THE LUCAS OIL RACING REPORT. Mardis supplies drama as Cappello captures championship (From Jim Short-Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series Public Relations) LAS VEGAS, Nevada (November 22, 2014) – When the final race of the season doesn’t produce a tense battle for the championship of the Lucas Oil Modified Series Jim Mardis is glad to provide the drama. The two-time series champion did it Saturday night for the second time in three years, taking the lead from Shelby Stroebel with 8 laps to go and pulling away for a convincing win in the LoanMart West Coast Short Track Championship at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This victory wasn’t as dramatic as the one in 2012, when Mardis went onto the apron at start-finish to pass Jay Linstroth as the white flag waved, but the effect was the same. The 1.234-second win over Stroebel kept alive a streak in which Mardis has won at least once in each of the past six seasons. He is the only series driver to accomplish that. Stroebel had to settle for second after leading 55 of the 75 laps around The Bullring’s .375-mile oval and Dylan Cappello finished third after driving the final 64 laps knowing he was the series champion because Austin Barnes had been sidelined with left front suspension damage suffered trying to avoid an accident on lap 12. Barnes, the 2012 champion, had entered the race trailing Cappello by 18 points and might have overtaken the 18-year-old rookie with a race win or a high finish. That possibility vanished when Barnes spun to try to miss a pileup in Turn 3 and got hit by another car. That left Cappello needing only to stay out of trouble and make it to the finish and the Peoria, Arizona, driver did that by running in the top 5 most of the night and avoiding the incidents that caused the seven caution flags. It was that seventh one, for Wes Miller’s stalled car in Turn 4, which gave Mardis his one and only chance to get by Stroebel, who was leading by almost a second when the yellow came out. “No, I don’t like the drama, but I’ll take it,” said Mardis, who was making his first start in the Bluewater Technologies/JAM Sportswear/K&N Filters STR Chevrolet that had been almost destroyed in a crash at Blythe, California, in September of 2013. “Steve Teets (who owns Short Track Racecars) put a new front clip on it four weeks ago and Don (crew chief Donnie Hansen) and I totally rebuilt it. “When we unloaded Friday we didn’t know what to expect. Steve had given us some new things to try and I was nervous about it. Then we went out the first practice and put it on top of the board and I said ‘man, we’ve got a good hot rod.’ “This afternoon it wasn’t so good. We struggled in qualifying (he was 15th) and I was pacing around nervous and worried for four hours. I knew we would have a decent car, I just didn’t know how decent. But I’ll take luck over skill any day.” Mardis, who started on the inside of eighth row in the 30-car field, was inside the top 10 by lap 20 and moved into the top 5 on lap 42 and on lap 50 was second to Stroebel, but unable to close the gap to the Meridian, Idaho, driver until the final caution waved. “I don’t know if I would have had much for him (if there hadn’t been a yellow), but I got him on the restart and I think he had some little (mechanical) issues after that. But like I said, I’ll take luck any time. “This is amazing. I don’t really know what to say. I’m in shock. I have to give a huge shout-out to H-Town Racing (the Pat Petrie-Tom Pfundstein team from Las Vegas). They gave me the opportunity to be out here this year (by giving him a car to race). I’ve got to thank all my sponsors for sticking with us and H-Town and all my guys for working so hard. “This was just one of those nights when you’ve got to pinch yourself to make sure it really happened.” LUCAS OIL MODIFIEDS LoanMart West Coast Short Track Championship presented by iON Cameras The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday, November 22, 2014 MAIN EVENT (75 laps) – 1. Jim Mardis, Yucaipa, California; 2. Shelby Stroebel, Meridian, Idaho; 3. Dylan Cappello, Peoria, Arizona; 4. Chase Catania, El Cajon, California; 5. Kyle Tellstrom, Ukiah, California; 6. Linny White, Colton, California; 7. Jason Patison, Corona, California; 8. Matt Hicks, Lakeside, California; 9. Jason Irwin, Albuquerque, New Mexico; 10. Larry Gerchman, Lake Havasu City, Arizona; 11. Mark Ith Jr., Magna, Utah; 12. Lynn Hardy, Salt Lake City, Utah; 13. Chris Fenton, Boise, Idaho; 14. Rich Lindgren, Rio Linda, California; 15. Sam Solari, Escalon, California; 16. Scott Winters, Tracy, California; 17. Jay Linstroth, Citrus Heights, California; 18. Chris Gerchman, Spring Branch, Texas; 19. Joe DeGuevara, Las Vegas; 20. Doug Hamm, North Las Vegas; 21. Pat Petrie, Henderson, Nevada; 22. Wes Miller, Turlock, California; 23. Eddie Secord, Oak Hills, California; 24. Taylor Miinch, El Cajon, California; 25. Chris Cook, Tabiona, Utah; 26. Austin Barnes, Escondido, California; 27. Rod Johnson Jr., Canyon Country, California; 28. Kyle Ray, Littleton, Colorado; 29. William Camara, Fremont, California; 30. Doug Carpenter, San Diego. Margin of victory – 1.234 seconds. Caution flags – 7. Fast qualifier – Barnes, 15.059/89.647 mph (track record). Trophy Dash winner – L. Gerchman. B MAIN (40 laps) – 1. Mike Regelman, Ripon, California; 2. Eric Rhead, Salt Lake City, Utah; 3. Aaron McMorran, Las Vegas; 4. Scott Alves, Placerville, California; 5. Mark Allison; 6. Jeff Longman, Lehi, Utah; 7. Justin Miller, Las Vegas; 8. Steve Durbin, Las Vegas; 9. Jerry Toporek, Venice, California; 10. William Guevara, Lake Havasu City, Arizona; 11. Zach Webster, Salt Lake City; 12. Scott Osborn, Las Vegas; 13. Brady Balderson, Parker, Colorado; 14. Hardy; 15. Solari; 16. Fanton; 17. Camara; 18. Roger Brown, Corona, California; 19. Sal Lopez, Sacramento, California; 20. Allen Ryder, Manteca, California (Hardy, Solari, Fanton and Camara were top 4 after 20 laps and transferred to main event). Margin of victory – 0.073 seconds.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 00:06:25 +0000
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