MADERA, California — One of the reasons we live in California is the weather, another reason is the exciting options we have for entertainment, and on any given Saturday night the Madera Speedway can produce some of the best entertainment found in the valley.
The LunkerDaddy Late models are the heavy hitters of the local racing program at the Madera Speedway and Arron Coonfield and Arron Mullins lead the pack to the green flag, Jason Aguirre was the first heavy hitter up front, with Emma Tucker right beside Aguirre. Ray Mayer won the last race and made little work of following Agiurre to the front, but Tony Schmitz drove right into third place, followed by point leader Howard Holden and Elliot Stjerne. Mayer was going for the pass on Agguire with Schmitz under him for a three wide fight for the front. Holden and Stjerne got to the pack and it was a five way fight for the lead!
Schmitz slipped by Aguirre for the lead and Holden got to Aguirre for second, you could still throw a blanket and cover the top five! Holden went to the high side to pass Aguirre and Stjerne followed him moving Aguirre to fourth, wow what a race! On lap twenty Stjerne went under Holden and set his sights on race leader Schmitz. As Stjerne caught the race leader Holden pulled back up on the bumper of Stjerne, now on lap 25 Stjerne moves to the top in an attempt to pass Schmitz. Holden’s car broke on lap 27 making it a two car war for the lead. The caution came out on lap 31 for the spinning car of Rodger Selsor.
With just nine laps remaining Schmitz lined up by himself for the Texas style restart, Stjerne and Aguirre was right behind him. Fans were on the edge of their seats, in fact most were standing for the final nine laps of this fantastic LunkerDaddy Late Model race!
Schmitz jumped out front, with Stjerne right on his bumper, on lap 34 Stjerne went to the high side and made it a door to door battle for the lead, Schmitz got sideways and Stjerne took the lead, wow, I’m out of breath typing! Stjerne won this great race followed by Schmitz, Aguirre, Mayer and Emma Tucker.
The Toyota Sedans are always an action packed class to watch, and with a front row of Ed Rodriquez and Jesse Ruckman it was an exciting start, this class races inches apart and this can cause some serious action, the car of Jarred Tickel ran into Rodriquez just about turning him around. While this was going on Donny Large Sr. slipped by and took the lead. Tickel drove by Don Davey on the outside to take second; he then started reeling in race leader Donnie Large. Donnie Large Jr. moved into second making it two Larges and a Tickel up front. Tickel kept getting closer and closer to Large, but Large was too smooth and won the battle up front, Tickel was second with Large Jr. third.
The Hobby Stock main event featured some fun racing action; Donald Selsor was on the pole with Jason Fisher on the outside pole. Chuck Aguirre is king of the Hobby Stocks at Madera Speedway and he took no time going after early race leader Fisher. On lap two Aguirre took the lead but Fisher stayed all over him fighting back, Fisher was very fast using the high line that Aguirre is famous for. Aguirre hit his marks lap after lap as though the car was driven by a robot; this wore Fisher down as he fell back three car lengths and could not get any closer even though he was driving the wheels off his race car. All 25 laps of the main event looked the same until they caught lapped traffic, and Fisher tried to make his move but it was too late as Aguirre got to the checked flag first. Fisher was second with Selsor third.
In the Mini Super Toyota division John McCollum Jr. was on the pole but the first try at a start was a wild one, then the second start gave Kevin Thompson the chance to strut his stuff as he sliced and diced his way to the front spot and drove away. John Bowersox worked his way to second and began to real in Thompson, they caught lapped traffic on lap 20 and things got real interesting as Bowersox was now within striking distance, but Thompson was smooth as silk behind the wheel as he drove the victory. Bowersox finished second, with John McCollum Jr. coming in third.
In the 4-Banger main event Tyler Johnson was on the pole but Rylan Pasquale jumped out front and ran away from the pack. Miles Humphries ran down Pasquale after the halfway point and then made the pass that would give him the win. Pasquale was second, with the Billy Congdon finishing third.
