InsideGroove - Race Report

DOMINANT $1000 NIGHT FOR MINNESOTA'S RON JONES

Elma, WA -- A frequent major event winner throughout the southwestern portion of the country, Ron Jones from Minnesota made his first ever appeance in the Pacific Northwest pay off as he led all 25 laps from an outside front row start to pocket $1000 on the preliminary night action for the Shipwreck Beads sponsored $30,000 Northwest Modified Nationals at Grays Harbor Raceway on Friday night. When Rapp Racing Products from Medford OR agreed to sponsor his airfare, Jones made plans to try the richest Pacific Coast dirt modified event and Chub Daniels towed the D&M Performance house car up from it's Dumas TX homebase. Jones was disappointed with his 10th quick qualifying effort, but he won his first heat from the fifth row and then took his second heat from an outside front row start. That placed him second in points earned by Medford's Ron Possinger Jr. Jones beat Possinger Jr on the start and led all 25 laps for the rich win. The third place finisher on the big money night the last two years, Jon DeBenedetti from Rogue River OR got around Possinger on lap 21 and got the $700 second. Possinger settled for a $500 third and 22nd starting Jesse Williamson from Coburg OR turned a lot of heads in his drive to a $400 fourth in the debut race for his new reworked Dirt Works mount. Dustin Jenks led the California contingent with a $300 fifth. Sixty six cars checked in an unseasonably warm afternoon for the first day action. Two time defending race champion Kellen Chadwick had a tough first night as he timed in 16th quick, ran 6th and 2nd in his two heats and then settled for 14th in the 25 lapper after getting caught up in an early tangle.

Each of teams were given one qualifying lap, but the transponders failed on several entries and drivers like Antioch CA star Don Shelton had to make a half-dozen attempts. Medord's Scott Weldon paced the timed runs with a near track record 17.115 lap on the expanded 3/8 mile clay oval. When the track was rebuilt, it was made wider and higher banked. Cottage Grove OR racer Aaron Shealer was second quick with a 17.190 effort. First year dirt modified racer Chris Sayler, a former dwarf car racer from Central Point OR ranked third at 17.344 and former Portland Speedway pavement champion Don Jenner ran a 17.371. DeBenedetti ranked fifth at 17.438 and the quickest ten were rounded out by Mark Wauge, Gary Lee Morris, track regular Scott Miller, Dennis Sturgell and Jones. Two sets of heat races were run with the first six fully inverted off the qualifying times and the final six straight up off the qualifying runs. The teams earned points in time trials led by the 100 earned by Weldon and 50 points were awarded to each heat winner with 3 additional points for each car passed. After the heat action, the top 18 point earners were placed at the front of the preliminary night A Main grid and they were joined by four transfers from the B Main. Former race winner Gus Cooper from Creswell OR saw his weekend end with a blown engine in Friday hot laps.

Fourth starter Randy McDaniel overtook pole starter John Pierce on lap 2 and won the first heat with Duane Cleveland second ahead of Pierce in a NorCal sweep. Las Vegas NV long tow Mark Allison battled back from transponder woes in time trials to win heat 2 from fourth starting ahead of Jeremy Richey and Gary Morris. Possinger showed his strength early as he came from the fifth row to win heat 3 over fellow fifth row starter Mark Wauge and Scott Dorie. Normal Dirt Works house car driver Andy Claiborne flew in to drive Randy Ward's car and he won heat 4 from third starting after a disappointing qualifying run. Jenks was a race long second ahead of DeBenedetti's teammate Rich McCoy. It took Jones just five laps to drive from 9th starting to the lead in heat 5 as he passed Dwayne Hornbaker for the top spot. Hornbaker was a solid second ahead of Dave Duste Jr and Brian Cass. After he spun in time trials, Southern Oregon legend Markey James was a wire to wire winner in heat 6 over Chico CA point leader Ryan McDaniel and Scott Weldon. The straightup round of heat races were dominated by the fast qualifiers. Scott Miller paced the first 8 laps of heat 7 only to lose fire on a restart and Shealer picked off the win ahead of Dennis Silva and Cleveland. Allison again put on a show in his second heat as he won heat 8 from 8th starting, going underneath fast timer Weldon in turn 3 on lap 6 for the win. Weldon ran second ahead of Richey. Pole starter Mark Wauge won heat 9 with third starter Possinger second ahed of Curt White. DeBenedetti turned a pole start into a win in heat 10 over Jenks and race sponsor Glenn Vincent. After starting outside front row, Jones dove underneath Jenner in turn 2 on lap 2 to win heat 11 ahead of Chadwick, Jenner and Cass. Nineteen year old Ryan McDaniel outdueled Sayler to win heat 12 with Medford point leader Skipper Klimcheck third. When the points were tallied, Possinger, Jones, Wauge, Ryan McDaniel, Shealer, Jenks, Silva, DeBenedetti, Allison, Cleveland, Muller, Jenner, Sayler, Chadwick, Scott Dorie, Vincent, Weldon and Gary Lee Morris had earned those 18 transfers into the A Main.

Livermore CA long tow Cass was a wire to wire winner in the 20 lap B Main with Medford pro stock graduate Jerry Severson a race long second. Phoenix AZ long tow Anthony Madrid in the Flexi Flyer house car and Williamson got the last two transfers with Williamson passing Leroy Lawhead on the last lap. Lawhead was fifth ahead of Richey, Scott Miller and Randy McDaniel. Dennis Sturgell had raced in the top four, but fell to the rear after some contact racing with Williamson. Track regular Craig Moore from Seabeck won the 15 lap C Main over McCoy, James and Gary Morris. The D Main was called after just one lap when only three of the five starters remained. Curt White got this win over Dan Fox and James Wolfard.

The 25 lap A Main had to be restarted after a multi-car tangle in turn 3. Allison's car suffered possible weekend ending damage when he was pushed into a spun Sayler by Muller. Madrid got into the turn 4 fence, but was able to restart. Jones outdueled Possinger for the early lead and the yellow flag returned on both lap 1 and lap 2. Vincent lost a lap making repairs after his tangle with Gary Lee Morris and Silva. Chadwick restarted in the rear after pitting for repairs. Muller spun and got hit by Shealer to end Shealer's night. Ryan McDaniel was riding third and Jenks gained fourth with the Muller spin. DeBenedetti took fifth from Wauge on this lap 4 restart. A tap from Ryan McDaniel sent Possinger spinning in turn 2 for a lap 8 yellow flag. Possinger was placed back in second and Ryan McDaniel sent to the rear for his rough driving move. This moved Jenks, DeBenedetti and Wauge up a spot. Jones had a scary moment as he had serious contact with the lapped car of Gary Lee Morris and Morris got into the back fence a lap later to end his race. DeBenedetti and Jenks put on a show as they traded third and Williamson had raced from 22nd to sixth. There was no challenging smooth driving Jones as he stretched his advantage to 1/3 lap over the second place duel. The final 17 laps were run without a caution and DeBenedetti got underneath Possinger in turn 3 on lap 21 to gain second. Williamson took fourth from Jenks on lap 21, but lost it back with contact against the back fence on lap 23. On the final round, Williamson was again able to make the pass to finish fourth behind Possinger. Jenks ran fifth ahead of Wauge, Sayler, Jenner, Scott Dorie and Cass. The feature win earned Jones 300 points while DeBenedetti got 297 and Possinger 291. One more round of fully inverted heat races on Saturday will finalize the point standings and the top six in points will draw for their starting order in the $500 to win Dash for Cash to determine the lineup order for the front three rows in the 40 lap, $6000 to win Saturday night finale.

Summary Fast Time-Scott Weldon 17.115 Heat 1-Randy McDaniel, Duane Cleveland, John Pierce, Dennis Silva, Aaron Shealer. Heat 2-Mark Allison, Jeremy Richey, Gary Morris, Brian Pearce, Jesse Williamson. Heat 3-Ron Possinger Jr, Mark Wauge, Scott Dorie, Sonny Sayre, Clyde White. Heat 4-Andy Claiborne, Dustin Jenks, Rich McCoy, Jon DeBenedetti, Josh Muller. Heat 5-Ron Jones, Dwayne Hornbaker, Dave Duste Jr, Brian Cass, Craig Moore. Heat 6-Markey James, Ryan McDaniel, Justin Holt, Anthony Madrid, Leroy Lawhead. Heat 7-Shealer, Silva, Cleveland, Pierce, Jon Swiglo. Heat 8-Allison, Weldon, Richey, Glenn Vincent, Williamson. Heat 9-Possinger, Curt White, Wauge, Scott Dorie, Jerry Severson. Heat 10-DeBenedetti, Jenks, Muller, McCoy, Don Shelton. Heat 11-Jones, Kellen Chadwick, Don Jenner, Cass, Duste. Heat 12-Ryan McDaniel, Chris Sayler, Skipper Klimcheck, Lawhead, Madrid. D Main-Curt White, Dan Fox, James Wolfard, Tom O'Gorman, Cliff Massey. C Main-Moore, McCoy, James, Gary Morris, Kenny Miller, Chris Asche, Shelton, Fox, Roy Olson, Greg Greer, Larry Benson. B Main-Cass, Severson, Madrid, Williamson, Lawhead, Richey, Scott Miller, Randy McDaniel, Claiborne, Bruce Rayburn Jr, Klimcheck, Pearce, Holt, Moore, Hornbaker. A Main-Jones, DeBenedetti, Possinger, Williamson, Jenks, Wauge, Sayler, Jenner, Scott Dorie, Cass, Cleveland, Madrid, Severson, Chadwick, Ryan McDaniel, Silva, Weldon, Muller, Vincent, Gary Lee Morris, Shealer, Allison.

InsideGroove Latest Reports | InsideGroove Archives
About InsideGroove