VICTORVILLE, California -- At the beginning of the 2004 racing season all eyes were on a potential rivalry between Barstow's Mike Morris and Trona's Chris Smith in a battle for dominance in the fan-favorite Super Street Division at Victorville's Route 66 Raceway. Indeed, in recent races the two have been swapping first-places almost on a weekly basis.
At Friday night's card of mostly Main Events, held during the running of the San Bernardino County Fair, the rivalry continued, with Morris edging out Smith in a hotly contested 20-lap event filled with lots of caution laps and even a false restart from a caution.
Torrance's Leonard Wahlquist, with Morris having a tenuous hold on second position and Smith in third, dominated the race's early laps. Midway through the race Wahlquist began to fade, allowing both Smith and Morris to pass and at that point the battle began.
The gap between them closed during a caution on the 14th lap, and on what some fans called a "quick green", Smith got by Morris and took the lead. Officials, however, called a false start and reversed their positions, placing Morris back in first, with Smith in second.
It became a sprint to the checkered flag with Morris holding on at the end to take the win. Smith finished second, with Phelan's David Funkhousen rounding out the top three.
The win brought Morris, last season's Super Street points Champion, to within one point of Smith. The two will undoubtedly face off again at the Raceway when racing continues on June 5th and the rivalry will go on.
Due to the abbreviated race card at this year's Fair, the only two classes which ran heat races were the Street Stock cars and the IMCA Modifieds, which are required by their regulations to hold heat races regardless. In Street Stock there was a large enough group of cars entered to require even a Semi-Main in addition to the Main Event.
In the Street Stock Semi-Main, it was Hesperia's Gary Owen who took first-place, with Tony Warner, racing out of Yucca Valley, placing second and Adelanto's Ed Miller finishing third. The top 8 finishers in the Semi-Main transferred to the Main Event and rounded out the field of 20 cars.
The Main Event saw only Miller placing near the top finishers, winding up in 6th place following a 14th place start. The Main checkered flag was captured wire-to-wire by Apple Valley's Jimmy George, with Barstow's John Krieger, who started the race in 3rd position and Yucca Valley's Andrew DaVall, who started in 4th , finishing second and third, respectively.
The quick IMCA Modifieds ran four heat races prior to their Main Event, which was captured by Mark Allison, coming all the way from Las Vegas with his A5 car, while Fontana's Darren Hawks took second. Billy Wormsbecker, who came down from Big Bear, took third place. Both Allison and Wormsbecker won their respective heat races, while Hawks captured second in his heat event.
Some extra excitement was offered up to the near-capacity crowd by Barstow's Robbie Cockrell as he took his #70 yellow Pinto from a 16th-place start in the Mini Stock Main Event to eventually finish an awfully close second to Victorville's Andy Moreton. During that race the lead was held at times by Moreton, Corona's Dan Sandt and Dave Clark out of Riverside. Cockrell, quite an accomplished driver despite his young age, divides his behind-the-wheel time between the Pinto and an IMCA Modified car.
It was a relatively short field of cars entered in the All American class, whose 20-lap Main Event was won by a familiar name on Victory Lane, Hesperia's Jason Andrews. Victorville's Walt Reynolds took second honors and JR Steele, also racing out of Hesperia, finished third. Of the 11 cars entered only 5 cars finished on the final lap. The remainder of the field wound up lapped.
Also suffering from a lack of participants, the Dwarf Class Main Event was shortened to only 11 laps and was won by Tom Clodt from Corona. Los Angeles' Chuck Lippert took second place and, after 3rd place finisher Tim Armitage was disqualified for illegal tires, fourth-place finisher Berry Highfill from Hesperia was placed in 3rd position. Rounding out the short field was Vista's Tim Hoden.
Completing the abbreviated racing card was an interesting match-up in the new Hornet Junior class. Apple Valley's AJ George and his sister, Danielle squared off in a 6-lap race for bragging rights at their home, which is also occupied by their Dad, Street Stock winner Jimmy George. Danielle had the race well in hand when, 2 laps from the checkered flag, she slipped up coming out of turn 4 and was passed by AJ, who held on to grab the win. The new Hornet Junior class was created to provide a place where truly young drivers can begin their racing careers and gain invaluable real-world racing experience. Track General Manager would like to see more participation in this entry-level class exclusively for the youngsters.
After a day of open practice on Sunday, May 30, racing will continue at the Raceway on Saturday, June 5th with the 4th of this season's Powder Puff contests and the return of the "mini-dwarfs" for the really young ones at intermission. Coming up on June 19th it's "Harley Night", with reduced admission to those coming to the races on a Harley and a drive on the rack during intermission.
For complete race results and current points standings, visit their website at www.rt66racetrack.com. For more information and directions to the Raceway, call the Fairgrounds at (760) 951-2200.
