ROMCO FPI 100 @ TMS results

[rebelracewriter]

Local driver bags birthday win.

Roanoke, Texas. The ROMCO Super Late Model Series made its first of two stops in 2004 on the high-banked 1.5 miles superspeedway. Thirty-five cars from five states timed in for qualifying with Greg Davidson setting fast time. Unfortunately he was unable to pass post-qualifying tech as both he and Kent Baltzell had illegal grille openings, and were forced to start at the tail. The line-up was set by luck of the draw with each group of 10, drawing for those ten starting positions.

 

This would put Tommy Strader and Doug Hooks on the front row, with JC Umschied and 2003 ROMCO Champion, Brandon Bendele in row two. The race got off to a shaky start, when going into turn 1, Kenny Bumbera hit the wall. Outside polesitter, Hooks rolled to a stop on pit after breaking. this moved Bendele up to row 1 beside Strader.

 

On the second try, Bendele was the first one out of turn 2, as they battled three wide for third. As the top five sorted out it was Bendele, Umschied, Crofford, Robert Richardson and Strader. Lap 2 saw Richardson move into third, while T Wade Welch was black-flagged for smoking, with a tire rub.

 

Lap 3 had Richardson move into the lead, with Umschied, Crofford and Chris Davidson freight-training Bendele too. It didn't take long until C. Davidson got around both Umschied and Crofford to grab second but was already three seconds behind Richardson. G. Davidson had moved back through the pack and up into the top ten by lap 5, while his son Chris was breaking away from from the pack battling for second.

 

C. Davidson was able to reel in Richardson for the lead by lap 9, as dad moved into seventh. Ralph Burris was forced to pit on lap 10 from sixth, with a smoking car. Richardson was able to regain a few car lengths on lap 12, but C Davidson ran him back down with the duo side by side for the lead on lap 15. Richardson was able tohold off C. Davidson to maintain the point. Umschied and Crofford were still drafting together a full straightaway behind, with Bendele another 1/2 straight back.

 

G. Davidson made it to fifth on lap 16 making up 30 spots in only about half as many laps. Mark Chrudimsky, Thad Felton and Terry Mason had a good three car fight going on for 8th, with a rapidly closing Baltzell coming upon their tail. Richardson again gained some breathing room as G.Davidson closed upon the nose to tail duo of Umschied and Crofford. G. Davidson snagged fourth from Crofford on lap 23.

 

Lap 25 saw C. Davidson able to sneak by Richardson to grab the top spot while in a big pack of traffic. Once clear of slower cars, Richardson fought back to retake the lead on lap 27. G. Davidson's thoughts of coming completely through the field went up in smoke on lap 29, when his ride started smokind and he was forced to pit.

 

Richardson and C Davidson would give and take room as they cut through traffic and closed on third and fourth running Umschied and Crofford, who were switching positions to see who could pull then the fastest. Jim Frazier and Bendele were racing door to door for fifth as the race came to halfway.

 

Richardson again pulled out to an advantage as he lapped Umschied and

Crofford, putting them between himself and C. Davidson. By the time C Davidson cleared, he was three seconds behind. Richardson was still inching ahead on lap 45, while several two-three cars packs waging their own little wars. One of those was was a top ten fight between Felton and Strader.

 

Just as C Davidson would close slightly, Richardson would pull back away building a five second lead with ten to go. Baltzell and Umschied then started their own scrap for position as they they ran up on a pack of traffic. Baltzell got along side on lap 62, but got hung behind a lap car and fell back in line. With two to go, Richardson had the field covered, with Umschied and Baltzell again wheel to wheel.

 

As the checkers fell it was Richardson taking the victory by four seconds over C. Davidson in his Lone Star Buick, Pontiac, GMC/Hooters/Print Inc.McKinney Pipe and Steel/Jeff Hamner Engines/Port City Chassis.

 

The win was the first ever for the 21 year old who celebrates his birthday on Sunday. Richardson, who came from the Legend car ranks called it, "My biggest ever win. I consider it this my home track and this was like the Daytona 500 to me. I don't care if I ever win another race, I can say I won on the same track as Dale Earnhardt jr and others(NASCAR drivers) have."

 

Richardson who finished second in ROMCO rookie points last years credits his success to his time in Legends. "It was an easy transition to Late Models after learning how to handle a Legend car. It's like running in slow motion now" The McKinney, Texas resident also plans on running the NASCAR South-East Elite Series for rookie of year against tonights rival C. Davidson

 

1 Robert Richardson

2 Chris Davidson

3 Kent Baltzell

4 JC Umschied

5 Jim Frazier

6 Brandon Bendele

7 Andrew Tillison

8 Tommy Strader

9 Thad Felton

10 Mark Chrudimsky

11 Bob Garwood

12 Greg Davis

13 Michael Crofford

14 David Lege

15 Sonny Hunt

16 Kris Frost

17 T Wade Welch

18 Raymond Pattison

19 Tony Jackson jr

20 Greg Davidson

21 John Webb

22 Jim Sikes

23 Dan Leatherman

24 Danny Pike

25 Mark Coleman

26 Josh Trees

27 Kirby Caldwell

28 Ralph Burris

29 Cory Roper

30 Tommy Grimes

31 Terry Mason jr

32 Kirby Honeycutt

33 Dusty Tutten

34 Doug Hooks

35 Kenny Bumbera

[ChuckLicata]

Here's a little more info on the ROMCO results from the press room this morning.

 

1 Robert Richardson 66 laps completed

2 Chris Davidson 66 laps

3 Kent Baltzell 65

4 JC Umschied 65

5 Jim Frazier 64

6 Brandon Bendele 64

7 Andrew Tillison 64

8 Tommy Strader 64

9 Thad Felton 64

10 Mark Chrudimsky 64

11 Bob Garwood 63

12 Greg Davis 63

13 Michael Crofford 63

14 David Lege 63

15 Sonny Hunt 62

16 Kris Frost 62

17 T Wade Welch 62

18 Raymond Pattison 62

19 Tony Jackson, Jr 62

20 Greg Davidson 61

21 John Webb 60

22 Jim Sikes 60

23 Dan Leatherman 59

24 Danny Pike 58

25 Mark Coleman 58

26 Josh Trees 46

27 Kirby Caldwell 31

28 Ralph Burris 27

29 Cory Roper (they have 62 listed; obviously that's wrong)

30 Tommy Grimes 23

31 Terry Mason, Jr 23

32 Kirby Honeycutt 12

33 Dusty Tutten 10

34 Doug Hooks 0 laps

35 Kenny Bumbera 0 laps

[NickHolt]

ROMCO TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY RESULTS -- 04/02/2004

 

FP CAR # DRIVER_NAME HOMETOWN ST LAPS GLL FRL SP QT PAYOFF POINTS

1 33 Robert Richard Mc Kinney TX 66 6 36.478 $3,600 90

2 41(14) Chris Davidison Pearland TX 66 10 36.382 $2,000 92

3 19 Kent Baltzell Spring TX 65 34 DQ $1,600 84

4 52 J C Umschied Cedar Park TX 65 3 37.041 $1,400 81

5 12 Jim Frazier Lewisville TX 64 15 38.312 $1,200 78

6 8 Brandon Bendele Adkins TX 64 4 37.751 $1,000 75

7 85 Andrew Tillison Jr Wellston OK 64 30 39.294 $800 72

8 29 Thad Felton The Woodlands TX 64 13 37.822 $750 69

9 20 Tommy Strader Ft Worth TX 64 1 37.764 $700 66

10 39 Mark Chrudimsky Hutto TX 64 9 37.578 $600 63

11 113 David Lege Magnolia TX 64 27 39.557 $600 60

12 6 Bob Garwood Kingwood TX 63 11 38.263 $500 57

13 35 Greg Davis Waxahachie TX 63 12 38.096 $450 54

14 51 Michael Crofford Houston TX 63 5 37.399 $400 51

15 56 Tony Jackson Jr Lebanon MO 62 18 38.771 $375 48

16 70 Sonny Hunt Houston TX 62 23 41.246 $350 45

17 04 Cory Roper Vernon TX 62 22 39.509 $325 42

18 47 Kris Frost Lawton OK 62 20 38.921 $300 39

19 13 T Wade Welch Houston TX 62 8 36.825 $250 36

20 66 Raymond Pattison Broken Arrow OK 62 19 38.456 $200 33

21 96 Greg Davidson Pearland TX 61 35 DQ $175 30

22 83 Jim Sikes Fountain CO 61 29 39.532 $150 27

23 87 John Webb Oklahoma City OK 60 28 47.358 $125 24

24 64(164) Dan Leatherman Muskogee OK 59 31 39.267 $100 21

25 16 Danny Pike Red Oak TX 58 26 40.943 $75 18

26 30 Mark Coleman Wichita Falls TX 58 21 40.13 $75 3

27 5 Josh Trees Red Oak TX 46 25 40.859 $75 3

28 67 Kirby Caldwell Beaumont TX 31 24 39.247 $75 3

29 4 Ralph Burris Pearland TX 25 7 37.703 $50 3

30 22 Tommy Grimes San Antonio TX 23 17 38.319 $50 3

31 55(155) Terry Mason Jr Dolomite AL 23 16 38.453 $50 3

32 10 Kirby Honeycutt Orange TX 12 33 DNQ $50 3

33 17 Dusty Tutten Blair OK 10 32 DNQ $50 3

34 99 Doug Hooks Dripping Springs TX 0 ENGINE 2 36.906 $50 3

35 00 Kenny Bumbera Sealy TX 0 ACC 14 39.236 $50 3

 

# 19 and 96 qualifying times were not allowed for failure to meet rule compliance.

 

FP Finishing Position GLL Green Laps Led FRL Fastest Race Lap

SP Starting Position QT Qualifying Position

 

Five extra points to the fastest qualifier: # 41 Chris Davidson

 

Race Length: 58 Minutes

Please note: Since there was a 21 age limit for drivers, the four ROMCO Racing drivers not allowed to participate in this event will be able to double their points at another scheduled event.

[NickHolt]

I received the following email from Linda Barder earlier in the week.

 

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Can you post something on SpeedZone for me. I have received many Emails regarding the TMS results

for GLL and FRL. I was not at TMS and my assistant, when she printed the report, it did not print these

items. It requires me going through all cars for all 66 laps. My time has been very limited so it will be

next week before it is posted.

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