Texana Raceway Park
April 11, 2009
On an Easter Saturday that held the threat of rain all day and with family plans in high gear, the car count at Texana Raceway Park was down, but the fan count held well. With recently implemented electronic devices for the drivers to assist on line-ups and a smaller field of competitors, the raceway would see likely the earliest completion time in the history of the track. Track ownwer Bruce Tesch announced during the drivers meeting that the program would be ran through without an intermission so everyone could get away early in preparation for Easter Sunday activities. As it turned out, all feature races were completed by 10:30 pm.
The first group up for feature events were the Teen Mini Stocks. As the green flag dropped, it was Justin Bloom to the early lead, but Bloom got loose coming into turn 1, which held up Bloom, Zach Tesch and Lauren Chamberlain. Seizing the opportunity, rookie driver Justin Sickle grabbed the lead and held it to lap 3. Chamberlain took the lead on lap 3. Meanwhile, Tesch and Bloom were working their way back up thru the field. Chamberlain held the lead until lap 9 where Tesch then took the lead and shortly after, Bloom followed, and claimed the lead. At this point, it was Bloom, Tesch, Chamberlain and Sickle. Near lap 14, Tesch and Chamberlain spun in turn 1&2 in unrelated events, and both were charged with the caution. With Bloom in the lead, this placed Sickle in 2nd, and Patricia Lucas in 3rd, with Sarah Konvicka and Ashley Perks after and Chamberlain and Tesch on the tail of the field. When the green dropped Bloom separated from the field and Chamberlain and Tesch began working up thru traffic for the four laps remaining. With one lap to go, Tesch had worked back up to 2nd and Chamberlain back up to 3rd, and it remained that way to the checker.
Mini Stocks
49 Jason Bloom
72 Zach Tesch
55 Lauren Chamberlain
03 Justin Sickle
22 Patricia Lucas
24 Sarah Konvicka
12 Ashley Perks
14 Roger Churan (dns)
The real
excitement of side by side racing and clean driving was demonstrated up front
in the Texana Classic Dwarfs feature event. Andrew Cline and previous feature
winner Willie Veach put on an excellent text book racing demonstration. Cline
took the early lead with Veach almost glued to Cline’s rear bumper. Not far
behind was Mike Christians in his new ride moving up in 3rd place.
Veach looked low several times but Cline was able to hold the line. After a
few cautions, the race up front would come down to a few remaining laps with Veach
moving up to the outside line to eventually pull off a pass on Cline. It
looked as though that was the move Veach needed to secure a win, but as they
say “it ain’t over til it’s over”. Cline regrouped, continued to drive the low
line while Veach stayed with what worked on the pass and it would be all the
way to the end of the line with a drag race coming out of turn four to the
checkers. Had it not been for transponders, it might have been a photo
finish. Cline pulled off the win in what will rank as one of the best Classic
Dwarf races ever with a good size field of cars in the group.
Classic Dwarfs
19 Andrew Cline
41 Willie Veach
1 Brad Wright
24 Victor Vargas
7 Steven Gilbert
36 Greg Sexton Sr.
65 Buck McFarland
01 Joseph Snow
4 Karl Veach
15 Gary Faris
79 Doug Schmidt
13 Mike Christians
54 Gary Hanson
12 Robert Smith
82 Brandon Dorsey
8 Donnie Hunt
2ez Easy Casey
97 Brian Breaux
99 Brice Baros
55 Bryan Heavy
Heading into the Bomber Feature, Nic Priem was on the pole having secured the heat race win. When the green dropped, Priem moved to the lead with Chris Shafer in hot pursuit. Priem and Shafer started pulling away from the group, but Brian King was moving ahead quickly and tagged on with the front two. Meanwhile, having not finished the heat race, Janet Perks was working her way through the field, having started on the tail, and moved herself up to 4th. As the feature event progressed, Shafer looked for any opening possible to make a pass on Priem. At one point Shafer worked on the outside line and pulled a pass on Priem, only to find Priem work his way back on the inside and regain the lead. At the wrap up it was Priem with the win having carried a smooth and consistent line throughout the event.
Bombers
71 Nic Priem
77 Chris Shafer
31 Brian King
12 Janet Perks
36 Randy Kacir
81 Aaron Ivory
88 Sandra Hudgeons
26 David McBride
76 Gary Wright
In the Super
Stock division, local driver G W Hessong had experienced a string of bad luck
with motors over the last month. A change of pace was needed for this young
driver. And on this night, a change of luck was just exactly what the doctor
ordered. In the early portions of the feature, AJ Dancer took the lead and
Hessong was steadily moving up and gaining on Dancer. Late in the race, Dancer
experienced a cracked valve cover gasket which caused for heavy oil loss and
smoke from the rear of the car. Dancer would exit before the completion of the
feature, which placed Hessong in the lead. Hessong never looked back and
carried it all the way to the finish to score a win on the first night of
competition for the super stocks.
Super Stocks
47 G W Hessong
26 Eric Floyd
70 Mike Davenport
52 AJ Dancer
5 Scott Stubbs
66 Jose Moran Jr.
To think
that a driver could win two features in separate classes in one night is what some
would call luck, but to do it on four separate nights inside of one month is
what most would call skill and pretty incredible. Four weeks ago, Temple’s Paul White won the limited modifieds and modifieds on a Friday night race in Houston. The next night he backed that up in Baytown with yet another double. The next
week on March 28th at Texana Raceway Park’s opening night, White
came out and scored a double yet again. Last week in Houston, White didn’t
continue that streak, but on Saturday the 11th, White came to Texana
to get the groove back on. White led the limited modified field as the pole
sitter in the feature with Shane Hoefling on his outside. White took the early
lead and Hoefling gave it all he had to give chase, never letting White get
very far away during the entire feature. Vince Louden and Mickey Helms ran
close together and side by side for a few laps. In the end it would be White
followed by Hoefling, Louden and Helms.
Limited Modifieds
216 Paul White
63 Shane Hoefling
6 Vince Louden
175 Mickey Helms
00 Derrick Flora
888 Aaron Lunsford
4 Luke Cantu
00x Shawn Tumlinson
66 Hunt Harrison
As noted
earlier, White was interested in getting back in the groove of scoring a
double. In the modifieds, White took the early lead. Sinton’s Darin Leonard
was hooked up giving it all he had to chase White down. Moving up nicely
through the field was Port Lavaca’s Vince Kacir would complete the event with a
3rd placed finish. White would take the checkers to complete the double
and Leonard would wrap up in 2nd.
Modifieds
2w Paul
White
26 Darin Leonard
155 Vince Kacir
174 Max Helms
54 Gary Hanson
96 Foster Ellison III
76 Jesse Manning