UKIAH, California — Jeremy Doss of Upper Lake continued his winning streak at Ukiah Speedway by first winning the fast heat race and then coming back to capture his fourth consecutive main event victory in the Airport Auto Brokers Legends Cars Saturday night. Doss' win is his sixth at Ukiah out of the 12 legends cars events held this season.
In other racing action Jimmy Sorrels of Ukiah led all but five of the 30 laps in the Bud Bomber feature, and held off the challenges of Ron Duke Sr. in the closing laps to win his third main event of the season. The race went non-stop and only took 13 minutes from start to finish. Duke set fast time of 15.561.
Corey James of Laytonville brought out his brand new modified, set fast time of 13.295 seconds and went on to win the main event in the Bill Binns Machine Shop Modified class. Frankie Pickrell of Ukiah led wire-to-wire for his fourth season victory in the Dennis Furia Heating & Air Bandolero division. And Jessy Thurman of Willits out-drove all his competitors on the 4-Banger road course and won both the 20 lap main events
The visiting Vintage Super Modified exhibition race went to Bill Bryan of Turlock with Stewart Hall of Benecia in second place.
AIRPORT AUTO BROKERS LEGENDS CARS
Pole setter Kevin Coburn shot out in front of Caity Miller at the drop of the green flag in the Legends Cars feature, and as Miller lost ground on the high side, defending champ Bill Kistenmacher, driving his brother Bob's car, settled into second. Dave Land III began his outside charge, passed Kistenmacher for second on lap four, and began his challenge on Coburn. Jeremy Doss followed Land's line, and as Land was gaining and losing ground Kistenmacher was tucking up close behind Coburn.
Land inched by Coburn to take the lead at the line on lap eight, and on the next round Miller spun in turn 4 to bring out the first yellow flag. The restart saw Land pull ahead and as Coburn fell back Doss took over the runner-up slot. Fast qualifier (14.328) Cameron Austin, Mike Doss and Forrest Kuecker also gained position dropping Coburn to sixth.
Doss drove the high line to the front taking over the lead on lap 11. Two laps later Kuecker spun in turn 4, and with no where to go Coburn slammed hard into Kuecker's parked car. Jim Sturges drove off the track to avoid the melee and the yellow was displayed again. Sturges and Kuecker were able to get back in the race but Coburn had to be towed to the pits. Miller pitted to change a tire under yellow and before the green came back out Zach Frazer retired his mount to the pits.
When action resumed Doss took command with Austin driving under Land for second. Land's car slowed on lap 13 and drove into the infield, ending his run. This put Mike Doss in third and Kuecker in fourth. The lapping process began on 18, and when Kistenmacher was attempting to lap rookie driver Billy O'Donnell the two made contact sending Kistenmacher around for the third caution. Kuecker got by M. Doss for third on the restart, but Doss took it back on 22. With only three laps to go a James Younger spin slowed the action again, and when action resumed Austin's car broke loose, drove into the side of Kuecker eliminating both from the race.
The closing laps saw Doss and Doss side-by-side, but when M. Doss got a little too close, his car hit Jeremy's car causing M. Doss to spin in turn one. The yellow did not come out and J. Doss raced around to take the win. Caity Miller came back to finish second ahead of Sturges and James Younger.
BUD BOMBERS
Bomber action saw Kevin Brackett and Brandon Verde share the front row, and when the race began Verde forged ahead. Jimmy Sorrels ran the high side behind Verde, and as soon as Verde dropped low, Sorrels began his outside charge. The top dogs ran neck-to-neck for five rounds before Sorrels finally claimed the number one spot. Bubba Allen and Bob Mook were next to try the outside lane as Ron Duke Sr. was patiently waiting for an opening.
The mid point of the 30-lapper saw Duke swap places with Mook and the next lap he picked off Allen. Lap 20 saw Duke drive around Verde to second as Sorrels was enjoying a long lead. But when Sorrels caught lapped traffic, he slowed just enough for Duke to catch up. Duke pulled along side of Sorrels on the white flag lap but slid high up the track in turn two giving Sorrels the space he needed to drive the remaining distance to take the win. Duke stayed ahead of Verde to place second, Verde was third with George Abella fourth and Allen fifth. Heat wins went to RJ Randall and Rick Jelton.
BILL BINNS MACHINE SHOP MODIFIEDS
Shelby Helm was the early leader in the modified main event, and as Richard Knight was falling back, Eric Johnson settled into second with Corey James third. As Johnson pulled along side of Helm, James tucked under Johnson and stayed tight on Helm's bumper. Johnson struggled in the high groove, first making ground and then losing some. Lap eight saw Johnson drive off the track on the back stretch, and before he could recover both James and Dustin Knight got by.
Now it was James' turn to take a stab at Helm. James won the lenghty side-by-side battle and took over the lead on lap 15. The first yellow flew on 20 for a Richard Knight spin. As the pack was approaching turn one after the restart R. Knight drove hard into Johnson and both cars shot off the end of the track in turn two. Johnson returned to take the next green, but R. Knight was done for the night.
The remaining laps went smoothly with James the happy winner over D. Knight, Johnson and Helm. D. Knight was the fast heat race winner.
DENNIS FURIA HEATING & AIR BANDOLEROS
Only one lap was in the record books in the Bandolero feature when the race was slowed for Kolby Berry who spun out in turn 4. When racing resumed Frankie Pickrell came from third starting to first with Colby Furia and fast qualifier (15.253) Tim Buzzard Jr. next in line. Berry gathered it up and fought Trystan Mucci for fourth for most of the race.
While running in second Furia lost power and drove to the pits on lap 17. Buzzard gave up his second place position when he pulled off the track on the white-flag lap. This put Mucci behind Pickrell. At the checkered flag it was Pickrell, Mucci, Berry, Dylan Washburn, Sammy Nuno and Hannah James. Furia won the heat race.
4-BANGERS
It only took Jesse Hutchins three laps to take the lead away from Brett Byrd in the first 4-Banger main event, but Jessy Thurman was on the prowl, and when Hutchins was slowed by lapped traffic, Thurman stole the lead on 12. Hutchins took it back on the next pass, but Thurman shot by again at the next corner tire. With only two laps to go Hutchins' car developed a water leak and he was forced to retire to the pits, leaving the course wide open for Thurman's first win. Byrd finished in second followed by James Gard, Monte Able, Trevor Abella, Beau Adamsen and Brianna Norton
The second 4-Banger race was run in the opposite direction and this time it took Thurman five laps to catch and pass Byrd for the lead. The race was slowed on lap 12 when James Gard broad-sided the center tire in the back-stretch chicane and his car stalled. The restart saw Hutchins pass Byrd for second but at the end of the race there were too many cars between him and Thurman to make a challenge. Thurman chalked up the win followed by Hutchins, Byrd, Gard, Jed Jones and Abella.
Auto racing continues at Ukiah Speedway on Saturday, August 20 with the Airport Auto Brokers Late Models, the Airport Auto Brokers Legends Cars, the Speedy Signs Street Stocks, the Bud Bombers and the 4-Bangers. It is also Truck Driver Appreciation night where all commercial license holders will receive discount tickets. Contact Shellie at Archer Trucking (707) 467-2669 for discount information. Gates at the speedway open at 5 pm with racing at 7 pm. A complete schedule can be found on line at www.UkiahSpeedway.com.
