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Press Release
Santa Maria, CA - September 8, 2007...Century 21 Hometown Realty Bandit Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Factory Stocks and Mini Stocks were in action Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway for the 13th Annual Firefighter's Nights.
*It was erroneously reported last week that Visalia's Jesse Mack needed just 16 points to clinch the 2007 Bandit Sprint Car championship at Santa Maria Speedway. That report failed to take into account the fact that local Bandit cars receive local points as-well-as Grand Slam points for the Bandit/VRA Grand Slam event October 13 at Santa Maria Speedway, and the Grand Slam finale October 27 at Ventura Raceway.
*Atascadero's Greg Porte captured his first Bandit Sprint Car feature victory in two years Saturday night, just holding off the "Mack Attack" for the win. Mack's second place finish in the 25-lap event changed his magic number to 83. That's the number of points Mack needs to take the championship, with three races left. Second in points Jimmy Thompson, of Grover Beach, helped his cause Saturday night with a fifth place finish in the feature behind Jason May, of Taft, and Albert Pombo, of Easton, who were third and fourth respectively. May set fast time of 14.523 seconds and Mack and Thompson won the 8-lap heat races.
*With IMCA holding their Nationals in Iowa last week, local Modifieds were on the schedule in a non-points event. Their points battle will resume next Saturday night. With no points on the line the Modifieds were treated to a 30-lap main event, as opposed to their customary 25-lap run, with the win going to Coalinga's Rich Denman, his second of the season. Ojai's Randy McGraw finished second, followed by Santa Maria's Danny Lauer and Tim Breshears and Arroyo Grande's Chad Weber. The 8-lap heat races were won by Denman, Lauer and Jacob Jones of Santa Maria.
*The 20-lap Factory Stock main was marred by three disqualifications from the top-five finishers and a nasty crash that caused the event to be shortened to 18 laps for the second week in-a-row. The wreck took place when Santa Maria's Michael Frazier and Arroyo Grande's Danny Sutton got together coming out of turn two. The contact forced Sutton up and onto the back chute wall, hitting so hard that a chunk of concrete was ripped from the three foot high crash wall. Sutton was awake and alert when taken from his car but was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. Dave Thompson won the event, his seventh of the season, moving him up to second in points behind fellow Santa Maria driver Kirk Morgan who came home fifth. Second through fourth were taken by Nipomo's Tim Correia, Chris Graham, of Grover Beach, and Atascadero's Mike Leland.
*Justin Crockett began the Mini Stock race Saturday night separated by 7 points from point leader Ken Kehs. When the night ended the gap between the two Arroyo Grande drivers was still 7 points, but now it's Crockett first and Kehs second. Crockett won the 20-lap main event and Kehs placed ninth. Second through fifth were: Pat Fausel, Santa Maria; Ben Caswell, Santa Barbara; R.J. Shoemaker, San Miguel; and, Greg Noah, Arroyo Grande. Fausel and Bill Jewell, of Santa Maria, captured 8-lap heat races. Mini Stocks also had disqualifications in their feature event with two drivers out of the top-five being DQed. All of the disqualifications on the night were for failing a vacuum test.
* Next Saturday night the 30th Annual Bill Baker Memorial will be held, featuring Late Model Stocks, IMCA Modifieds, Fox 11 First at Ten East vs. West Super Streets and Mini Stocks. Admission will be $14.00 for adults, $10.00 for seniors (65+), $3.00 for children 6 to 12, 5 and under free. The Speedway is located 1/4-mile north of the 101/166 interchange, on Hutton Road.
RACE SUMMARIES:
Bandit Sprint Cars: Fast Time - Jason May, 14.523. Heat 1 - Jimmy Thompson, May, Greg Porte, Ryan Guy, Gordy Edwards, Jr. Heat 2 - Jesse Mack, Albert Pombo, Bill Jones, Joey Layman, Mike Larsen. Main Event - Porte, Mack, May, Pombo, Thompson, Jones, Layman, Baker, Guy, Larsen, Edwards.
IMCA Modifieds: Heat 1 - Rich Denman, Ron Wiley, Junior Dawson, Joey Claborn, Greg Mancebo, Lonnie Lacy, Kenny Rayner. Heat 2 - Jacob Jones, Randy McGraw, Tim Breshears, Doug Thornton, Kenny Kirkpatrick, Joe Weaver, Shane Jones. Heat 3 - Danny Lauer, Josh Vogt, Chris McKellar, Paul Terrones, Chad Weber, Chris Ennis. Main Event - Denman, McGraw, Lauer, Breshears, Weber, Wiley, Weaver, Vogt, Terrones, Thornton, S. Jones, Ennis, Lacy, McKellar, Rayner, Dawson, Claborn, J. Jones, Kirkpatrick, Mancebo.
Factory Stocks: Heat 1 - Dave Thompson, Glen Sparks, Mike Leland, Brian Collier, Rich Prettie, Bill Spratlin, Ray Pezzi (DQ). Heat 2 - Danny Sutton, Michael Frazier, Pete Lethcoe, Dale Sylvester, John Acosta, Kevin Linson, Tim Bennett (DQ). Heat 3 - Chris Graham, Tim Correia, Kirk Morgan, Jim Ford, Theo Van De Sande, Bill Pinette, Doyle Graham, Jr. (DQ). Main Event - Thompson, Correia, C. Graham, Leland, Morgan, Ford, Van De Sande, Linson, Sylvester, Lethcoe, Prettie, Frazier, Sutton, Acosta, Collier, Pinette, Spratlin, Sparks, Pezzi (DQ), Bennett (DQ), D. Graham (DQ).
Mini Stocks: Heat 1 - Pat Fausel, Ben Caswell, Mike Weigel, Ken Kehs, Greg Noah, Phillip Sewell, R.J. Shoemaker, Justin Marsh (DQ). Heat 2 - Bill Jewell, Chris Larsen, Justin Crockett, Aaron Cervantes, Daylan Coffey, Robby Cervantes, Jeff Biggs, Matt Sweeney (DQ). Main Event - Crockett, Fausel, Caswell, Shoemaker, Noah, Biggs, R. Cervantes, Coffey, Kehs, Sewell, Weigel, Jewell, Larsen, A. Cervantes, Sweeney (DQ), Marsh (DQ).
POINT STANDINGS:
Bandit Sprint Cars - 1. Jesse Mack, 531 2. Jimmy Thompson, 457 3. Joey Layman, 422 4. Greg Porte, 394 5. Bill Jones, 382.
Factory Stocks - 1. Kirk Morgan, 525 2. Dave Thompson, 499 3. Kevin Linson, 496 4. Tom Renner, 473 5. Michael Frazier, 460.
Mini Stocks - 1. Justin Crockett, 591 2. Ken Kehs, 584 3. Justin Marsh, 499 4. Mike Weigel, 483 5. Matt Sweeney, 475.
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