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Paul White doubles at Texana Raceway Park with two well-deserved wins

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.

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.

“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.

The race was plagued, however, by a number of caution periods as the track grew more towards slick than tacky.

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

Temple’s Paul White continues his win streak with “double” at Texana Raceway Park

Temple’s Paul White bagged another double Saturday night at Texana Raceway Park in Edna, Texas. White won both the Limited Modified and the Outlaw Modified features before a good opening-night crowd after scoring four victories the previous weekend – two at Battleground Speedway on Friday and two at Houston Raceway Park on Saturday.

The evening’s racing program was designated the “Aaron Hudgeons Benefit” with many drivers and fans making donations to help defray the medical expenses that popular stock car driver Hudgeons is facing as he battles cancer. Hudgeons is a favorite with both fans and competitors alike at the 3/8-mile track where he has a well-earned reputation as someone always willing to pitch in should anyone need a helping hand. By the end of the night more than $5,000 had been collected.

The first of White’s twin wins came in the 20-lap Limited Modified feature where he led a very competitive 24-car field from wire to wire.

By the halfway point, White had a big lead over JJ Jennings and Jeff Mueller, who were waging their own personal war for second some distance behind. With five laps to go, Mueller took advantage of slower cars to power past Jennings to take second place for good, but was unable to make up any ground on White as the laps wound down.

Limited Modified Results

1. 216 Paul White
2. 43 Jeff Mueller
3. 26g J J Jennings
4. 90x Dustin Butcher
5. 175 Mickey Helms
6. 66 Hunt Harrison
7. 90 Barry Moody
8. 33 Jason Zarbock
9. 00x Dustin Brandl
10. 10D Don Painter
11. 47 James Myers
12. 88 Mark McGahey
13. 37 Bill Pittaway
14. 46 Randy Bridges
15. 888 Aaron Lunsford
16. 36 Cody Hilderbrandt
17. 69 Aaron Hudgeons
18. 42 Ricky Konvicka
19. 63 Shane Hoefling
20. 78 Brad Ball
21. 89 Doug Livingston

White did not have it so easy in the 20-lap Outlaw Modified feature even though he once again started on the pole.
During the first half of the race Houston ace Howard Willis hounded White and almost made it by using the outside line while White ran towards the bottom with both grooves seeming to work equally well. Eventually the lower groove came in better – or perhaps the outside groove went away – and White was able to put a car length on Willis after they had run side-by side for several laps.

At the start of the race, Kerrville’s Greg Dinsmore looked like he was going to be a major factor, but after only one lap pulled into the infield with no power.

By mid-race Corpus Christi driver Steve Whiteaker, Jr, had worked his way through the field and was on White’s rear bumper following the same low line as the leader while Willis continued to work the high side.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Mikulencak and Nick Hardcastle had moved through the field and entertained the crowd with a spirited battle not all that far back from the leaders. At one point Mikulencak took a short, unplanned trip through the infield, losing a couple of positions in the process.

As Willis faded a bit, Whiteaker took over the task of trying to find a way around the steady, smooth White.

After a lap-16 caution, Whiteaker was able to get beside White briefly, but wasn’t able to make it happen and White took his second checkered flag of the evening a couple of car lengths in front of Whiteaker. Willis finished third with Danny Brown and Nick Hardcastle rounding out the top five.

Outlaw Modified results

1. 2W Paul White
2. 88 Steve Whiteaker, Jr.
3. E Howard Willis
4. 55 Danny Brown
5. 94 Nick Hardcastle
6. 20 Mike McCarty
7. 51 Benny Perry
8. 26 Darin Leonard
9. 82 Josh Majek
10. 371 Ben Ketteman
11. 122 Perry Johnson
12. 87 Lawrence Mikulencak
13. 66 Johnn Torres
14. 37 Bill Pittaway
15. 76 Jesse Manning
16. 155 Vince Kacir
17. 44 Markus Berndt
18. 8g Greg Dinsmore

In other action, Hot Stock Truck driver Justin Bloom held off second place finisher Lary Paris while Bloom’s father, Russell Bloom finished third.

Hot Stock Truck results

1. 84 Justin Bloom
2. 8 Lary Paris
3. 55 Russell Bloom
4. 13 Gregory Turner
5. 15 Gordon Boehm
6. 39 Nathan Kildair
7. 43 Bob Ort
8. 24 John Lieta—DNS

In the 20-lap Bomber main, Chris Shafer got out first and was never seriously challenged beating runner-up Brian King by several car-lengths. Monty Chamberlain rounded out the top three.

Bomber results

1. 77 Chris Shafer
2. 31 Brian King
3. 55 Monty Chamberlain
4. 36 Randy Kacir
5. 26 David McBride
6. 12 Janet Perks
7. 76 Gary Wright
8. 81 Aaron Ivory
9. 71 Nic Priem
10. 1 Nick Moore
11. 58 James Hoss
12. 63 Chase Sanchez

In the action-packed 12-lap Junior Mini Stock race, Jason Bloom avoided several on-track incidents to take the win over Lauren Chamberlain and Zach Tesch.

Junior Mini Stock results

1. 49 Jason Bloom
2. 55 Lauren Chamberlain
3. 72 Zack Tesch
4. 12 Ashley Perks
5. 03 Justin Sickle
6. 22 Patricia Lucas
7. 14k Stanley Kraly
8. 7 Hunter Lisano
9. 14 Roger Churan

Willie Veach took the win in the entertaining Dwarf Car feature over Andrew Cline, Buck McFarlin, Frank Fruia and Dave Tedford. Twenty-four of the motorcycle-engine powered coupes took the green flag and treated the the opening night crowd to some close, exciting racing in spite of several caution periods for spins.

Texana Classic Dwarf Cars
1. 41 Willy Veach
2. 19 Andrew Cline
3. 65 Buck McFarlin
4. 3x Frank Fruia
5. 25t Dave Tedford
6. 01s Joseph Snow
7. 24 Victor Vargas
8. 13 Mike Christians
9. 54 Gary Hansen
10. 30 Ronny Fikes
11. 36 Greg Sexton
12. 1 Brad Wright
13. 2ez Easy Casey
14. 82 Brandon Dorsey
15. 7 Steven Gilbert
16. 55 Bryan Heady
17. 97 Brian Breaux
18. 99 Brice Baros
19. 4 Karl Veach
20. 15 Gary Faris
21. 21 John Armstrong
22. 8 Donnie Hunt
23. 79 Douglas Schmidt
24. 12 Robert Smith

Staff Report

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