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Texana Raceway Park, 5/17/08
By J M Hallas
Edna, Tx., (May 17th, 2008) Another night of racing on the 1/4 mile, black
gumbo paper clip track, with Modifieds, Limited Modifieds, Hot Stock Trucks,
Bombers, Texana Classic Dwarf Cars and Jr. Mini Stocks, with 87 competitors
signing in for the nights action. Included in the activities for the evening,
were kids foot races during intermission.
Flanagan Fastest for Modified Main Win
Corpus Christi driver Dale Flanagan proved patience and persistence pays
off in the end. Flanagan worked his way up to second, stalked race leader
Nick Hardcastle, and jumped on an opening in the final laps to snag the
victory.
The start of the 17-car, 20-lap Modified main event saw the front row of John
Armstrong and Jesse Manning stay side by side, with lots of rubbing and
banging going on in the pack. Armstrong got the point on lap 1, while Manning
spun himself from second in turn 2. Miraculously everyone was able to miss
Manning as he sat in the middle of the track. Once back to green, Armstrong
got away from Hardcastle and Flanagan as they ran wheel to wheel for second.
Hardcastle got a good bite off turn 2 to secure second and get a run on
Armstrong for the lead. Hardcastle got under Armstrong in turn 3 getting the
top spot on lap 3, leaving Armstrong and Flanagan side by side for second. In
the pack a spirited fight was going on between, Stew Savage, Kali Sellier,
Mickey Helms, Vince Kacir for fifth. Tracy Bear and Manning, working his way
back up, joined that battle. Helms had just gotten by Sellier for fifth when
he spun to bring out yellow on lap 8.
Armstrong tried to squeeze Flanagan on the restart, while Lawrence Mikulencak
lurked in fourth waiting for an opening. Kacir would bring out a yellow on
lap 9 when he looped his ride. The restart was clean as the top five of
Hardcastle, Flanagan, Armstrong, Mikulencak and Sellier came to the crossed
flags with Mikulencak looking inside Armstrong for third and Manning taking
sixth from Bear.
Flanagan then began to put the pressure on Hardcastle for the lead. On lap 13
Flanagan looked low out of turn 2, then took a peek high in turn 3. After a
couple of attempts, Hardcastle got a little breathing room on lap 15, but
Flanagan was quickly back on the leader. Hardcastle got a bit too high on lap
16 and Flanagan jumped on the chance getting by for the lead on lap 17. From
there Flanagan inched ahead to a couple car lengths advantage. At the
checkers it was Flanagan in the Flanagan's Muffler Shop, Hughes Chassis
powered by dads motor taking the victory.
“Our car handled great all night long,” said Flanagan. “It never bobbled all
night long. He(Hardcastle) had a little trouble getting it turned, we got a
bite when we needed it. It took off out of turn 2 and moved on past. It was
surprising, usually when someone bobbles, I'm not ready for it or I'll bobble
myself. It worked out right tonight. It was picture perfect.”
“On the last restart he kind of got away from us. I was giving it all I had.
I try too hard a lot of times. So it's a lot of mental racing when it's
slick. You have to make sure you're not spinning those tires. I could tell
when I was doing right, I could gain on him. So I just tried to keep that up
and it worked out overall. I didn't know it would, usually it doesn't, but it
worked out perfect. I hope I can do it again next race. Dry slick set-ups are
hard for me, I like a wet track. You can use a lot of throttle, a lot of
brake, get traction, pitch it sideways and run wide open coming out. It takes
a lot of effort on these dry slick tracks. I think we got it now.”
“We love this track, Bruce(Tesch) is great, treats everybody good as far as
I've ever seen. We looked forward to coming up here as much as we could
anyway. When Corpus(South Texas Speedway) changed their rules this year, it
just made more sense to come here. With all the time and money involved in
changing the car over, we decided we come up here. Everyone here treats us
nice, thanks us for coming and we like that.”
“It took my dad two years to build that motor, and a lot of headaches. He did
a great job. He says he knows it's got to be right, because he rebuilt it
three times on everything he did. He was right, this is the second year on it
already.”
“I think I was using too much rear brake early,” replied runner-up
Hardcastle. “I was using it to get the rear turned in the corners and got
them too hot. I bobbled a little and Dale(Flanagan) got by.”
Modifieds
1. 57 Dale Flanagan
2. 94 Nick Hardcastle
3. 39 John Armstrong
4. 87 Lawrence Mikulencak
5. 4$ Kalif Sellier
6. 76 Jesse Manning
7. 4 Stew Savage
8. 14 Tracy Bear
9. 06 Mickey Helms
10. 44 Marcus Berndt
11. 155 Vince Kacir
12. 41 Justin Majek
13. 37 Brian Spindelman
14. 96 Forester Ellison
15. 85 Jeff Nix
16. 84 Richard Dechert
17. 29 Max Helms
Modified Heat Winners, 39 John Armstrong, 76 Jesse Manning
Hudgeons Has it Dialed in for Limited Modified win.
Veteran competitor and recent car builder, Aaron Hudgeons swept the Limited
Modified class taking both the heat and feature wins. Hudgeons got out front
early, then held off charges by Mickey Helms and Vince Louden to snag the
well earned win.
At the start of the 20 lapper, Hudgeons and Helms stayed wheel to wheel
through turns 1-2, before Hudgeons secured the spot. Hudgeons, Helms and
Louden wasted little time putting distance on Philip Cantu, Brian Brooks and
Aaron Lunsford. Cantu broke something in the rear end and spun in turn 4 to
bring out yellow on lap 4. On the restart, Louden got by Helms for second.
Helms fought back getting along side then finally back by on lap 5 in turns
1-2. Undaunted, Louden wrestled the spot back in turns 3-4.
As the lead trio settled in, Lunsford, Victor Lindsey, Brooks and Kirk Loos
were putting on a show for fourth. Lindsey finally got the spot, with Brooks
and Loos side by side for sixth. At halfway it was Hudgeons, Louden, Helms,
Lindsey and Lunsford in the top five, with Louden on Hudgeons bumper. Louden
got inside Hudgeons and beat him back to the line to lead lap 11, but Hudgeons
retook the top spot on lap 12.
Eric Madden brought out yellow on lap 12 when he tapped the wall in turn 2.
On the restart, Helms crossed over on Louden to grab second, while Brooks got
by Lunsford for fifth. Louden charged back by Helms for second on lap 13, but
Hudgeons had already built a decent lead. Brooks got fourth from Lindsey on
lap 15, as the top three checked out. As the white flag waved, Hudgeons in
the Hudgeons Paint & Body, Ace Transmissions, Pflugerville Engine &
Machine powered Rush Chassis had good gap on Louden and took the win
unchallenged.
“It took a lot patience mainly,” commented Hudgeons. “That yellow near the
end really helped us. Our chassis has a little advantage at this track, the
top three were all our cars. At other tracks sometimes it's better, sometimes
not.”
Hudgeons was pretty hush, hush when asked what his secret was. “I can't say”
he added chuckling. He did admit a few things, “off the record” and state
that if you looked at each of his cars, they are all set up different to suit
each drivers style.
Limited Modifieds
1. 10 Aaron Hudgeons
2. 2 6 Vince Louden
3. 174 Mickey Helm
4. 25 Brian Brooks
5. 21 Victor Lindsey
6. 18 Kirk Loos
7. 888 Aaron Lunsford
8. 16 Eric Madden
9. 3 Philip Cantu
9 David Meredith---DNS
Limited Modified Heat Winner, 10 Aaron Hudgeons
As green waved on the 20-lap Hot Stock Truck feature, Jimmy Rogers was out
front, a place familiar to him. Justin Bloom spun, backed lightly into the
wall and rolled to the infield edge. Caution waved on lap 3 for a spin by
John Leita, giving Bloom the chance to get pushed started. On the restart,
Bob Ort took a look on Rogers, while Darryl Davis, Stephen Wusterhausen and
Gordon Boehm battled for third. Boehm spun from third on lap 5 to bring out a
yellow.
Once back under green, Ort and Davis ran side by side for second, with Davis getting the spot. As the top three separated out and pulled away, Chris Shafer and
Wusterhausen fought it out for fourth. With Rogers getting a comfortable
advantage and looking to take his third checkers in row, Shafer spun in turn
1 to bring out a caution on the final lap. On the restart Ort and Davis traded some paint in turn 1 with Davis spinning. Deemed a “racing deal” by officials
neither was penalized and both held their spots on the restart. Rogers was able to hold both off on the final lap to take another victory.
Hot Stock Trucks
1. 9 Jimmy Rogers
2. 43 Bob Ort
3. 3 Darryl Davis
4. 79 Stephen Wusterhausen
5. 76 Justin Airhart
6. 8 Larry Paris
7. 84 Justin Bloom
8. 38 Chris Shafer
9. 24 John Leita
10. 39 Nathan Kildair
11. 15 Gordon Boehm
12.
13.
Hot Stock Truck Heat Winners, 43 Bob Ort, 9 Jimmy Rogers
Chris Shafer jumped out into the lead of the Bomber feature, while Charlie
Mills and Kassey Champion battled for second. Mills got the spot on lap 4,
but Champion got back by on lap 5. In the pack Randy Kacir and Monty
Chamberlain were three wide getting by a slower car. The lead trio caught
traffic on lap 10, giving Champion a chance to reel in Shafer. Nick Moore
joined that trio and got by Mills for third.
Moore continued to use traffic to his advantage getting by Champion for
second on lap 11. As Moore and Champion fought it out for second and through
slower cars, Moore got turned around bringing out a yellow, that saw Champion
put to the rear. Once back to green, Mills and Moore made contact as they now
slugged it out for second, with Mills getting the spot.
Moore retook second a lap later, with Kacir moving to fourth and
Chamberlain battling with David McBride for fifth. Once securing fifth,
Chamberlain, who started at the tail after heat race problems, moved by Kacir
for fourth but spun himself out in turn 4 loosing all the ground he made up.
When the race went back to green, Moore took a look inside Shafer for the
lead, while Mills tried the high side nearly going three wide for a second.
The trio sorted back out single file with Shafer still holding the point and
hanging on to snare the win.
Bomber
1. 77 Chris Shafer
2. 1 Nick Moore
3. 33 Charlie Mills
4. 26 David McBride
5. 27 Lloyd Williams
6. R4J Danny Bennett
7. 18 Michael Wagner
8. 36 Randy Kacir
9. 91 Kassey Champion
10.89 Ricky Konvicka
11. 55 Monty Chamberlain
12. 88 Sandra Hudgeons
13. 5 Jackie Burnett
14. 76 Gary Wright
15. 357 Brian McDevitt
16. 04 Jacob Burnett
17.
11 Shawn Kline---DNS
Bomber Heat Winners, 33 Charlie Mills, 77 Chris Shafer
Greg Sexton sr. grabbed the lead of the Texana Classic Dwarf Car feature, but
Josh Hunt spun to bring out the caution. The restart saw Sexton again jump
out front, while Andrew Cline jr. and John Armstrong swapped second position.
On lap 3 Mike Christians slipped high in tun 2 falling from fourth to ninth,
as Kevin Harvey and Stew Savage now exchanged the fourth spot. Lap 5 saw
caution wave for multiple, yet unrelated, spins by J. Hunt, Cline and Don
Hunt. D. Hunt was charged with the yellow giving Cline second place back.
On the restart, Cline took a look inside Sexton going into turn 1, but Sexton
held the point. Lap 7 had Douglas Schmidt and Harvey tangle in turns 3-4,
with Harvey sent to the back. Once back to green, Cline and Armstrong
continue to trade second, while Savage and Victor Vargas battled for fourth.
Cline got a run on Sexton grabbing the top spot on lap 11 and inching away.
Harvey and Joseph Snow got together on lap 16 with Harvey being
black-flagged. Cline, Sexton and Armstrong got away clean on the restart,
with Cline holding on to take the victory.
Texana Classic Dwarf Cars
1. 19 Andrew Cline jr.
2. 1 Greg Sexton sr.
3. 12 John Armstrong
4. 4 Stew Savage
5. 2 Grant Hanson
6. 13 Mike Christians
7. 01 Joseph Snow
8. 24 Victor Vargas
9. 79 Douglas Schmidt
10. 54 Gary Hanson
11. 8 Don Hunt
12. 82 Brandon Dorsey
13. 1jr Kevin Harvey
14. 12th Josh Hunt
00 Stan Jolliffe---DNS
2EZ Easy Casey---DNS
TCDC Heat Winners, 19 Andrew Cline jr., 1jr Kevin Harvey
Ashley Perks and Zachary Bennett tangled on the initial start of the Jr. Mini
Stock feature to bring about a complete restart. On the second start, Dakota
Taylor got the lead and began to pull away with Garett Hayes and Zachary
Tesch in tow. Tesch got sideways on lap 5 allowing Jason Bloom to get third
Taylor came up on a slower car during lap 7 and ended up spinning himself
trying to get around.
This handed the lead over to Hayes, putting Taylor on the back. Chris Jewell
jr. looped it on the first attempt to restart bringing the yellow quickly
back out. Then next try saw Tesch get into the quarter-panel of Hayes and
send him around. Tesch immediately moved himself to the tail. Finally back
under green, Hayes pulled away from Bloom, while Tesch worked his way back up
to fourth. In the final laps Hayes held off Bloom, with Tesch getting third
from Perks.
Mini Stocks
1. 9 Garett Hayes
2. 49 Jason Bloom
3. 72 Zachary Tesch
4. 12 Ashley Perks
5. 16 Chris Jewell jr.
6. 22 Patricia Lucas
7. 24 Sarah Konvicka
8. 5 Zachary Bennett
9. 00 Dakota Taylor
10. 55 Lauren Chamberlain
11. 63 Chase Sanchez
12. 31 Haley Jansky
222 Paige Wenske---DNS
Mini Stock Heat Winners, 00 Dakota Taylor, 9 Garett Hayes
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