SILBER, POE AND CUZICK TAKE MANZANITA RACES SAT. NITE

Source: Wm. McDonald
Date: 06/02/2008

Both Randy Silber and Taylor Cuzick made late charges in winning their main events Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway while Ron Poe had to withstand numerous yellow flags to nail down his second win of the year.

Silber, a former champion, came out of a two year hiatus and scored his 12th career win as he wrested the lead from Ron Funk as they raced to the white flag signalling one lap to go in the 15 lap super stock touring season race on Manzy’s half mile track. Funk’s second place finish was enough to take over sole possession of first place in the points standing. He started the night in a tie with Chris Odom who finished seventh.

Funk started on the pole but Rick Madrid beat him into the first turn and lead the first lap. Then Funk made a pass for the lead coming off turn two for the lead. Silber started fifth and moved into second five laps into the race.

Only one yellow flag slowed the action as Funk and Silber were nose to tail until Silber finally made a low line pass coming off turn two on the 14th lap. Don Costa, the defending Manzanita super stock champion was third. Only 1.34 seconds separated the top three. Terry Bridges was another two second back in fourth with two time Manzanita champion Kenny Gill in fifth after starting 11th. Rounding out the top ten were Madrid, Odom, Joe Sarginger, Mike Brigner and Buji Lacy.

The three heat races were caution free despite several cars making contact with the wall on the front straight away. Mike Tathinen built a big lead in the first heat but almost lost control in the final turn. However he saved it and managed a close win over Funk, Sarginger and Lacy.

The second heat was won from the pole as Gill found the right grove and beat Odom, Tom Poorman and KJ Loyd. The third heat went to Silber who came out of the second row and set a new six lap record for super stocks on the half mile track. His time of 2:26.59 eclipsed the old mark of 2:27.05 set by Tommy Reynolds in 2005.

He was pushed to the track record by Bridges who beat Costa and Madrid in the battle for second place honors.

Poe blew an engine in the Friday night factory stock races and saw his 40 point lead drop to only three points over Matt Martinez. He gained most of it back as he led the final seven laps in the 20 lap feature on the short track. Several of the many caution flags were results of crashes by drivers in the top five. They included Bobby Taylor, Daren Olney and Friday night’s winner Bobby Erdman. Erdman managed to restart and came home sixth. He moved past both Martinez and Taylor in the standing as is now 31 points behind Poe.

Lyle Askren, Jr. finished second and Mike Lilly finished third after starting 14th. John Glynn was fourth ahead of Richard Kirn. The rest of the top ten, in order, were Erdman, newcomer Brian Richards, Larry Price, Mark Millan and Jeff Carter. Martinez was the first car out of the feature and finished last in the 20 car field.

The evening started off with William "Jody" McCullough getting his first trophy dash win. He beat Askren, Erdman and Price in the four lapper.

The first two eight lap heat races were won from the front row. Brent Radtke went wire to wire in beating Taylor, Kirn, Erdman and Poe who all transferred to the feature. Akren held of Olney, Price, Jeff Carter and Lilly in the second heat. Chris Fiore came out of the third row and beat Richards, Joe Peterson, Kevin Souligine and Ruben Solares, Jr. in the final heat.

The 10 lap semi main was stopped when only five cars, the required finishing positions that made the main, were left running at the midpoint of the race. Charles paxton, Martinez, Glynn, McCullough and Milan transferred.

Poe will carry a 31 point lead over Erdman whose sixth place finish vaulted him into second place in the standings when they share the one third mile track with AMA Modlites, sport modifieds and bombers June 6.

Cuzick led only the final two laps in the 15 lap Desert Dwarf Car feature for his second win of the year. His pass on the 14th lap dropped Randy Johnson who was seeking his first ever win to second with the defending champion Chris Snyder in third. Survival was the important thing as the yellow was out numerous times for either crashes or mechanical problems. Among those who failed to finish were points leader JJ LeMoine, Kelly Jenkins, Brian Stehr, Kevin Cain and Rat Stafford.

Snyder started deep in the 24 car field for the feature and avoided the accidents in his driver from 13th for the third place finish. Behind him were Eddie O’Neill who had his first top five of the year and Jim Gemmell who also made the top five list for the first time. Rounding out the top ten were Todd Bennett, Chad Stewart, Sandy Matthews, Steve Davis and Kevin Stalbaum.

Randy Johnson went wire to wire in posting his first heat race win of the year. Behind him at the checkered flag for the first six lapper were Bennett, Stewart, Cain and Chuck Vallone.. Snyder put on a driving clinic with a drive from last to first in the eight car second heat. Falling victim to his charge were Davis, Stehr, Jenkins and Cuzick. The final heat went to Gemmell who led all six laps. Behind him at the finish line were O’Neill, Stalbaum, Troy Wilkinson and Jerry Hartnett.

Jenkins beat the six car field in the trophy dash as he made it look easy in beating Cain, Matthews, Brian Swartz, Mike McGrellis and Vallone.

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