For Immediate Release

Texana Raceway Park

Results from June 7, 2008

 

Taylor Scores First Ever Feature Win

 

In the midst of potential drought conditions creeping in on the Rice Belt, with two hundredths of an inch of rain recorded for the entire month of May (a month usually good for six inches of rain in the region), just schedule a race and it’s a good way to pull in some precipitation.  And sure enough a very quick rain shower hit the track during the Mini-Stock feature.  Foiled by a similar situation earlier in the season where the event had to be called, this time track personnel and race teams were bound and determined to put the show on for the fans that they paid for, whatever it took.

 

June 7th was .50 hot dogs, .50 sodas and kids go-kart races at intermission.  All three special interest items were a huge hit.  The track sold out of the 295 hot dogs in stock before intermission. 

 

There were approximately 20 go-karts that took to the track at intermission. The competition was broken into two groups, with a few families sharing one go-kart between two youngsters (one kid in each heat).  Trophies for the top three in each group were awarded, and then a match race between the two winners was held with the winner taking $20 sponsored by Sonny Jos.    Meredith and Burnett both of racing families were the heat winners going into the two kart match race for the $20.  The cliché  “Don’t judge a Book By It’s Cover”, was the theme.  If one was to take a quick observation of Meredith’s kart you’d think that it was too small and surely didn’t have power.  Wrong.  Meredith blistered the track in his heat and then again in his match race taking home the $20 prize along with a trophy for the heat and another trophy for the match race.  Fun was had by all and it was a great opportunity to preview the dirt track racers of tomorrow.

 

With the Texana Classic Dwarf’s scheduled off, the Bombers were to run right after the Mini-Stocks.  Starting on the front row for the feature in Mini-Stocks were heat race winners Dakota Taylor on the pole and Lauren Chamberlain on the outside front row.  Both Taylor and Chamberlain are students at Louise High School.  What made this particularly notable, was that the Louise High School Varsity Football team, who Taylor plays for, was at the track having participated in a photo shoot earlier in the evening.  With Taylor and Chamberlain leading the field around and their varsity team watching, they became Louise celebrities in a setting that was about a perfect as it gets for teenagers in front of their peers.  Taylor even took it a step further in the notable department before feature ended.   Taylor and Chamberlain led the field to green.  Taylor quickly went to the lead and Garrett Hayes passed Chamberlain and then Zach Tesch and Jason Bloom followed thereafter.  As the race progressed, it was Taylor, Hayes, Tesch, Bloom, and Chamberlain in the top five.  A couple of cautions caused the field to regroup, but with each restart, and to the delight of his varsity team in the stands,  no one had anything for Taylor.  Haley Jansky who has experienced several tough nights, was rolling in sixth place and in hot pursuit of Chamberlain.  As the race was nearing the final laps it seemed that the impossible was happening.  Light sprinkling from up above.  It seemed impossible, but it was a reality.  With the two to go signal, the clouds opened up and rain poured down.  The race was put under caution, and called with two laps to go.   Taylor who has been inching closer and closer to a win, but always seems to be snake bit, was able to score his first ever feature win and “made for TV” style in front of his varsity teammates.

00 Dakota Taylor
9 Garrett Hayes
72 Zachary Tesch
49 Jason Bloom
55 Lauren Chamberlain
31 Haley Jansky
5 Zachary Bennett
22 Patricia Lucas
24 Sarah Konvicka
838 Krystal Lindsey
12 Ashley Perks
63 Chase Sanchez

 

With the Mini-Stock feature called due to the rain shower, that ended about as quick as it began and the track soaked, a driver’s meeting was called.  The decision was to try and get the track back in racing condition for the teams to do what they came to do, and give the fans the show they paid for.  Almost all of the 84 entries (those not broken) took to the track and rolled it in record time.  A little delayed, action was to resume and it appeared as hardly any fans departed from the packed stands.  When the Bombers rolled out for their feature, the track was still pretty slick, but it was race time again.

 

Michael Wagner and Chris Shafer set the pace for the field with Monty Chamberlain and Randy Kacir tucked in behind on the second row.  Under green, Shafer went to the lead and Kacir moved up into second followed by Wagner and Chamberlain.  Once again, Wagner proved that he has restructured the program he had from four years ago and is a top contender on each night.  Shafer, the master veteran Kacir, and Wagner started to pull away from Chamberlain who mis-read the track in turn 3 & 4.  After regrouping, Chamberlain started picking up the pace and inching closer to the front three with Brian King and Danny Bennett close behind.  Shafer suddenly approached a group of lap cars which presented a significant obstacle allowing Kacir to move up on Shafer’s bumper and then beside Shafer.  In the mean time, Chamberlain caught up to Wagner and made the pass into third position on the outside of turn 1&2.  Two laps later Wagner passed Chamberlain back and the four front cars were running together with Shafer, Kacir, Wagner and Chamberlain.  Approaching another pack of lap cars, the top four had to shut it down slowing measurably and checking up coming out of turn 3 into turn 4.  This caused a chain reaction as the group slowed and although he tried, Chamberlain was unable to slow quick enough and got his right front wheel into Wagner’s left rear quarter.  Wagner made it through the turn and Chamberlain exited the track with a ripped front right tire.  Danny Benett worked up into four position at this point, followed by Lane Tipton in fifth.  The race went green to checker with no cautions.  On the closing laps, Kacir moved up for one more challenge on Shafer.  In the end, Shafer became the first two time Bomber winner this season, scoring his second feature win in a row.

77 Chris Shafer
36 Randy Kacir
18 Michael Wagner
R4J Danny Bennett
01 Lane Tipton
33 Charlie Mills
2J Josh Blanchard
27 Lloyd Williams
31 Brian King
89 Ricky Konvicka
26 David McBride
76 Gary Wright
88 Sandra Hudgeons
5 Jackie Burnet
55 Monty Chamberlain
04 Jacob Burnet
43 ?

 

The Limited Modifieds were up next.  At this point, the track was very tacky and rolled in well.  Leading the field to green was Dr. David Meredith on the pole and Aaron Hudgeons on the outside of Row 1. Meredith went to the early lead with Hudgeons, Mickey Helms, Vince Louden, and Brian Brooks behind, bumper to bumper.  The Limiteds were putting down incredible lap speeds, and from the looks of things, Meredith was headed to a feature win.  Unfortunately after many laps under green, Meredith’s motor let go instantly, causing a very quick flash fire from the oil, which brought out the red flag.  The fire went out as quick as it started and Meredith was unharmed.  Back under green, Hudgeons was in a very familiar position with the race lead, followed by the familiar suspects of Helms and Louden.  The top three stayed in their positions as the race progressed.  As the race moved along, Tom Parten move up though the field, passing several cars and working up to 4th place.  In the end Parten would hold onto the fourth position and Hudgeons scored the win with Helms in 2nd and Louden in 3rd.

10 Aaron Hudgeons
174 Mickey Helms
6 Vince Louden
87 Tom Parten
22 Art Rodriguez
4p Joseph Penney
21 Victor Lindsey
888 Aaron Lunsford
25 Brian Brooks
82 Joshua Majek
9 David Meridith
12w Matthew Konvicka

 

In the Super Stocks, AJ Dancer and GW Hessong led the field.  Dancer went to the early lead with Hessong close behind.  Mike Davenport settled into 3rd and Jed Rollins in 4th.   An early race caution from a spin by Adam Perks collected Billy Perry.  Perry was able to continue and Perks was sidelined.  Dale Caswell also spun causing a caution as he got caught high center on the berm in turn 2.  Back underway it was Dancer, Hessong, Davenport and Eric Floyd who moved up to 4th.   Floyd had to exit after another pile up.  With the race progressing and, Robert Danielsen patiently worked his way through the field and worked his way up to 3rd place and held his ground.   When the checker flew, it was Dancer, Hessong, Danielsen, Rollins and Perry in the top five.

  52 AJ Dancer
47 GW Hessong
49 Robert Danielsen
57 Jed Rollins
72 Billy Perry
45 Scott Stubbs
70 Mike Davenport
00 Andrew Mann
26 Eric Floyd
17 ?
1 Dale Caswell
2x Gary Blanchard or Chris Jewel
33 Adam Perks

 

In the Hot Stock Trucks, it was time for newcomer Justin Bloom to experience some of the success he was known for in mini-stocks. When the race started, Darryl Davis went to the early lead followed by Bloom.  Within a few laps Bloom passed Davis for the lead.  Shortly thereafter Bob Ort also passed Davis and Ort set his sights on Bloom.  Bloom had stretched out a bit from the field and Ort would have his work cut out to catch Bloom.  Not unfamiliar territory for Ort, but he did have some distance to make up.   Doing double duty in Bombers and Trucks, Chris Shafer also moved up and was in third place putting the heat on Ort.  With the laps counting down, Ort was gaining ground on Bloom, but it wasn’t going to happen on this night as Bloom drove consistent through each turn and scored his first Hot Stock Truck win. 

84 Justin Bloom 
43 Bob Ort
38 Chris Shafer
3 Darryl Davis
55 Russell Bloom
79 Stephen Wusterhausen
8 Lary Paris
07 Granvel Meyer
76 Justin Airhart
39 Nathan Kildair

 

It is always obvious that the Modifieds bring in some of the best cars in the state.  With no modified driver being able to score two feature wins in the 2007 season, and none thus far in 2008, Nick Hardcastle decided it was time for a change of pace.  With Hardcastle on the pole and John Armstrong on the outside of row 1, they led the field to green with Hardcastle getting the poin.  Dale Flanagan grabbed 2nd and Armstrong took 3rd.  With a few laps down, Flanagan got sideways in Turn 2.  Making an incredible move and missing Flanagan, Armstrong got past Flanagan and spun.  Armstrong was a sitting duck facing the opposite direction just at the end of turn four, with the field coming his way.   With no where to go and trying his best to stop, the #71 car headed straight into Armstrong, driving up the front and ending up resting with his car on top of Armstrong’s and the front bumper sitting just above the driver, Armstrong.  The red flag quickly came out and both drivers were checked out the Emergency Response Team.  Both drivers exited their cars unassisted.  After clearing the two cars, the race was back underway with Hardcastle once again in the lead and Flanagan close behind followed by Stew Savage and Brian Spindleman.  Another caution occurred as Jeff Nix lost a wheel, but he smoothly controlled the car out of harms way and exited the racing surface. Always consistent, Art Rodriguez was working his way through the field moving into 3rd.  Spindleman scored one of his best finishes of the season with a top five as did Savage.  First time visitor Steve Fite of Bastrop scored a very respectable 7th.  The story at hand, as noted earlier, was Hardcastle’s determination that the no repeat winner clause had to be terminated.  Hardcastle led the entire race and scored his second feature win of the season. 

94 Nick Hardcastle
4 Stew Savage
22 Art Rodriguez
29 Max Helms
37a Brian Spindleman
06 Mickey Helms
40F Steve Fite
77 Robert Carson
155 Vince Kacir
57 Dale Flanagan
85 Jeff Nix
71 ?
39 John Armstrong
44 Marcus Berndt

 

 

A night packed with fans and great racing, Texana Raceway Park sends out a few special thanks.  Thank you to the Louise High School Varsity Football Team for choosing Texana Raceway Park as the site of their 2008-2009 team photo shoot.  Thank you to the race teams for working together to roll the track back in after the rain shower.  And, thank you to the best fans in the world for hanging through the weather delay and supporting racing at Texana Raceway Park.

 

Texana Raceway Park will be racing again on June 21st, with an extra $2,000 added to the Limited Modified purse thanks to Dr. David Meredith and another sponsor.  This will be a show you will not want to miss!