Dodge Country Night at the Races, 7/7/07

[rebelracewriter]

Dodge Country night at the races, Texas Thunder Speedway, 7/7/07

By J M Hallas

Killeen, Tx. (July 7, 2007) With many area tracks suffering from the seemingly never ending rains, track Promoter Pat Wilson has been able to work his magic and get racing in. Despite a quick heavy downpour around 4:30, Wilson opened the gates and nearly 100 teams filled the pits for the scheduled events for the night, including the IMCA Modified “King of the Hill” that would cap off the night.

 

Dodge Country IMCA Modified, Egbert eases away for another Texas Thunder payday

In a Twilight Zone scenario that had this reporter looking for Rod Serling to come out of the haze, PJ Egbert, driving the 707 car, took the victory on 07/07/07, ironically his dad’s birthday as well. Egbert worked his way through the pack from his 6th row starting spot, grabbed the lead at halfway and held off Keith Green after a late caution for the win.

 

At the start of the 20-car, 20-lap IMCA Modified main, polesitter Allen Waltermire got the lead out of turn 2, while Trevor Egbert and Anthony Otken ran side by side for second. T. Egbert’s night ended early when he had problems and slid to a stop in the infield. PJ Egbert started his charge to the front early taking fourth from cousin, GW Egbert IV on lap 2, with Pat McGuire following into fifth.

 

PJ Egbert then got around George Lamphere jr. on lap 3 for third, while Kenny Stone, Andrew Simmerman, Keith White and California’s Steve McCollough in a heated battle for sixth. A yellow for debris on lap 6 re-stacked the field. When green waved, Jason Hoffman tagged the wall on the front stretch and got tagged by Ken Old, who had nowhere to go. On the next restart, PJ Egbert was all over Waltermire, but Waltermire held on to the lead.

 

Keith Green worked his way by Stone on lap 7 for the fourth position. Just as PJ Egbert had worked his way past Waltermire, Brad Jordan spun to bring out the caution and give Waltermire the top spot back. Once back to green, PJ Egbert got along side Waltermire with the two wheel to wheel. Waltermire would slap the wall coming to halfway giving PJ Egbert the lead, with Otken, Green and Stone rounding out the top five.

 

Waltermire’s night ended on lap 12 when he pulled off after his brush with the wall. This left PJ Egbert with a big lead over Green who took second from Otken on the previous lap. Ben Ketteman brought the yellow on lap 14 when he broke while running sixth. PJ Egbert had a lapped car buffer on Green on the restart and got away easily. Green reeled PJ Egbert back in on lap 15, but PJ Egbert quickly put distance on the former Heart O Texas Speedway track champion.

 

Back in the pack, Stone, White and the California Kid, McCollough had their own personal battle going on for fourth. The trio swapped spots and paint just about corner for corner in the final laps. At the checkers it was multi-time track champ and former IMCA Modified rookie of the year, PJ Egbert in the Phils Paint & Body, Connell Chevy, D&D Custom Cabinets, Wel Ran Construction, Pflugerville Engine & Machine, Pro Image Signs, Kramer Trucking, Cooper & Bright Plumbing, Greg May Honda, Donnie Moore Race Car taking the win. McCollough was able to edge out current points leader and former track champ, White by a bumper for fifth.

“This is my home track,” stated Egbert. “I’ve probably got more laps here than most people and I’m back in “Old Faithful”(my old car) that I won all my championships in. I never really felt any pressure, I was just taking it easy after that late restart that allowed Keith Green to catch up.”

“According to my dad, we don’t do enough preparation. We unloaded the car today to work on it.”

 

Dodge Country IMCA Modifieds

1 707 PJ Egbert

2 5 Keith Green

3 988 Anthony Otken

4 5K Kenny Stone

5 15x Steve McCollough(From California)

6 1 Keith White

7 52 Ken Old

8 9 Pat McGuire

9 19 George Lamphere jr.

10 87 Brad Jordan

11 28 Neil Floyd

12 C4 Cham Savage

13 247 Bill Lecompte

14 37 Ben Ketteman

15 96 Johnny Sheets

16 44 Allen Waltermire

17 15 Andrew Simmerman

18 00 Jason Hoffman

19 555 GW Egbert IV

20 78 Trevor Egbert

I-24 Larry Sanders---DNS

 

IMCA Modified “King of the Hill”

In the finals, PJ Egbert squared off against cousin, GW Egbert, got the jump on green and began to pull away. GW threw in the towel on lap 2 and PJ was able to coast across the line for the win.

PJ beat Cham Savage by a 1/4 car, then Anthony Otken to make the finals. GW got the best of Bill Lecompte and George Lamphere.

 

 

Danny’s Transmissions IMCA Southern SportMods, Carmen Captures first class checkers

IMCA Southern SportMod rookie, Tim Carmen jr. got out front at the drop of the green and held off the challenge of Kenny Ware to capture his first ever checkers.

 

Carmen got the jump on outside polesitter, Ware to lead the first lap and begin to stretch out his margin. Lap 2 saw the two Green boys get together coming out of turn 2, but both continue on. The field had just got sorted out when yellow waved for Joey Smith who got spun to the infield mud hole by Calvin Schoenfeld. Back to green, Carmen, Ware, Brandon Stewart and Shad Stevens got away and held their spots coming to halfway with Mike McDougal rounding out the top five.

 

McDougal then got past Stevens for fourth on lap 9 and moved along side Stewart for third on lap 10. Stevens moved back in that duo making a great three car fight for third, with positions changing in almost every corner. That battle finally settled with the top four now nose to tail coming to the white flag. Ware turned up the heat and gave Carmen a “hello tap” in turn 3 on the last lap. Carmen, in the Stacy Carmen, TTD Bookkeeping, Phils Motorsports, Bills Muffler, Nightmare Graphics, Kramer Trucking, Qwik Car Chassis powered by a Tim Carmen sr. engine, fought off the charge and took his inaugural IMCA Southern SportMod win.

“It’s been a long time, it feels real good,” replied Carmen on finally finding the SportMod Winner’s Circle. “I’ve run Street Stocks and Modifieds before, but this is a whole different animal. It’s a real competitive field in this class. I was counting laps hoping nothing would go wrong and no cautions. We got one caution early and I was able to hold them off. I was looking on the scoreboard to see where Keith White was, when I didn’t see his number I wasn’t concerned.

 

Dannys Transmissions IMCA Southern SportMods

1 0 Tim Carmen jr--1st class win

2 83K Kenny Ware

3 224 Mike McDougal

4 58 Sid Kiphen

5 2 Brandon Stewart

6 1 Keith White

7 70 George Egbert

8 5D Kevin Green

9 45J Joey Smith

10 45T Eric Tomlinson

11 40 Albert Wininger

12 14c Calvin Schoenfeld

13 48 Ronnie Ellis jr

14 55 TJ Green

15 23 Shad Stevens--DQ-No mufflers originally 3rd

 

 

Dan Corbin & Associates IMCA Stock Cars, Batt Best despite injury.

The 12-car IMCA Stock Car feature saw polesitter, Daniel Shipler get the lead after a brief side by side battle with Jason Batt. On lap 2 Tony Hamil broke the transmission and stopped in turn 2 to bring out a yellow. Once back to green, the field stacked up in turn 2 with Jason Honey getting the radiator knocked out and slowing in turn 3. In the meantime, Shipler was having problems sliding off turn 2 and unable to continue.

 

This gave the lead to Batt, who was driving injured after a lawn mower incident took off the ends of two fingers. Current points leader, Benji Kirkpatrick got past Ron Simpson on the restart for second with Robin Rasmussen and Jason Bogard door to door for fourth. Bogard got the spot and closed on Simpson for third, taking that spot on lap 6.

 

Up front Batt continued to hold a comfortable margin over Kirkpatrick as they got into traffic. Shad Stevens caught and passed Rasmussen, who had a soft left front tire on lap 8. Traffic came into play in the final laps allowing Bogard to catch Kirkpatrick for second. Batt took the checkers in the Kwik Kar Oil & Lube, Fred Garvin powered car, while Kirkpatrick held off Bogard for second.

“I just want to thank Pat(Wilson) and the track crew for giving us a place to race,” said Batt. “I kept looking for Benji (Kirkpatrick), he’s always fast, but I never saw him. When I passed Robin(Rasmussen, his team mate and lady friend) and saw she had a flat, I didn’t know whether to pull over and change her tire or win the race”

 

Corbin and Associates IMCA Stock Cars

1 9j Jason Batt

2 47 Benji Kirkpatrick

3 3M Jason Bogard

4 44 Ron Simpson

5 23 Shad Stevens

6 51 Donald Lewis

7 3 Robin Rasmussen

8 43 Jesse James Cox jr

9 38 Daniel Shipler

10 4 Jason Honey

11 T4 Tony Hamil

84X Eric Jones---DNS

 

 

Cleo Bay Honda Street Stocks

The start of the 19-car Street Stock feature saw Dean Silva get the early lead, while Chuck Hatfield slid off the turn 1 hill and got stuck in the mud. Silva, Michael Legore, Ryan Anderson and Brian Fuller had just started to break away when yellow waved to retrieve Hatfield. The top four jumped ahead on green but caution was quickly back out after Chad Malin got turned around ending up in the water at the bottom of turn 3.

 

Legore was unable to get up to speed back under green causing the pack to scatter to avoid him. B. Fuller, who had moved into second got past Silva in turn 4 to take the point on lap 4, while Chris Florio and Brian Mendenhall battled side by side for fifth. Silva’s hopes for top finish ended when he was forced to pit with a flat right front about the same time points leader Robert Simmerman was pitting with a flat right rear.

 

Still running door to door, Florio and Mendenhall were able to catch Anderson for second as the field came to halfway. At the crossed flags it was B. Fuller, Anderson, Florio, Mendenhall and Ken Plonsky. Brad Jordan moved into the top five on lap 13 when he got by Plonsky. Yellow came out on lap 16 when Legore blew up and coasted to a stop on the back stretch. B. Fuller, Anderson and Florio checked out after the green came back out. As the white waved it was B. Fuller inching away from Anderson and Florio to grab his second ever win in the Precise Plumbing, Do-Rite Wrecking, Danny’s Tranny’s, All-A-Motive, Milk Man Welding, Norton Automotive, Differential Specialties, Voodoo Tattooing, Granny’s Soul Food, Chevy.

 

Cleo Bay Honda Street Stocks

1 00 Brian Fuller

2 05 Ryan Anderson

3 21 Chris Florio

4 88 Brian Mendenhall

5 15 Brad Jordan

6 63 Danny Dunn

7 4 Ken Plonsky

8 20 Trevor Sparkman

9 44x Joe O'Bryan

10 2 Kevin Ashley

11 91 Joe Fuller

12 83 Dennis Simmons

13 1 Robert Simmerman

14 19R Dean Silva

15 69 Michael Legore

16 3 Clint Williams

17 3M Chad Malin

18 31 Chuck Hatfield

19 84x Eric Jones

 

 

Budweiser Texas Twisters

In the first of two Texas Twister features James Deane got out front but Chris Cook and Michael Hilliard both had trouble and stalled on track to bring about a complete restart. On the next try, Candice Laidley led out of turn 2, but Chuckie Nourse went by on the high side out of turn 4 to lead lap 1. On lap 1 Laidley got freight-trained by Larry Tuerck, Jackie Ashlock and Deane putting her back to fifth. Ashlock got by Tuerck for second on lap 2, but slid high on lap 3 falling back to fifth.

 

Nourse built a half track lead over Tuerck while Ashlock, Deane and points leader, Keith Desmarias battled for third. Nourse began to slow giving Tuerck the chance to close in and get by for the lead on lap 12. From there Tuerck went on to win in the Belton Tire and Brake, Budget Pick-n-Pull, H&H Auto Sales, Ware Racing Mini Stock.

 

Budweiser Texas Twisters

A-main #1

1 2 Larry Tuerck

2 oo7 Chuckie Nourse

3 37 James Deane

4 20 Jackie Ashlock

5 11 Keith Desmarias

6 65 Randy Doyle

7 8C Candice Laidlay

8 91F Gage Fuller

9 3 Mike Sadler

10 23 Michael Hilliard

11 13 Chris Cook

 

 

The second of the Texas Twister features was a little tamer, by Twister standards, and Carl Fitzgerald getting the lead early. Matthew Fitzgerald and T J Yagalla got around Charlie Laidley on lap 2 for second and third. Yellow waved on lap 3 when David Goode jr stalled on track. On the restart, T J Yagalla went from third to first, with M. Fitzgerald following by C. Fitzgerald for second.

 

T J Yagalla and M. Fitzgerald then pulled away with M. Fitzgerald taking an occasional peek inside for the lead. Caution on lap 13 for J D Hardcastle’s stalled car rebunched the field setting up a green, white, checkered finish. T J Yagalla and M. Fitzgerald got away clean with help from a lapped car in the mix. T J Yagalla was able to hold off M. Fitzgerald the final two laps to snare the victory in Kevin Myers, TAC, car.

 

A-Main #2

1 190 TJ Yagalla

2 77 Matthew Fitzgerald

3 10 Carl Fitzgerald

4 8 Charlie Laidley

5 T3 Billy McCloud

6 161 Aaron Hendrick

7 4 Don Rea

8 T31 Christopher Alleig

9 829 JD Hardcastle

10 77Y Tom Yagalla

11 35 Chris Wilkinson

12 207 David Goode jr

 

 

Cottman’s Transmissions Teen Mini Stocks

Jacob Wininger got out front in turn 1 of the Teen Mini Stock feature, but Travis Zwiefelhofer too the lead coming out of turn 4 to head the 6-car field. Former track champ and current points leader, Colton Monroe and Joseph Charnock quickly made their way to second and third, with Monroe reeling in Zwiefelhofer.

 

Chris Sander, in only his first race, got a his initiation the hard way when he and Brittney Rasmussen got together sending Sanders into the wall at the end of turn 1. As Sanders slid off the end of the wall his car dug in and rolled over coming to rest back on all fours. Both Sanders and Rasmussen were able to walk away uninjured.

 

On the restart Charnock and Wininger bumped sending Charnock to the infield, stuck in the mud, while Zwiefelhofer and Monroe battled for the lead. Zwiefelhofer was able to inch away to a slight lead, but Monroe ran him back down in the final laps. Zwiefelhofer held off Monroe’s challenge to grab the win in the Reliable Paint & Body, Z-Man Monster Motors, Pizza Hut, Mercury Capri.

 

Cottmans Transmission Teen Mini Stocks

1 20 Travis Zwiefelhofer

2 712 Colton Monroe

3 42 Jacob Wininger

4 22 Joseph Charnock

5 62 Chris Sanders

6 203 Brittney Rasmussen

[rebelracewriter]

I want to pass along big kudos to the "California Kid" Steve McCollough. McCollough from Imperial, Calif., who brought his car along on a visit to Johnny Sheets, held his own with some of the toughest competition in central Texas on a track he never saw before, with no hot laps. I'm guessing he has Keith White asking himself, "who is this guy?" In the heat he put a slide job on White despite a snot-slick track and bad push to finish fourth. In the feature he, White, and Kenny Stone put on a show swapping spots in the final laps in a three car battle for fourth that saw McCollough eke out fifth by a bumper over White.

 

On a side note, I understand that Sheets made a visit to California also and was able to grab a win on the left coast. I guess that shows how tough our Cen-Tex drivers are.

 

So let's hear again how BAD IMCA(common) rules are! That a guy from California can take his car along on vacation and race in Texas, and vice versa. AND.....be competitive!!!

[NickHolt]

despite a snot-slick track

 

Jay -- is that anything like a booger-bad track?

 

Nick

[Sarge]

Thanks J! Great write up. Good to see and your girl at the track. Hope the drive home was uneventual.

 

Bill "Sarge" Masom

[rebelracewriter]

uneventual.

 

????????or uneventful? LMAO No I remembered to stop at the flashing red in MF. Funny thing a camper towing an enclosed ran it when I was stopped. NO COPS AROUND THEN. Figures!!!! Probably on doughnut call.

 

Nick after an 1" of rain at 4:30, the heats were like driving on snot, boogers are hard and dry.

[NickHolt]

Nick after an 1" of rain at 4:30, the heats were like driving on snot, boogers are hard and dry.

 

I'm still trying to learn this dirt track lingo..

 

Nick

[Nathan]

rebal or sarge what happened to Eric Jones (84X) its not like him not to start the main?

[txtom]

That a guy from California can take his car along on vacation and race in Texas, and vice versa. AND.....be competitive!!!

 

In the early years of Hwy 16, ASA racer Tom Harrington, who was from the Cincinnati Ohio area, would bring his car along on vacation in San Antonio, and run it. He won at least once, and was a handful every time he came here. Watched him go to the outside and make a three-wide move off turn 4, and no one crashed. Three kids on bikes couldn't do that today without a pile up.