UKIAH, California — Mike Doss of Upper Lake inherited the lead when second place runner Trevor Cristiani Ukiah tagged the rear of leader Junior Roddy's car sending it into a wild spin at Ukiah Speedway Saturday night. Both Roddy and Cristiani had to restart in the rear, leaving the number one spot to Doss where he drove the remaining laps for his second Ukiah win in the Airport Auto Brokers Late Model Series. Doss also set fast time over the 12 car field with a very fast 12.374 second lap. With only eight laps to go Jeremy Hopkins of Lakeport passed Clay Caturegli of Cloverdale to finish second. Caturegli finished third, Cristiani rebounded to take fourth and Allen Gibney of Fort Bragg took fifth spot.
In other racing action, Ron Duke Jr. of Redwood Valley won a 15-lap side-by-side battle with Jimmy Sorrels, finally pulling ahead on the white flag lap to capture his third season victory in the Bud Bomber class. Duke started at the back of the pack and worked his way up to second in only 16 laps. Fast time for the night and a new track record two weeks straight went to Kelseyville's Rick Tommila with a 15.537 second lap. Heat race wins went to Sorrels and Bob Mook.
The Airport Auto Brokers Legends Cars Series produced a 22 car field with Mike Lovell of Willits setting fast time of 14.309 seconds. Lovell went on to top that with his very impressive win in the 30-lap main event over Luis Tyrell of Brisbane, Lakeport's Scott Sabol, Jeremy Doss of Upper Lake and Lovell's son, Mikey Lovell. The top four drivers transferring from the “B” main were winner Bill Kistenmacher, Jim Sturges, David Fisher and Kevin Coburn. Sturges, Derek Lovell and Sabol were first across the line in their respective heat races.
Speedy Signs Street Stock action saw Terry Pittman from Ukiah once again set fast time (14.204) and capture his third season feature. The only thing that spoiled another clean sweep for Pittman was Jeramy Lippincott's heat race win. Pittman's biggest obstacle in the main event was the race-long battle with Corey James. James settled for second behind Pittman followed by RJ Randall, Lippincott and Shelby Helm.
And the new 4-Banger division saw the first roll-over of the season when first-time driver Nicole Ressio of Santa Rosa drove her car up on the chicane barrier on the front stretch and rolled her car over in front of the grandstand. After the track was cleared it was Jamie Gallant of Ukiah who made it through the course in one piece to collect his first 4-Banger win. Jed Jones finished second with Trevor Abella, enjoying his highest finish to date, in third. Points leader Jesse Hutchins, who won the last four races, tried to make a pass through the tires in the early laps, did not make it and had to retire his damaged car the pits.
AIRPORT AUTO BROKERS LATE MODELS
It was a complete invert for the start of the Late Model 75 lapper with Todd Lands and Myles Anderson in the first row followed by Mike Neilson and Jeremy Donahoo. Anderson lost ground on the outside and when his car drifted high coming out of turn four it hit the marbles and slid sideways. Anderson tried to gather it up but over-corrected driving the car head-on into the front stretch wall. Although Anderson was able to drive his car to the pits, it sustained heavy front-end damage and was out for the night.
This left Jim Stillman along side Lands for the restart and when Stillman lost ground Junior Roddy took over second. Land's car temporarily lost power on lap four, freight-training his car all the way to the back. This put Roddy up front followed by Stillman, Neilson and Gibney. Trevor Cristiani passed Givney on lap six and picked off Neilson on lap nine. At the same time Corey James retired his car to the pits.
The second yellow flew on lap 15 when mid-pack runners Jeremy Donahoo and Clay Caturegli bumped together resulting in Donahoo stopping high up against the turn four wall. Donahoo pitted but returned to action later in the race. Once again Roddy and Stillman restarted next to each other but it was Cristiani who moved under Stillman and into second. When Stillman attempted to get back in line he was clipped by Gibney and spun in turn one. With no where to go Neilson got collected and came to a stop. Stillman and Neilson went to the back and AABLM official rules allowed Gibney to keep his position.
Two rounds later a four-car pile-up saw Donahoo spin, Jeremy Hopkins drive off the track in turn three, and Lands and Stillman out with crashed cars. Then a long green-flag run saw Cristiani dog Roddy the next 35 laps with Cristiani making several unsuccessful inside passes as Doss patiently waited for the leaders to make a mistake. That error came on lap 57 when Cristiani got under Roddy, did not back off, and when Roddy came down the leaders made contact with Roddy spinning around. This put Doss in the lead where he drove to an easy victory.
BUD BOMBERS
Kevin Brackett and Ray Strain started up front in the Bomber 30 lapper with Strain pulling ahead at the drop on the green flag. Jimmy Sorrels followed Strain to the front and when Strain settled into the inside groove, Sorrels stayed outside and powered into the lead on lap eight. Two laps later Strain drove into the infield and lost ground to Bob Mook, Anthony McCoy and Ron Duke Jr. Mook pulled out of line allowing McCoy to inch under him. Duke also got under Mook. On lap 15 McCoy got loose, drifted up into Mook resulting in Mook driving off the track in turn three.
This put Sorrels first, Duke second, Rick Tommila third and George Abella fourth. Sorrels and Duke ran neck-to-neck the remaining laps until Duke pulled ahead for good on the white flag lap to claim the win. Abella and Brandon Verde both passed Tommila in the closing laps to finish third and fourth with Tommila in fifth.
ARPORT AUTO BROKERS LEGENDS CARS
The 14 fastest qualifiers and four transfers from the “B” main took the initial green flag with pole setter Derek Lovell forging ahead at the start followed by Chase Majdic and Mikey Lovell. The first caution fell on lap 10 when Scott Sabol spun into the infield. Two rounds later third place runner Jeremy Doss pulled to the outside of Mikey Lovell, the two cars made contact causing both to spin in turn four. Majdic slammed on the brakes but was unable to stop in time, hit the stalled cars and was then rear-ended by David Winchel. Winchel's car was towed to the pits with heavy front-end damage.
Now Mike Lovell started next to son Mikey and before one more lap went down, Mikey Lovell lost control and spun in turn four. All cars got by except Caity Miller who slid into Lovell's stalled car. This put Logan Zampa next to Mike Lovell for the restart and when racing resumed Zampa lost ground to Brandon White and Luis Tyrell. White spun at lap 16 and collected Zampa. The last half of the race was incident free with Mike Lovell holding off Tyrell to take the win.
SPEEDY SIGN STREET STOCKS
Three new cars joins the street stock ranks, bringing a total of seven starters with Ross English and RJ Randall up front. English was the early leader until lap eight when English's car slowed allowing Randall to take control. Randall pulled away from the pack, but as soon as Corey James had a chance he started to chase down Randall.
The race was slowed on lap 11 when Logan Hoaglin spun on the front stretch. When racing resumed James ran next to Randall for four laps before pulling out into the lead. Meanwhile Pittman was working his way to the front, passed Randall for second on 17 and set his sights on James. When James went high, Pittman nosed under him and made the winning pass on the 20th circuit. The final yellow flew on 22 for another Hoaglin spin, and the final laps saw Pittman hold off James for the win.
4-BANGERS
With Trevor Abella and Nicole Ressio electing to start at the back, Brianna Norton and Jamie Gallant shared the front row for the start of the 4-Banger chicane course. Jesse Hutchins appeared to be impatience and tried to pass inside the tire barrier. But there was not enough room, Hutchins hit the tires, damaged his car, ending his four-week winning streak. It was Gallant who shot out front with Norton second and Jed Jones third. Norton drove into the tire course too fast on lap four, hit a tire and also retired her car to the pits.
Gallant lapped Abella early in the race as Jones was closing in on Gallant. The red flag came out on lap 12 when Ressio drove over the tire, her car went air-born and came to rest on it's side. Ressio crawled out of the car, officials got it back on it's wheels and pushed it into the infield.
The final laps saw Gallant way out in front where he stayed all the way to the checkered flag.
Auto racing continues at Ukiah Speedway this Memorial Day weekend with two nights of auto racing, both Saturday and Sunday nights. Ukiah Speedway hosts the INEX Legends Cars Spring Nationals along with the return of the Thunder Roadsters and the Pro-4 Modifieds. Bombers, Bandoleros and 4-Bangers will also be on the racing card. Gates open at 5 pm each night with racing at 7 pm. A complete schedule can be found on line at www.UkiahSpeedway.com.
