Texana Raceway Park
opener/Aaron Hudgeons Benefit, 3/28/09
By J M Hallas
Edna, Tx., (March 28th, 2009) Texana Raceway Park kicked off it's 2009 racing
with a salute to last year's track champions and a big benefit race for veteran
south Texas racer, Aaron Hudgeons, from Cuero, who has battled cancer over the
off season. Last year's titlists, rookies and favorites were honored on the
front stretch, followed by a parade lap, lead by
Hudgeons around the ¼ mile semi-banked, paper-clip shaped track.
Hudgeons, as long time area favorite and Limited Modified chassis builder(Rush Chassis) went through surgery and chemotherapy
treatment throughout the winter break. As is the case at many tracks around the
nation, when one of their own is in need, the rest of the extended racing
family rises to the occasion. Hudgeons, whose therapy finishes up in the coming
weeks, felt good enough to jump into the Texana Limited Modified, house car.
Track owner/promoter Bruce Tesch was first to put $500 in the pot at the
drivers meeting, with other drivers and crew donating to the cause. Corpus
racer, Bill Pittaway pitched in a few hundred pounds of shrimp with sales of
dinner plates going to Hudgeons. The Hudgeons family raffled and sold items,
with drivers passing the helmet through the crowd as well. By nights end, over
$5,000 was collected to help the Hudgeons family defer medical costs.
White "dusts" the Modified field
To say that
If the Limited was any indication, the word 'probable' came to mind. White
jumped out to a big lead at the drop of the green, sliced his way through
lapped traffic, taking the victory by a comfortable margin over the 22-car
field.
White and Jeff Mueller stayed wheel to wheel up until turn 3 were White gained
the advantage. In the pack it was three and almost four wide for position. As
the top three sorted out Hudgeons and Shane Hoefling ran side by side for
fourth. Hudgeons then fell into the clutches of Dustin Butcher who got along
side on lap 4 for sixth, while Brad Ball and Micky Helms ran side by side for
eighth.
White was increasing his lead on Mueller, who was now being chased down by JJ
Jennings on lap 7. White had just caught slower traffic on lap 8 when Randy
Bridges spun to bring out the caution. On the restart White got a good jump,
while
At the crossed flags it was White, with a healthy lead,
Limited Modifieds
216 Paul White
43 Jeff Mueller
26g J J Jennings
90x Dustin Butcher
175 Mickey Helms
66 Hunt Harrison
90 Barry Moody
33 Jason Zarbock
00x Dustin Brandl
10D Don Painter
47 James Myers
88 Mark McGahey
37 Bill Pittaway
46 Randy Bridges
888 Aaron Lunsford
36 Cody Hildebrandt
69 Aaron Hudgeons
42 Ricky Konvicka
63 Shane Hoefling
78 Brad Ball
89 Doug Livingston
121 EJ Gilpin--DNS
21 Victor Lindsey---DQ
Limited Modified heat winners, 216 Paul White, 43 Jeff Mueller, 26g J J
Jennings
White whips 'em one more time
In the Modified 20-lap main event White took the lead from the pole and led
every lap capping off the third straight 'Daily Double.' The win didn't come
easy as he first had to fend off
As green waved on the 20-car Modified field, White from the pole was first into
turn 1, with Willis getting by Jesse Manning for second, and Greg Dinsmore
falling in line fourth. Manning would spin on lap 1, with Dinsmore and
Whiteaker barely missing him as the yellow waved. Bill Pittaway and Perry
Johnson tangled in the back up. Once back to green Dinsmore had his ride die
and spin in turn 3 after the wire fell off the MSD box.
On the restart, Willis tried the high side to get by White, while Whiteaker
took the low line trying to get second. White, Willis and Whiteaker began to
put some distance on Ben Ketteman and Lawrence Mikulencak as they battled for
fourth. Mikulencak took a side trip through the infield losing a couple spots
to defending track champ, Nick Hardcastle and Mike McCarthy.
Mikulencak fought back retaking sixth from Hardcastle on lap 7 and was along
side McCarthy for fifth. Ketteman looped it in turn 1 wth Mikulencak and
Hardcastle sliding to a halt on lap 9. White eased away from Willis when green
waved again and at halfway it was White, Willis, Whiteaker, Mikulencak and
Hardcastle, who had gotten their spots back. Johnson, Pittaway and Josh Majek
got together on lap 10 to bring the yellow out.
When the race resumed, Whiteaker began putting pressure on Willis for second.
After running side by side for three laps, youth and exuberance beat out old
age and experience, as Whiteaker got the spot. Mikulencak brought out the final
caution when spun from fourth on lap 16 erasing the lead that White had built.
On the restart, Hardcastle got sideways with McCarthy getting a piece of the
action, and Danny Brown sneaking by both for fourth. Whiteaker kept the
pressure on White, who finally got a slight lead of three car lengths as the
white flag waved. At the checkers it was White in the Bridwell Motorsports,
Motors by Adan, Dust Devil Chassis taking the second win of the night.
Modifieds
2W Paul White
88 Steve Whiteaker jr.
E Howard Willis
55 Danny Brown
94 Nick Hardcastle
20 Mike McCarthy
51 Benny Perry
26 Darin Leonard
82 Josh Majek
371 Ben Ketteman
122 Perry Johnson
87 Lawrence Mikulencak
66 Johnny Torres
37 Bill Pittaway
76 Jesse Manning
155 Vince Kacir
44 Markus Berndt
8g Greg Dinsmore
Modified heat winners, 2w Paul White, 76 Jesse Manning, E Howard Willis
Justin Bloom got the big jump at the start of the 20-lap Hot Stock Truck
feature, with Russel Bloom getting by Bob Ort for second. Lary
Hot Stock Truck
84 Justin Bloom
8 Lary Paris
55 Russell Bloom
13 Gregory Turner
15 Gordon Boehm
39 Nathan Kildair
43 Bob Ort
24 John Lieta---DNS
Heat winner, 24 John Lieta
Chris Shafer beat Janet Perks into turn 1 for the lead of the 20-lap Bomber
feature, with Monty Chamberlain second, Perks, David McBride and Brian King
falling line. Chamberlain spun on his own from second on lap
1, but kept going to avoid a caution. Gary Wright and James Hoss had
separate spins on lap 3 to bring a yellow, giving Chamberlain the chance to
catch back up to the field. Shafer got a good jump on green with Nick Moore,
McBride and King three wide for third.
King emerged from that scrap with the spot and moved past Perks on lap 5 for
second. Perks lost several more spots near halfway when she got sideways and
got passed by McBride, Randy Kacir and Chamberlain working his way back up.
Shafer and King began to check out, while Chamberlain got around McBride for
third. McBride and Kacir then battled for fourth in the final laps. At the
checkers it was Shafer with comfortable margin taking the win over King.
Bombers
77 Chris Shafer
31 Brian King
55 Monty Chamberlain
36 Randy Kacir
26 David McBride
12 Janet Perks
76 Gary Wright
81 Aaron Ivory
71 Nic Priem
1 Nick Moore
58 James Hoss
63 Chase Sanchez
Bomber heat winners, 12 Janet Perks, 77 Chris Shafer
On the start of the Jr. Mini Stock 12-lap feature, Jason Bloom and Zack Tesch
stayed side by side into turn 1. Hunter Lisano got turned the wrong way and was
drilled head-on by Roger Churan. Both youngsters were alright, but done for the
night. Bloom got a good jump on the next start for the lead on lap 1. Justin
Sickle and Stanley Kraly hooked bumpers on lap 1 sending Sickle around for a
quick caution.
Once back to racing, Kraly wasted little time working his way up to challenge
Bloom for the lead. Kraly got the top spot on lap 4 and was beginning to pull
away until he ended up on the infield berm between turns 1-2. This handed the
lead back to Bloom on lap 8. Bloom, Lauren Chamberlain and Tesch pulled away on
the restart. In the final laps Bloom put some distance on Chamberlain and
Tesch, while Ashley Perks and Sickle swapped fourth. Bloom completed the
heat/feature sweep taking the checkers by several car lengths over Chamberlain.
Jr. Mini Stock
49 Jason Bloom
55 Lauren Chamberlain
72 Zack Tesch
12 Ashley Perks
03 Justin Sickle
22 Patricia Lucas
14k Stanley Kraly
7 Hunter Lisano
14 Roger Churan
Jr Mini Stock heat winner, 49 Jason Bloom
On the first start for the Texana Classic Dwarf Cars Dave Tedford got the jump
on Gary Faris going into turn 1, but Douglas Schmidt spun and collected Brice
Baros to bring out the caution. Tedford repeated the feat on the next start,
but Willy Veach got by in turns 3-4 to lead lap 1. W. Veach drifted too high on
lap 1, allowing Tedford to retake the point on lap 2 followed by Faris. Buck
McFarlin then got by Veach on lap 3 for third. McFarlin and Veach both took a
spot from Faris on lap 4.
Yellow waved on lap 6 for a spin by Brian Breaux in turn 2. In wasn't long
after the restart that John Armstrong found himself looking at the turn 3 wall. When green waved again, W. Veach used the high side to
get the lead from Cline on lap 8. After a series on spins on consecutive laps,
Frank Fruia had worked his way up to fourth. In the final laps Cline made one
last charge on W. Veach who held on for the victory.
Texana Classic Dwarf Cars
41 Willy Veach
19 Andrew Cline
65 Buck McFarlin
3x Frank Fruia
25t Dave Tedford
01s Joseph Snow
24 Victor Vargas
13 Mike Christians
54 Gary Hansen
30 Ronny Fikes
36 Greg Sexton
1 Brad Wright
2ez Easy Casey
82 Brandon Dorsey
7 Steven Gilbert
55 Bryan Heady
97 Brian Breaux
99 Brice Baros
4 Karl Veach
15 Gary Faris
21 John Armstrong
8 Donnie Hunt
79 Douglas Schmidt
12 Robert Smith
Dwarf heat winners, 19 Andrew Cline, 65 Buck McFarlin, 25t Dave Tedford