Darren Amidon celebrates in Victory Lane. Photo by Anne Cypress
(Irwindale) – The return of Lucas Oil Modifieds brought out 3,500 fans for another exciting Saturday night of racing at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
It also didn’t hurt that fans that entered were also able to purchase hot dogs and drinks for a buck.
Here is a recap:
LUCAS OIL MODIFIED – TROPHY DASH
Chris Cline opened up the return of the Modified series with an easy win.
Cline jumped on the lead on the very first turn and went wire-to-wire the victory.
Brian Collins and fastest qualifier Chris Gerchman followed Cline to the wire.
JAN’S TOWING BANDALEROS – 20 LAPS
Ryan Cansdale took advantage of an early crash that saw point’s leader Trevor Huddleston knocked out of the race.
Cansdale took the lead on the drop of the green flag and cruised to an easy victory.
The worst case scenario for Huddleston had a silver lining as RJ Stearns and Ricky Schlick were also involved in the crash early on.
Stearns and Schlick are all battling Huddleston for the points lead in the series and were only trailing 24 and 36 points respectively.
Huddleston now leads Cansdale by 12 points with one race remaining in the division.
Christian McGhee finished second, while Amanda Poertner was the highest finishing female in third.
JUSTICE BROTHERS MINI STOCKS – 35 LAPS
Darryl Scoggins finds the Winner's Circle again in 2010. Photo by Anne Cypress.
After having two-straight DNF’s, Darryl Scoggins took the checkered-flag for the first time in two-races.
Scoggins took advantage of the pole-position and never trailed during the entire race.
With his win, Scoggins re-takes the points lead the JBMS by four-points with four races remaining as Jacob Rogers finished fourth place.
Ryan Bragdon was able to pass Tyler Rogers with four laps to go the get the second spot.
Two major incidents occurred during the race as Rod Schmitt and Dusty Morgan both had major engine malfunctions during the race.
ECHO EQUIP LEGEND CARS – 35 LAPS
To say that Darren Amidon is on fire would be an understatement. All Amidon has done is win six of the last seven races in the EELC.
Amidon’s only blemish in the last seven was a second, three races ago.
Brent Scheidemantle is the driver who has probably seen enough of Amidon as he has finished second four of the last five races.
Scheidemantle was able to extend his point leads by four points as Chad Schug was mired in the back after a yellow flag on the ninth lap. Schug was sent to the back when they began to count laps during the yellow flag and went to the pits to make an adjustment.
Mark Borchetta and Hunter Colodny had their best finishes of 2010 with third and fourth place finishes.
AUTO CLUB LATE MODELS – 40 LAPS
Mike Johnson won his second race of the 2010 season by holding off ACLM point’s leader Rod Johnson Jr for 40 laps.
Fan-favorite Mike Johnson wins the ACLM main. Photo by Anne Cypress.
Even though Rod Johnson Jr finished second it was a huge point’s win in the season standings as Nick Joanides was sent to the back of the pack after getting involved in an incident with Brandon Davis. Joanides would end the night in 13th place. It was 20 point swing in points that saw Travis Irving move into second and drop Joanides into fourth.
Irving finished in third to round out the podium.
LUCAS OIL MODIFIED – 50 LAPS
Andrew Phipps won his 31st race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale and took the North vs. South showdown in the Lucas Oil Modified Series.
The non-points race saw many old local drivers back in the fastest race car at the Speedway.
Phipps led all 50 laps in the victory and held off Scott Winters on the final lap. It was never easy for Phipps who had to withstand challenges from Rod Johnson and Austin Barnes earlier in the race.
The fastest qualifier Chris Gerchman had to start at the back of the field after making changes to the car after qualifying.
Gerchman would weave his way through the field to finish third and nearly was able to get to the leader after a late caution was thrown with three laps remaining. The wreck also brought out the red-flag for 10 minutes after Chris Cline, Zach Sawyers, Tim Morse and Glen Young all tangled on the front stretch.
Sawyers was taken to a local hospital for observation after being removed from his racecar.
TRAILER RACE – 20 LAPS
The mayhem never materialized during the final race of the night.
Adam Ditto took advantage of Robert Rice and Bill Thiebert’s misfortune on the 15th lap when they both overheated while running first and second respectively.
Ditto was never threatened by Jonathon DeStefano as his margin of victory was three seconds.
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