InsideGroove - Race Report

STEITZ FREEDOM SERIES FINALE CLOSES HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Chowchilla, CA -- Here in Central California, the holiday race weekend will not end until Monday night as the final race in the three race George Steitz Freedom Series will run at Chowchilla Speedway. Each of the three races carried a $15,000 purse and the top finishers in all four divisions will also gain awards after the final race. In 2003, the Steitz series went out of it's way to not conflict with the activities of any other area track as they ran on a Thursday night and two Monday holidays.

The dirt modifieds headline the action as they chase a $1250 win with second worth $600 and third paying $450. The first two events drew 26 cars and 25 cars and the trio of Kellen Chadwick, Richard Papenhausen and Charles Paul are all tied for the point lead going into the Monday night action. Defending series champion Jim Pettit II won the series opener ahead of K Chadwick and Papenhausen. On July 3, Watsonville regular Steve Pemberton returned from knee surgery to win with Paul second ahead of Merced teenager Steven Williams.

The super street stock class chases a $1000 winner's share with second worth $550. They had a great 25 car turnout for the opener, but fell off to 16 cars for the Thursday July race. Watsonville regular Chris Messmer and Chowchilla point leader Nathan Corn are tied for the point lead in this class, 8 ahead of opening race winner Johnny Cardoza. Cardoza beat Messmer and Corn in the opener for his only 2003 win while Kings Speedway star Rich Denman beat Corn and Messmer in July.

As expected, the popular hobby stocks have had the best car counts with 36 at the frist race and 31 in July. That division pays $500 to win and $275 for second. Defending track champion Jimmy Brewer has won the first two legs of the series and is now riding a five race win streak in Chowchilla. In May, he was chased to his win by Cory Gilmore and the Bakersfield duo of Robby Sawyer and Gary Dutton. Gilmore again finished second in July with Bakersfield racer Jeremiah Van Scoy in third. With his two second place runs, Gilmore is just 2 points back of Brewer and 6 ahead of Sawyer.

The limited late models were added as a fourth division for the series in 2003, but have only averaged 8 cars for the first two races. Mike Slaney beat Mark Odgers in the opener and Watsonville regular John Harville got his first limited late model win in the July race with Odgers second ahead of Slaney. Slaney and Odgers are tied for the point lead, just 3 tallies ahead of Harville and Shawn Bryant.

The racing action will be a twilight affair with pits opening at noon, wheel packing at 3:30 and racing to follow. While Steitz has been kept busy with his son Garrett's increased racing schedule, he has not slowed down on his race promotions as his big three day show will return to Chowchilla the first weekend of November and he is finalizing his second $10,000 to win Western World 100 for the dirt late models.
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