San Antonio Speedway

[GoGirl]

Gentlemen! Start your repairs! It was Alamo Body and Paint Night at San Antonio Speedway this past Saturday...AND (though a bit ironic) many NASCAR motorists were involved in major accidents which left their racecars in dire need of extensive body and frame work.

 

The NASCAR Late Model feature event started off with a BANG-BANG! The first BANG occurred on the very first lap in Turn 2, when Frank Johnson and Jamie Fuller touched, and Fuller along with several other drivers spun out. All were able to return to the track after brief pit stops. BANG #2 happened on the second attempted start, when numerous racers were caught on a collision course between Turns 3 & 4. After assessing the damage done to their vehicles - Fuller, David White and Scott Jerkins determined they were unable to rejoin the field. That was a perfectly-timed yellow flag for Robert Barker, as he had a flat tire, and took this opportunity to change it. Finally, the race got underway with Joe Aramendia at the point. R. Barker zipped through traffic, and moved into the second position on Lap 12. One lap later, the caution lights lit up when Michael Lampton spun out. Aramendia's huge lead diminished, and R. Barker was sitting right on his back bumper for the restart followed by Brian Moczygemba, Johnson and Donny Horelka. Two of SAS's best chauffeurs - Aramendia and Barker - vied for the No. 1 position lap after lap, much to the delight of the race fans. R. Barker hoped Aramendia would make some kind of mistake, but that didn't happen. What did happen was Lampton spun out on the last lap in Turn 4, right in front of the leaders. Aramendia squeaked by without a scratch, but Barker spun and smacked the inside retaining wall. This incident set up a green-white-checkered flag finish. Keeping it all in the family, Aramendia cruised to victory, with his nephew B. Moczygemba finishing in the runner-up position. Horelka, R. Barker and Johnson were the next contenders to cross the stripe.

 

It was a crash 'em and smash 'em feature event for the NASCAR Sportsman division. Robert Mayberry paced the field to the green flag followed by Tom Casey, Justin Oates, Mark Rahn and Jamie Evans. Mayberry held the initial lead before being overtaken by Oates on Lap 2. A mid-race yellow flag waved when Steven Ramzinski spun out in Turn 4. Oates was still at the helm with Greg Rohmer, Eric Knudtson and Keith Garrett inhaling his fumes. One lap later, things really got wild when Oates had a tire go down. This latest mishap took Casey out of the mix, as he was clipped by Knudtson, and careened head-on into the back pit entrance gate. Knudtson and Oates were able to continue after their crews made repairs on pit lane. Rohmer inherited the lead, with Garrett in tow. With 8 laps remaining, the most devastating wreck of the night took place coming off Turn 2, when Evans and Ramzinski tangled. Fortunately, both drivers emerged from their heavily mangled machines without a ding on them. The final caution flag waved when Craig Crawley came off Turn 2, and slammed into the wall. At that point, Rohmer surrendered the lead, when he was summoned to the pits for a grease leakage problem, and Garrett assumed the top spot. As the laps wound down, Garrett was able to hold off the hard-charging Oates to claim his second victory of the season. Mayberry, Knudtson and David Schooman filled out the top five finishing positions. Rohmer holds a slim 3-point advantage over Knudtson in the battle for the championship.

 

Whew! After those two feature events, it was refreshing to see five NASCAR Road Runners roar onto the oval who were NOT ACCIDENT-PRONE. This 15-lap event was run with nary a caution flag. On Lap 1, Mark Mathias took the lead away from Ken Jones. Two laps later, Charlie Henley rocketed past Randy Frautschi for the second spot. Henley gave Mathias a run for his money, however, Mathias went on to capture his ninth feature win of the season. He celebrated the win with an impressive nose to the wall burn-out and donuts.

 

Mona Turner triumphed in the 6-lap NASCAR Women on Wheels feature event over Missy Jones and Kelly Earnhardt.

 

Congratulations to all of the winners!