Saturday night might have been a bit wet at Lakeport Speedway causing the cancelling of the races for the 28th of May. On Sunday May 29th the track was dry, except for the very exciting Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino Boat Races which left the crowd standing on their feet as the action was every so intense on the track. As anyone that is familiar with the sport of racing they know that running one car a night is a full time job for crew and driver. With the onset of the new Lake County Off Road Extreme Asphalt Outlaw class some drivers have been so interested in the division that they are driving in two classes a night and being competitive. Track promoter David Furia has put up an extra bounty purse to the drivers that are driving in more than one class a night, if they can win in both division they receive an extra two hundred dollars on top of their purse and if they run in three divisions as this weeks Iron man driver Charlie Collins does and they succeed in winning in all three divisions they will receive an extra thousand dollars. Charlie Collins this week was able to pull off two victories out of the three by winning in the Taco Bell Bomber Division as well as the Lake County Off Road Extreme Asphalt Outlaw Division taking the claim to the extra two hundred dollars. He fell one car length short of making it a big payday by taking second in the Coors Light Modified Divisions, for with a win in this division he would have taken a cool grand for the Triple Crown on the weekend.
With the veteran Sean Keown getting a ride for the night in a Lake County Off Road Extreme Asphalt Outlaw, it left the mini stock division space for their rookies to shine through. The rookies did just that all throughout the night with rookie driver James Stillman taking the victory in the trophy dash in front of first time driver in the division of Jackson Long. Returning driver Billy Shaul took the main event win, but it was not an easy battle on his part to keep the top spot in the division. The race started seeing a pair of double deuces sitting on the front row of drivers Marcus Hatfield and Jay Strugnell. Hatfield jumped out to an early lead with the veteran driver driving off like it was going to be his race to win. However the mechanical bug bit him in lap number 6 which forced him to retire to the infield for the remainder of the race. In the meantime rookie driver James Stillman had worked his way up to second and took over the lead as a result of Hatfield’s mechanical problems, and he continued to stretch his lead over the field as Hatfield did before. Coming up all the way from his rear starting position Jackson Long had worked is way up to the second spot by lap number seven. He had taken naturally to the car and was working all over the rear bumper of Stillman’s car. Stillman started to acquire a push upon entering the turns, and the sly Jackson saw an opportunity starting to poke its head out. On lap number twelve coming down the front straight Long set up his car to make the pass going into turn number one. Upon entering the turn Long had the lower line, but the two cars Of Long and Stillman collided bring out the first yellow of the night. Upon the restart it was Jay Strugnell and Thomas Esberg leading the pack back to the green flag. During the remaining laps Long and Stillman worked their way back up through the field, seeing Long challenge the new leader Billy Shaul for the lead during the last six laps of the race. Making every effort to make the pass for the lead, Long was not able to pass Shaul, leading Shaul to his first victory during the 2011 racing season. Shaul won followed by Long, Strugnell and Stillman.
Sixteen Modifieds rolled out to take the green flag for the Coors Light Modified race under the lights at Lakeport Speedway on May 29th. The field was lead to the green flag by Steve Taylor and Darrin Snider seeing Taylor jump out to an early lead followed by Snider. The first caution came out as driver Steve Olvera brushed the back straight away wall. The restart saw Taylor have to hold off the charge of fast Charlie Collins, with Collins taking the lead going down the back shoot after the restart. Collins drew out an extended lead until another caution fell on lap number 13, which forced another restart pitting Collins against veteran driver Richie Potts. Collins jumped back out into the lead and held the lead until lap number 26 when mechanical problems forced Darrin Snider to retire to the infield. The next restart was going to be a battle of brothers with Charlie Collins on the pole and Gary Collins on the outside. These two drivers put on a display of very hard side by side racing for the next four laps until another caution fell for a single car incident on the back straight away. After reverting back to the last lap, the scoring had determined that Gary Collins had a nose on his brother at the line giving him the lead at the restart. Gary Collins jumped out to a commanding lead on the restart to race to his second victory of the year. Following Gary at the line was brother Charlie, Mike Smithhart and Thomas Wright. These modified drivers put on one heck of a show and are all very interested in coming back to their next race on June 11th for a repeat of the action.
The Clover Hydro Jammers took the field Sunday night with Jay Learn sitting on the inside pole and Tommy Mingori from Santa Rosa sitting on the outside pole. Trying something new this week the jammers took the green under a rolling start leading to some interesting action upon entering turn number one during the evening’s events. Mingori jumped out to an early lead to be passed on lap number three by Nolan Forsythe. Forsythe was passed for the lead on lap four by Ellis Thornton going down the back straight. On the next pass around the track Forsythe and Long got together on the back straight sending Long for a hard impact with the outside retaining wall retiring him from the night events and bringing out the first yellow for the night. The restart saw Pro Jammer drivers Eddie Klein and Ellis Thornton battle for the lead, with Eddie Klein taking the lead to lead to his second victory in that many weeks. Brandi Cubbage of Cobb took the win in the Jr. Jammer feature after having a flawless run throughout the event this evening.
The Taco Bell Bomber main event saw Jodi Snider of Kelseyville set fast time over all the guys in the field. She had a very fast car throughout the entire event. The race started with Eric Ogram taking the pole position with Rich Mills on the outside pole. Ogram jumped out to the early lead followed by the car of Mike Swaney from Nice CA. All the while the battle for the lead was brewing further back in the field with Charlie Collins working his way up through the field, followed by fast time setter Snider. Collins took the lead on lap number ten with Snider lurking behind in third. Snider made a pass for second place on lap number thirteen and was all over the back bumper of Collins for the remainder of the race. As the pair battled it out throughout the remainder of the event the car of Snider was sneaking up on the outside of Collins as the pair was approaching the last turn, and some lapped traffic. At the flag it was Collins followed by Snider, Smith and Denton.
By far one of the most entertaining races of the young season for the Lake County Off Road Extreme Asphalt Outlaws. For everyone that has watched and participated in full bodied high speed stock car races at Lakeport Speedway knows that trying to finish a race without crashing any cars is a feat of it own, let alone running nose to tail at over sixty miles an hour when the front car gets completely sides ways not only once, but twice and no body crashing at all. The race saw veteran driver David Jones staring on the pole with returning driver Dale Preston on the outside pole. Jones in his car jumped out to a very commanding lead leaving the field behind. An early yellow was thrown on lap number two from some debris that came off of one of the cars. Being an official yellow it was a single file restart with Jones jumping back out to a dominating lead over the remainder of the field. The remaining pack was racing hard nose to tail and side by side, when Preston started to suffer some mechanical problems with his car sending him into a sideways spin that showed the true driving ability of not only Preston but the rest of the field. This happened twice before Preston finally lost it coming off turn four shooting through the infield sending the infield crew scrambling to get out of the way of the car. The restart saw Jones on the pole with Charlie Collins on the outside pole. At the restart going into turn number one Collins jumped into the lead not to look back for the remainder of the race. After the checkers fell it was Collins followed by Jones, Smithhart, and Sweeney.
All the action was extremely exciting in all of the division the action did not stop with the normal side by side door to door racing that Lakeport Speedway Provides, the track was just getting warmed up and wetted down for the first Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino Boat Races. The action saw 9 cars taking the starting green after Trevor Buff had mechanical difficulties leaving him stranded at sea in the pit area. The action did not take long to start with the cars beating there way through boats going into turn number one. The action saw Mike Collins get marooned in the infield and stuck in turn number four. The action came down to Ian Jean, Evan Smith and John Moore battling for the win. After trying to impress the crowd the most all drivers where left stranded at some point around the track. The three winners where drug to the starting line for the crowd to judge. After a very loud crowd yelled for the driver the put the best show one it saw Ian Jean take the win, follow by John Moore and Evan Smith.
Racing action continues next week with a two hundred lap enduro and lawn mower races. Also for the first time at the speedway we will be having a shifter kart race. This weekend there will be a special fifty lap bomber shootout for five hundred dollars to win. The gates will open at 5:00 and the racing will begin at 6:30 with adult tickets being $10, seniors and students (12 -17) being $8, children (6 – 11) only $5, kids under 6 are free and a family pass with two adults and three kids for $28. For the latest information visit the website at www.lakeportspeedway.com or contact the office at 707-279-9577 for the latest event news and information.
