By Tim Kennedy
(Irwindale) – Week four of 2010 Toyota Speedway at Irwindale point racing Saturday had six sponsored series and seven main events in front of about 2,000 spectators. The featured NASCAR Auto Club Late Model 50-lap race went to reigning series champion Nick Joanides, who was not suppose to race Saturday because of team financial constraints. He had scheduled work Saturday and intended to arrive at the track about 5:00 pm to be a spectator. At 11 pm Thursday Joanides received a telephone call from Loyd McGhee, owner of his his super late model and late model rides, telling him he could race the team’s No. 77 Chevy Saturday. The reason? McGhee won a $2,500 wager with a friend that allowed the team to race another week without additional sponsorship before parking their ACLM Chevy. Joanides obliged by winning his 37th main event at Irwindale. He also won both of the Pepsi One SLM features for McGhee’s team this season.
There were two other winners on the progressively banked half-mile. Ryan Partridge, 21, won in a thrilling 40-lap King Taco Super Truck race in which he only led one lap—the last, or more accurately the last 100-yards of the race. Rich DeLong III took a 30-lap Vista Paint Super Stock main in his two-year old Chevy Impala SS over a pack of pursing Camaros. It was his third victory in three races this year. Other mains used the third-mile track or the Figure 8 course. Six-time track Legends champion Tom Landreth, a 40+ year old perennial front runner, captured the lead four laps from the finish and won his 43rd main event at the track. He ranks third best all-time in feature triumphs at the track.
Fastest qualifier Amanda Poertner, a 13-year old relative series newcomer from Fullerton, made track history by winning the 20-lap Jan’s Towing Bandolero main after starting third. On lap 9 she made an inside pass of Friday night Bando winner Ricky Schlick, 12, and kept her Briggs & Stratton-powered car in front of Schlick to the finish. She became the first female to win a main event in the competitive Bandolero series. Classic stocks series dominator/2009 champion Ken Micharelian, 21, started last in an eight-car field aboard his newly built 1975 Dodge Dart. He became the third race leader on lap 16 and won the 30-lap race by 1.009 seconds. He came back in the same car to win the final race of the night, a Figure 8 event, and led all 12-laps from the pole. It was his third victory in the three classic stock mains this season. His victory margin was half a lap as six of eight starters finished the all-green flag event that concluded at 10:02.
The NASCAR Whelen All_American Weekly Racing Series “Salute to the IZOD Indy Car Series Long Beach Grand Prix” had a fitting tie-in Sunday. Popular LBGP winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, from Boca Raton, Florida, raced a NASCAR super late model stock car at Irwindale twice during 2007 when he was between open-wheel rides. He drove the No. 20 Speed Wong Racing Chevy Monte Carlo for car owner Darryl Wong in the third and fourth races of the season at Irwindale. He was impressive in a stock car also before logging a DNF and 13th place finish. He ranked 47th of 68 drivers with 2007 SLM points at the track in only two appearances.
ACLM: A 19-car field took the green at 9:26 with fastest qualifier Rod Johnson, Jr., a 20-year old 2009 super truck rookie of the year and series champion, starting sixth. Second quickest Joanides was next to him inside row three. Twenty minutes later, after one caution flag on lap 16, Joanides, 39, edged a pressing R. Johnson by a car length, a mere 0.153. Joanides shot past cars early on the inside and he was third after one lap and second on lap 3. He became the third and final leader on lap 7 when he took command in his Monte Carlo via an outside pass exiting turn four. Truck racing/IMCA dirt modified veteran/ACLM rookie Christian Copley, 18, started first as the sixth FQ. Copley led the first lap over fourth starter Mike Johnson, who led laps 2-6. M. Johnson ran the inside groove and challenged outside runner Joanides closely to lap 33 when R. Johnson (unrelated to him) took second from Mike on the outside after many laps trying to accomplish the pass. M. Johnson held third to lap 41 when Travis Irving, the April 3 feature winner and point leader, passed him on the outside in the second turn. Mike said, “I started on four used tires and my engine was cutting out in practice which kept us from working on handling.” Seventeen of 19 starters finished and 16 drivers completed all 50 circuits. Copley finished an impressive fifth in just his third ACLM race. Completing the top ten were: Kenny Smith, hard charger award winner Chris Holloway, Darren Cheek, second year ACLM driver/16th starter Kyle McGrady, 17, and George Atkinson. Rookie Brandon Davis, from Henderson, NV., started second as the fifth quickest qualifier and was fifth on lap 16 when he was bumped from behind and collected the first turn wall. He restarted and finished 12th, only 0.l00 in back of his HPR “blue crew” teammate and fellow Nevadan Dallas Colodny and 0.418 ahead of Tim Huddleston, his team owner. The three-time ACLM champion drove his older No. 50 “Blue Lazer” Monte Carlo.
KTST: The King Taco Super Truck 15-truck field had 14 starters with the first six positions determined by the finishing order of a six-lap trophy dash that started racing at 7:07. Todd Cameron, from nearby Monrovia, started second as fifth quickest qualifier and led all six laps to earn $200 and the main event pole position. Matt Kimball, 19, started his Chevy S-10 second in the feature and paced the 40-lap main for 39 laps. The Mission Viejo resident and Tennessee transplant is a second year KTST driver who finished tenth in final 2009 series points with a best feature finish of second place as a rookie. He tied his career-best finish and lost his first feature victory to FQ Ryan Partridge, who also beat him for the 2009 KTST rookie of the year honor. Kimball, a quarter midget racing veteran and three-time karting champion in 2001, 04 and 06, ran the outside groove and led to the fourth turn, but he trailed inside runner Partridge by a minuscule 0.003 at the checkers. Partridge told fans, “I didn’t know if I could get by low, but Rip Michels made it work.” The two leaders approached the slower 12th place No. 78 truck a the final turn. “I slowed a bit to see where he would go,” Kimball said in the pits.” That cost him his initial KTST victory. He charged back on the outside and almost caught the back of Partridge’s No. 48 Steve Latina-owned truck. Cameron ran third and trailed the winner by 12.780 seconds. Past series champion Pat Mintey, Jr. traded third position six times with Cameron between laps 2-17 before Mintey settled for fourth place. Ryan Fortier finished fifth in a 13:33.499-timed all-green flag race.
VPSS: With 11 cars present, the Vista Paint Super Stock field used a fully-inverted start based upon qualifying times. Four-wide racing prevailed through the first four laps. Curtis White came from fifth grid position to lead the first seven laps. Then 2006-2008 series champion Bryan Harrell came from seventh to pass him on the inside at the starting line as eighth starting/ultimate winner DeLong reached third place. Harrell led five laps. DeLong took second place from White on lap 10 and on lap 13 took the lead from Harrell on the inside leaving turn four. On lap 23 fourth place White got spun out in turn three by the fifth place car. Eric Sunness finished third in his Camaro. White and Gary Read placed fourth and fifth and were the only other drivers with 30 laps. Eight of nine starters finished. Hard charger White received $20. from Porsche Owners Club members present. Cheyanne Izsak, 17, made her second attempt to race her step-father’s Camaro. She hit the backstretch wall leaving turn two during practice and did not race. She also crashed on the backstretch and made a brief hospital visit after her solo backstretch crash on the opening lap of the March 27 VPSS main event.
BANDOLEROS: The Jan’s Towing Bandoleros had races both Friday (after the weekly 5-9 pm all divisions open practice session) and on Saturday. With 16 cars present both nights, Ricky Schlick won Friday’s 20-lap main by 0.422 over Mikael Lovas, also 12. The race took 6:30.329. Rookie Brandon Weaver, 9, Christian McGhee, 11, and Trevor Huddleston, 13, completed the top five as 11 drivers ran all 20 laps. After missing Friday action, Saturday feature winner Amanda Poertner dominated the 16 car field Saturday. She set fastest qualifying time and led all but the first eight laps. She started third and was second from laps 1-8 as she pressed leader Schlick from the inside. He slipped up the track in the second turn on lap 9 and she drove her white No. 5 car into the lead immediately. Two cautions kept Schlick on her back bumper, but she prevailed by 0.342 over him. M. Lovas, 2009 track champion Ryan Cansdale, 11, and second-generation driver Huddleston followed, with 13 of 16 starters RAF (running at the finish) of a 20-minute event. The boys praised her racing talent. During victory presentations, the winner thanked series sponsor Jan’s Towing, all her sponsors, her parents and “all the fans for coming out to watch the girls dominate.” She wore a Danica jacket and seemed to emulate the attitude and confidence of her heroine.
Ken Potter Auction CLASSIC STOCKS: Part I—Oval 30 laps. Curtis Drye led the first six laps on the third-mile in a six-car lead pack. Then FQ Mike Colato, Jr. led laps 7-10 in a three-car lead battle. Tom Whitson, back in action after two year absence, came from fifth at the start to lead laps 11-15. Reigning series champion Ken Michaelian, the P 7 starter, took the lead on the inside a turn two and became the fourth and final leader. He edged Whitson by 1.009. Colato, Drye and Harry Michaelian followed with Low Budget TV’s Tommy Mason the only other finisher. All ran 30 laps in an all-green flag race that took 8:54.952. Classic Stocks—Part II—Figure 8. The 12-lap Figure 8 closing race started all eight classic stocks in the order they finished the oval 30 lapper. K. Michaelian won by a whopping 14-seconds (half a lap) over Colato. H. Michaelian, Drye and CHP Sgt. Mark Garrett (in his brief racing career best result) followed and all ran 12 laps in a 4:18.677 all-green flag race.
Echo Equipment LEGEND CARS: With a 16-car field using a six-car inverted start, pole-sitter Brent Scheidemantle, 17, led the first 31 laps of a 35-lap event with the first six cars in nose-to-tail formation. Last feature winner Ryan Schug, from third, ran second to lap 18 when FQ/sixth starter Landreth passed him after the two leaders exchanged the point in cross-over passes in the second and fourth turns. Second place Landreth dogged leader Scheidemantle, the first feature winner of 2010. On lap 32 Landreth nosed his coupe under Scheidemantle entering turn one and second starter Mark Borchetta recaptured second place on lap 33. Schug, Scheidemantle and Hunter Colodny, 15, finished third through fifth. Ninth place Gary Scheuerell came from 15th and ran all 35 laps for hard charger honors. Winner Landreth, who skipped the first two races this season, spoke fondly of his dad and fellow Legends driver Bob, who passed away a year ago, and said his son is now working with him on his car.
Fastest qualifiers: (Half-mile): ACLM—R. Johnson, Jr., 18.912; KTST—Partridge, 19.745; VPSS—DeLong, 21.028; (Third-mile): Legends, 16.755; Classic Stocks, 17.520; Bandos, Poertner, 18.577. The fifth week of TS@I racing will feature the Pepsi One NASCAR SLM Series on scouting night.
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