A successful Fan Appreciation Night brought full stands and an evening of exciting racing action to All American Speedway by the four NASCAR divisions with Late Models, Modifieds, Street Stocks and Bombers. The popular tradition of Fan Night was the on-track autograph meet and greet sessions where fans get to interact with racers and the crews as well as the opportunity to get up close to a race car. Track moms were entered in to a chance to win California Capital Airshow tickets for a football toss in the back of the Toyota Tundra Pace Truck, put on by Late Model driver Chris Scribner. DJ Charlee Simons from 101.9 the Wolf came out with his crew to experience dropping of the green flag for the main events.
First up on the racing agenda was the Street Stock division fielding 15 cars. Making a return to the track was the No. 50 Chris Lambert. No. 23 Richard Poppert Jr., put his No.23 Coors Light machine on top of the charts in qualifying posting fastest time of 15.035 seconds. Followed by No. 08 Mickey Owens, No. 98 Byron Gonzales, No. 50 Chris Lambert and No. 68 Joe Dahl the fast five. No heat races took place for the Street Stock division as they headed right into the four lap trophy dash. The top four qualifiers made it to the trophy dash to put on a quick battle for the fans and Byron Gonzales captured his first 2011 Street Stock trophy dash victory. Following the dash was the 35 lap main event with a field invert of nine handing No. 19 Dale Didoha to lead the field to the green flag. On lap two, No.2 Mel Wilson took the lead from Didoha to lead for 16 laps. The invert took Richard Poppert Jr. 17 laps to run to the front and make an outside pass on Wilson for the lead. On lap 29, Byron Gonzales, Mel Wilson and Chris Lambert battling for the third position as Gonzales made an outside pass on Wilson, Lambert got into Gonzales sending the No.98 car spinning. Rough driving for Lambert sent him to the rear of the field on the restart with only six laps remaining. On the restart, both Poppert and Mickey Owens led the field by battling side by side till the white flag lap. Richard Poppert Jr. took the Street Stock victory over Mickey Owens, Mel Wilson, Joe Dahl and Lonnie Leonard the final five.
Next up was the 14-car field Modified division and Canadian resident No.4 Steve Cote, Allstar Performance modified, posted fastest lap in qualifying with a time of 14.201 seconds along with No. 5 Jason Bamberg, No. 29 Dan Jinkerson, No.68 Cody Thompson and No.43 Nick Lyons the fast five. No heat races were scheduled for the Modified division as the top four qualifiers headed into the trophy dash and division leader Dan Jinkerson took home the trophy dash win. The main event’s nine car invert put No. 8 Andy Field in charge of leading the pack to the green flag. Andy Field took the advantage of starting pole by leading the 14 car field for 15 laps. On lap seven, No. 21 Bobby Runyan and No. 26 Mindy McCord got together in turn one as McCord spun, resulting in a yellow. Both drivers would have to start at the rear of the pack and work their way through the field. On lap 15, Dan Jinkerson stole the lead away from Andy Field. Clean racing for the last 25 laps and points leader Jinkerson ran away with another Modified victory under his belt followed by Cody Thompson, Andy Field, Nick Lyons and Jason Bamberg the top five. This race marks Cody Thompson’s second consecutive second place finish this year as well as his career highest Modified finish.
Third on the agenda was the highly competitive NASCAR Late Models fielding 12 cars with Eric Schmidt, Travis Milburn and Jamie Krizysik making their return to the speedway for the fan packed night. No. 8 Jason Romero blasted his machine to the top of the charts in qualifying with a fast time of 13.797 seconds followed by No. 35 Matt Scott, No. 05 Eric Schmidt, No. 22 Brian Keck and No. 88 Dylan Hutchison the fast five. The top four fast drivers in qualifying competed in the trophy dash and Eric Schmidt took home the dash win. In the 75 lap main event, the nine car invert put the No. 5 Chris Scribner in charge of leading the field waiting for Charlee Simons from 101.9 the Wolf to drop the green flag. Chris Scribner jumped out to an early lead and on lap one, in turn two, Matt Scott made it three wide in between Dylan Hutchison and Brian Keck for the fourth position. As the top three drivers Scribner, Krizysik and Scott pulled away from the field the battle for fourth with Hutchison, Schmidt, Romero and Pitta got antsy for positions swapping rubber. By lap 26, Scribner had made ground on Krizysik leaving Krizysik and Scott battling for the second spot. On lap 46, Matt Scott took the lead sending Scribner to battle for the second position with Romero. On lap 58, the lights in turn four went out causing the field to stop on a red flag thus allowing the gap to be closed for Romero and Scott. AAS officials quickly went to investigate the reason of why the light tower went out and asked all drivers on track if it was safe to continue. All drivers agreed that it was safe and the race would continue. Romero had to restart in the back as his crew made an illegal adjustment under the red flag on track thus allowing Scott and Scribner to put on a show for the restart with 19 laps to go. Scott and Scribner went side by side for the first few laps and Scribner on the outside pulled more horsepower over Scott out of turn four for regaining the lead on lap 58. Jamie Krzysik and Juan Pitta battled for the third position with Jason Romero jumping in to make it three wide and taking third. As laps wound down Scribner pulled out to a big lead from Scott and captured his first career Late Model victory and the only Late Model driver to break the ongoing victory battle between Jason Romero and Matt Scott for 2011. Followed by Matt Scott, Jason Romero, Juan Pitta, and Dylan Hutchison the final five.
Last up on the schedule is the infamous Bomber division and No. 24 Cody Rickard turned the fastest lap around the speedway with a fast time of 15.853 seconds barely holding No. 52 Matt Camp in second by .003 seconds. Along with Erick Ray, Chris Paulson and Richard Perez the fast five. No heat races were scheduled for the division as the fast four drivers from qualifying headed into the trophy dash and Erick Ray captured the dash victory. The nine car invert has put No. 37 David Thompson in charge of leading the pack with a dark turn four. No. 63 Joe Rhodes took the early lead for the first six laps. As Rhodes and Chris Paulson pulled away from the field Richard Perez, David Thompson and No. 23 Eric Bocksberger battling for fourth making it three wide, and Perez got out front safe holding the fourth spot. Paulson made the pass on the outside of Rhodes for a great side by side battle on lap six, by lap seven Paulson was pulling out for the lead. On lap eight, No. 28 Eric McKinley got loose in turn four and spun almost collecting cars entering turn four but the track stayed green as McKinley got his car running. On lap 29, Cody Rickard made a inside pass on Richard Perez for third as the contact was made causing Rickard to drive up onto Perez’s door collecting Eric McKinnley as well as collecting Erick Ray. This wreck caused a red flag as the wreckage put lots of fluid on the track and with the tracks curfew nearing the race had to end handing the victory to Chris Paulson. Joe Rhodes, Matt Camp, Eric Bocksberger and Richard Perez the final five.
Weekly NASCAR Championship Points Race No. 15 will be taking a weekend off for the Airport Auto Brokers Late Model Series Next Saturday, August 27 and will return to All American Speedway Saturday, September 3rd featuring NASCAR Late Models 100, Modifieds 40, Street Stocks and Bombers 35. More information about All American Speedway, as well as driver interviews, can be found at www.AllAmericanSpeedway.com. The Placer County Fairgrounds administration office is open for advance ticket sales Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm at 800 All America City Blvd. Roseville, CA. 95678, or contact the office at (916) 786-2025.
