SEVEN DIVISIONS, EIGHT MAIN EVENTS RACE IN WILD NIGHT AT IRWINDALE -- By Tim Kennedy
Release Date: 5/25/2010
Irwindale, CA., May 22 – Seven racing series ran eight main events Saturday night at the Toyota Speedway@Irwindale twin-ovals in the busiest racing program of the year in front of almost 1,200 fans. It was the track’s slimmest spectator turnout of the year. Persons who stayed home to watch NASCAR Sprint Cup stars in their All-Star Showdown at Charlotte, N.C., missed what was an in-person racing experience that produced new winners, close competition, wild crashes, four red flags and several yellow flags in six of the eight races. The premier Pepsi One Super Late Model Series, with 16 cars present, ran twin-40 lap features. Ryan Partridge celebrated turning 22 on May 17 by starting second and battling fastest qualifier/pole starter Justin Johnson and fifth starter Ryan Reed all the way. He won the first SLM main event of his versatile career. He is the 2010 King Taco Super Truck point leader and has won every race in that series this year. Partridge took the lead on lap 4 with an inside pass in the second turn. He won by 0.348 over Johnson after the three drivers staged an exciting three-way battle from lap 10 to the conclusion. Partridge also recorded his first TS@I victory for the track’s newly-approved for 2010 "spec engine" that powered his Eshlemanr Racing No. 11 Chevy in the first main. He said his team picked up a new sponsor, Brock Rentals, Inc. (BRI), in the pits following his victory.
The fifth main event of the night was the second Pepsi One SLM feature. This time Partridge started first and Johnson second. Johnson, a 24-year old Las Vegan, led all 40 laps in a Vision Airlines Ford fusion and recorded his second TS@I feature in the series. He would not be denied and tied his Vision Airlines teammate, Dusty Davis, 17, with two feature victories in seven SLM races run this season. Partridge finished second and was 20-yards in back of Johnson on lap 37 when the yellow flag flew for a crash involving the third and fourth place cars of Reed and Davis. An impact bounced Reed’s car off the front straight wall and he spun into the first turn attenuator with heavy impact on the driver’s side. He was able to walk away without injury. Officials ran the final four laps under the yellow flag and ended the race (officially with 39 laps) so track crews could repair the attenuator.
Two early main events on the third-mile track produced wild accidents for the usually tame smaller cars. A red flag stopped the 20-lap Jan’s Towing Bandolero main after the sixth place car spun in mid-turn four and two other cars made it a three-some, eliminating two cars. Fastest qualifier Trevor Huddleston, 13, led all 20 laps in his HPR No. 50 two-cylinder Briggs & Stratton-powered Bando. The first six finishers were nose-to-tail and within 0.756 at the finish.
The Bandoleros, with drivers from age 8 through 14, also qualified and raced 15 Bandeleros Friday night about 8:45 pm during the four hour open practice session for all divisions. A 20-lap main event on the third-mile had FQ Trevor Huddleston on the pole and he led the first five laps in a race that had four leaders and four lead changes. R. J, Stearns,10, led laps 6-7. Then Amanda Poertner, 13, nosed into the lead at the starting line to pace lap 8. Stearns led was the leader from lap 9 through lap 13. Christian McGhee, 11, then led laps 14-17 when a spin by rookie Nic Fusco, 8, involved two other cars and caused a red flag. Rookie Mikey Womack, 10, tee-boned Fusco’s 77 car, which was a write-off with a bent frame. Womack complained of neck pain and a headache as he sat in his car. A 911 call brought a Los Angeles County Paramedic ambulance, a fire truck and private ambulance, plus an Irwindale Police car. The red flag was displayed from 8:55 to 9:21. Womack was taken by ambulance to a hospital in nearby Arcadia for medical evaluation. He received a CAT scan and was released later that evening. Womack returned Saturday and raced a borrowed HPR No. 51 Bando to tenth place. Fusco’s family later took him to San Antonio Hospital in Upland for a checkup and he was released after an examination. Friday’s main event restarted but a three car crash on lap 19 in turn four involved three blue HPR team cars. The 50 car spun and collected the 56 and 59 cars next to the wall. Officials waved the yellow and checkered flags and called it a race after 18 green flag laps. McGhee won over Stearns, Danny Nickolai and Poertner.
The Echo Equipment Legends 30-lap main also had a dramatic crash and red flag at lap 20. Race-long leader Brent Scheidemantle, 17, was lapping the 15th place car in a 20-car field when the two cars made contact just past the starting line. Scheidemantle’s car overturned onto its side. It slid about 40-yards on its side to the half-mile track near turn one. On the red flag flag rescuers found Scheidemantle unhurt and able to walk way without assistance. Past track champion Darren Amidon, in third place at the red flag, charged past new leader Chad Schug and led laps 20-30 to edge Schug by 0.256.
The Langers Juice S2 cars 25-lap race on the half-mile also had a red flag at lap 11 that lasted 14-minutes for track cleanup. In a nine-car field, fifth place Kendell Lopez spun in mid-track in the fourth turn and her car was tee-boned by rookie Bill Waters. The heavy impact wiped out the front end of his car and broke the radiator. It was towed to the pits. Lopez was able to restart her No. 97 borrowed car despite a major dent in the right side door and finished third with seven cars running at the finish. On the restart the fifth place car entered turn three too fast and hit the fourth place car of Roman Lagudi, 15. He was unhurt but his car was towed to the pits. The race was reduced to 20-laps because of the busy schedule and the accumulation of red flags. Super truck veteran Joe Anderson won his first S2 feature in the HPR No. 59.
The Justice Brothers Mini Stock 30-lap main on the third-mile had point leader/FQ Daryl Scoggins lead all the way from the pole in his Ford Pinto. It was the first of two all-green flag races to that point. The sixth main event of the night concluded at 10:02 pm. Next up was an eight-car Drive Tech Late Model 20-lap race on the half-mile for students of the racing school that conducts races for students at various western tracks.. They all drove school-owned 1999 Chevy Monte Carlos. Ted Stoneburner led 19 of the 20 laps from pole position. Fellow front row starter Eric Darensburg, from Reno, led lap 9 after making an inside move at the starting line. He trailed the winner by 0.451 at the end. All eight drivers finished and six completed 20 laps in the second all-green flag main of the evening.
The final main event was the co-featured ASA Speed Truck Series traveling circuit with 15 trucks on the half-mile. The series used an eight-truck inversion with FQ Taylor Cuzick starting from the eighth slot. The 75-lap race started at 10:24 and ran to lap 60 before a solo spin-out caused the first caution flag. Race Liberante, 15, started fifth, took the lead from teenager Dylan Kwasniewski on lap 2 and led through lap 59. With a double-file restart on lap 60, seventh starter Joey Licata, 18, took the lead for good. He had been dueling Liberante closely from lap 4 through 59. Licata ran off 15 green flag laps and won by 1.125 seconds over Cuzick, who passed a fuel-starved Liberante on lap 73. Former leader Liberante slowed on the final lap and stalled his fuel-less truck at the edge of the fourth turn near the infield grass. He did not finish and dropped to P.8 with seven of the 12 finishers on the lead lap. A double-file lap 60 restart led to a five-car crash that caused another track clean-up operation by the busy track crew. Two disabled trucks were towed to the pits after that incident. The final checkered flag waved at 10:58 pm in the latest TS@I conclusion of the year.
For complete results in all eight divisions, including time trials and main event finishes, go to www.toyotaspeedwayatirwindale.com. Click race results.
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