UKIAH, California — Coming back from his first career victory at Shasta Raceway Park last weekend, Neo Nuno of Cobb took the lead away from Jake Tillman on a lap-28 restart and drove the final two rounds to collect his second consecutive Pro-4 Modified Series feature event at Ukiah Speedway Saturday night.
Ron Duke, Jr. of Redwood Valley bounced back from a mishap that tore his hood off earlier in the race to collect his first season victory in the Bud Bomber 30 lapper. Corey James of Laytonville inherited the lead when Terry Pittman lost a transmission and drove the remaining laps to make it a clean sweep in the Speedy Signs Street Stock main event. Bill Kistenmacher of Rohnert Park showed the fans why he was the 2010 track champion with his impressive win in the Airport Auto Brokers Legends Cars Series, and young Tim Buzzard, Jr. of Willits passed Trystan Mucci on the final round to lay claim to the feature event in the Dennis Furia Heating & Air Bandoleros.
The Pro-4 Modifieds brought 11 cars to the track but the field was reduced to nine after fast qualifier Greg Van Cleave (13.507) and Marty Lewis fell out with mechanical problems. With John Barker electing to start in the rear this left Jake Tillman and Timber Cookson in the front row to start the race. Tillman jolted out in front at the start with Cookson pulling in behind. Nuno passed Cookson for second on lap six as Tillman was pulling away.
Tillman gracefully lapped the slower runners but Nuno was on a mission and caught Tillman by mid race. The only yellow flag in the race flew on lap 28 when Cookson spun in turn one. The double-file restart saw Tillman and Nuno side-by-side where they ran the remaining laps, but it was Nuno beating Tillman to the finish line by only a few feet for the win. Tillman's second place finish ended a season-long winning streak at Ukiah. Joe Aiken finished third with Cookson fourth and Curtis Lewis fifth.
Heat wins went to Tillman and Nuno. Kevin Barba's #90 was the fan's choice for best appearing car. The Pro-4 Modifieds will return to Ukiah Speedway on Memorial Day weekend.
A tight field of bombers run side-by-side the first six laps of their feature with Darrin Silva and Mike Glass in row one, Jess Frey and Lori Bowers in row two, and Cindy Allen and Kevin Brackett in row three. The race was slowed once when George Abella spun in turn one and again when Rick Jelton and Brackett came together and hit the front-stretch wall.
Silva continued to lead but now Cindy Allen challenged him for second with Bob Mook third and Brandon Verde fourth. Again the front-runners stayed tightly packed with Allen finally stealing the lead away from Silva on Lap 11. The number one spot changed again at mid race, this time with Verde out in front, until lap 19 when the race was slowed for debri. This put Duke outside of Verde at the start where he took the lead and never looked back. Verde finished second behind Duke with Mook, Jimmy Sorrels and Abella rounding out the top five.
Sorrels set the fast time over the 15 car field with a 15.948 second lap and heat race wins went to Allen and Mook.
Street Stock action saw Shelby Helm shoot out ahead of pole sitter RJ Randall at the drop of the green flag and by the following round Pittman made an outside pass on Randall for second. Pittman continued his run in the high groove powering by Helm on the fourth lap. James moved up rapidly, but when he tried to pass Helm, he cut in before his car was clear and both cars went for a wild spin to bring out the lone yellow.
The rest of the race went non-stop with Pittman relinquishing the lead to James when his transmission blew on the 19th circuit. James happily accepted the win with Helm, Wade Coleman and Randall next in line. RJ Randall won the best appearing car trophy for his #22 Street Stock.
The Legends Car field suffered four casualties in their heat races eliminating James Gilliland and rookie drivers Angel Morfin, Jose Lamos and Bob Kistenmacher from the main event lineup. Caity Miller and Zach Frazer started in the front row and as Miller took off, Frazer faded in the outside lane. This opened the door for Jim Sturges who dove under Frazer and around Miller for the lead on the second round.
Both Bill Kistenmacher and Forrest Kuecker worked their ways to the front and on lap 16 Kistenmacher made an outside pass on Sturges to take the lead. With only three laps to go Sturges was attempting to lap Mike Haid's car, the two cars came together and both spun in turn one. Kistenmacher out-paced Kuecker the final laps to collect the win. Kuecker finished second with Sturges third, Logan Zampa fourth and Cameron Austin fifth.
Miller and Kistenmacher won the heat races and Kuecker set fast of 14.590 seconds.
In the Bandolero 20 lapper Buzzard jumped out in front of Dylan Washburn at the drop of the green and as the pack was entering turn two, Washburn lost control and spun out. The restart saw Kolby Berry pull ahead where he proceeded to put distance on the remaining drivers. Sammy Nuno spun on the front stretch on lap 10, and two rounds later Berry relinquished his lead by spinning on the backstretch. With no yellow to slow the race this put Trystan Mucci up front with Buzzard in second and Sammy Nuno third. Just when it looked like it was Mucci's race, his car pushed high and Buzzard drove under him on the white-flag lap. Buzzard held the lead all the way to the checkered flag. Mucci settled for second with Nuno third, Berry rebounding to finish fourth and Washburn fifth.
Berry set fast time of 15.853 seconds and also won the heat race.
Auto racing resumes at Ukiah Speedway this Saturday night with the inaugural race of the all new Modified Tri Track Challenge Series. Also on the racing card are kid's rides and Ukiah Speedway's new figure 8 class – the 4-Bangers. The 4-Bangers will be competing on a obstacle course for their debut. Gates open at 5:00 pm with racing at 7:00 pm. For more information about the auto races, call the speedway office at 707-462-7242 or 707-274-1354, or visit the website at www.UkiahSpeedway.com.
