Paul White doubles at Texana Raceway Park with two well-deserved wins
June 21, 2009
It wasn’t a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination, but Temple’s Paul White bagged a double at Texana Raceway Park in Edna, Texas, Saturday night winning both the Modified and Limited Modified feature events before a packed house.
Originally billed as the second race in the nine-race South Texas Modified Championship Series for Modifieds and Limited Modifieds, only the Modifieds actually competed for Series points due to a controversy over the Limited Modified tire rules. Both divisions were racing for $1,000 first place prize money, however, and the racing in both classes was intense.
Earlier in the season White - a former USAC Silver Crown Champion - had great success almost everywhere he raced. He scored double feature wins at Battleground Speedway, Houston Raceway Park and dominated Texana Raceway Park to the point that TRP owner Bruce Tesch placed a bounty on him - both in the Modified and Limited Modified classes. The bounties brought out stiff competition and both were eventually claimed.
Paul White (#216) uses the outside to challenge Shane Hoefling for the lead
In the 20-lap Limited Modified feature White chased race leader Shane Hoefling for all but the last ten feet of the last lap. Hoefling did everything he needed to do to stay in the lead, scouting out sticky spots and using lapped traffic whenever and wherever possible to keep White at bay. With five to go it appeared that Hoefling had the race well in hand, but apparently White was just cooling the tires and plotting a late-race charge.
With two to go, White moved back to within striking distance and as the white flag waved White made his move, diving hard into the first turn on the bottom and getting to Hoefling’s bumper. The dirt-saavy veteran then went up top in turns 3-4 with the pair exiting turn four nearly sideways and wheel to wheel. Somehow White got his bumper out front with ten feet to go and took the checkered by about three feet.
Paul White knows his way to victory circle at Texana. This time in the Limited Mod...
“I tried that move a couple of times earlier,” White explained. “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 three. That’s really what made it work. It gave me enough momentum to get through the middle.”
“It was driver error,” Hoefling said. “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.”
Unofficial Limited Modified results
1. 216 Paul White
2. 63 Shane Hoefling
3. 175 Mickey Helms
4. 6 Vince Louden
5. 00 Derrick Flora
6. 37 Bill Pittaway
7. 34 Michael Walker
8. 27 Johnny Lewellan
9. 888 Aaron Lunsford
10. 10d Don Painter
11. 15 Andy VanBlarcum
12. 04 Jacob Burnett
13. 7k Kevin Parker
14. 47m Ruben Montes
15. 21 Victor Lindsey
The Modified feature proved to be just as exciting with White and young Steve Whiteaker, Jr, going side by side for much of the race with White using the very low line and Whiteaker searching for traction mostly on the high side.
Paul White (#2w) way low and Steve Whiteaker on the high side battled like this for the entire race
The race was plagued, however, by a number of caution periods as the track grew more towards slick than tacky.
The Paul White Modified stops for a quick pic after battling with Steve Whiteaker, Jr, for the entire race
Several restarts saw White go very low into the turns with Whiteaker right there beside him on the high side. More often than not White was able to get off the turns better with Whiteaker perhaps gaining the advantage through the turns.
Behind the leaders the Series point leader Danny Brown was having to fend off a determined Lawrence Mikulencak as the pair of Corpus Christi drivers battled for third. And not far behind them Dale Flanagan, Jesse Manning and Josh Majek were slicing and dicing for fifth.
But the show that everyone was watching was the chess match being played out up front.
As the laps clicked down, there were more cautions which prompted the track to shorten the event by two laps.
On the final restart with two to go, Whiteaker sailed into turn one on the top and got along side White once again. And once again White again was able to find bite on the bottom and pulled away from Whiteaker a bit coming off turn two. Whiteaker tried to drive it in harder in turn three, but White still held the lead as they entered the front stretch.
As the white flag waved, White was still cat-fishing the low side, with Whiteaker looking for moisture anywhere he could find it. But at the checkered flag it was White by a car length in the Bridwell Motorsports, Engines by Adan & Jeff, Dust Devil chassis. White took home the trophy, some bragging rights and a check fo $1,000.
Brown’s third place finish was enough for him to retain the series points lead while Mikulencak took over second from Manning, with Whiteaker, unofficially, taking over fourth in the Series point standings.
“I could hear him (Steve Whiteaker) out there and saw him the turns a couple times,” White said after the race. “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.
“ 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.”
Unofficial Modified results
1. 2w Paul White
2. 89 Steve Whiteaker, Jr
3. 55 Danny Brown
4. 87 Lawrence Mikulencak
5. 57 Dale Flanagan
6. 82 Joshua Majek
7. 76 Jesse Manning
8. 174 Max Helms
9. 96 Foster Ellison
10. 125 Jason Borlace
11. 95 Jeremy Davenport
12. 12 Rolie Rodriguez
13. 15 Chris Carrol
14. 55b Wesley Anderson
15. 16. James Jennings
16. 22 Art Rodriguez
17. 155 Vince Kacir
by J.M Hallas and Nick Holt
Photos by Brenda Dancer
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