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Mikulencak Masters Hudgeons Memorial at Texana; Jones tops Jack in 2nd round of Street Stock Shootout

It was a special night Saturday as Texana Raceway Park hosted the 2nd Annual Aaron Hudgeons Memorial, plus Round 2 of the South Texas Street Stock Shootout on the 5/16 mile, semi-banked clay track. Fifty-three drivers from across Texas and Louisiana signed in for the $2500 to win Limited Modified Memorial main event, with 35 Street Stocks competing for their increased purse.

Numerous sponsors stepped up adding to the special purse commemorating the life of Aaron Hudgeons, long time racer and chassis builder in the south Texas area. The soft spoken Hudgeons, who was one of those rare competitors that was always willing to help other racers - even those in own class - lost his battle with cancer last year. Hudgeons is highly respected by all those that knew or raced with him over his career.

Along with the big payday for the winner many other special awards were sponsored in the Limited Modified class, as well as the Street Stock class. The unique format included qualifying in the Limited Modified and Street Stocks, with B-mains completing the fields. Two provisionals would be added to make a 26-car Limited Modified starting grid, with 24 taking the green in Street Stocks.

Not only was it a full house in the pits with 100 cars in the three classes, but a huge fan turnout filling the grandstands, and grassy seating areas. During pre-race ceremonies track promoter Ken Bulsterbaum was leading into the invocation relating Hudgeons story and paying tribute to track owner Bruce Tesch’s mother who recently passed away, when two lone birds did a flyover the track. Eerie!

Mikulencak Masters Limited Modified Main

Veteran Corpus Christi ace Lawrence Mikulencak, in a car that’s been ‘transformed’ more times than the movie, used patience to grab the big win in the 26-car feature. Mikulencak, who qualified second behind Dustin Butcher, trailed Butcher the first third of the 30-lap event. Using the high side, Mikulencak took two laps to get by Butcher for the lead on lap 12. East Texas hot shoe, Johno Whittington chased Mikulencak through the last half of the race, but at the checkers it was Mikulencak by four car lengths over Whittington. Art Rodriguez, former NASCAR and USAC driver Paul White and Brandon Blaylock filled out the top five.

Kaleb Hudgeons, who begins his racing career next season in a Mini Stock bearing his fathers number 10, paced the starting field in a three-wide salute parade lap. As they green finally waved, Butcher jumped out front, but a mid-pack stack up saw Ray Doyon III get kicked around for a yellow. On the second start Mikulencak and Butcher stayed side by side through turns 1-2 before Butcher edged out front. Doyon again found himself facing the wrong way for a lap 1 caution.

The restart saw a similar back up in the pack with John Lieta, Jesse Manning and Chris Swenson getting tangled in turn 4. Going to single file, Butcher got a good jump on Mikulencak and Art Rodriguez, with Whittington getting past Blaylock for fourth. A caution for debris on lap 4 briefly slowed the action. Once back to green Whittington took third from A. Rodriguez, while White moved up from his eighth qualifying spot to battle with Blaylock for fifth.

Whittington then began to pressure Mikulencak for second on lap 8 with look high. Mikulencak decided it was time to go and gave the high groove a try also. Mikulencak gave Butcher several looks up top, as White and Blaylock continued to swap fifth. Mikulencak got along side Butcher on lap 11 and was able to clear him going into to turn 3 and lead lap 12 as Butcher tried to battle back.

Once Mikulencak cleared Butcher, Whittington moved along side him and got by coming to halfway showing Mikulencak, Whittington, Butcher, A. Rodriguez and Blaylock still wheel to wheel with White for fifth. Trevor Egbert brought out a lap 16 yellow when he had trouble and rolled to a stop in turn 4. As racing resumed Mikulencak eased ahead as Butcher tried Whittington low for second. Butcher spun in turn 2, causing A. Rodriguez to go around for a lap 17 yellow.

Back under green the top four got away as Blaylock now had his hands full with Houston veteran Howard Willis, who was moving up after qualifying through one of the B-mains. With ten to go Mikulencak was inching away from Whittington and A. Rodriguez. That margin was erased on lap 22 when Greg Metz spun in turn 4.

Mikulencak jumped out on green while Blaylock and Willis resumed their battle. As the flagman showed the field five fingers, Mikulencak had only two car lengths on Whittington. Whittington could inch closer in the corners, but Mikulencak could pull him coming off. As the white waved, Mikulencak, in the Ace Transmissions, Randy Young Auto Repair, Premier Graphics, “Frankenstein” chassis had a four car advantage that held for the victory.

“I miss racing racing with Aaron(Hudgeons),” commented Mikulencak. “I really respected and enjoyed racing with him. This is a good race for us to win. He’s one of the guys that more racers need to be like.”

“It took a lot of patience and a good ‘free’ car to pull of the win. Last year I had some mechanical problems and there were a few good cars here. This year there were a lot more fast guys, more than I expected. So this is a big win for us.”

“I didn’t find much on he high side trying to get by Dustin (Butcher). I was just patient out there and tried to run him a little faster. Johno (Whittington) was in the mix too, so I had to do something. I just had a good enough car.”

“This is the same car I’ve been running on asphalt all year. All the weight is on the left front, everything is the same except for the tires. This car is the same one I ran as a Modified and that you’ve been a calling a “Frankenstein” for ten years. It was built on a metric frame and I’ve taken all the Modified rear bars off and put a stock frame on it. It probably still has the cracked motor mount on it.(inside joke)” added the always entertaining Mikulencak who won a Modified race here before with a broken motor mount.

Limited Modifieds

87 Lawrence Mikulencak, 511 Johno Whittington, 22 Art Rodriguez, 2w Paul White, 9b Brandon Blaylock, 12m Howard Willis, 26g JJ Jennings, 75 Joel Couvillion, 66 Johnny Torres, 12 Roly Rodriguez, 63 Shane Hoefling, 174 Mickey Helms, 184 Brian Rye, 9 David Meredith, 20 Dwayne Norvell, 76 Jesse Manning, 4 Robby Minten, 955 Greg Metz, 24 John Lieta, 147 GW Hessong, 9D Ray Doyon III, 90 Dustin Butcher, 48 Chris Swenson, 5A Trevor Egbert, 151 Adam Perks, 19 Bubba Seals

Awards

-$400 Dale Earnhardt die cast from Pray Racing, 87 Lawrence Mikulencak
-$150 Longest tow from defending winner Steve Whiteaker jr., 75 Joel Couvillion(Alexandria, La.)
-$100 Fast Qualifier from Ace Transmission; 90 Dustin Butcher
-$200 Fastest non-qualifier to make A-main from Corpus “C” Cars, 66 Johnny Torres
-$50 each Two highest non-qualifiers to not make A-main from South Texas Speedway, 85 Jeff Nix, 211x Dean Hollier
-H500 Tire, Hard charger from Bebo Race Designs, 12m Howard Willis
-$100 Hard luck award from Big Dog Racing, 5A Trevor Egbert
-(4) $50 O’Riellys gift cards from Art Rodriguez to 4 random non-qualifiers, 2 Robert Boyd, 18 Larry Jernigan, 04 Jacob Burnett, 63s Chase Sanchez

Provisionals; 147 GW Hessong (highest track points to not make A-main—Gave points to points leader Jensen Pray unable to make event due to Family emergency), 151 Adam Perks (promoters choice)

Limited Modified B-mains (Top 3 to A-main)

B-main 1

66 Johnny Torres, 184 Brian Rye, 9 David Meredith, 151 Adam Perks, 8 Lary Paris, 26 David McBride, 56 Brad Titzman, 119 Eric Floyd, 3j Jesse James, 10D Don Painter, 25 John Morgan

B-main 2

5A Trevor Egbert, 12m Howard Willis, 48 Chris Swenson, 83 Monte Nichols III, 37 Bill Pittaway, 115 Chuck Perry, 47 James Myers, 18 Larry Jernigan, 82 Brandon Dorsey, 81 Victor Lindsey, 11 Tom Grothues

B-main 3

174 Mickey Helms, 76 Jesse Manning, 20 Dwayne Norvell, 04 Jacob Burnett, 211x Dean Hollier, 1 Trice Hermes, 147 GW Hessong, 71w Bart Wilcox, 2 Robert Boyd, 3 Abraham Mares

B-main 4

26g JJ Jennings, 12 Roly Rodriguez, 4 Robby Minten, 85 Jeff Nix, 155 Vince Kacir, 63s Chase Sanchez, 68 Chris Shafer, 6 Vince Louden, 118 Anthony Gordon

Jones Out Jousts Jack in Street Stock Shootout

Top-qualifier Wade Jones took command early in the Street Stock Shootout chased by a handful of the best local fender car drivers. Jones was pressured in latter stages by Bobby Jack and Stephan Danielson as the 25-lapper wound down. On the final lap Jack got under Jones in turn 3 and came off tun 4 side by side. Jones won the drag race to the checkers by only a few inches to snag the flag to flag win.

As the 24-car field took the green, Jones was first into tun 1 trailed by Tony Blankenship, Jack, Brian King and Danielson. Jack, King and Blankenship were almost three wide for second on lap 1 with Jack getting the spot as the top six sorted out single file. King and Blankenship were side by side for third on lap 3, while Bubba Seals, Dennis Hilla and Eric Floyd were three wide for eighth. Seals and Hilla then went three abreast with Anthony Gordon for seventh as Seals made his way forward.

Alan Kunkel and Mike Moseley tangled on lap 9 leaving Moseley in the front stretch wall for the races first yellow. Once back to racing, Jack and Blankenship were door to door for second, Danielson and Chris Shafer side by side for fourth and Seals taking sixth from King, who began to fade before retiring early. Coming to the crossed flags it was Jones easing away, Jack, Danielson and Blankenship, while Seals and Shafer swapped fifth.

Floyd spun on lap 11, with Aaron Leddy and AJ Wernette spinning behind him bringing out the final yellow. As Jones inched ahead on green, Blankenship and Shafer were door to door, with Seals looking for a way by both. Seals finally got by Shafer for fifth on lap 16, then picked off fourth from Blankenship with AJ Dancer following in his tracks.

With five to go the top three were within a car length and holding a margin over fourth through seventh. Jack began to put the heat on Jones looking low on lap 21 as the top three were nose to tail. Behind them Dancer took fourth from Seals. Jack again got a nose under Jones as they came to the white flag. The two battled into turn 3 where Jack nearly got the advantage. As they raced to the checkers it was Jones in the Opiela Mechanical, Horelka Racing, Mission Auto Parts, SABFI, Mobil 1, Jeff’s Auto Rebuilders, 74 Ranch & Resort, Camaro holding on for the victory by less than a foot.

“It was a tough field out there tonight,” replied Jones. “Bobby Jack, Stephan Danielson and AJ Dancer was moving up quick. I’m lucky I qualified on the pole like I did. We tried a few different things in practice last night. We finally found something(that worked) and took a little wedge out. It worked out pretty good for us.”

“I kind of burned my tires off towards the end and Bobby got inside me. I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw him under me. Bobby’s a real clean racer and he gave me space. I tried to keep him pinned down so he couldn’t get a good run off turn 4. Sure enough it worked out.”

“We didn’t change much from our I-37 set up. We had a little more roll out and changed gears, that’s about it.”

Street Stocks

41 Wade Jones, 88j Bobby Jack, 149 Stephan Danielson, 52 AJ Dancer, 91 Bubba Seals, 77 Chris Shafer, 35 Tony Blankenship, 3 Steve Miller, 11 Shawn Kline, 118 Anthony Gordon, 37w Frank Okruhlik, 26 Eric Floyd, 2x Dennis Hilla, 21x Jason Fox, 23 David Bruns, 53 Jason Kelly, 55 Lauren Chamberlain, 58 James Hoss, 93 Aaron Leddy, 37 AJ Wernette, 9* Brad Hayes, 31 Brian King, 68 Alan Kunkel, 3m Mike Moseley

100 Pole Award from King Racing - Wade Jones #41
(Award formerly for a winner with a Mud Buster sticker was changed to $25 Awards to each B-Main winner)
B-Main winners getting $25 each: Jason Fox #21x and Mike Mosely #3
$100 7th Place Finisher Award from Dynamic Race Craft - Tony Blankenship #35
$50 Hard Charger Award from Dynamic Race Craft - AJ Dancer #52 (started 17th and finished 4th.. Frank Okruhlik #37w also increased the same number of positions, but was not registered in the Shootout series.)
G60 Tire Certificate from Swenson Racing Chassis for Hard Charger - AJ Dancer #52
$250 value Bobby Labonte die cast car from Pray Racing to feature winner - Wade Jones #41
$50 drawn at start of feature for a position between 11th to 24th from G&R Racing. Number was 17 - Lauren Chamberlain #55

Street Stock B-mains(Top 5 to A-main)

B-main 1

21x Jason Fox, 52 AJ Dancer, 3 Steve Miller, 58 James Hoss, 53 Jason Kelly, 2 Scott Stubbs, 7 Cody Leonard, 76 Kevin McElveen, 4 David McGuire, 74 Charlie Raburn—DNS
B-main-2

3m Mike Moseley, 11 Shawn Kline, 37w Frank Okruhlik, 55 Lauren Chamberlain, 9* Brad Hayes, 50 Kevin Willms, 89F Matt Farris, 04 Dustin Robbins, 42 Curtis King, 22 Patricia Lucas

Victor Vargas grabbed the early lead in the 20-lap, 12-car Dwarf Car feature. Mike Christians got around Vargas on lap 2 but gave up the lead to Greg Sexton sr. when he slipped in turns 1-2. From there Sexton sr. stretched out his lead going on to take the win by a comfortable margin over Christians, Vargas, Brad Wright and Douglas Wright.

Dwarf Cars

14 Greg Sexton, Sr, 13 Mike Christians, 24 Victor Vargas, 1 Brad Wright, 66 Douglas Wright, 15 Gary Faris, 11 Jerry Godfrey, 4 Geoffrey Youngblood, 6 Keith Samples, 5 Keith Horella, 7 Greg Sexton, Jr, 2EZ Easy Casey

Dwarf Car heat winners; 2EZ Easy Casey, Greg Sexton, Sr.

Story by JM Hallas
Photos by JBHotshots

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

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