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| March 8, 2010 |
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| KSP Spring Kickoff, Saturday Night |
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KSP Spring Kickoff, Saturday Night
By Neal Palmer
If you have waited with bated breath all winter for some RACIN! Well, you should have been at KSP tonight! Talk about edge of your seat, nail bitin, down to the wire, thrills and spills action! We saw it ALL at KSP tonight!
Even the heat races were barn burners! You could tell that there were a bunch of drivers with a lot of pent up energy that was ready to be unleashed for the Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat! The pits were FULL of cars from all over the state as well as a few from as far away as Iowa and Minnesota!
Lets start with the Street Stock A-Main! This race started with 26 cars in the field! Casey Fielding seemed to have this one well in hand, leading most of the laps in the first half, right up until he blew his motor and burst into flames in Turn 3! BUT! That's not the best story! No Sir! Jeff Turner was in this one.. started 7th but got tangled with another car on the first lap and ended up spinning off into Turn 2 with their bumpers hung together!
Jeff restarts on the back and, in classic Jeff Turner style, he sets about the business of going to the front in short order! He sets sail on the high side and puts on a clinic, passin cars like they were parked as he blasted his way back up to the leaders! When the crossed flags were shown, Jeff had just taken the lead and was well on his way to Victory Lane, hindered only by a couple of cautions, one of them for Felkins, but he went on to win this one, posting a win in his first race of the season at KSP!
Then the IMCA Southern Sport Mods hit the clay oval! These guys put on a heck of a show as well! There were 3 yeller cars in the field tonight. David and Danny Ferguson and Keith Martin were the pilots of those machines. I understand that they've been regulars at Cowtown in the past.... that they know their way around a race track is beyond doubt! All 3 of those cars were FAST tonight!
Keith Martin led the biggest part of this race, but not without really workin for it! He had Ken Parker workin him over the whole time! He was only given some relief from Parker when Keith White and David Ferguson made their way up to them and set about dueling with Parker for that 2nd position! And what a battle it was! Keith White finally was able to pull alongside Parker, who in return battled hard and was able to send him back to 3rd for a bit! But, White never let up, keepin the pressure on and waitin for Parker to bobble in the ruts, and when he did, White got by and brought David Ferguson with him! Before it was all done, those 4 cars really put on a show, hangin it all out every lap in a good ole fashioned thrill maker that kept everyone on the edge of their seats! Martin went on to win with White, David Ferguson, Parker and Jeff Emerson rounding out the top 5!
Then the Crate Models hit the dirt! There were 12 of those Beasts in the place and ready to do serious battle for the win! Those boys have those big dirt track monsters figured out and with 12 of them in the field, they put on a heck of a show! Eric Winnett took the lead early on in this one and led Darryl Campbell and John McNeil on a wild run around KSPs clay oval as they both fought diligently to get an angle on Winnett and unseat him from that top spot! They never were able to do it, although Darryl came real close a time or two, and Winnett went on to win the first Crate Model race of the season! It was sure good to see a good car count in this class to start off the season! With a couple of different sanctioning bodies showing some real interest in picking them up, I expect they will continue to grow and expand their presence in this area!
WHEW! Then there were the IMCA Stock Cars! Sixteen of those Bad Boyz were in the house and ready to run! And run they did! Duain Pritchett and Jason Gore put on a heck of a show in their heat race! Door to Door nail biting action that has become the hallmark of this class!
Well, that same action carried over into the Feature! With all hands on deck for the start of this one, the sound of all sixteen of those finely tuned steel beasts being turned loose at once literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up! I love a good stock car race and this one was sure to please! Chad Estes started on the pole of this one and kept it in his control right down to the last lap! Pritchett and Gore worried him somethin fierce for the first half of the race. Then, just past halfway, Gores right rear tire erupted into flames! He ran several laps with a small fire breaking out after smoke had poured out of that wheel well for several laps prior! A caution came out for a couple of cars that spun to a stop in Turn 2. The stopped Gore on the backstretch and put out the fire, but Gore had to pull off, giving up his run for the checkers!
That left Pritchett in 2nd with Marty Hicks and Dan Macklenthum, a car from Minnesota, to battle with Estes for the lead! And battle him they did! Pritchett was workin Estes over pretty good, all the while tryin to hold off the charges of Hicks and Macklenthum! Talk about busy! Well, Pritchett doggedly held onto that 2nd spot and dove under Estes comin out of 4 to take the checkers, beating him by a bumper to the line, stealing the win right out of Chad's hands. WOW! What a race that was!
With that done, the IMCA Modifieds poured out onto the track for their A-Main! With 34 of them in the pits, a full field of 24 cars was assured! And 24 of them there were! Bad to the Bone, red eyed rocket ships they were, every one of 'em! Matt Martin and Justin Fowler had the front row! Yes, I said JUSTIN FOWLER! That young hot shoe was on a roll and had that car runnin in hyper space mode! I'm talkin FAST! He got the jump on Martin on the start and took control of the race right from the start!
A quick caution restarts them and Fowler takes off again! This time leading Chase Jupe who came up from 6th to give him a challenge. Justin Radcliff, Keith White, Darin Leonard and Jeremy Willis fill out the top 6 with Jimmy Littlejohn givin chase in 7th! Littlejohn hits the wall coming out of Turn 2, staggers down the backstretch and then flies straight into the wall in Turn 3! I didn't get to talk to him, but it sure looked like somethin broke causing that hard slam into the Turn 3 wall! He was moving around and seemed OK, but the right front of the car was toast!
After they restarted, Jupe started havin engine trouble and dropped back to 4th behind White and Radcliff who went to work on Fowler for the lead. Keith gets under him, taking the top spot and bringing Radcliff with him. Another caution flies when the 401 of Jeff Long hits the wall in Turn 2. Jupe's car stumbles during the caution and he finally has to pull off with a loss of fuel pressure, putting an end to a night when he surely had a car to beat!
Justin Radcliff gets by White for the top spot and goes on to win this one! Fowler comes home in 3rd! WHat a run by these drivers! The battle for the lead was a dog fight right down to the end!
The Junior Minis took the field then. Brook Cooper surely had the car to beat and was settin in the cat bird seat with a comfortable lead when he blew a tire! That turned the race over to Courtney Garrison and Bryce Pritchett who battled hard for the checkers! Courtney held on for the win in an AWESOME lookin car with the first wrap I've ever seen on a Mini Stock! It is Radical!
The night rounded out the fast paced, heart thumping action with a full field of IMCA Hobby Stocks! Billy Taylor starts this one on the pole and looks to be the car to beat, that is until he cuts down a tire on the start as he enters Turn 3! That puts Jeremy Carter in the position to take the lead and take it he does! Once he gets his hands on it, he never looks back! Kyle Harrison gives him a run for his money toward the end, but Carter manages to fend him off and take the win! This race had more cars finish than any other class! These Hard Core Hobby Stockers are Tough Hombres indeed! Jeremy Montgomery worked his way up from 12th in that Matt Drottz Mobile to take 3rd! Cade Lee and Rick Barrett round out the top 5!
Well, that sums up the racing action for the first of 2 nights on the schedule for the KSP Spring Kickoff! The race has been moved up to a 2 PM start time on Sunday in an effort to finish before the rain hits the area. Gates open at 11 with racing at 2! I hope to see you there! |
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| Courtesy: Neal Palmer |
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