RIP MICHELS GET HIS FIRST SUPER LATE MODEL WIN, TOMMY FRY JR.
GETS MAX MILLER POINTS, HESSING INTO TIE FOR LATE MODEL LEAD IRWINDALE
SPEEDWAY RACE REPORT
RIP MICHELS GET HIS FIRST SUPER LATE MODEL WIN,
TOMMY FRY JR. GETS MAX MILLER POINTS,
HESSING INTO TIE FOR LATE MODEL LEAD
IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY RACE REPORT - AUGUST 4, 2001
By Tim Kennedy
Four racing divisions and five main events for 220 laps of feature action
Saturday attracted 99 racing cars and 5,101 spectators to Irwindale Speedway.
Tommy Fry and Rip Michels won a pair of NASCAR Food 4 Less Super Late
Model 50-lap main events in the premier division. Dave Hessing led the final five
laps of a 50-lap NASCAR Auto Club of Southern California Late Model
feature that also used the banked half-mile.
The touring MSRA Pro 4 cars competed on the third-mile for the first time
instead of the half-mile. The result was closer competition and a higher car
count. Mike Wright became the fifth race leader of the 35-lap main event on
lap 20. He won by three seconds over Kenny Smith who tangled with a lapped
car near the finish line and spun across the stripe with the checkered flag
waving.
The first feature of the evening for Mod 4s (formerly known as Mini
Stocks) went 35-laps, also on the third-mile. Rod Hicks captured his first
career feature at Irwindale in a 20-minute event that had four caution
periods. Point leader Terry Limberopoulos was struck by second place Greg
Tucker on lap 14 and spun out of the lead. Lee Ladd then took the point and
paced the next six laps before a cloud of heavy white smoke from a broken rod
sent him to the pits and left Hicks in charge.
The first 50-lap SLM feature was round eight of the Miller Lite Big Ten
Challenge Series. Winner Fry started second and led the first two laps
before third starter David Gilliland passed him and led through lap 28.
After ten laps of a side-by-side duel, Fry used the inside groove through the
third and fourth corners to recapture the point on lap 29. He kept his
Chevrolet in front for the final 22 circuits.
Fry's winning time in the all green flag race was 15:52.871. He had
seven lapped cars between his Monte Carlo and the Chevy of runner-up
Gilliland, who trailed by 4.844 seconds. Sean Woodside was third, 4.865
seconds behind the winner. Brandon Whitt finished fourth for his career best
finish at Irwindale. Rip Michels earned fifth spot. Fastest qualifier Tony
Bruncati, Nathan Wulff, Brent Reynolds, Kazuto Yanagawa and Nick DeFazio
completed the top ten. Thirty of 33 starters were racing at the finish, with
16 cars on the lead lap.
The second 50-lap SLM feature lineup was based on the finishing order of
the first 50, with the first six starters inverted. Rip Michels, the 2000
Grand American Modified champion at Irwindale, started second and led all the
way. It was the first SLM career victory for Michels, a rookie in the SLM
division.
Michels drove his self-built Pick-Your-Part, LADCO-sponsored Chevy Monte
Carlo. It was his 17th main event triumph at the three-year old track. The
victory broke his tie with 16-time winner Todd Burns (Late Model Division).
Super Stock driver T. K. Karvasek ranks third in career main event victories
at Irwindale with 15.
Woodside, the 1999 Winston West Champion, finished second in the second
50-lapper and reclaimed the SLM point lead by two over Brent Reynolds.
Woodside also is the current Miller Lite Big Ten Challenge point leader with
two races remaining in the series within a series. Rounding out the top ten
were Guilliland, Fry, Whitt, Yanagawa, Reynolds, Keith Spangler, Bruncati and
David Beat. Twenty-three of the 29 starters were running at the finish and
11 drivers completed all 50 laps. An 11-car crash on the front straight at
the start of lap two sidelined five cars. No drivers were injured.
Michels told the media, "You have to think of racing to the end and not
about something going wrong when you have a lead like I had. I wanted to
make up for the wins I didn't get earlier this year. I cut tires twice and
had a broken rear end once that cost me Super Late Model victories. In the
first main event my temperature gauge got too high and I had to back off
early entering the turns. A radiator hose cramped up and we fixed it between
the two races. My car was too tight in the first 50 and we loosened it up
for the second 50. It felt freer in warm-up laps for the second 50."
Point leader Deryk Ward started on the pole in the 50-lap Late Model
feature and led the first 38 laps. Fastest qualifier Todd Burns came from
tenth starting position for the second consecutive race and took the lead on
lap 39 with an inside pass in turn four. Ward reassumed the point on lap 40
with an outside pass. He was still in front of the pressing Burns on lap 45
when Burns shot under Ward's car in the first turn and drifted up the track
into the left side of leader Ward, who spun out. Officials sent Burns to the
back of the remaining 23 cars from a 24 car starting field.
Dave Hessing assumed the lead with Burns' penalty and he won his fourth
feature of the season in his California Public Recycling Chevy. Tim
Huddleston excited fans during the final two laps by diving under Hessing in
the fourth corner and getting sideways in an effort to take command. He
trailed Hessing by 0.130 seconds. Brian Kelley finished third for the second
consecutive race. Kevin Wood and Shaun Estes were fourth and fifth
respectively. Twenty-three of 24 starters finished and 19 ran all 50 laps.
Trophy dash victories went to Lee Ladd (Mod 4s), Wright (MSRA), Gilliland
(SLM) and Doug McComb (L/M). Fastest qualifiers were Bruncati (SLM), Burns
(L/M), Guy Tripp (Mod 4s) and Eddie Secord (MSRA) with an automatic
third-mile new track record of 14.991.
MOD 4s:
Fast Time: Guy Tripp, 17.363.
Dash: Lee Ladd, Greg Tucker, Rod Hicks, Terry Limberopoulos, Tripp, Steve
Rogers.
Main: Hicks, Tripp, Dustin Morgan, Eric Reed, Tim Ross, Rick LeMaster, Howard
Brown, Tommy Fowler, Scott Corrigan, Greg Didoha, Steve Rogers, Pat Ackley,
Jim Tucker, Danny Rowe, Robert Lovas, John Brombeck, Gene Lockhart, John
Reed, Fred Adams, Ladd, Limberopoulos, Tucker, R. C. Zimmerman.
MSRA PRO 4:
Fast Time: Eddie Secord, 14.991 - NTR.
Dash: Mike Wright, Secord, Kenny Smith, Ed Reed.
Main: Wright, Smith, Steve Schober, Rod Hedrick, Secord, Scott Porter, Don
Minut, Marty Elzig, Sam Newcomer, Tommy Fowler, Danny Rowe, Gene Symonds,
John Johnson, Ed Reed.
LATE MODELS:
Fast Time: Todd Burns, 19.009.
Dash: Doug McComb, Rick Miller, Mike Price, Dave Hessing, Burns. -DNS Tim
Huddleston.
Main: Dave Hessing, Tim Huddleston, Brian Kelley, Kevin Wood, Shaun Estes,
Price, John Jones, John Ahrendt, Jeff Saelid, Rob Chaney, Barry Karr, Mike
Johnson, Todd Conrad, Dan DiGammarino, Richard Hooper, McComb, Deryk Ward, Burns, George Ruark, Joe Meehan, Steve Floyd, Chuck Kevwitch, Chris Pasdan,
Miller.
SUPER LATE MODELS:
Fast Time: Tony Bruncati, 18.194.
Dash: David Gilliland, Nick DeFazio, Tommy Fry, Brandon Whitt, Bruncati,
Brent Reynolds.
1st Main: Fry, Gilliland, Sean Woodside, Brandon Whitt, Rip Michels,
Bruncati, Nathan Wulff, Brent Reynolds, Kazuto Yanagawa, DeFazio, Kevin
Thompson, Sammy Potashnick, Keith Spangler, Brandon Loverock, David Beat,
Jason Small, Jeff Seifert, David Quartaro, Tim Woods III, Dan Holtz, John
Bojorquez, A. J. DiMarzo, Dusty McDonald, Mike Hahn, Bobby James, Dennis
Arena, Dave Eshleman, Scott Conaway, Brian Dryer, Roger Brown, Mike Walker,
Curtis Brown, Todd Burns.
2nd Main: Michels, Woodside, Gilliland, Fry, Whitt, Yanagawa, Reynolds,
Spangler, Bruncati, Beat, Wulff, Holtz, Woods, Bojorquez, DiMarzo, Seifert,
Hahn, Arena, Conaway, Dryer, R. Brown, C. Brown, Eshleman, Loverock, DeFazio, Thompson, Potashnick, Small, Quartaro.
-30-
PHOTO: FRY, HESSING, AND MICHELS ... GREAT PODIUM!
THANKS!
