Alex Haase's No. 1 car from Las Vegas was sidelined for the night with extensive damage after the first crash in turn three. The balance of the race was fast and furious with passing plentiful in the rapid SLM field with a few SRL Series cars in the mix. Pole starter/second quickest qualifier Andy Allen led the first 30 laps in the outside groove with fourth FQ/fourth starter Justin Johnson a close second for 30 laps. On lap 31 Johnson executed an inside pass leaving turn four. Allen retook the lead on the outside at the starting line to lead lap 32. Johnson led lap 33 by a length. Allen, a July 31 main winner, was atop the scoring pylon on laps 34-35. Johnson had the point a lap later and moved to the outside groove. Allen tried to retake the lead on lap 36 on the inside exiting turn four but he got loose and spun out, causing a yellow flag. Allen drove to the pits to prepare for race two. Johnson, who ran the fastest lap of the race at 18.398, won by 0.215 over closing Ryan Partridge, the seventh starter in Dave Eshleman's No. 11 “Batman” car with a Chevy crate engine. FQ/second starter Jason Patison, who is splitting time this year in the K & N Pro Series East Series, finished third, 0.893 back. Sergio Pena, a 17-year old Virginian and Toyota All-Star Showdown sensation in January, came from fifth to place fourth (-1.097) in the No. 03 Position One Motor-sports second car. His teammate Randel King, 19, was fifth (-1.598). Davis, SRL's Joe Farre, rookie Ryan Reed, David Beat and Tucson's Duane Hunt, Jr. (named the hard charger) completed the top ten. Thirteen of 24 starters finished an 12 drivers ran all 40 circuits in a 35-minute event.
2nd SLM 40: Event five of the night was the second SLM 40 and 23 cars took the green flag at 9:11. Johnson and Pena occupied the front row in a five-car inverted start based on the second of two single-car qualifying laps. Johnson led the first three laps in the outside groove as fourth starter Allen's No. 22 ran the inside in P. 2 during laps 2-3. On lap 4 Allen ran he fastest lap of the race at 18.236 (98.706 mph) in answer to Johnson's lap 2 fastest lap of 18.398. Allen passed Johnson on the inside in the fourth turn on lap 4 and led through lap 10 in a three-way fight with Johnson and Patison. Pena took third from Patison on lap 14 as his teammate King made it a five-way battle to lap 20 when King passed Allen for second position. The lap 25 order had Johnson leading by 35-yards over King. Pena, Davis, Allen, Patison and Partridge followed. Johnson said he felt a vibration when braking for turns in the closing laps so he backed off a bit as King, 19, cut his lead to ten yards at the checkers. King, the 2008 TS@I SLM rookie of the year when ;he finished eighth in points, trailed by 0.520. His Position One teammate Pena finished third, 1.606 seconds behind Johnson. Davis, driving the No. 94 VAL (ex-No. 2009 No. 98 Johnson short-track car) was 3.025 seconds in back of his VAL teammate. Allen settled for P. 5, 3.736 seconds back. Partridge completed his third 40-lap race of the night in P. 6. Beat, newcomer Zane Lovelace, from Sacramento, Patison and Ryan Reed, 17, Reigning SLM track champion Nick Joanides was an interested observer in the race control booth during the first SLM race so he could see how races are called. Winner Johnson thanked team owner Steve Acor and crew chief Chuck Wahl. “My Vision Airlines Ford Fusion was good in the first race and even better in the second race. When I get out front I cruise and when they catch up I go again,” he said. He said his team goal is the championship in their second season. Third place Pena said he flew west Thursday and practiced Friday night. “Thanks to Position One for letting me come out to Toyota Speedway and race. I love it here. It feels like home.”
LANGERS S2: A seven-car field had a six-car inversion at the start. Vintage car restorer Dave Busby, a 39-year old Laguna Beach resident and son of renowned SCCA Brumos Porsche sports car racer Jim Busby, led all 25 laps on the half-mile. It was his first feature victory during his rookie TS@I season. He became the eighth different winner in 11 S2 mains this season. Rod Johnson, Jr. won the season opening S2 race on March 27 in the HPR No. 51 that Busby started driving in race two of 2010. He had to withstand intense pressure from his fellow rookie teammates Dylan Lupton, 16, and Roman Lagudi, 15. On lap 13 Lupton took second from Lagudi with an inside pass in the fourth turn. The teens touched fenders exiting turn four on lap 17. Lupton and Lagudi entered the race tied for the series point lead at 448. Lupton, from Wilton, CA, now leads Las Vegan Lagludi by two points—496-494. Busby ranks third in points at 440 despite missing the first race. The fourth HPR team car of fastest qualifier Joe Anderson came from sixth to fourth for a “blue crew” sweep. Bill Waters, 52, Andrew Porter, 16, and brother Gary Waters, 57, followed with six drivers on the lead lap. The all-green flag race took 8:49.634 despite two solo spins by the elder Waters that did not require a caution flag. Remarkably, six of seven S2 drivers ran their fastest lap of the race on lap 2. Anderson's 20.443 (88.050 mph) was the fastest lap of the event.
KTST: A 19-truck field five-truck inversion for the start put truck rookie Andrew Anderson, 17, on the pole. He led the first nine laps as fourth starter Partridge dropped a position after one lap. He worked forward using the inside groove in three and four-wide racing. Partridge took second on lap 8. Anderson was high and Partridge low when the point-leader made an inside pass from the fourth turn to the starting line for the lead he retained from lap 10-40. He won by 20-yards (0.748 seconds) over Mintey, who took second on lap 20. The P.2-6 contest was intense in a tight, five truck pack. The only caution flag flew on lap 30 for a spin. Matt Kimball took second from Anderson on the lap 30 green and they ran in that order to the end. Second-ranked point driver Todd Cameron and rookie Ken Maler, Jr., 19, traded fifth place twice, with Maler recapturing the spot on the lap 30 green. Cameron, Brandon Toy, a truck rookie/Legends graduate, Jameson Spies, and rookies Lucas McNeil and Ken Brown, a super stock veteran, rounded out the top ten. All 19 trucks finished the 18-minute race and 17 drivers completed every lap. Following the final race, TS@I tech officials inspected the disassembled transmissions of the top five finishing trucks in the tech inspection area. Mintey ran the fastest lap of the race (20.019) on lap 1. Partridge's best lap (20.181) came on lap 12.
AUTO SOCCER The 11-minute match was the third event of the night at 8:18 pm. With three cars per team, including a goalie car, Jan's Towing won its second consecutive auto soccer match. Jan's shut out Pick Your Part 1-0 to the sounds of recorded chants, Ole, Ole, Ole, goooaaalll, and vuvuzelas on the track PA system. The defensive contest had some breakaway threats, plus several wide right or left shots on the tire-marked goals. The 450-pound propane tank metal “ball” struck one car on the left side and knocked off a back wheel. The striker car continued playing on three wheels with sparks trailing from the rim to the delight of spectators.
SKID PLATE RACE: A 27-car field drew for starting positions for the fifth skid plate race this season. The winner received $400 and all starters were guaranteed at least $35, the cost of their pit pass. Scoggins made his skid plate car debut on June 26 in the No. 10 Ford Festiva and won his first try with two back wheels removed in favor of a pair of sparks-producing metal skid plates for track contact. This time he had the 1998 Toyota Camry No. 46. As pursuers spun or got spun, Scoggins calmly kept power applied without spinning. He won by an unprecedented two laps. No other skid plate race has had the runner-up finish even a lap off the pace. “I just kept it straight and didn't spin,” the winner stated. His car was hit in turn four on lap 3 and spun once, but kept going forward. The best race was for second place with five drivers on the same lap.
Series originator Robert Rice came from eighth starting slot to run second for the first five laps. On lap 6, 14th starter/SLM driver Scott Dodd drove a Jan's Towing No. 25 Honda Civic past Rice and 15th starter Adam Ditto followed into P. 3. Rice re-passed Dodd on lap 11 when Dodd got tapped and spun in turn four. Tom Smith, the 2006 Irwindale Figure 8 champion, made his skid plate debut and also passed Dodd. He charged back from P. 4 and re-passed Smith on the white flag lap. They finished one length apart in P. 3-4, 20-yards in back of runner-up Rice. Past top three runner Gabriella Hansen, 18-year old daughter of Figure 8 veteran Sean Hansen, finished fifth in her third skid plate race. Mike Vining was sixth and the last driver with 13 laps. Ditto, April Shaw-Johns, past skid plate winner John Zimmerman and Ken Palmer completed the top ten. Legends driver Gary Scheuerell was 13th in his skid plate debut. Nineteen cars finished. On lap 9 Scoggins ran the fastest lap of the race and in TS@I history at 31.671 (37.852 mph). The next fastest lap was 33.965 by Dodd on lap 12. Most drivers ran laps in the 35 to 39 seconds bracket.
