Last weekend All American Speedway had their hands full featuring five divisions as well as local sheriff departments put on a K9 Dog show for the fans, meanwhile the Placer County Fair Grounds hosted the yearly Berry Festival. Local fans and racing enthusiasts from the Berry Festival received their monies worth with great racing action provided from the stacked five divisions. Featuring the night were the Legends, Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks and Bombers.
First up were the Legends fielding 21 cars of drivers from all over California. No.25B James Bickford topped the qualifying charts with fast time of 15.410 seconds followed by No. 24 Danny Allen, No. 74M Luis Tyrrell, No. 35 Jeremy Doss and No. 7 Tony Mangini">Tony Mangini the fast five. Three heat races were on tap and Doss, No. 79 Forrest Kuecker and No. 20 Joe Leduc won and Tyrrell took home the Trophy Dash victory. 35 laps or 25 minutes was allocated for the division main event and No. 0 David Winchel and No. 05 Randy Fellman led the field to the green flag. Fellman had a great run on the outside however by turn two he fell back to the sixth position allowing Winchel to take the early lead. The top 12 cars were all side by side battling for position some were even three wide as the legend cars are much smaller than the stock cars and can make four wide passes around AAS. No. 4 Frankie Marks took the lead on lap two from Winchel. On lap six, 2nd thru 6th were all nose to tail for the second position. By lap seven, Mangini in second had caught up to the leader and set his sights for the lead. A caution was brought out on lap nine as No. 29 Dan Munier spun up the high banks of turns three and four. Marks and Mangini led the restart and Mangini powered out front for the lead. On lap 12, Tyrrell and Marks battle for second and Tyrrell powers his machine to the stripe first. On lap 13, No. 55 Caity Miller spun low in turn four creating a dust cloud. Karting buddies Mangini and Tyrrell led the field to the restart and Tyrrell good on the high side stole the lead from Mangini. By lap 20, Bickford was sniffing out Tyrrell’s racing line to decide when to make his move for the lead. For the next few laps both Bickford and Tyrrell raced side by side for the lead rubbing tires. On lap 31, the leaders entered turn two racing for position as Bickford and Tyrrell got together sending Tyrrell to the wall ending both their nights. The division fell short of four laps as their time block was up handing the win to Tony Mangini. Jeremy Doss 2nd, David Winchel 3rd, Chase Majdic 4th and Brandon White the final five.
Second up were the Bombers putting on a show with 18 cars and No. 37 David Thompson placed his machine on top for qualifying with a fast time of 15.906 seconds followed by No. 23 Eric Bocksberger, No. 3 Chris Paulson, No. 77 Erick Ray and No. 50 Richard Perez the fast five. No. 86x Jarred Beddow and Bocksberger shared a heat race win and Beddow also took home the trophy dash victory. 35 laps were scheduled for the division’s main event and Paulson and Bocksberger led the field to the green flag. For the first two laps the top four cars were side by side racing for position rubbing fenders and Bocksberger powered out for the lead. On lap four, Ray and Paulson collided making Paulson extremely loose however Paulson saved his car from spinning. By lap five, Bocksberger had a five car length lead over the field. On lap 10, Thompson went to the outside of Ray for second, the two battled for position until lap 11 the two rubbed and Thompson gained the second position. As Thompson set his sights on the leader, Bocksberger was already nine car lengths ahead of Thompson which didn’t discourage Thompson one bit as he started to reel in the leader by lap 20. On lap 24, Bocksberger got stuck behind a lapped car making it harder to pass allowing Thompson to pick up ground behind him. A caution was thrown on lap 27 as No. 1 Jason Leonard and No. 7 Rick Anable collided and spun in turn four. This caution is what Bocksberger didn’t want making the last few laps harder to maintain his lead. Bocksberger and Thompson led the restart and Thompson gained the lead on the high side of turn four. As Thompson was out front leading the field he picked up a six car length advantage over second heading into his first 2012 All American Speedway victory. Eric Bocksberger 2nd, Richard Perez 3rd, No. 63 Joe Rhodes Jr. 4th, Erick Ray 5th.
Third up were the roaring Modifieds with a field of 17 cars and No. 68 Cody Thompson made his return after a disturbing wreck on opening day had him re-clipping his front end. No. 50 Gary Glenn sported a new look as his machine got wrapped in style. No. 24 Scott Winters grabbed pole position with a fast time of 13.985 seconds barely holding competitor No. 15 Jason Philpot in second by .144 seconds. No. 49 John Mamula 3rd, No. 4 Scot Alves 4th and No. 83 Rick Anderson the fast five. Not only did Winters claim pole position he also took home the trophy dash victory. 40 laps or 30 minutes were set for the divisions feature and Mamula and Philpot led the field to the green flag. Philpot on the outside had a good run to take the early lead. An eager Winters went to the inside of Mamula in turn two on lap two for second. By lap four Philpot had picked up four car lengths on Winters in second. As Philpot and Winters checked out the battle was for third with 3rd through 7th nose to tail. It only took Winters three laps before he was on the rear bumper of Philpot for the lead on lap 11. A caution was thrown on lap 15 as No. 22 Troy Nagosek spun in turn three breaking a part from his rear suspension. Now with Philpot and Winters leading the field the competition only got heated from here on out as the rest of the field was bunched together for the restart. Winters got a great start and took the early lead although Philpot was right there ready to jump in and make his move. On lap 32, a yellow was thrown for No. 0 Paul Pedroncelli Jr as he suffered engine trouble and blew water on the track ending his night early. Also under caution, Cody Thompson stalled in turn three leaking fluids in the racing line. AAS safety officials quickly cleaned the track and racing was underway. On the restart, Winters with a fast car chose the outside line giving Philpot the inside groove. Philpot and Winters battled side by side for the next three laps until lap 35 the two collided sending Philpot to the front stretch wall. A red flag was thrown and the race ended as the division had used all 30 minutes handing the victory to first time winner No. 14 Chase Grigsby. Followed by Scot Alves, Rick Anderson, Gary Glenn and Jim Badaker the final five.
Up next were the Late Models with 16 cars and NASCAR K&N Pro Series driver No. 14 Travis Milburn claimed pole position in qualifying with a fast time of 13.830 seconds barely holding No. 35 Matt Scott in second by .045 seconds. Followed by No. 44 Ron Chunn, No.5 Chris Scribner and No. 16 Jamie Krizysik the fast five. Travis Milburn was on his A game Saturday night as he collected the trophy dash victory. Chunn and Scott led the field to the start of the 75 lap main event. The top four drivers raced side by side for position for four laps. On lap four, three cars collided on the back stretch involving Canadian driver Krizysik, No. 50 Chris Lambert and No. 66 Colin Bailey. Scott and Chunn led the field to the restart as they continued to race side by side rubbing fenders with Milburn quietly following their every move. On lap nine, a loose Chunn kept Scott away allowing Milburn to pass Scott for second on lap ten. On lap 13, Scribner and No. 3 Bobby Butler battled for fourth as Butler went to the inside of Scribner giving him a bump and run for fourth. On lap 25, Milburn was knocking on the rear bumper of Chunn planning when to make his move for the lead. By lap 30, Chunn, Milburn and Scott were all nose to tail. On lap 41, Scott looked to the inside of Milburn in turn three but Milburn slammed the door on Scott. By lap 42, Scribner had closed the gap between him and Butler and the two touched sending Butler spinning in turns two and Scribner to the tail of the field for rough driving. A yellow was exactly what Milburn was looking for as his car performed well on the high side; he knew this was his turn to lead. On the restart, No. 42 Stanislav Osterlund blew his motor on the back stretch and thankfully no fluid leaked on the track as the division headed right back into another restart. Milburn got his lead on the start and Chunn fell back to fourth. By lap 55, Milburn was already two car lengths on Scott, although Scott managed to close in by lap 60. For the next few laps Scott tried to look to the inside of Milburn but just didn’t have enough to power through it. From Lap 71-74 Milburn and Scott were two wide until the last lap Milburn powered out to his first 2012 All American Speedway victory. Followed by Matt Scott, Jamie Krizysik, Ron Chunn and Chris Scribner the final five.
Lastly, the Street Stocks closed the night with 19 cars and No. 08 Mickey Owens once again stole qualifying with a fast time of 14.914 seconds. Followed by No. 52 Matt Camp, No. 57 Eric Price, No. 23x Richard Poppert Jr. and No. 21 Kevin Owens the fast five. Kevin Owens and No. 25 Dave Sciarroni both shared a heat race victory and No. 2 Mel Wilson took the trophy dash win. Camp and Price led the field to the 35 lap main and Camp jumped to an early lead. Track champion, M. Owens was on the move on the start and took over the top spot on lap 5. A fast M. Owens caught up with lap traffic on lap eight. By lap nine, M. Owens checked out to a five car length gap over the field. On lap nine, Camp and Poppert battled for second position and raced side by side for three laps. On lap 13 in turn two, K. Owens went to the inside of No. 98 Byron Gonzales for fourth as the two raced side by side till K. Owens completed the pass on lap 17. Finally, Poppert was able to race Camp for second and powered to the inside of camp on lap 17. By lap 21, M. Owens had a nine car length lead and the remaining of the field was spread out. On lap 28, a powerful Poppert was able to reel in M. Owens for the lead however Poppert ran out of laps to catch Owens. Mickey Owens went onto a 1.520 second victory followed by Richard Poppert Jr., Matt Camp, Kevin Owens and Byron Gonzales the final five.
With round four in the books the night went smoothly and all the drivers enforced proper sound requirements. Racing at AAS resumes next weekend May 19th with Armed Forces Night featuring NASCAR Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks and NCMA Sprints. More information about All American Speedway can be found at www.AllAmericanSpeedway.com or on the Speedway’s Facebook page. 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.
