Wells Three Peats; Four Earn First Score at I44 Riverside Speedway Cody Morris I44 Riverside Speedway Public Relations I44 Riverside Speedway / Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Saturday, August 24th / Event 13 of 19 / Point Race 9 of 13 Furious action once again greeted several hundred race fans for the fourth consecutive week since I44 Riverside reopened its’ high banked 1/5th mile oval to Sooner State race fans. Meticulous with track preparation, I44 Riverside promoter Mark Banister once again tuned the red clay to perfection, offering racers an immaculate racing surface for the pilots to in turn dazzle fans with speed and maneuvering. A pivotal push in the race to the championship, the final Saturday Night Special before the Labor Day Holiday Weekend warmed up to the tune. Separation in many point chases was indeed marginalized. Treating race fans to a fantastic series of features, stars are emerging before our very eyes as Team Green’s Chris Wells became the first pilot to score three victories in a row and gain slight ground in his bid for the Junior Sprint title. A couple of savvy veterans earned their first scores in winged and non winged stock 600 competition, while a rowdy Turf Tire main event produced a first career win for Snyder, Oklahoma’s Josh Bigger. Carnegie’s Logan Davis picked off his first Restricted win of the season, and in doing so earned a virtual tie in points with defending Restricted champion Tanner Conn. Before launching into class by class coverage we have a several updates to share. I44 Riverside Speedway will be off next weekend, the Labor Day Holiday Weekend, in steadfast support of the 2nd Annual Donnie Ray Crawford Memorial hosted by Tulsa’s Port City Raceway. Taken forever too soon from each of the many communities he was part, on the eve of the 2nd Annual Memorial in his honor, I44 Riverside Speedway staff, racers, and patrons celebrate the life of Donnie Ray Crawford and we encourage everyone in the racing community to make their way to Tulsa’s Port City Raceway to do so as well. I44 Riverside Speedway returns to action on Saturday, September 7th with the first of 4 Saturday Night events in a month loaded with specials. It all starts September 7th with the Prelude to Nationals Midget event and point show no. ten for the Non Wing, A Class, Restricted, Junior Sprint, and Turf Tire divisions. It will mark the 4th Midget event of the tornado shortened 2013 campaign. I44 Riverside will also be in action on September 14th and 21st before completing the charge to the Championship at the Inaugural Jimmy King Classic on September 28th. We will take the first weekend in October off before unleashing one of the most heralded events in speedway history on October 11th and 12th with the Midget Nationals and 600 Shootout. Official event details will be released at the beginning of the week. To keep up with the late season stampede at I44 Riverside Speedway, Like and Follow I44 Riverside Speedway on Facebook or visit i44riversidespeedway. Focus on the Facebook page for the time being as we continue to exterminate some bugs within the website. And as always, if you can’t make it to the speedway, stay live on race day with live reports of the action on the Oklahoma No Fender Network - like and Follow the Network on Facebook to stay up to speed with live coverage of all area open wheel shows. And back to the wild affair that closed out the month of August for I44 Riverside Speedway! Coverage is in the order the main events were run. NON WING Matt Pagel and Phillip Fessler paced the front row of the 20 lap Non Wing main event, but it was Mustang, Oklahoma’s Jammin Jimmy Smith that moved around the pair for the early lead. Josh Marcham and Tommy White gave chase over the early rounds while Smith reached lapped traffic at the midway point. Hometown favorite and recent winner in California Midget action, Trey Marcham moved past Mansfield, Texas’ Christian Kinnison with five rounds remaining. In a caution free affair, Smith was flawless in lapped traffic, earning his first Non Wing win of the season aboard the Checkered Flag Trucking, Divot Studios, and Wildcat Trucking Expressed sponsored black no. 2. Josh Marcham kept pace, but ultimately had to settle for runner up honors as Tommy White finished in the show position Marcham sandwich as older Trey worked from 14th to 4th in a Hard Charger effort. The Pride of Mansfield, Texas, Christian Kinnison completed rode his brand new ride up from 8th to complete the top five finishing order. Trey Marcham, Sterling Hoff, and Josh Marcham topped heat race action over the 19 car field. “Non Wing” A Feature (20 laps): 1. 2 Jimmy Smith (3); 2. 8 Josh Marcham (4); 3. 25w Tommy White (7); 4. 32 Trey Marcham (14); 5. 82c Christian Kinnison (6); 6. 83 Jim Woods (9); 7. 39 Sterling Hoff (12); 8. 007 Cody Carter (10); 9. 28v Junior Vickman (11); 10. 2B Brandon Boggs (18); 11. 50 Shelby Burk (5); 12. 57 Chris Thornton (15); 13. 58 Phillip Fessler (2); 14. 10 Matt Pagel (1); 15. 43w Cory Wiegart (16); 16. 98 Derrick McBride (8); 17. 7g Greg Moore (13); 18. 11x Tyler Alexander (17); DNS: 7D Sierra Davis Lap Leaders: Jimmy Smith 1-20 Hard Charger: Trey Marcham +10 JUNIOR SPRINTS Emme Johnson and Ryder Laplante opened up the action on the front row of the 20 lap Junior Sprint main event, with Laplante earning a lead that last six turns before Bride Creek’s Chris Wells shot from ninth to take the lead. A winner in back to back week’s repping Team Green, Wells was eyeing victory lane once again until Dylan Pendergrass brought out the sole stoppage with the lap 9 spin. With the sizeable advantage erased, Laplante and defending Junior Sprint champ Nathan Rainey were brought within a lapped car of the leader, however bunching the field proved inconsequential as Wells shot away once more on the restart. The defending champ eventually made his way into the runner up spot, but not before Wells built another huge lead as Team Green’s Chris Wells placed the HasWells no. 72 in victory lane for the third consecutive week, the first pilot to accomplish the feat in the 2013 campaign. Choctaw’s Nathan Rainey, the defending back-to-back Junior Sprint titlist, also battled forward 8 spots to claim the runner up nod while Durant, Oklahoma’s Ryder Laplante earned a season best third place finish. Brant Woods advanced two spots in claiming his 2nd top five finish of the campaign while Emme Johnson completed the top five finishing order. Ryder Laplante and Chris Wells earned heat race wins over an ever-growing 12 car field. Thrilled to have you guys and gals racing with us! “Junior Sprint” A Feature (20 laps): 1. 72 Chris Wells (9); 2. 99 Nathan Rainey (10); 3. 88R Ryder Laplante (2); 4. 16 Brant Woods (6); 5. 12E Emme Johnson (1); 6. 7 Treyton Gann (11); 7. 12s Jessie Kelley (5); 8. 125 Macy Roulain (3); 9. 22 Teri Burk (7); 10. 72c Kayden Cole (4); 11. 007 Jacob Long (8); DNS: 85T Connor Thompson Lap Leaders: Laplante 1, Wells 2-20 Hard Charger: Chris Wells, Nathan Rainey +8 RESTRICTED Kaylee Cole and Kyle Thompson formed the front row of the 12 lap main event, with Cole grabbing the early lead. Cole was hounded by Carnegie’s Logan Davis immediately and fought back against the advances, but Davis was on a mission to gain back some of the ground he lost last week in an exceptionally close point battle with defending Restricted champ Tanner Conn. Davis battled past Cole on the 10th circuit and coasted through the final two laps to earn his first Restricted score of the season aboard the RPM Powersports, A&J Auto Salvage (Altus, Oklahoma), and Don’s Garage (Carnegie) sponsored no. 14D. Cole held on to claim runner up honors with Conn advancing a spot to finish third. Davis earned back 20 points on Conn and now trails by only ten points with four point races remaining. “Restricted” A Feature (12 laps): 1. 14D Logan Davis (3); 2. 72c Kaylee Cole (1); 3. 78 Tanner Conn (4); 4. 57T Kyle Thompson (2); 5. 99 Nathan Rainey (5) Lap Leaders: Cole 1-9, Davis 10-12 TURF TIRE A division that churns out sensational features no matter the car count, Junior Vickman and Scott Patraw paced the front row of the 15 lap Turf Tire main event. An intense battle developed immediately between Patraw and Snyder, Oklahoma’s Josh Bigger as both entrants waged an epic battle for the first win of their careers. Patraw led the first lap before the yellow flew for a slowing Williw Vickman. Bigger and Patraw became embroiled in a barnburner in each corner, with Jimmy Smith moving up to challenge before the red flag flew as Turf Tire point leader and El Reno native Tony Penick launched into a spectacular series of flips in turn three after contact with Cleamon Sluder. Flipping four times immediately, Penick’s 88 took flight an estimated 18 feet above the speedway surface before crashing back down and flipping another three times. Hundreds of stunned race fans and pitside onlookers held their breaths before erupting in relief that Penick was ok. In fact, Penick checked on Sluder, shaking hands before fist pumping to a roar of approval from race fans as he and his destroyed mount were towed away. Few pilots have as much desire as the PFR camp, as both Jeremy and Tony have been in utterly spectacular, albeit vicious flips that destroyed both their cars. Both will be back in action on September 7th. Penick’s early aerial exit opened an opportunity for Willie Vickman to gain in the Turf Tire point standings, but as the three way battle once again ensued between Patraw, Bigger and Smith - Sr. Vickman entered in the flying mini sprint contest just a couple laps later as he tagged the turn 2, wall flipping in helicopter fashion. Vickman exited the car safely and a would be shoe in for worst flip of the night if not for Penick’s dizzying flight path. And still action remained, Bigger hounded Patraw exiting the restart, looking both above and below Patraw until finding a higher groove to his liking and moving by to lead lap 12. Smith also battled by Patraw and began scrapping with Bigger for the point. The pair battled wheel to wheel over the final two laps, but Bigger was better and destined for his first career main event win aboard the A&J Signs and Designs, 3 Brothers Towing and Penick Family Racing supported no. 21 with special thanks to Tony Pressley on the winning setup. Smith settled for an honorable runner up nod to accompany his earlier Non Wing stock score while Landon Bruce earned Hard Charger honors in a voyage from 9th to third. Patraw faded to fourth with Zach Van Zant completing the top five finishing order. “Turf Tire” A Feature (15 laps): 1. 21 Josh Bigger (4); 2. 2 Jimmy Smith (7); 3. 4 Landon Bruce (9); 4. 5m Scott Patraw (2); 5. 14v Zach Van Zant (5); 6. 28x Junior Vickman (1); 7. 75 Willie Vickman (6); 8. 29 Cleamon Sluder (3); 9. 88 Tony Penick (8) Lap Leaders: Patraw 1-11, Bigger 12-15 Hard Charger: Landon Bruce +6 A CLASS David Millwee and Michael Kearns paced the featured 20 lap A Class (winged stock 600) main event to its’ beginning, with Kearns dropping early dime on the top spot. Chickasha’s Jim Woods quickly battled up to challenge before Tuttle’s Cody Carter tumbled in wild scrum in turn 1 that also forced Lawton’s Brandon Boggs to an early exit. Woods wasted no time on the restart, blasting by in the first turn and finding yet another gear as the defending A Class immediately sped away from any challenge. Kearns went from first to the tail of the field in a matter of seconds, spinning to bring out the second stoppage on lap 5. Caleb Thompson and Trey Marcham combined to bring about the third just a lap later. Back underway, Woods was pulling away big on each restart, and took nearly a straightaway’s advantage to the halfway point ahead of Josh Marcham, Chris Lloyd and very Hard Charging Sterling Hoff. Misfortune struck Woods in the form of lapped traffic with five laps remaining, as he was squeezed high into the turn two wall before pivoting into the infield to save the 83 machine. In an very impressive awareness of the rule book, Woods went to extremes to avoid entering the track in turns 3 and 4, running over and infield tire in turn 4 before rejoining the field properly on the front straightaway and in 4th place. Josh Marcham inherited the lead with Windthorst, Texas’ Sterling Hoff in pursuit, but Caleb Thompson smacked the turn 4 wall extremely hard and flipped down the front chute to bring out the 4th and final stoppage of the race. For Woods’ adventure, third wasn’t too bad a spot to be in with a 4 lap dash on tap. Marcham did his best to fight off Sterling Hoff, but Hoff battled past on the 17th circuit with Woods in tow. Hoff’s lead would be short lived. Woods mounted exceptional assualt on the 18th lap as the crowd enthusiastically watched the ending unfold. The pair raced side by side down the front chute with two to go, with Woods fighting back the lead yet again. Hoff kept his own fast pace, but this win was destined for Jim Woods as he grabbed his first A Class win of the season aboard the Bryan’s Car Corner and Woods Mobile Repair sponsored no. 83. Hoff finished a strong second with Josh Marcham claiming the show position. Moore, Oklahoma’s Chris Lloyd got the best of a tenacious battle with Texan Christian Kinnison, the latter claiming his second top five finish of the night. Kinnison, Lloyd, and Woods earned heat race wins over the 18 car field. “A Class” A Feature (20 laps): 1. 83 Jim Woods (6); 2. 39 Sterling Hoff (13); 3. 8 Josh Marcham (8); 4. 28c Chris Lloyd (11); 5. 82c Christian Kinnison (10); 6. 29 Blake Dacus (15); 7. 32 Trey Marcham (14); 8. 22 Teri Burk (7); 9. 29w Mike Matherly (16); 10. 7g Greg Moore (9); 11. 7D Sierra Davis (3); 12. 58 Phillip Fessler (17); 13. 27 David Millwee (1); 14. 11k Michael Kearns (2); 15. 4T Caleb Thompson (4); 16. 18 Bryce Sheehan (5); 17. 2B Brandon Boggs (18); 18. 007 Cody Carter (12) Lap Leaders: Kearns 1-3, Woods 4-14, Josh Marcham 15-16, Hoff 17-18, Woods 19-20 Hard Charger: Sterling Hoff +11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stay tuned for news on the upcoming racing at I44 Riverside Speedway in September and October. See everyone on September 7th!
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 14:07:32 +0000
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