!-37 Raceway results 9-19-08

[rebelracewriter]

stories later.....

 

I-37 Raceway, 9/19/08

 

By J M Hallas

 

Pleasanton, Tx.,(Sept. 19th, 2008) After what seemed like a month of no racing at Pleasanton's 1/4 mile, semi-banked dirt track. I-37 Raceway roared back to life Friday night with the second to last regular points race of the 2008 season. Of course with a scheduled week off, two rain outs and Hurricane Ike it had actually been 4 weeks since th IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Southern Sportmods, Super Stocks, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks hit the track.

 

With the 2008 points season winding down, all but one the local class championships is still up for grabs. The exception being the IMCA Southern Sportmod class, where Johnny Torres has a commanding lead of over a race worth of points.

 

 

IMCA Modifieds

1. 8g Greg Dinsmore

2. 20 Brian Rye

3. 26 Darin Leonard

4. 37 Bill Pittaway

5. 66 Randy Yount

6. 84 Patrick Kelly

7. 12 Bob Lienweber

8. 82 Rick Green

9. 29 Mickey Helms

10. 2 Marlin Sanford

11. 39T Derrick Flora

 

IMCA Modified heat winners, 8g Greg Dinsmore, 26 Darin Leonard

 

 

IMCA Southern Sportmods

1. 66 Johnny Torres

2. 4$ Kris Rye

3. 26g J J Jennings

4. 37 Bill Pittaway

5. 888 Aaron Lunsford

6. 221 Dwyane Norvell

7. 60 Pat Lyon

8. 11 Chris McLendon

9. 175 Brian McDevit

10. 11F Mike Finkel

11. 88 Mark McGahey

12. 0 Robert Skye

13. 92 Jason Stanley

14. 89 Doug Livingston

15. 11b Chip Godfredson

 

 

IMCA SSM heat winners, 26g J J Jennings, 92 Jason Stanley

 

 

Super Stocks

1. 58 Moe VanKirk

2. 52 A J Dancer

3. 7 Richard Bartosh

4. 13 Howie Marcx

5. 14 Gary Hunter

6. 33 Leland Waddell

7. 22 Doug Lestourgeon

8. 57 Jerry Neal

9. 1 Dennis Hilla

10. 18 Dale Caswell

11. 97 Alan Jenkins

55 John Benker --DNS

 

Super Stock heat winners, 13 Howie Marcx, 58 Moe VanKirk

 

 

Street Stocks

1. 08 Alton Fambro

2. 51 Donald Lewis

3. 6 Craig Crawley

4. 37 A J Wernette

5.18 Shawn Moore

41 Wade Jones DQ(suspension)

 

 

Street Stock heat winner, 08 Alton Fambro

 

 

Pure Stocks

1. 96 Justin Henley

2. 64k Pat Kelly

3. 76 Gary Wright

4. 25 Jo Jo Horne

5. 9 Philip Haywood

6.7x Janel Hilla

7. 55 Charley Henley

8. 74k Danny Kasperwicz

9. 4 Brandon Eure

10. 98 William Saunders

11.555 Sonny Jones

12. 61 John Skrumeda

13. 8 Dennis Jasik

14. 57 Jason Kelly

15.15 William Cavender

16. 14 Mark Pivarnik

17. 3 Sonny Mares

87 Brantley Gillespie--DNS

67 Joe Horne---DNS(motor)

 

Pure Stock heat winners, 55 Charley Henley, 96 Justin Henley, 74k Danny Kasperwicz

[rebelracewriter]

I-37 Raceway, 9/19/08

 

By J M Hallas

 

Pleasanton, Tx.,(Sept. 19th, 2008) After what seemed like a month of no racing at Pleasanton's 1/4 mile, semi-banked dirt track. I-37 Raceway roared back to life Friday night with the second to last regular points race of the 2008 season. Of course with a scheduled week off, two rain outs and Hurricane Ike it had actually been 4 weeks since the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Southern Sportmods, Super Stocks, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks hit the track.

 

With the 2008 points season winding down, all but one of the class championships is still up for grabs. The exception being the IMCA Southern Sportmod class, where Johnny Torres has a commanding lead of over a race worth of points. Despite the long lay-offs, all of classes dominant cars found their way to the checkered flag, although one failed tech.

 

 

Dinsmore Still Dialed-in for Modified Main

After a fairly successful trip to Boone, Iowa for the IMCA Super Nationals, Kerrville’s Greg Dinsmore had his car right on the money once again as he out ran the IMCA Modified field. Dinsmore moved through the field quickly taking over the top spot from early leader and points rival Bill Pittaway. Once out front Dinsmore was able to build his margin on the field and add to his impressive season wins total.

 

 

As green waved for the 20-lap main event, Pittaway got out front in turn 1, with Patrick Kelly second, Randy Yount third and Dinsmore charging to fourth from his fourth row starting spot. Dinsmore, using the low side picked off third, then second on lap 1 and caught Pittaway for the lead. Ducking inside Pittaway on lap 2, Dinsmore was able get the point on lap 3, while Darin Leonard and Brian Rye got by Yount for fourth and fifth.

 

 

As Dinsmore inched away, Yount retook fifth from Leonard on lap 4. Pittaway, Rye, Kelly and Yount were all nose to tail on lap 5 as they battled for second. Bill Lienweber brought out the yellow on lap 6 when he spun coming out of turn 4. On the restart, Dinsmore jumped out while Rye took second from Pittaway and Leonard got along side Yount for fifth. Mickey Helms and Rick Green got together coming out of turn 2 sending both around and bringing the yellow out on lap 7.

 

 

The top three got away clean once the green waved again, with Leonard trying inside Kelly for fourth. Dinsmore and Rye then began to put some distance on Pittaway, while Green was working his way back to sixth. At halfway it was Dinsmore, Rye, Pittaway, Kelly and Leonard in the top five. Green got past both Leonard and Kelly on lap 10 to take over fourth. Dinsmore was finally able to shake Rye and build a slight lead by lap 12, with Green pressuring Pittaway for third.

 

 

Green and Pittaway made contact on lap 14, with Leonard taking advantage of the opening and retaking fourth from Green. Leonard then passed Pittaway on lap 15, as his car seemed to come in late in the race. With two to go, Dinsmore had a half straightaway on Rye, with Green back on Pittaway’s bumper for fourth. As Dinsmore was taking the white flag, Green spun high off turn 2 losing several spots. At the checkers it was Dinsmore in the Sundowner RV Repair, Team Brain Freeze, Azul Margaritas, racetechinfo.com, Bigworm Motorsports, Lowery Plumbing, Jeff’s Performance, Harris Chassis taking another victory and all but cinching up the 2008 track championship.

 

 

“We were kind of worried about getting the car back to normal here after the changes we made for Boone(Iowa),” commented Dinsmore. “The car is back on target again. It’s amazing to be so far off from the adjustments we made and get it back to where we had it here. The track was fast, and had it’s ‘honey’ spots. I was glad to see more competition show up. Darin(Leonard), Randy(Yount) Brian(Rye) and Bill(Pittaway) are always good here, and then you have Rick Green and Mickey(Helms) added in.”

 

 

“I used the bottom to try to keep my momentum up. With everyone running the top I’d go in high then dive down under them. Hopefully they’d be busy racing each other up top, and I could get them on the bottom and stay out of trouble.

 

 

“We’re just trying to close the championship up. It’s been a long season and Bill’s on my heels. I believe next weekend we can sew this up, and move on to the Southern Challenge(Abilene Spwy.) The first championship(Hill Country Raceway) is always great. With my new marriage to Candace, and her coming along to the races it was more gratifying. We never thought we’d get this deep into racing together. We have a lot of fun together with this, the kids and Chance(the family dog). Being teammates and working together to get the car to go fast is special. I have mixed emotions on which championship will be more satisfying. The first one is always the best, but this one will be pretty awesome.”

 

 

IMCA Modifieds1. 8g Greg Dinsmore

2. 20 Brian Rye

3. 26 Darin Leonard

4. 37 Bill Pittaway

5. 66 Randy Yount

6. 84 Patrick Kelly

7. 12 Bob Lienweber

8. 82 Rick Green

9. 29 Mickey Helms

10. 2 Marlin Sanford

11. 39T Derrick Flora

 

IMCA Modified heat winners, 8g Greg Dinsmore, 26 Darin Leonard

 

 

Torres Tops Again in Sportmod Scramble

With nearly an insurmountable lead, Lake Hills driver Johnny Torres needed only to start the feature to lock up his IMCA Southern Sportmod track title. The young Torres, who also ranks high in IMCA Nationals points, wasn’t satisfied with limping into the championship as he worked his way to the front taking the lead on lap 5. Torres then held off hard charging Kris Rye, as they battled through traffic, for the victory.

 

 

 

The 15-car, 20-lap SSM main saw Pat Lyon jump out front on green, with Jason Stanley second, and Bill Pittaway side by side with Mark McGahey for third. Stanley spun on lap 1 in turn 2, with Rye and Brain McDevit spinning as the pack scattered. Despite having a lap complete, the cars were re-alined for a complete restart. Once again Lyon jumped ahead, with Stanley second followed by Pittaway and McGahey.

 

 

Stanley again spun coming out of turn 2, this time collecting Chip Godfredson and Doug Livingston putting all three on the trailer for the night. On the restart, Pittaway got the jump on Lyon for lead in turn 1, but McGahey spun from third bringing the yellow back out. The next try wasn’t much better as McDevit spun in turn 2, with Robert Skye nosing lightly into McDevit. Finally the third time was a charm, with Pittaway looking inside Lyon in turn 1 for the lead while Torres and Rye ran wheel to wheel for third.

 

 

Pittaway got around Lyon to get the top spot on lap 2, with Torres and Rye following to second and third. Aaron Lunsford then put Lyon in his wake taking fourth on lap 2, with Dwayne Norvell taking advantage of Lyon for fifth. Torres got inside Pittaway in turn 1, with the two running side by side down the back stretch. Torres got the edge in turn 3 and led back to the line on lap 5. Rye then moved past Pittaway on lap 7 after a brief side by side battle.

 

 

Torres had a little trouble lapping Skye with the two making contact and Rye waiting for an opening. Skye then spun causing Pittaway to jam on the brake giving Lunsford the chance to get by for third. Torres and Rye were nose to tail as the crossed flags were shown, with Lunsford, Pittaway and J J Jennings rounding out the top five. Rye lost some ground to Torres on lap 13 as he had issues with lapped traffic.

 

 

Pittaway and Jennings ran wheel to wheel for fourth as they closed on Lunsford. Jennings took the fourth spot as that trio were now nose to tail for third. Jennings got along side Lunsford on lap 18, while Rye was closing the gap on Torres for the lead. As the white waved Torres ran up on a slower car, but Rye was never able to capitalize as Torres, in the 24/7 Towing, Pro Image Graphics, Moser Chassis grabbed not only the checkers, but his first SSM track championship.

 

“The first thing I have to do is thank Doug Livingston and Mark McGahey for the loaned motor,” replied Torres. “We blew a motor at the Sportmod Nationals and they stepped up and let us borrow one of theirs. Without their help we couldn’t have done this.”

 

“I was a pretty good night, we survived all the ruts.” added Torres, who has a Street Stock Champion already on his young resume. “There’s a lot of fast guys from Corpus. Now that we’ve got this championship, we have to work on the title in Corpus, too. Hopefully we’ll get the second one.”

 

 

“I won’t be doing anything different next weekend. I’ve tried changing things during the year and they just seemed to hurt me. We’ll just do the same thing. We changed it back after Waco(Sportmod Nationals) and still worked good.”

 

 

IMCA Southern Sportmods

1. 66 Johnny Torres

2. 4$ Kris Rye

3. 26g J J Jennings

4. 37 Bill Pittaway

5. 888 Aaron Lunsford

6. 221 Dwayne Norvell7. 60 Pat Lyon

8. 11 Chris McLendon

9. 175 Brian McDevit

10. 11F Mike Finkel

11. 88 Mark McGahey

12. 0 Robert Skye

13. 92 Jason Stanley

14. 89 Doug Livingston

15. 11b Chip Godfredson

 

 

IMCA SSM heat winners, 26g J J Jennings, 92 Jason Stanley

 

 

Multi-time track champion, Gary Hunter got the early lead in the 15-lap Super Stock feature on lap 1. Howie Marcx and Moe VanKirk ran side by side for third, while A J Dancer was charging to the front getting fifth. Marcx, VanKirk and Richard Bartosh nearly tried three wide for second on lap 2, with VanKirk getting spot and Marcx thinking better and backing out. Marcx then tried again to get third from Bartosh on lap 4. Up front VanKirk caught Hunter and using the high side, got by for the lead on lap 7.

 

 

Meanwhile, Dancer was quietly working his way forward taking fourth from Marcx on lap 7, then third from Bartosh on lap 8. Dancer then put the heat on Hunter snaring second on lap 11 using the high side. With two to go, Dancer was closing quickly on VanKirk for the top spot, while Bartosh, Hunter and Marcx battled for third. Dancer took his shot on VanKirk as the white flag waved. The duet was forced to go high around a spinning car coming out of turn 2, breaking Dancer’s momentum. VanKirk was able to hold off the hard charging Dancer at the checkers for the win.

 

 

Super Stocks

1. 58 Moe VanKirk

2. 52 A J Dancer

3. 7 Richard Bartosh

4. 13 Howie Marcx

5. 14 Gary Hunter

6. 33 Leland Waddell

7. 22 Doug Lestourgeon

8. 57 Jerry Neal

9. 1 Dennis Hilla

10. 18 Dale Caswell

11. 97 Alan Jenkins55 John Benker --DNS

 

Super Stock heat winners, 13 Howie Marcx, 58 Moe VanKirk

 

 

The Street Stock feature saw Alton Fambro get out front and run the race of his life. Craig Crawley, Donald Lewis and A J Wernette battled for second on lap1 with Lewis and Wernette side by side for third on lap 2. Wernette spun himself from that fight on lap 4, while Crawley was pressuring Fambro for the lead. As the duo ran door to door, Crawley got the advantage at the line to lead lap 5. Crawley drifted too high, giving Fambro the opening to retake the top spot on lap 7, as Wade Jones snagged third from Lewis. As the top three ran nose to tail, Jones and Crawley made contact with Jones getting second and Lewis getting around Crawley for third.

 

 

Fambro slipped out of turn 2, on lap 11, giving Jones a run on the inside. Fambro fought back in turn 3 holding on to the lead. With two to go, Fambro once again had trouble getting off turn 2 with Jones getting along side on the back stretch, but Fambro drove deeper in turn 3 hanging on to the top spot. As the white waved, Jones got a big run coming off turn 2 and along side Fambro for the lead. Jones went into turn 3 higher than before forcing Fambro out of his groove. As they ran to the line, Jones took the checkered flag, but post-race tech found illegal suspension parts on Jones’ car, giving the hard earned victory to Fambro, his first feature win.

 

 

Street Stocks

1. 08 Alton Fambro

2. 51 Donald Lewis

3. 6 Craig Crawley

4. 37 A J Wernette

5.18 Shawn Moore

41 Wade Jones DQ(suspension)

 

 

Street Stock heat winner, 08 Alton Fambro

 

 

 

As usual the Pure Stock 20-lap feature was a rock ‘em, sock ‘em affair that saw Philip Haywood get the early lead on the 17-car starting field. Young hotshoe, Justin Henley quickly moved up to fourth, while his dad, Charley was battling with William Saunders for second. Once clear of Saunders, C. Henely was looking inside Haywood for the lead while Mark Pivarnik, Saunders and J. Henley battled for third. C. Henley grabbed the point on lap 3 with Pivarnik and J. Henley now challenging Haywood for second.

 

 

J. Henley got into Haywood sending him around and into Pivarnik, who suffered right rear damage ending his night. Under yellow, J. Henley was forced to pit to remove loose parts, rejoining the field at the tail along with Haywood. On the restart, C. Henley got the jump on Jason Kelly, who quickly closed back in on the leader. Points leader, Sonny Jones took third from Saunders on lap 4, with Pat Kelly getting fifth a lap later.

 

 

In the pack, J. Henley was on a tear moving up to battle three wide with Saunders and Dennis Jasik for sixth. J. Kelly’s top run ended on lap 6 when he had problems and spun to the infield with a small fire. Once back to green, J. Henley began methodically picking off spots as he marched back to the front. J. Henley caught his dad on lap 14 and waved bye-bye as he sailed by on top side for the lead on lap 15. From there J. Henley motored away while C. Henley, Danny Kasperwicz and P. Kelly fought it out for second. With J. Henley a half straightaway ahead on the final lap, C. Henley and P. Kelly tangled collecting Kasperwicz and shuffling the final finish results while J. Henley was taking the checkers.

 

 

 

Pure Stocks

1. 96 Justin Henley

2. 64k Pat Kelly

3. 76 Gary Wright

4. 25 Jo Jo Horne

5. 9 Philip Haywood

6.7x Janel Hilla

7. 55 Charley Henley

8. 74k Danny Kasperwicz

9. 4 Brandon Eure

10. 98 William Saunders

11.555 Sonny Jones

12. 61 John Skrumeda

13. 8 Dennis Jasik

14. 57 Jason Kelly

15.15 William Cavender

16. 14 Mark Pivarnik

17. 3 Sonny Mares

87 Brantley Gillespie--DNS

67 Joe Horne---DNS(motor)

 

Pure Stock heat winners, 55 Charley Henley, 96 Justin Henley, 74k Danny Kasperwicz

 

Rick Green took home the $100 long tow bonus from Custom Control Modules.

Randy Yount and Justin Henley won the Swenson Racing Products gift certificates

A J Dancer got the concession stand gift certificate and free test-tune session.

[SassyCassie14]

Congrats to all our winners Friday night. It was good to be back at the track again.

 

Pure Stocks - 96 Justin Henley - Somerset - Sponsored by: Henley Construction, 24/7 Towing, Hance Auto Parts, C&C Graphics

 

Street Stocks - 08 Alton Fambro - Elmendorf - Sponsored by: Bar Racing, Texas Industrial Radiator, Clean Start Maid Service, Mares Racing

 

Super Stocks - 58 Moe "Wildman" VanKirk - Kerrville - Sponsored by: Trey Massie Well Service, Hill Country Happings

 

IMCA Sport Mods - 66 Johnny Torres - Lake Hills - 24/7 Towing, Moser Race Cars, Henley Construction, Centrex Motor Sports, Pro Image Signs

 

IMCA Modifieds - 8g Greg Dinsmore - Kerrville - Sponsored by: Sundowner RV, Harris Auto Racing, Azul Margaritas, Bob Harris Enterprises, Big Worm Motorsports

 

 

==>CONGRATS TO JOHNNY TORRES WHO HAS WRAPPED UP HIS IMCA SOUTHERN SPORT MODIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP!!! WTG

[waddy]

Just wanted to say what a great time i had at i37 fridaynight, my first time there and i had a blast, it was my 3rd time ever on dirt, and it really was as fun as i.d heard about, great track and great show, i.ll see you,all on friday leland waddell it,s great to be 61 yrs old and be considered a rookie,

[dancer52]

I thought you did good too Leland...tell scott thanks for all the help too...here is a link to my heat race...will see if we can get the feature up soon...AJ

 

[texana55]

Wow!!!! You had that car rolling AJ. Impressive for your first time out with the car.

[8G RACING FAMILY]

i didnt think they allowed rockets yes a-j u was fast

 

i didnt know ur name was baby my wife does the same thing

[dancer52]

i didnt think they allowed rockets yes a-j u was fast

 

i didnt know ur name was baby my wife does the same thing

 

My biggest fan..lol She hates it when she talks...but it always makes me laugh....kinda like when you see a guys crew going nuts when he makes a pass for tenth place...sometimes people take racing to serious, its nice to be reminded this is just for fun... and here is the link for the feature...and Brenda...thanks for all you do for me...Love you...AJ

[Off The Wall Racing Services]

Congratulations go to Alton Fambro, and Bubba Sowder in the 08 street stock from Off The Wall Racing Services. Job well done, and thanks for the support.

 

OTW

[8G RACING FAMILY]

nice she does a great job of filming goodluck a/j and crew hope to see ya there friday u really had moe worried

[RACENRANDY]

Congrats Greg & Johnny on another excellent job. Also Mo, Alton & Justin WTG on your feature wins.

[thrss1]

good job as allways aj. sorry for breaking your momentum. you too as well leland. was good to be racing against one of my heroes and my mentor at the same time.