InsideGroove - Race Report

HOOD CHASES DOWN EL PASO WINNER WILCOX AT LAS CRUCES

Las Cruces, NM -- After settling for a fourth place finish behind winner Marty Wilcox Friday night in El Paso, SCOA winged 410 sprint car point leader and defending champion Rickey Hood chased down pole starter Wilcox to win Saturday nights main event at The Speedway of Southern New Mexico. It was the final point night for the track and the winged 410 sprint cars filled the stands at both El Paso and Las Cruces on the two night swing through the area. Wilcox finished off a great weekend with a second ahead of Scott Box and Friday night runnerup Rick Ziehl. The super stock main event found El Paso champion Fito Gallardo outracing Las Cruces runaway titlest Jay Rosales for the win. Gallardo ranked third in points at Las Cruces. Thirteen year old Jonathan Burton scored a clean sweep on the final point night for the street stocks with wins in his heat, the dash and the feature. Mike Garcia ran second in the main event ahead of El Paso champion Holly Jones. Jason Ziehl used a 7th place finish to take the track championship by just 21 points ahead of Dusty Riggs who was 10th on the final night. H Jones finished just 25 points back of D Riggs despite missing a couple race nights with her mid season jaw surgery. Garcia finished just 8 points back of H Jones in 4th. Lamar Skarda beat Jimmy Dick and heat winner John Jacobs in the Legend Car feature.

The SCOA winged 410 sprint cars ended their weekend with a 22 car field at the 3/8 mile clay oval. Hood won the opening heat race over Box while local favorite Danny Williams won heat 2 ahead of Ziehl and Jeff Slinkard. Robert Gomez beat El Paso winner Wilcox in heat 3. The top six from the heat action raced in the fast dash to set the starting order for the front three rows of the A Main grid. Wilcox earned the pole with his fast dash win ahead of Box, Williams, Hood, Gomez and Ziehl. The B Dash went to Colorado long tow Rick Bubak with El Paso B Dash winner Josh Grady second. Wilcox had the pole for the main event, but couldnt fend off the challenges of 4th starter Hood for the win. Wilcox did manage a second ahead of Box, Ziehl, back of the pack starter Dion Hindi, Slinkard, Joe Bustillos, Jason Grady, Williams, Bubak and Josh Grady.

The super stocks fielded 16 cars with El Paso Speedway Park dirt modified track champion Johnny Scott returning to action in this class after the 13 year old wrapped up Texas title the night before. Vince Melone won the first heat race over Russell Allen and Bryan Armstrong. Claude Lenderman beat Frank DeMartino and Fito Gallardo in heat 2. Rick Ortega won the dash over Melone. Rosales was fifth in his heat, but challenged Gallardo hard for the feature win. DeMartino ran third ahead of Ortega, Armstrong, Allen, Bob Miller and Jack Skillen. Rosales ended the season a whooping 214 points ahead of Ortega with Gallardo 28 more points back in third. DeMartino moved past the absent Royal Jones to finish fourth in points.

With a 27 car turnout, the street stocks used three heat races and a small B Main to limit the A Main to 24 cars. You needed a top six finish in either the heat or B Main action to transfer. Heat winners were Cassandra Wells, Burton and Garcia. Burton then beat Melissa Gorham and D Riggs in the dash. Newcomer Ross Conner won the B Main over Tony Bujak and Rick Rosales. Burton had to battle through the field to finish off his clean sweep with an A Main win ahead of Garcia, H Jones, Patrick Beach, Gorham, Randy Mims, track champion Ziehl, Wells, Bobby Otero and point runnerup D Riggs. Beach edged female ace Wells for fifth in points by just six tallies. Burton ended up 7th in the final point standings. There were 12 Legend Cars and Don St John won the first heat over Jimmy Dick with Jacobs taking the second heat over Tom Hargenrater. The dash was won by Jaime Dick ahead of newcomer Jonathan Barcena. Skarda ran fifth in his heat, but won the feature race ahead of Jimmy Dick, Jacobs, point champion Don Reynolds, Jim Funk, Richard Hargenrater and Ryan Gaines.

The Speedway of Southern New Mexico closes its season with three big nights of action during the Southern New Mexico State Fair. The dirt modifieds will chase a $6,500 winners prize on Saturday night Oct 4 after two nights of preliminary action. The super stock winner on Saturday night pockets $2000 and the street stocks run full shows each night for $200 to win.

Summary Legend Car Dash-Jaime Dick, Jonathan Barcena, Ryan Gaines. Heat 1-Don St John, Jimmy Dick, Richard Hargenrater, John Barcena, Lamar Skarda. Heat 2-John Jacobs, Tom Hargenrater, Don Reynolds, Gaines, Jim Funk. Main-Skarda, Jimmy Dick, Jacobs, D Reynolds, Funk, R Hargenrater, Gaines, T Hargenrater, John Barcena, Jonathan Barcena, St John, Jaime Dick. Street Stock Dash-Jonathan Burton, Melissa Gorham, Dusty Riggs. Heat 1-Cassandra Wells, Riggs, Randy Mims, Derek DeMartino, Steven Pendergraft. Heat 2-Burton, Jason Ziehl, Mike Rosales, Don Thomas, Patrick Beach. Heat 3-Mike Garcia, Shane Riggs, Gorham, Holly Jones, Bobby Otero. B Main-Ross Conner, Tony Bujak, Rick Rosales, Jaime Rosales, Teddy Nials, Robert Allen, J L Marquez. A Main-Burton, Garcia, H Jones, Beach, Gorham, Mims, Ziehl, Wells, Otero, D Riggs, M Rosales, Pendergraft, S Riggs, Thomas, R Rosales, Rich Vocale, J Rosales, Nials, Allen, Vanessa Robinson, DeMartino, Haddy Phillips, Conner, Bujak. Super Stock Dash-Rick Ortega, Vince Melone, Russell Allen. Heat 1-Melone, Allen, Bryan Armstrong, Cheryl Fox, Bob Miller. Heat 2-Claude Lenderman, Frank DeMartino, Fito Gallardo, Ortega, Jay Rosales. Main-Gallardo, Rosales, DeMartino, Ortega, Armstrong, Allen, Miller, Jack Skillen, Melone, Fox, Johnny Scott, Lenderman, Art Viramontes, Brian Moss, Derel Lackey. Winged 410 Sprint Car Fast Dash-Marty Wilcox, Scott Box, Danny Williams. B Dash-Rick Bubak, Josh Grady, Dion Hindi. Heat 1-Rickey Hood, Box, Jason Grady, John Carney Jr, Robby Unser. Heat 2-Williams, Rick Ziehl, Jeff Slinkard, Joe Bustillos, Brian ODonnell. Heat 3-Robert Gomez, Wilcox, James High, Buddy Rae Earle, Mike Miller. A Main-Hood, Wilcox, Box, Ziehl, Hindi, Slinkard, Bustillos, Jason Grady, Williams, Bubak, Josh Grady, High, Miller, Zeke Ziska, Steve Cushman, ODonnell, Mike Wells, Unser, Earle, Tim Shallenberger, John Carney Jr, Gomez.
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