InsideGroove - Race Report

WHITFIELD FIGHTS OFF VISITOR CAMPBELL FOR CASA GRANDE WIN

Casa Grande, AZ --

Making a late season charge at a top five point position, Casa Grande's own Brad Whitfield fought off a late race challenge from visitor Tom Campbell to win the 20 lap Budweiser Street Stock main event Saturday afternoon at Central Arizona Raceway. Tucson racer Campbell moved into second on lap 14, but couldn't quite overtake the winner. Lonnie Sanders ran third ahead of Perry Mallery. The Arizona Dwarf Cars were on hand for a second straight week to close their 2001 season. Flagstaff's Kevin Hickson won their 15 lapper ahead of modified midget racer Jeff Perry while Brad Hickson won the series championship despite a last place feature finish. Steve Adams was second in points with feature winner K Hickson third.

The street stocks had another huge turnout with 37 cars racing. They were divided into four heat races with the top 4 finishers in each advancing into the A Main. Point leader Mark Harrison won the first heat ahead of Gene Freeman and Wade Mitchell. Whitfield preceeded his feature win with a victory in heat 2 over Mike Tahtinen and point runnerup Mike Brigner. Thierry Allred won heat 3 with Patrick Tolle second over Sanders. Campbell came from the rear to win heat 4 over Canyon Raceway super stock champion George Fronsman and Tom Hussak. Both Campbell and Fronsman were on hand to tune up for the $3,000 to win special on Nov 24-25. Toby Olds dropped a drive line running second in the fourth heat and both Larry Brigner and Steve Soboski escaped injury when they flipped wildily off the top of turn 1. The final 8 feature slots were determined in the B Main where Matt Tipton won ahead of Dennis Lillie and Rick DiPomazio.

The heat race transfers drew for their starting order in the 20 lap A Main with Fronsman and Hussak drawing the front row. Track championship contenders Brigner and Harrison started 10th and 15th. Fronsman only led one lap before 4th starter Whitfield raced by on the outside. Hussak settled into third over Sanders and Steve Nelson. Allred was an early dropout and Campbell worked his way through the pack into fifth on lap 8 with his M&M Motorsports Special. Campbell had taken fourth from Sanders before the first caution flag fell on lap 12 as DiPomazio was limping on a flat tire and cut down on second place Fronsman. Fronsman spun in the incident and had to restart in the rear. Hussak inherited second, but lost the spot to an inside pass by Campbell on lap 14. Hussak slowed late in the race and Sanders moved into third over Mallery and Nelson. Whitfield fought off the challenges of Campbell for the win. Sanders ran third over Mallery, M Brigner, Nelson, Harrison, Tolle, Freeman and Hussak. Previous week winner Art Lacy subbed in the Perry Duvall car and finished 13th. M Brigner cut Harrison's point lead to 20 points. Hussak and A Lacy are locked in a duel for third in points and Whitfield is attempting to overtake Mallery for fifth in points.

For the second straight week, the Arizona Dwarf Cars had a 17 car turnout. Outside front row starter K Hickson won the first heat over Fred Donaldson. Previous week feature runnerup Jon Phelps won the second heat from the pole over Mike King, who was racing for just the fourth time as he subbed for Jim Emede. Tony Hinsley and K Hickson started on the front row of the 15 lap feature. K Hickson charged into the lead over Dean Riggs and Jeff Perry. Hinsley gained fourth on lap 2 and Adams' championship hopes ended with a lap 3 spin. Second place Riggs ran off the top of the track in turn 4 on lap 7 as J Perry gained second over Hinsley and Donaldson. Mike Gregor spun for a lap 9 yellow flag. Donaldson took over third on lap 10 and last week's winner Jesse Chinn raced into fifth on lap 11. J Perry was dueling K Hickson for the win as Donaldson, Riggs and Chinn battled for third. On the final lap, series champion Brad Hickson tangled with Phelps and K Hickson collected the win in front of J Perry, Donaldson, Riggs, Chinn, King, Adams, Hinsley, Gregor and Shawn Arnold. Phelps finished fourth in points and Chinn overtook Arnold to finish fifth on the point listing.

Summary Dwarf Car Heat 1-Kevin Hickson, Fred Donaldson, Shawn Arnold, Dean Riggs, Brad Hickson. Heat 2-Jon Phelps, Mike King, Steve Adams, Jeff Perry, Al Lardeo. Main-K Hickson, J Perry, Donaldson, Riggs, Jesse Chinn, King, Adams, Tony Hinsley, Mike Gregor, Arnold, Dan Yirku, Lardeo, Ken Perry, Brad Fett, Phelps, Billy Van Meter, B Hickson. Street Stock Heat 1-Mark Harrison, Gene Freeman, Wade Mitchell, Steve Nelson, Matt Tipton. Heat 2-Brad Whitfield, Mike Tahtinen, Mike Brigner, Frank Soboski, Steve Trusso. Heat 3-Thierry Allred, Patrick Tolle, Lonnie Sanders, Perry Mallery, Eddie Fansler. Heat 4-Tom Campbell, George Fronsman, Tom Hussak, William Lacy, Richard Kempton. B Main-Tipton, Dennis Lillie, Rick DiPomazio, Jeff DiGiulio, Art Lacy, Brandon Roper, Brian Barsness, Jack Buckner, Bryan Goldkuhl, Kempton. A Main-Whitfield, Campbell, Sanders, Tahtinen, Brigner, Nelson, Harrison, Tolle, Freeman, Hussak, F Soboski, Mitchell, A Lacy, Mallery, W Lacy, Lillie, Fronsman, DiGiulio, DiPomazio, Tipton, Barsness, Buckner, Roper, Allred.

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