Courageous kids get to meet a Mini Stock driver during the autograph session. Photo by Anne Cypress.
(Irwindale) – A night dedicated to helping children took place on Saturday at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Along with side-by-side racing, all fans that entered helped Kids against Cancer and the participating area hospitals. The medical centers that took part were City of Hope, Loma Linda and Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
Children battling the disease and their parents were treated to pace car rides and tours of the fastest speedway in Los Angeles.
Prior to the night’s races, fans were treated to the King Taco autograph session.
When the green flag was dropped, 4,000 fans witness some incredible side-by-side racing.
In the Southwest Truck series, Michael Zimmerman used a fast car and some early luck to win his second consecutive race.
Zimmerman was nearly two seconds slower than Jeff Williams who had trouble on the 17th lap with a left-front wheel. Williams would end up losing the lead and the wheel on the 18th lap.
Zimmerman held off Brady Helm on the final lap, as Helm made one last attempt to pass on the low part of the track in turns three and four.
After a three week break, the Jan’s Towing Bandoleros returned to the 1/3 mile and Ryan Cansdale won his second race of the year.
Cansdale never was threatened and endured a red-flag caution when five bandoleros wrecked in turns three and four during the ninth lap. Those involved were Ricky Lewis, Evan Garvy, Brett Scoggins, Patrick O’Hanley, and Ryan Dunkleberger.
Cansdale was able to get the jump on RJ Stearns and Ricky Schlick on the 10th lap re-start and pulled clear.
The Justice Brothers Mini-Stocks saw a change in the points lead as Jacob Rogers mustered home a third-place finish. Rogers had to come from 13th place as he started with a back-up engine after his blew during practice.
The good-luck continued for Rogers who saw the Darryl Scoggins get knocked out on the very first lap after tangling with Kevin Bernhardt in turn two.
The eventual winner of the race was Dustin Morgan. It was Morgan’s first win of the year at Toyota Speedway.
Ryan Bragdon tried hard to catch Morgan late, but lost the handling on the final lap.
After having his personal winning streak of four races snapped last weekend, Darren Amidon was able to turn the tables on Brent Scheidemantle.
Scheidemantle couldn’t hold off the fast closing Amidon on the 16th lap of the race and watched Amidon power home for a 0.462 second win.
It wasn’t a completely bad night for Scheidemantle who increased his lead on Chad Schug who was running third until a final lap spin dropped him to 12th. Schug went from being 18-points down in the championship race to 36 after the night was over.
After narrowly missing the Winner’s Circle last week in the Spears SRL race, Derek Thorn slid in front of Travis Irving with 18 laps remaining to win Auto Club Late Models main event.
Lightning McQueen visits TS@I on Kids against Cancer Night. Photo by Anne Cypress.
Thorn demolished a relatively close field by 3.341 seconds.
Heading into the night Rod Johnson Jr was trailing Nick Joanides by two-points. His third place finish coupled with Joanides seventh place finish enabled Johnson to take a four-point lead with seven races remaining.
Irving and Chris Holloway are now tied for third in points after Irving’s second place result.
A special appearance from Lightning McQueen also occurred during the ACLM race. McQueen had trouble maneuvering through the field in his first attempt at Toyota Speedway.
It was a special treat for all the kids in attendance.
Racing returns to Toyota Speedway at Irwindale next weekend with the Pepsi Super Late Models, King Taco Super Trucks, Vista Paint Super Stocks, Langers Juice S2, and Ken Porter Auctions Classic Stocks.
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