Source: Madera Speedway Public Relations
Date: 09/30/2007

MADERA, California -- An exciting 2007 racing season at Madera Speedway reached its dramatic conclusion on Saturday, September 29 as the “Fastest 1/3 Mile in the West” hosted the final NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series program of the year.

Mark Holeman, age 22 of Los Altos, entered Saturday’s “Bent Fender Classic” with a narrow lead in the Western Late Model division “Chase for the Championship” standings over third generation driver Ross Strmiska, age 21 of Stockton and Trevor Schlundt, age 17 of Clovis.

If that wasn’t enough pressure on the young guns, both Strmiska and Holeman were also embroiled in the battle for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series championship for California. Strmiska started the evening with a slight advantage on Irwindale Raceway’s Rip Michels and Holeman in the prestigious state competition, which concludes this weekend.

The 27 late models that crowed the pits were whittled down to 20 for the night’s twin 50-lap features with a 10 car B Main. Sacramento’s Josh Combs earned the win to extend his evening along with Coulterville’s Matt Erickson, Merced’s Carlos Vieira and Clovis’ Rick Thompson, who followed him to the checkered flag.

Starting the first Western main from the pole, Stockton’s Joey Stearns held the top spot through the first 19 laps of the race before a yellow caution slowed the pace. At that point Schlundt ducked into the pits to repair a problem and although he would return to the back of the pack before the race resumed, it effectively ended his championship dreams.

When the green flag reappeared Holeman jumped past Stearns and never looked back as he raced to his sixth victory of the season. Strmiska was able to make a late race charge to salvage third behind Tracy’s David Philpott, the former two-time Stockton 99 Speedway champion, to keep his fading championship hopes alive.

Philpott came out strong in the second Western Late Model feature as well, grabbing the early lead until a broken rocker arm sabotaged his effort. Joey Stearns took full advantage of Philpott’s misfortune by snaring the top spot ahead of the ageless Harry Belletto, a former three time Stockton 99 champion from Modesto, as Strmiska and Holeman battled each other behind them.

Once again a yellow caution did Stearns in as Belletto got the best of him on a lap 32 restart and drove to his first win of the season. Stearns held on for second ahead of Strmiska and Modesto’s Kyle Gottula.

“We’ve been saying that this place is built on an Indian burial ground and they don’t want an Italian to win here,” laughed Belletto, who will be celebrating his 65th birthday next week. “We have had so much bad luck. Something always happens to us all the time here. We finally broke the drought.”

Holeman decided a top five was all that was needed in the second main event, and he did just that with a fifth place finish. By Madera Speedway official’s calculations, this locked up both the Madera track championship and the NASCAR Whelen All American Series California title. The State Championship results are unofficial.

“Wow, this feels great. All our hard work finally paid off. I can’t thank my mom and dad enough for all their help and Ray (Miller) and my team for giving me such a great car every week,” said an elated Holeman. “We did what we needed to do in the first race and we basically tried to stay out of trouble in the second.”

“I can’t complain, we had a good rookie year. Mark ran well and earned it,” said a disappointed, but gracious Strmiska. “We had decent car, but we just missed the setup a bit, especially in the second race. We’ll just gear up for next season.”

Stockton’s Donny Darter set a new track record for the American Limited Stock Cars (ALSC) in qualifying, but his bid for a 14th win in 15 tries this season was ruined by a flat tire on lap 11 of the 30-lap ALSC main. Darter came to a stop on the track, bringing out the yellow flag and giving the lead to fellow Stockton driver Brian Vosburg. Although his crew made a quick change, enabling Darter to return to the back of the pack before the race resumed, officials penalized him a lap for deliberately causing a caution.

When the race resumed, Darter drove like a man possessed as nearly pulled off the impossible. He unlapped himself and managed to climb back to third, behind Vosburg and Atwater’s Jason Aguirre, before the race concluded.

“I don’t believe it, we finally got one. It hasn’t set in yet,” said Vosburg, smiling like the Cheshire cat. “Even though he (Darter) was a lap down, I was still worried about him.”

The 20-lap main for the Toyota Sedans came down to late race shootout between Adam Ballesteros, of Dos Palos, Steve Trusner and Stan Hankins, both of Fresno. With one lap remaining Trusner punted Hankins from behind, which caused Hankins to slam into the back of Ballesteros, causing him to spin. Hankins continued on for the win ahead of Trusner, who was later penalized by officials and dropped back to the ninth position in the 15-car field.

“Tonight was great. Winning the race and winning the championship was excellent,” described Hankins. “The 42 (Ballesteros) was really strong and we got pushed into him. It was a bad deal and I feel sorry for him.”

The Modified Super Toyotas (MST) also concluded on a bizarre note. Chowchilla’s John Bowersox was leading the 11-car field when he was hit and spun from behind by Madera’s Randy Fleming. Fleming went on to take the checkered flag, but he also earned the wrath of the officials and was penalized, handing the win to hometown pilot Shon “Woody” Woods, who had already locked up the MST season championship.

“It was rough out there tonight. I really didn’t have anything for these guys, but it all played out in my favor,” said Woods, who is celebrating his first championship in just his third year of racing. “It is nice to win, although this one really didn’t feel like a win.”

Miles Humphreys, the 67-year-old racing grandfather from Clovis, capped off his 2007 championship by out dueling 16-year-old rival CJ Dizney, of Madera, in the 20-lap main for the always exciting Hornet division.

“I had to turn up the steam a little bit to hold off Dizney. He has really been tough competition lately,” said Humphreys, who began racing in 1956. “We’ve really had a lot of fun this year. It is neat to still see a few of the old guys out here competing.”

The youngsters, age 8-16, of the WSRA Mini Cup series returned to the Madera for the first time since the class made its track debut on August 4th. In a repeat performance, Rocklin’s John Bowman grabbed the lead on lap 12 of the 25-lap feature and never looked back to once again earn the victory. Tyler Thomas, of Penryn and William Camara, of Woodland, completed the top three.

“I am very happy and I want thank my dad for his help,” said Bowman before adding, “Man, I am really tired.”

Madera Speedway will conclude the 2007 season with the 1st Annual Pumpkin Smash 400 Enduro and Demolition Derby on Saturday, October 20.

The Madera Speedway is located at the Madera County Fairgrounds just off to the west side of Highway 99 at the Cleveland Avenue exit.

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