BLYTHE, California — The Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway officially opened its 2011-2012 Winter Blast Racing Series, October 1st, before a packed grandstand and tail gate section. The quarter mile paved oval, located at the Colorado River Fairgrounds in Blythe-California, treated its fans to an opening night featuring racing action from the street stock and factory stock divisions as well as a 75 lap feature presented by the visiting Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series. The evening of racing action was presented by Denny's and their restaurants located in Blythe, Needles and Bullhead City.
"It was very exciting racing much to the delight of the fans."
In the speedway's street stock division, Steve Almquist started the new racing season off on the right foot by winning the 30 lap feature flag to flag. But the feature win was not an easy one. Almquist had a rear view mirror filled with the presence of Chris Vindhurst, who set the fast time in qualifying with a lap of 15.648 seconds.
During the main event Vindhurst did everything he could to take the race lead away from Almquist who repeatedly defended himself from the moves. It was very exciting racing much to the delight of the fans. Danny Dill, who won the trophy dash earlier in the evening, along with D J Lonie and Rick Boone followed them under the checkers to complete the top five.
After parking his Chevrolet Camaro in victory lane, Almquist said the race was a lot of fun and made it a point to thank his sponsors: Speed Energy, Extreme Marine, Kimm Auto Body and Domino's Pizza. Commenting on the duel with Vindhurst, the race winner said "he actually had me sideways a couple of times down the main straight. It had me looking at the infield there and it wasn't a pretty picture. I've got to give the kid credit, he hit me in the spots that would not take a car out if you knew how to drive a car. He's a very clean driver, there's nothing wrong with what he did tonight. He's probably a little more gentle that I would have been if I would have been in that position to be honest with you. You've got to give him a lot of credit. He's only been out here just a few times and he's got that car working pretty good."
The fan favorite factory stock division started 14 cars in their main event. Their feature race only had two caution flags and turned out to be more about hard racing in what turned out to be a very good show. Robert Spivey led the starters under the initial green flag and held the point all the way to the checkers. Tom Nordell, Ethan Miller, John Marcum and Bryan Craig completed the top five.
In the preliminary events defending series champion Michael White won the trophy dash while Dustin Hightower and Roger Gilstrap won the heat races. Hightower's win in the division's first heat race was especially significant because he was a first time driver in a brand new race car.
One of the major highlights of the evening was the 75 lap feature by the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by Rockstar Energy Drink. Burbank-California's Tim Morse led the starting field under the initial green flag for the K&N Performance Filters 75. Morse held the point for the first nine circuits before being passed by Austin Barnes and Jim Mardis while coming into turn four.
From that point it was all Barnes who held the points to the lap 75 checkers. The teen driver, from Escondido-California, captured his fourth series race of the season and his third consecutive win. Mardis followed him under the checkers to take second while Doug Hamm, Tim Morse and Aaron McMorran completed the top five.
Making the evening in Blythe even sweeter for the race winner was the fact that Barnes also set the fast time in qualifying after blistering the quarter mile oval with a lap of 14.621 seconds. The lap also marked the sixth time Barnes has set fast time. That lap netted him the $100 Budweiser bonus. Mardis collected the $200 bonus for winning the Dart Machinery Trophy Dash.
Commenting on his opening night, Lucas Oil I-10 Speedway Promoter Greg Scheidecker said "I was ecstatic with our opening as well as the tenth anniversary of Lucas Oil Racing here in Blythe. We held a sponsor appreciation night in our VIP area hosting 20 of the speedway's key sponsors. We had a very good grandstand count tonight and our tailgate area was absolutely packed, it was great despite the fact that we were going up against a couple of local events here in town. This night is going to rank high on our list of highlights during our ten year stay here."
Round two of the Lucas Oil I-10 Speedway's Winter Blast Racing Series is set for October 15th and will feature action from the Gene Price Motorsports Late Model River Series as well as the street stocks and factory stocks. For more information dial up their official website at www.i10speedway.com.
