rebelracewriter Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 Here's the final run down, I'll get my recap finished/posted later. 8 Brandon Bendele 125 55 Eddy Wallace 125 57 John Kelly 125 39 Mark Chrudimsky 125 32 Heath Stewart 125 3 John Heil 125 49 Bradley Reithmeyer 124 79 John Meyer 124 90 John David 123 13 T Wade Welch 122 14 Chris Davidson 121 34 Ronnie Hall 121 19 Kent Baltzel 113 96 Greg Davidson 103 30 Mark Coleman 102 17 Clay Huckaby 97 05 Josh Trees 89 48 Jay Watson 55 69 Chris Comalander 55 11 Tom Grothues 52 99 Doug Hooks 49 28 Michael Denman 41 33 Robert Richardson 35 41 Eddie Butt 11 7 Joey Shillings 10 73 Richard Gingrich 10 22 Tommy Grimes DNS-Blown motor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted May 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 Here's the ROMCO Recap; ROMCO Points leader extends lead By J M Hallas Two time NASCAR Sunbelt Region Champion, SAS Track Champion, and current ROMCO points leader, Brandon Bendele piled up more points in his chase for the 2003 title on the high-banks of San Antonio Speedway’s ½ mile track. Bendele started the day in practice, being the fastest in one of the two sessions, then backed it up in qualifying posting the fastest lap of 18.316. With ROMCO’s four car invert, Bendele would start fourth, with Mark Chrudimsky and Eddie Wallace leading the 26 car field to green. At the start of the 125 lap main event, Chrudimsky got the lead going into turn one, while Doug Hooks grabbed second, Bendele moved into third and Wallace falling to fourth. By lap 5 the top three had started to ease ahead, followed a four car pack scrapping for fourth, and another three car battle going on for eighth. Lap 11 saw the first caution come out when Joey Shillings, Eddie Butt and Robert Richardson got tangled up in between turns 1-2. Shillings and Butt were out for the night, Richardson pitted and returned. On the restart Chris Comalander tried to make a move, but got loose and fell back, with the pack stacking up and going three wide. Defending ROMCO champ, Chris Davidson started to slow and was forced to pit under green, with a flat right front on lap 24. Chrudimsky had gained a two car length advantage over Hooks and Bendele by lap 25 and a big gap back to Wallace, John Heil and Greg Davidson. Hooks and Bendele were able to reel Chrudimsky back in by lap 40, as the second group continued to lose ground. Bendele was able to get by Hooks on lap 41 as they split a lap car three wide. Several laps later Bendele again used tried to use a lap car to his advantage but got “picked” by the slower car. All the action up front allowed the second pack to sneak up on the top three. Bendele kept looking inside on Chrudimsky, with Hooks taking an occasional peek inside Bendele. Hooks then started to show some death smoke and pulled off on lap 47. Bendele then got inside Chrudimsky as the two ran door to door, with Bendele finally grabbing the top spot on lap 50. Once the SAS savvy, Bendele got the point he began to run away, while Chrudimsky fell into the clutches of Wallace. A caution on lap 56 slowed the action when Jay Watson, and Comalander got together, with Kent Baltzel spinning to miss them and Wallace spinning as the leaders approached the melee. On the restart Bendele got a good jump and quickly had an eight car length lead, with Wallace and Heil battling for third. At halfway the top five were Bendele, Chrudimsky, Wallace, Heil and G. Davidson, as Bendele increased his advantage. Bendele had a ten car gap back to Chrudimsky, as Wallace closed in on Chrudimsky. Bendele’s lead was erased on lap 86 when John David spun after contact with the turn four wall. On the restart Bendele used a lap car buffer to edge back out to good lead, while Chrudimsky, Wallace and Heil ran nose to tail. Veteran, John Kelly was on a charge as he moved up from his 5th row start to battle G. Davidson for fifth. Wallace took a look low on Chrudimsky, but was unable to get by, but Kelly and T Wade Welch both got by G. Davidson as the race neared 25 to go. With Bendele in the distance with a four second lead, Wallace finally got around Chrudimsky for second, followed closely by Heil and Kelly. The action behind Bendele, then picked up as drivers decided it was time to go. Heil, Kelly and Welch all got past Chrudimsky on lap 102 and G. Davidson dropped out of sixth on lap 103. Kelly continued his charge moving around Heil on lap 105. Heil and Welch then battled wheel to wheel until Welch gained the spot on lap 106. Lap 107 gave everyone a chance to catch their breathe, when the yellow flew for a spin by Mark Coleman. Under ROMCO rules the lap count holds on yellow after lap 100, leaving an 18 shootout to the finish. But just as Bendele had regained some of his lost real estate on green, the caution flew again on lap 109 when Chrudimsky spun. Chrudimsky continued after pitting for tires. Bendele again jumped out to a good lead leaving Wallace, Kelly, Heil and Heath Stewart to battle for the runner-up spot. Heil fell back after sliding high, nearly hitting the wall on lap 112. With 10 to go Bendele had two seconds over Wallace until caution flew again on lap 117 when Baltzel broke and rolled to a stop in the turn one grass. Back under green, Bendele pulled ahead of Wallace, while Chrudimsky was trying to charge back up on new tires. The race again saw yellow, when Heil spun on lap 122, with his tires appearantly worn out. Under yellow, Welch ran out of fuel and pitted, as the caution laps mounted. One last time, Bendele got a good restart over Wallace, with Stewart and Chrudimsky fighting for fifth. As the checkers finally waved it was the young contender, Bendele in his LoneStar Light/Premier Minerals/Oval Components/ Mission Racing/RTM/Monte Carlo taking his second SAS victory in three ROMCO starts. Final Results Car#, Driver, Laps 8 Brandon Bendele 125 55 Eddy Wallace 125 57 John Kelly 125 39 Mark Chrudimsky 125 32 Heath Stewart 125 3 John Heil 125 49 Bradley Reithmeyer 124 79 John Meyer 124 90 John David 123 13 T Wade Welch 122 14 Chris Davidson 121 34 Ronnie Hall 121 19 Kent Baltzel 113 96 Greg Davidson 103 30 Mark Coleman 102 17 Clay Huckaby 97 05 Josh Trees 89 48 Jay Watson 55 69 Chris Comalander 55 11 Tom Grothues 52 99 Doug Hooks 49 28 Michael Denman 41 33 Robert Richardson 35 41 Eddie Butt 11 7 Joey Shillings 10 73 Richard Gingrich 10 22 Tommy Grimes DNS-Blown motor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 Great recap, Reb! How was the crowd? Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted May 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 Thanx Nick. Nearly a full house, very few empty seats from what I could see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8racefan Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 Excellent. thanks for the quick reports that is the reason why i come to this web site. Good Job Guys Kenneth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bar2248 Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 I passed heil with 3 laps to go. Nice run for him to, battleing for 3rd place. Brandon never laped me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 Here are the Official ROMCO SLM Series results from the 5/3/03 event at San Antonio Speedway FP CAR # DRIVER_NAME HOMETOWN ST LAPS GLL FRL SP QT PAYOFF POINTS 1 8 Brandon Bendele Adkins TX 125 65 18.849 4 18.316 $3,600 95 2 55 Eddy Wallace Round Rock TX 125 1 18.977 2 18.503 $2,000 87 3 57 John Kelly La Vernia TX 125 0 18.972 9 18.668 $1,600 84 4 39 Mark Chrudimsky Hutto TX 125 45 18.956 1 18.540 $1,400 81 5 32 Heath Stewart Del Valle TX 125 0 19.298 15 19.019 $1,200 78 6 49 Bradley Riethmeyer Hutto TX 125 0 19.39 14 18.968 $1,000 75 7 3 John Heil Floresville TX 125 0 18.955 6 18.609 $800 72 8 79 John Meyer Floresville TX 124 0 19.668 23 19.596 $850 69 9 13 T Wade Welch Houston TX 123 0 19.002 8 18.638 $800 66 10 90 John David Odessa TX 123 0 19.339 16 19.023 $600 63 11 14 Chris Davidson Pearland TX 122 0 18.997 5 18.559 $600 60 12 34 Ronnie Hall Alvord TX 121 0 19.644 17 19.036 $500 57 13 19 Kent Baltzell Spring TX 113 0 19.402 11 18.854 $450 54 14 96 Greg Davidson Pearland TX 103 0 18.835 7 18.626 $400 51 15 30 Mark Coleman Wichita Falls TX 102 0 19.446 21 19.477 $375 48 16 17 Clay Huckaby Buda TX 97 0 19.369 13 18.948 $350 45 17 05 Josh Trees Red Oak TX 89 0 19.92 24 19.763 $325 42 18 48 Jay Watson Midland TX 55 0 19.278 12 18.948 $300 39 19 69 Chris Comalander Beaumont TX 55 0 19.768 25 20.023 $250 36 20 11 Tom Grothues San Antonio TX 52 0 19.074 10 18.717 $200 33 21 99 Doug Hooks Dripping Springs TX 49 0 18.895 3 18.406 $175 30 22 28 Michael Denman Corpus Christi TX 41 0 19.256 18 19.06 $150 27 23 33 Robert Richardson Mc Kinney TX 35 0 19.76 19 19.088 $125 24 24 41 Eddie Butt Corpus Christi TX 11 0 19.676 20 19.338 $100 21 25 7 Joey Shillings Thorndale TX 10 0 19.79 22 19.576 $75 18 26 73 Richard Gingrich Topeka KS 19 0 23.524 26 21.123 $75 15 FP = Finishing Position GLL = Green Laps Led FRL = Fastest Race Lap SP = Starting Position QT = Qualifying Time Did not start race: #22 Tommy Grimes, engine failure. Fastest four qualifying positions were inverted. Brandon Bendele was fast qualifer at 18.316, picks up 5 extra points and 4qts Mobile One Racing Oil from American Performance Products and Services. Crew Chief award, Ringers Glove, to the winning vehicle # 8, sponsored by American Performance Products and Services. John Meyer wins $100 for most improved position sponsored by American Radio, Robbie and Becky Davidson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 Bradley, You are right...Brandon didn't lap you and you did finish ahead of John Heil. The official ROMCO SLM Series results show you to be on the lead lap finishing sixth ahead of Heil who finished seventh. Great job! Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted May 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2003 Sorry Bradley, I took the info directly off the results sheet that ROMCO gave me after the races. Wonder how it could be different than what they E-mailed out??? My apologies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bar2248 Posted May 7, 2003 Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 My transponder on the car did not count a lap under one of the yellow flags for some reason, we are definaltley trying to figure out why. I want to thank ROmco officials for going back over their hand written laps, and correcting the mistake. THANK YOU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted May 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 That would explain it! Thanx for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildRacer5 Posted May 7, 2003 Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 Bradley, Didn't you have a problem with your transponder during quailifing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bar2248 Posted May 12, 2003 Report Share Posted May 12, 2003 No, unfortunatly the flag-man just screwed up, he did appolgize for the mistake, but it got me all confused and frustrated me, so i wasn't concentrating. U know one of those rookie mistakes. They did let me go back out and get another lap, but i still didnt get a warm up lap either time i went out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasman Posted May 12, 2003 Report Share Posted May 12, 2003 Bradley, I dont remember which caution is was, but it was late in the race, Brandon was on your bumber when a caution came out. I dont remember exactly how they done it, but the lineup correction was done before you guys crossed the start-finish line and would show you a lap down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bar2248 Posted May 14, 2003 Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 No, they siad it was not under that caution. So we are not fr sure which caution it was. But i know what you are tlakin about. He almost lapped me. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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