NickHolt Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Jake Kruger earns $5,000 Pro Late Model win at Houston Motorsports Park Houston, TX (May 17, 2015) – It looked like Pro Late Model drivers Chris Davidson and Jake Kruger were going to battle to the wire during Houston Motorsports Park’s $5,000-to-win “Patriot Motors 75” Saturday night, but an incident with seven laps to go ended Davidson’s chances for a big payday at the NASCAR-sanctioned, 3/8-mile oval. “We were racing Chris Davidson for the win up until he crashed late in the race,” said Kruger, who wound up in victory circle and $5,000 richer after the checkered flag waved. “We hated to see him get crashed. It was going to be a fun and exciting finish.” Steve Steinle photo Indeed, Davidson and Kruger raced within inches of each other for most of the 75-lap event until Davidson wound up on the business end of the wrecker after an unfortunate incident involving youngster Clayton Green and veteran Thad Felton on lap 68. While there is some discussion as to the actual chain of events, Green was judged to have jumped a lap-54 restart that followed an incident involving young Jared Fryar and Davidson who were battling for the second spot behind Kruger at the time. Apparently there was a delay in displaying the black flag to Green after the restart, and when it was in fact displayed Green continued to run in the lead for several laps. Finally, Green slowed on the front straight momentarily and dropped back to the fourth spot behind Felton, but in front of Davidson who was in the process of working his way back to the front after the lap-54 incident. Shortly thereafter, Green made solid contact with Felton going into turn one with both cars spinning, leaving Davidson no place to go except into the wall. Davidson’s night was over. Green and Felton also retired for the night at that point. That left Kruger to fend off Zach Knowles, Michael Umscheid, Kristen Bumbera and Chris Freeland - the only cars still left on the track - for the last seven laps to secure the big payday. In spite of the departure of his chief rival with only seven laps to go, Kruger felt the race was actually won on the first lap. “I’d say the turning point in the race came real early when I got around Chris (Davidson) on the initial start,” Kruger explained. “That gave me the lane choice at the first caution which helped me out a lot.” HMP offers the lane choice to the leader with everyone else selecting their lane as they pass inside or outside a cone placed in the middle of the track a lap or two before restarts. Davidson pretty much agreed with Kruger’s assessment. “There were five or six of us who could have won this,” Davidson said. “But Jake and started up front due to the draw and we put on a show right up until the end. He kept choosing the outside line on the restarts, so he had the better line and was able to pull me a little coming off the turns.” Davidson was disappointed that he got caught up in someone else’s wreck at the end, but took it in stride. “It would have been a real exciting finish, but things happen in racing and this time I was on the wrong end of an incident,” he said. “I’ve watched Clayton Green run for quite some time and he’s a very talented, clean driver. I don’t know exactly what happened between him and Thad (Felton), but I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Kruger has been on a roll so far this season at the meticulously maintained, park-like facility. In addition to this Pro Late Model win, Kruger has won three NASCAR Modified events in-a-row on the asphalt/concrete Houston oval. “I’m not real sure what’s making us so dominant,” Kruger said. “Our whole crew has just been working so hard and we all want to win real bad. Maybe that’s it.” When asked about what he planned on doing with the $5,000 paycheck, Kruger replied, “All the money is going to my awesome car owner, Rick Pollaro. He gave me the best of the best in that new Late Model. You just can’t ask for a better car owner.” Results of the Pro Late Model “Patriot Motors 75” Finish, Car #, Name, Laps, Purse 1. 96 Jake Kruger, 75, $5,0002. 51 Zach Knowles, 75, $3,0003. 54M Michael Umscheid, 75, $2,0004. 00 Kristen Bumbera, 75, $1,0005. 91 Chris Freeland, 75, $7506. 29 Thad Felton, 68, $7507. 14D Chris Davidson, 68, $7508. 47G Jared Fryar, 54, $7509. 14 Ryan Luza, 54, $75010. 51M Mason Mitchell, 36, $75011. 115 Ryan Humphrey, 33, $75012. 54 Clayton Green, DQ Pro Late Model Qualifying Time Trial results 1. 41D Chris Davidson, 14.2332. 47G Jared Fryar, 14.3203. 54 Clayton Green, 14.3574. 96 Jake Kruger, 14.3665. 54M Michael Umscheid, 14. 3776. 51 Zach Knowles, 14.4517. 14 Ryan Luza, 14.4538. 00 Kristen Bumbera, 14.4899. 29 Thad Felton, 14.50210. 91 Chris Freeland, 14.82911. 115 Ryan Humphrey, 15.02112. 51M Mason Mitchell, NT NASCAR ModifiedsJake Kruger jumped out of his race-winning Pro Late Model and hopped into his Rick Pollaro-owned NASCAR Modified, made his way to the front of the 9-car field and took the checkered almost a quarter-lap in front of Logan Bearden, Ryan Luza and Ian Webster, the only four cars on the lead lap at the finish. Steve Steinle photo Logan Bearden won the 10-lap heat race. NASCAR Modified 50-lap feature results 1. 96 Jake Kruger, 502. 66 Logan Bearden, 503. 5 Ryan Luza, 504. 13 Ian Webster, 505. 9 JT Schild, 496. 28 Kevin Wiseman, 497. 88 Larry Hughes, 488. 16 Jake Thomasson, 489. 4 Michael Kourkoubes, 44 NASCAR Coke Trucks David Webster won the NASCAR Coke Truck 40-lap feature over Mike Coursey and Chad Rogers. Webster also won his 10-lap heat race. NASCAR Coke Truck 40-lap feature results 1. 13 David Webster, 402. 53 Mike Coursey, 403. 4 Chad Rogers, 404. 17 Christopher Hogan, 315. 15 Mark Lindley, 316. 8 Ed Nastasi, 307. 182 Adam Schwarz, 298. 20 Tom Wingo, 139. 1 Kyle Books, 9 NASCAR Calico Coatings Stock Cars Lynn Hardy treated the crowd to a nice burnout after winning over Robert Walton and Michael Pollaro. NASCAR Calico Coatings Stock Car 20-lap feature results 1. 20 Lynn Hardy, 202. 10 Robert Walton, 203. 69 Michael Pollaro, 204. 02 John Cornish, 175. 8 Ed Thompson, 2 Michael Pollaro won the 10-lap heat race Eco Stocks Taylor Harris continued her winning ways taking the checkered flag in front of an evenly-matched field of Eco Stocks. Eco Stocks 20-lap feature results 1. 717 Taylor Harris, 202. 27 Danny Bartholomew, 203. 13 Bedie Sonnier, 204. 72 Soren Rasmussen, 205. 8 Kit Leslie, 206. 7 Stephen Dalton, 207. 22 Mitch Lindley, 12 Mitch Lindley won the 10-lap heat race Legends Michael Dabney was unstoppable winning both the Legend 25-lap feature and the 10-lap heat 1. 50 Michael Dabney, 252. 360 Baiden Hesket, 253. B00 Tyson Goudy, 254. M16 Coby Henslee, 255. 357 Matthew Barnard, 256. 62K Kamera McDonald, 257. 162 Tim McDonald, 258. 19 Jamie Call, 259. 48 Gabbie Dubeau, 2410. 27 Colin Lynch, 1111. 308 JC Umscheid, 11 Bandoleros JD Legg convincingly won both the 15-lap Bandolero feature and his 10-lap heat Bandoloro 15-lap feature results 1. 14 JD Legg, 152. 84 Levi Dubeau, 153. 34 Camryn Chadwick, 154. 99 Kade Brown, 55. 3 Logan Tunnell, 4 The park-like Houston Motorsports Park grounds are located inside Beltway 8 at 11620 North Lake Houston Parkway. To contact Houston Motorsports Park, call Tracy Trotter at 832-324-5584 or email him at ttrotter@houstonmotorsportspark.com. For more information about Houston Motorsports Park visit www.racehmp.com or look us up on Facebook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
looneedude Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Thank you to Mr Beasly and the Nasty race cars crew and family for allowing me the opportunity to make my return to the pro-stocks....just getting to turn laps in such a great prepared car was more then great and then to end the night with a win was a super sized cherry on top. It was fun racing door to door with Mike Palloro (luckily I've gotten to be Mike's spotter a couple times at CTS and knew he would race me hard yet clean). And hopefully the Palloro machine will come back soon because I'm certain they were only an adjustment or two away from taking the win..the top 3cars were really close in the heat the only advantage I had was knowing a few of the changes the track does after the sun goes down. Wich great for me the adjustment that the Nasty Race Cars crew made to the car made it nearly perfect which just made me the just the lucky monkey hanging on to the steering wheel... Also thank you to the Mark and Marty Lindy along with 2014 eco champ Danny Bartholomew for loaning all kinds of stuff. A giant thank you Scotty Barber for playing babysitter. And last but not least to my son Lawrence who not only gave me permission to race but also gave up his position as pace car driver assistant which he had been excited and ready to do all week. However he did have 2 stipulatins; #1 I had to win and #2 I had to pick him up at candy time (intermission) with the pace car or the race car so he could go around the track and his race track buddies could see him. I'm happy and relieved to say I was able to accomplish both his requirements. ....he did add one more when it was all said and done..which was to let him put the trophy in his room ..so Jim if you read this the trophy is in good hands. Lynn Hardy Jr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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