Madera California -- With the Spears SRL Tour cars as a back drop the Madera Speedway exploded with a patriotic fireworks display that thrilled fans of all ages. This event was colored in red, white and blue from the flags in every tour car, to the singing of the National Anthem, to the fireworks display that began with the pledge of allegiance.
The Spears SRL Southwest Tour had a tough act to follow as the staff at the Madera Speedway went off the deep end with a stunt show that destroyed a perfect 2000 Jaguar. Stunt man deluxe Johnny Rollover hit the ramp at seventy miles an hour and after the smoke cleared from the wreck there was a battery, a radiator and all kinds of other parts scattered all over the Madera Speedway, wow, what a wreck!
Once the green flag dropped it was clear that the SRL Southwest Tour cars were the headliner in this event as Eric Holmes took the lead and amazed the fans with the blazing speed of the tour cars. Derek Thorn broke the track record in qualifying and was on a mission to get to the front of the pack. M.K. Kanke and Jim Petitt battled their way to the front of the pack as well, so did Ross Strmiska and Justin Westmoreland. A storm was building and everyone could feel it.
Holmes was finally caught by the young charging star Derek Thorn and things got real intense, real fast. Using his car like a piece on a chess board Holmes kept Thorn on the bottom of the track and was able to hold him off on several attempts. Finally Thorn had enough of the chess match and put a fender on Holmes then he jumped past him taking the lead.
While all of this action had the fans focused on the front of the pack Ross Strmiska had worked his way to the front and was fast, I mean like win the race fast. Strmiska had to fight Holmes to get by as Thorn did, and Thorn built a huge lead thanks to this battle for second.
Ross Strmiska is a past Madera Speedway Champion that has many laps around the tricky third mile known as the fastest in the West, and it appeared as he saved his tires better than anyone else as he ran down the car of Thorn by lap 115 of the 125 lap event. He dropped under Thorn with just a few laps remaining to make the pass for the lead, but a lapped car moved down into his path causing a wreck that would end his bid for the win.
Thorn held off a charging Eric Holmes after the restart to take the win. Holmes was second, with Kanke third, Westmoreland fourth, and Jacob Gomes rounded out the top five.
Six other classes competed in this great event including a record purse race for the SRL Legends cars. Darren Amerdon won the $1,200 paycheck for the SRL Legends race in crowd pleasing fashion with a display of some very special driving talent.
Elliot Sterjne won the 40 lap LunkerDaddy late model race, Kevin Thompson won the MST event, Del McIntosh won the Sedan race, Lloyd Bamping won the Hobby race, and Mile Humphreys took the 4-Banger race!
The next major event for the Madera Speedway is the Lucas Oil Horsepower Nationals on July 16th featuring Super Modifieds, North verses South pavement modifieds, BCRA Midgets, Dirt Super Late Models, and the Two Track Stock Car Series.
