rebelracewriter Posted October 6, 2003 Report Share Posted October 6, 2003 Texas Dodge Dealers 7th Annual Oktober”Fast” @ San Antonio Speedway 10-4-03 By J M Hallas Father/Son Battle for Late Model Win San Antonio, Texas. Sixteen late models took times in qualifying with two Texas Super Racing Series invaders setting the two fastest times. It was little surprise when multi-time SAS track and Sunbelt Regional, champion Brandon Bendele set the standard early in qualifying driving a car from the Sevilla stable. But it was a mild shocker when Todd McLemore bested that time in another TSRS car posting a 19.407 on the ½ mile high-banked oval. With the roll of a die, the top three were inverted putting the elder statesman for the Bendele racing team and 2003 SAS track champ, Larry Bendele on the pole with son Brandon along side. On the initial try B. Bendele got the jump on ol’ dad, but too good of a jump as yellow quickly flew for a complete restart. As the field stacked up for the caution Ronnie Smith got turned and slammed the back stretch wall, ending his night early. On the next try the two Bendele’s stayed side by side the entire circuit, with B. Bendele getting the bumper ahead. The two were still door to door on lap 2, with B. Bendele getting the spot unchallenged on lap three. Just as Mclemore got by L. Bendele for second, he broke and fell out on lap 4. B. Bendele had an eight car gap back L. Bendele, with a similar gap to Donny Horelka in third. It wasn’t long until L. Bendele ran down his son on lap 10, with a half straightaway distance to Horelka in third. The two Bendele’s appeared to toy with each as B. Bendele would get a few cars ahead and L. Bendele would reel him back in. Horelka and Mike Balzer were busy fighting for third when Jeremy Hernandez in front them. They split the stalled car of Hernandez without contact as the yellow flew on lap 28. Jason Smith pitted from fifth under the yellow along with Kevin Bendele, the third member of the family race team. On the restart Wesley McGuffin spun in turn one, with J. Smith trying to stop in time, but suffering minor front end damage. The Bendele battle continued when green came back out, with L. Bendele right on B. Bendele’s bumper. Dad gave his son a few “family” taps and got along side on lap 32. But B. Bendele held on to the top spot, with L. Bendele, Horelka, Balzer and Danny Garcia rounding out the top five as the crossed flags were shown. B. Bendele got a little breathing room, two cars, over L. Bendele when caution fell on lap 43 for a spin by Danny Storbeck after contact with Jim Creech. B. Bendele got a jump on the restart but L. Bendele quickly ran him down and was able to wrestle the lead away on lap 44 and begin to inch ahead. Horelka moved in on B. Bendele for second and it was two wide for second on lap 46. Horelka on the low side, made contact with B. Bendele and both went spinning into the wall between turns 1-2. B. Bendele was done for the night, and Horelka went to the tail. L. Bendele used the restart to put 4 car lengths over Balzer. Creech making his way back up got by K. Bendele for fifth on lap 50, with Horelka, also back on the charge, grabbing sixth the next lap. With 20 to go, L. Bendele was still motoring away as Balzer, Garcia and Jesse Salazar were each separated by a couple car lengths. Horelka closed on Creech and took the fifth spot on lap 58. B. Bendele increased his lead to a ½ straightaway when Balzer, Garcia and Salazar got hung up behind a lap car. In the closing laps Garcia was literally pushing Balzer down the straight as Horelka was closing in. With 2 to go, Garcia finally got by Balzer for second, but L. Bendele was long gone. L. Bendele in his Longs Automotive/Aramendia Motorsports/KB-Web Designs/ Bendele Chassis & Motor took the checkers by a full straight. Feature Position, Car Number, Driver, Hometown, Laps 1. 23 Larry Bendele, Adkins, 75 Laps 2. 97 Danny Garcia, San Antonio, 75 3. 77 Mike Balzer, San Antonio, 75 4. 18 Jesse Salazar, San Antonio, 75 5. 41 Donnie Horelka, Jourdanton, 75 6. 2 Jim Creech, San Antonio, 75 7. 21 Kevin Bendele, Adkins, 75 8. 98 Robert Elizondo, Corpus Christi, 71 9. 24 Jeremy Hernandez, San Antonio, 70 10. 36 Jeff Moore, Helotes, 69 11. 28 Jason Smith, San Antonio, 60 12. 31 Wesley McGuffin, Victoria, 58 13. 29 Danny Storbeck, San Antonio, 49 14. 8 Brandon Bendele, Adkins, 47 15. 85 Tommy Wynd, Corpus Christi, 33 16. 54 Todd MeLemore, Austin, 5 17. 5 Ronnie Smith, Austin, 0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6BeesRaceFan Posted October 6, 2003 Report Share Posted October 6, 2003 Great recap rebelracewriter!!! It was an exciting night watching the father and son team battle it out, too bad Brandon couldn't finish, Congratulations to Larry, on a fantastic finish to the 2003 season!!!! Good luck to Brandon in the ROMCO race on Oct.11th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stick2it Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 congrads to TODD MC on a new TRACK RECORD not bad for THR reg not a SAS reg if he didnt have an over heating prob i think he would have won it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SASPEEDRACER24 Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 Stick do you know if Todd had the rub on the tie rod end worked out. I know they tried to shif the motor over in the mounts but thats all I heard. Todd is fast in anything he drives just like Brandon so it would have been a good show... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debwill Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 Great recap, reb! I just wanted to add an extra comment regarding the restart mentioned in the 2nd paragraph. The confusion on the restart came when the drivers got mixed signals from the flagman. The yellow light was still lit up going into Turn 3, yet the green flag was thrown. I'm not sure that everyone knew what caused the field to stack up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloyd#5 Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 Sounds like brandon and donny picked up where they left off at............lol man those two had some he@@acious battles in late models but two classy drivers. too bad for b. bendele. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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