Pre-Staging for the Pick Your Part Jet Truck. Photo by Anne Cypress.
On the day before Father’s Day, an estimated crowd of 3,000 witness exciting short-track racing at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Most fans came to see the debut of Moto-X and Metal Mulisha founder Brian Deegan and the return of the Pick Your Part Jet Truck.PEPSI SUPER LATE MODELS – 40 LAPS
An all green-flag race started the evening of short-track racing as Justin Johnson led all 40 laps.
Johnson has won four straight races in the Vision Air #98 and extended his lead in the points standings with ten races to go in the racing season.
Starting on the second row, Johnson easily maneuvered his car into the lead on the third turn on the first lap.
Vision Air racing continued to dominate the Pepsi Super Late Model series as Dusty Davis finished second 1.269 seconds from Johnson.
Jason Patison came flying late to get the third spot away from Randel King.
Metal Mulisha founder and Moto-X games star Brian Deegan finished 10th in his debut.
ECHO EQUIPMENT LEGENDS CAR – 35 LAPS
Darren Amidon set the fastest time during qualifying and was able to go wire-to-wire for a convincing victory in the Echo Equipment Legends series.
A yellow-flag thrown on the 31st lap didn’t stop Amidon’s victory tour with his third straight win in the series.
Amidon was able to build a quick lead after the re-start on Brent Scheidemantle who would finish second on the night.
Scheidemantle extended his TS@I points lead as his nearest competitor Chad Schug finished fifth. Following Scheidemantle was Tom Landreth for his first podium finish of the season.
LANGERS JUICE S-2 – 25 LAPS
Roman Lagudi took the lead on the 13th lap in turn three to take the Langers Juice S-2 event.
For much of the evening, Andrew Porter was leading comfortably until he lost the handling of the car. Porter was sliding out of control for the better part of a lap that saw Lagudi, Joe Anderson, and David Busby pass him.
Anderson, who actually works on most of the S2’s during the week, was able to get past every car but Lagudi for second.
The series leader coming into the night Dylan Lupton lost the lead to Lagudi with his fifth place finish and now trails by two points with seven races to go.
Kendall Lopez, who came into the race trailing Lagudi by four points now, trails Lagudi by eight points.
SOUTHWEST TOUR TRUCKS – 35 LAPS
With five laps remaining, Jeff Williams looked as though he would win his fourth win of the season. However, it was not meant to happen as Williams blow-up in turn one of the 30th lap to bring out the final caution of the evening.
The beneficiary of Williams’s misfortune was Michael Zimmerman who became a first-time winner at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale in the Southwest Tour Trucks division.
Zimmerman was able to withstand a late charge from Gus Nanos and Tom Mikla during the last green-flag drop that saw Milka come from the back of the field after being sent back earlier in the race.
Mikla and Neil Conrad were involved in a red-flag wreck that saw Conrad hit the turn three wall.
PEPSI SUPER LATE MODELS – 40 LAPS
Brian Deegan's #58 Metal Mulisha. Photo by Anne Cypress.
Dusty Davis took advantage of his pole position to lead the entire Pepsi Super Late Model race.
After finishing second in the first race, Davis was able to turn the tables on Justin Johnson after finishing 1.269 seconds behind earlier. Davis finished 1.668 seconds ahead of Randel King in the second race.
Johnson’s four-race winning streak was also broken with Davis’s win. Johnson finished third and still retains the division point lead with nine races to go.
King continued his hunt for rookie of the year with his second solid finish of the night.
PICK YOUR PART OUTLAW FIGURE 8’S – 20 LAPS
Fans received a treat prior to the start of the Pick Your Part Outlaw Figure 8’s as the PYP Jet Truck made an appearance for the 3,000 estimated fans.
“Barefoot” Billy Ziemann led all 20 laps to win his third of four races in the series. Ziemann extended his points lead by eight as Andy Schoening finished fifth on the night.
Only thing that stopped Ziemann was a red flag that was dropped when Jerry Toporek ran into the back of Jeff Williams as he awaited race cars to pass the intersection.
After going green, Ziemann took a commanding lead through the intersection. Last year’s champion Steve Stewart finished second and “Hot” Rod Proctor was a good third place.
ASA SPEED TRUCK SERIES – 50 LAPS
Taylor Cuzick finished the evening with a wire-to-wire victory in the ASA Speed Truck Challenge. It was his first victory on the pavement for the 17-year old driver.
Cuzick dodged a bullet with five laps to go as Joey Licata tried to get past on the high side. Licata had to slow when Eric Sloan panicked being lapped and spun on the front straight away.
Mike Herda completed the podium to finish the night out.
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