South Texas Modified Championship Series, Round 2, @ Texana Raceway Park 6/20/09

By J M Hallas

Edna, Tx., For the second race of the South Texas Modified Championship Series, drivers had to contend with the tricky 1/4 mile semi-banked paper-clip shaped track in Edna. After the first series race at Corpus' South Texas Speedway, Danny Brown led the Modified points chasers into the night's action at Texana Raceway Park.

Due to some issues on differing tires, only the Modifieds were competing for series points, though the limited Modifieds had an addition increase in purse. Both the Modified classes would be running for $1,000 to win. The local Super Stocks, Hot Stock Trucks, Bombers and Mini Stocks were also scheduled for action.

White Double Dips Again

Earlier in the season Temple's Paul White held a stranglehold almost wherever he raced. White, the former USAC Silver Crown Champion, scored double feature wins at Battleground Speedway, Houston Raceway Park and dominated Texana Raceway Park to the point that track owner, Bruce Tesch put a bounty out on him in both the Modified and Limited Modified classes. The bounties brought out stiff competition and were both finally claimed.

White, who didn't race in round one of the STMCS, flexed his muscle once again taking a double dip win, though neither came easy.

In the Limited Modifieds White chased race-long leader Shane Hoefling until the final lap when he snuck by on the high side, leading the last ten feet and winning by about three feet.

White, who lead wire to wire in the Modified feature, was challenged throughout the event by Steve Whiteaker jr. who was still riding his high after scoring his first USMTS victory the previous week. This time White hugged the bottom, while Whiteaker kept trying to charge by up top. Whiteaker got along side White after a late race restart, but the veteran was able to hold off the young gun for the win.

As the 17-car, (scheduled)20-lap Modified A-main roared to life, the two heat winners charged towards turn 1, with White getting in first. Whiteaker held second, with series points leader Danny Brown, Dale Flanagan and Lawrence Mikulencak filling out the top five. Art Rodriguez saw his night end early when he expired a motor on lap 2. Vince Kacir, who had nowhere to go, tagged A. Rodriguez before spinning in turn 2.

On the restart, Whiteaker tried the high side, but White held steady on the bottom while Mikulencak got fourth from Flanagan. Mikulencak was just looking under Brown for third when Wesley Anderson spun in turn 3 to bring out the yellow. Once back to green, Whiteaker chose the top again and would get along side White in the corners. White would power off the corners better on the bottom to hold the lead.

As the battle up front calmed, Jesse Manning was pressuring Flanagan for fifth. James Jennings brought out a yellow on lap 8 when he spun in turn 2. Whiteaker again jumped up top on the restart, but White continued to pull him off the bottom. Coming to the crossed flags it was White, Whiteaker, Brown, Mikulencak and Flanagan, who was still being hounded by Manning. Whiteaker tried changing his line trying to run with White on the bottom, but after losing a little ground went back up top.

Chris Carroll and Foster Ellison had separate spins in turns 1 and 2 to bing out the yellow on lap 14. Whiteaker tried the high side power move one more time to no avail as White held the point. Jeremy Davenport and Jason Borlace spun on lap 16 bringing out a yellow. After one aborted attempt at green, Carroll spun on the next restart.

This gave Whiteaker one final shot at White for the win. Whiteaker sailed it into turn 1 on the top and got along side White. White again was able to find bite on the bottom and inch out from Whiteaker coming out of turn 2. Whiteaker tried to drive it in harder in turn 3, but White still held the point. As the white flag waved, White was still cat-fishing the low side, with Whiteaker high. At the checkers it was White by a car length in the Bridwell Motorsports, Engines by Adan & Jeff, Dust Devil chassis taking the victory.

Brown's third place finish was enough for him to hang on to the series points lead. Mikulencak took over second from Manning, with Whiteaker, unofficially taking over fourth in points.

“I could hear him(Steve Whiteaker) out there and saw him the turns a couple times.” commented White. “But I really didn't feel that it made any difference as long as I didn't mess up on my entrance and getting through the middle. As long as I hit my spots there was no way, no matter who it was, anyone was going to pass me.”

“After the bigger motors got on the track it polished the off on top. I felt after I came in from the Limited Modified feature that we needed to put all the bite in it we could to get it off the turns and not worry about blasting around the top. I didn't think anybody had anything for me if I didn't mess up on the bottom. That's just what we elected to go with and it paid off.”

“When we had those cautions, and we had a few tonight, I'd try to buzz it on the top. Since there was a little up there with my Limited, I thought that's how he was making it work. I felt that if I didn't miss my marks, here was rally no way he as going to pass me up there.”

“I think Bruce(Tesch) needs to pay me the extra money on this bounty deal. That bounty thing kind of marks you, but it's a lot of fun. I think it brought some more cars and made everyone try a little harder. It made it exciting for everybody.”

Modifieds

2w Paul White

89 Steve Whiteaker jr.

55 Danny Brown

87 Lawrence Mikulencak

57 Dale Flanagan

82 Josh Majek

76 Jesse Manning

174 Max Helms

96 Foster Ellison

125 Jason Borlace

95 Jeremy Davenport

12 Rolie Rodriguez

15 Chris Carroll

55x Wesley Anderson

16 James Jennings

22 Art Rodriguez

155 Vince Kacir

Modified heat winners, 2W Paul White, 89 Steve Whiteaker jr

Polesitter Victor Lindsey beat Hoefling into turn 1 at the start of the 15-car, 20-lap Limited Modified main. Lindsey slipped up in turn 2 with Hoefling getting by to lead lap 1, and White getting past Lindsey for second. White had just gotten along side Hoefling when Lindsey bounced off Bill Pittaway and spun collecting Mickey Helms. On he restart the top three got away clean, but Helms was quickly on Pittaway challenging for third, taking the spot on lap 4.

White was turning up the heat on Hoefling on lap 6, while Vince Louden got past Pittaway for fourth. White tried the high side of Hoefling and got to the door post, but Hoefling held on. White continued to work the top but Hoefling held tough on the low side. White then changed his line and stuck the nose under Hoefling coming out of turn 2. Hoefling squeezed him off and White went back to the top.

White was able to sneak the nose by on lap 9, but Hoefling quickly reestablished the position coming to halfway with the lead back. White, Helms, Louden and Pittaway rounded out the top five. Kevin Parker spun on lap 10 almost catching up White, but all continued on without caution. The lead duo caught traffic on lap 11, giving Hoefling the edge by three car lengths.

By lap 15, Hoefling was inching ahead even further holding a five-car advantage. The cagey veteran White was just cooling the tires and began his late race charge. With two to go, White had cut the lead in half and as the white flag waved, White made his move. White dove hard into turn 1 on the bottom getting to Hoefling's bumper.

White then went up top in turns 3-4 with the two coming out wheel to wheel. White got the bumper out front with ten feet to go, eking out the hard earned win by about three feet in the Bridwell Motorsports, Engines by Adan & Jeff, Dust Devil chassis. Lost in the action up front was Derrick Flora working his way from dead last to fifth at the checkers.

“I tried that move a couple of times earlier,” replied White. “When I got the right run on him we were in lapped traffic and that messed it up. I set that up a whole lap before and made sure I had all the ground to make it up. I got up under him a little and he blocked me down so I went outside as quick as I could to have a nice entry into turn 3. That's really what made it work. It gave me enough momentum to get through the middle.”

I watched him a bit running back there and he slipped a couple times. The right rear kept stepping out on him. I thought if I sat back a little, cooled my tires I could get back up there at the end.”

“It was driver error,” exclaimed Hoefling. “When Paul White is on your tail, you don't make a driver error. I slipped up a little bit and he got around me on the top side. I knew he was there. I saw him in turns 1-2 on the last lap and again in turns 3-4.”

“As for the tire issue, I'll run whatever they let me run. I think we should just have one tire. It doesn't matter which one. Personally I like the American Racer's because they're about $60 a set cheaper. I race at several different tracks, and try to make the USMTS Limited Modified races if they're close. I race to have fun, because I enjoy it.”

Limited Modifieds

216 Paul White

63 Shane Hoefling

175 Mickey Helms

6 Vince Louden

00 Derrick Flora

37 Bill Pittaway

34 Michael Walker

27 Johnny Lewellan

888 Aaron Lunsford

10D Don Painter

15 Andy Van Blarcum

04 Jacob Burnett

7K Kevin Parker

47m Ruben Montez

21 Victor Lindsey

Limited Modified heat winners, 21 Victor Lindsay, 63 Shane Hoefling

The Super Stock feature was for the most past over at the drop of the green when Randy Stephenson got out front. Sonny Hammond then battled his way past GW Hessong for second. Up front Stephenson was able to pull away as the four car field strung out. Lucky Gilbert, wasn't so lucky as his car trouble and fell out. Stephenson cruised on for the relatively easy victory.

Super Stocks

83 Randy Stephenson

67 Sonny Hammond

47 GW Hessong

36 Lucky Gilbert

70 Mike Davenport---DNS

Super Stock heat winner, 83 Randy Stephenson

Perennial favorite, Bob Ort got the early lead of the Hot Stock Truck feature, while Russell Bloom tried to push Greg Turner forward. Justin Bloom took advantage of that battle sneaking by both to second. Ort slid too high on lap 3 giving J. Bloom a look down low, cutting in front of R. Bloom. The top three pulled way from Gordon Boehm who held a big advantage over Lary Paris and Turner.

J. Bloom kept the pressure on Ort until he got loose off turn four falling back to R. Bloom. A spin by Paris on lap 8 rebunched the field an erased Ort's margin. R. Bloom got a good run on the the outside getting the lead on lap 11, but Ort battled back with the two side by side until R. Bloom spun in turn 2 loosing spots to J. Bloom, Turner and Paris.

Ort now held a good margin over Turner, Paris and J. Bloom, with J. Bloom retaking third on lap 13. J. Bloom then began to fight with Turner for second while R. Bloom worked his way back to fifth getting around Boehm. As J. Bloom and Turner battled Ort ran off to win by a huge margin.

Hot Stock Trucks

43 Bob Ort

13 Greg Turner

84 Justin Bloom

8 Lary Paris

55 Russell Bloom

15 Gordon Boehm

39 Nathan Kildair

Hot Stock Truck heat winner, 43 Bob Ort

Brian King beat Chris Shafer to turn 1 for lead of the 20-lap Bomber feature. Shafer fell in line second with Nic Priem, David McBride and Randy Kacir in tow. Shafer wasted little time asserting himself getting the top spot on lap 3, with Priem trying to follow through. Jason Fox brought out the yellow on lap 5 with a spin and a flat in urn 2. Back to green, King and Priem were door to door for second, while Adam Perks got by Janet Perks and Kacir for fifth, after starting at the back.

Kacir and J. Perks made contact on lap 6 out of turn 2, then again in turn 4 before J. Perks spun with a flat, just as King was looking inside Shafer for the lead. Shafer got away clean on he restart, leaving King and Priem side by side again for second. After trying high, Priem then looked on bottom, but King held him off. The top three finally sorted out and it looked like Shafer would easily take the win. But nothing is ever easy in racing. On the final lap Shafer lost a tire/wheel in turns 3-4 but he had enough power and a large enough gap to limp across the line for the win on three wheels.

Bombers

77 Chris Shafer

31 Brian King

71 Nic Priem

33 Adam Perks

76 Gary Wright

58 James Hoss

81 Aaron Ivory

26 David McBride

36 Randy Kacir

12 Janet Perks

21x Jason Fox

01 GW Hessong

Bomber heat winners, 31 Brian King, 77 Chris Shafer

Jason Bloom and Zack Tesch put on a show throughout the Mini Stock feature as the duo swapped the lead from flag to flag. Tesch got the jump on green, but Bloom got back along side on lap 1. Bloom was able to lead back to the line on lap 2, when Ashley Perks and Garrett Hayes tangled with the front stretch wall. On the restart Travis Manning spun and collected Sarah Konvicka. Once back under green, Lauren Chamberlain got past Chase Sanchez for third, while Manning and Roger Churan made contact sending Churan bouncing off the back stretch wall.

Up front Tesch got back by Bloom to lead lap 4, with Chamberlain and Sanchez getting together, but Sanchez backed off allowing Chamberlain to continue. Bloom then got outside Tesch wrestling the lead back on lap 7. Tesch battled back retaking the point on lap 8. Churan spun on lap 8 in turn 4 slowing the action. Tesch got away on the restart, but Bloom quickly ran him back down. Coming to the white flag Tesch got loose coming off turn 4, giving Bloom the opening to get back to the lead on lap 11. Tesch's troubles continued with Chamberlain getting second as Bloom was taking the checkers.

Mini Stock

49 Jason Bloom

55 Lauren Chamberlain

72 Zack Tesch

63 Chase Sanchez

76 Travis Manning

14 Roger Churan

12 Ashley Perks

24 Sarah Konvicka

9 Garrett Hayes

Mini Stock heat winner, 49 Jason Bloom