TAMS @ Oktober"fast" 10-4-03 recap

[rebelracewriter]

Texas Dodge Dealers 7th Annual Oktober”fast” @ San Antonio Speedway 10-4-03

By J M Hallas

Cole Wins Battle, Schild Win War.

San Antonio, Texas. The finale of the 2003 Texas Asphalt Modified Series started with James Cole setting fast time in qualifying, touring the high-banked ½ mile with a new track record of 19.279. While points contenders, Jerry Schild and Jason Ray, qualifying 13th and 5th , respectively. With no invert Cole started on the pole along side Mike Jackson from Lakeside. California, as the 20 car field came to green.

 

Cole jumped into the lead followed by Jackson, while Chris Swenson and Bruce Beddoe battled for third. By lap 5 Cole had began to edge ahead of the three car fight for second. Beddoe and Swenson both got by Jackson on lap 9, as Jackson fell back into the clutches of Ray and Larry Smith. The best scrap for position was between John Hienaman, Schild, Billy Becka, Keith Sandefur and Eddy Ross as they fought it out for 9th-15th.

 

Cole, who was pulling away caught heavy traffic on lap 17 and made contact with Don Banker, but fortunately suffered no major damage, and seemed to never miss a beat. At halfway the top three had spread out, with a 5-car pack vying for fourth. The top five at that point were Cole, Beddoe, Swenson, Jackson and Ray.

 

The first caution flew on lap 30 when Jeff Smith spun coming out of turn four and got clipped by David Machen, who broke the front suspension. The race restarted with all the lead lap cars in front, and Beddoe hanging to Cole’s bumper at the drop of the green. As Cole inched away, Swenson was looking for a way around Beddoe for second.

 

Banker blew the motor on lap 37 and dropped liquid nearly ½ way around the track, with Swenson getting into it, spinning and nearly tagging the wall. Cole got out to a good lead on the restart, while Beddoe and Swenson resumed their scrum for second. In the final laps Cole to put distance on the field, running away to take the victory in his Carquest/Precision Collision/Ezzell Fleet Service/ColorTrim/Diversified Trucks/DeWinnie Truck Sales/Swenson Chassis.

 

In the final points tally, Ray finished where he started in fifth, while Schild moved up to a seventh place finish. This gave the 2003 TAMS points championship to the Houston area driver, Schild by a comfortable margin.

 

Texas Asphalt Modified Series

 

Feature

 

1. 14 James Cole, San Antonio, 50 Laps

2. 18 Bruce Beddoe, Robstown, 50

3. 48 Chris Swenson, Comfort, 50

4. 0 Mike Jackson, Lakeside, CA, 50

5. 77 Jason Ray, Kerrville, 50

6. 25 Larry Smith, Corpus Christi, 50

7. 5 Jerry Shild, Katy, 50

8. 23 Jeff Smith, LaVernia, 50

9. 20 Matt Gardner, Corpus Chrisiti, 49

10. 35 Eddy Ross, Corpus Christi, 49

11. 7 Russell Deckert, San Antonio, 49

12. 41 John Heinaman, Corpus Christi, 49

13. 44 Keith Sandefur, New Braunfels, 49

14. 6 Ed Gilfus, Bastrop, 46

15. 28 Chris Snocker, San Antonio, 46

16. 46 Joey Heinaman, Robstown, 45

17. 29 Billy Becka, San Antonio, 40

18. 37 Don Banker, Austin 36

19. 81 David Machen, Austin, 29

20. 78 Greg Baber, Uvalde, 29

 

1.

[Banker36]

One correction to your story he didnt blow the motor the balancer broke off thus leaking all the oil out of the motor.

[TxRaceFan]

Well, with a broken balancer, did he not realize, coming out of 1 that being on the high side was obviously NOT where he wanted or needed to be?

 

Blown motor, broken balancer, whatEVER, the end result was a 30 minute delay by someone who should've known better than to drag the car down the track across the entire straightaway.

 

Reference other delays caused by "Kyle Guys" in the thread started by others about THR SS's running in S.A.

[rebelracewriter]

Matt, thanx for the info. Either way it was "broke", that must have been the balancer rolling down the track then. I was trying to figure out WHAT motor part it was.