ELKO, Nevada -- Steve Pruitt, racing out of Wells, NV, won only one of three ECAR Mini Mod races that he entered Saturday night at Summit Raceway but it happened to be the twenty-lap feature event, his second of the season here and fourth overall. Although Pruitt is considered to be a long shot to win the 2004 track championship, the three-year driver will be a spoiler with only five races left in the racing season. Three Elko drivers are within three points of each other in the point chase but Pruitt is thirty-eight markers down to leader Bobby Steensen. Pruitt took full advantage of his front row starting position in the feature and led all of the laps. But that is not to say that he wasn’t passed. As Pruitt sped to the first turn to start the race, Bobby Steensen dug in right behind the leader’s bumper from his row two start. For the first nine go-a-rounds, no more than a coat of thin paint separated the two. Steensen made a ‘ San Jose Slide’ on Pruitt on turn three, lap eight, as Pruitt drifted a little high, allowing Steensen to dive low and up. When Pruitt realized that Steensen stole his lead, he crisscrossed back down and regained the lead one again. This has to be the ‘pass of the year’ this year at Summit in any of the four divisions. You won’t see that on NASCAR televised racing on Sunday. Chris Steensen saw that and decided that that might be fun and started to dice and slice just like Emeril the Chef, though he was doing that with brother Bobby. And it worked!!! A lap later, Chris took second over Bobby and the race was on. First one brother would pass, than the other. Meanwhile, Pruitt now had two drivers right up to his exhaust pipes, as if one was not enough. Lap after lap, Pruitt raced his best, and he had to be at his best as two of the best were waiting for him to bobble. The last crisscross of the night was on the next to final lap as Chris tried to banzai Bobby in turn three/four but found himself side ways into the apron of the track. He lost second, third, and fourth in that one and lost three points to little brother. Pruitt took the checkered flag to a well-deserved victory. Runner-up honors went to Bobby while third place was awarded Sam Coffelt, who had an off night. The Steensen’s salvaged the other two races: heat race to Chris and trophy dash to Bobby. Bobby retained his point lead but Chris slipped to third, replaced by Coffelt in second, two points behind the leader. By winning, Pruitt doubled up as he was victorious the previous night at Battle Mountain Raceway where he is the current point leader.
In the ECAR Gen-X division, Tasha Dayton drove past up and coming Valerie McLeod and lap four of the fifteen lap feature race to post her fourth victory of the past five races here. Dayton also added a heat race win to her racing resume and only a trophy dash win by Terri Kellum spoiled her night. Point leader Marnie Thorp finished second in the feature, third was McLeod, and fourth went to Brandis Senecal. Ashleigh Thorp was celebrating her fourteenth birthday and grandmother Marnie Thorp let her drive her car in the heat race. She finished last but better than her grandmother did last week. It looks as if Ashleigh might have a promising career as a driver if Papa Gary builds one for her. For Marnie, ‘The Queen of Speed’ picked up three more points on Kellum in the quest for the ‘04 championship. Despite her flurry of wins, Dayton is mired fourteen back.
Flyin’ Brian Thorp took his seventh ECAR Pro Stock feature of the current season at Summit as raced past Battle Mountain charger Stacy Beeler on lap sixteen to gain a narrow victory over Beeler and Terry Lister. The Spring Creek point leader lengthened his lead to forty-one over Beeler. Thorp won the heat race and Beeler took the hardware in the trophy dash.
Only one out of the top ten in the I.M.C.A. Modified track point standings were in action, but Austin ace Craig Maestretti and defending champion Ward Amberson from Spring Creek put on a good show. Maestretti races infrequently but looked as if he competed regularly here as he led the twenty-lap feature wire-to-wire. But, it also didn’t happened that way. Amberson took Maestretti by surprise in turn one on the initial lap for the lead, but a caution flag sent him back to second. Maestretti would have been hard pressed to pass Amberson in that situation. For Maestretti it was his first win this season and cracked the top ten in points. Idaho driver Dan Waldemar finished third, Dan Basanez finished in the fourth spot, seeing only his first action of the season after opening day engine loss. Winnemucca rookie Chad Farstveet was fifth while Steve Farnum was sixth. Maestretti posted a clean sweep in the events, winning the heat race, trophy dash, and the feature.
The next scheduled race will be Saturday night August 21 as all four divisions will be in action.
Heat: Craig Maestretti, Ward Amberson, Chad Farstveet, Dan Basanez, Dan Waldemar
Dash: Craig Maestretti, Chad Farstveet, Ward Amberson, Dan Basanez
Feature: Craig Maestretti, Ward Amberson, Dan Waldemar, Dan Basanez, Chad Farstveet, Steve Farnum
Heat: Chris Steensen, Sam Coffelt, Bobby Steensen, Steve Pruitt, Dennis Pruitt
Dash: Bobby Steensen, Chris Steensen, Steve Pruitt, Sam Coffelt
Feature: Steve Pruitt, Bobby Steensen, Sam Coffelt, Dennis Pruitt, Chris Steensen
Heat: Brian Thorp, Stacy Beeler, Terry Lister, Tom Senecal, Cody Unger
Dash: Stacy Beeler, Brian Thorp, Tom Senecal
Feature: Brian Thorp, Stacy Beeler, Terry Lister, Cody Unger, Daniel Jameson, Tom Senecal DNS
Heat: Tasha Dayton, Valerie McLeod, Terri Kellum, Brandis Senecal, Jack Hammond Ashleigh Thorp
Dash: Terri Kellum, Tasha Dayton, Valerie McLeod, Brandis Senecal
Feature: Tasha Dayton, Marnie Thorp, Valerie McLeod, Brandis Senecal, Terri Kellum
Jack Hammond
