“RJ” JOHNSON TAKES SLM 75, PARTRIDGE WINS 2 OF HIS 4 MAINS IN 6 FEATURES @ IRWINDALE JULY 2011
By noderel:
Irwindale, Ca. - July 30, 2011 – Rod Johnson, Jr., 21, won his fifth NASCAR Lucas Oil Slick Mist Super Late Model 75-lap feature in six 2011 events on “Super Saturday” at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. The series rookie and past late model and super truck track champion prevailed in a lead-swapping duel with his friendly rival Ryan Partridge, 23, in front of almost 2,000 spectators. Six main events Saturday night (five on the half mile and one on the third-mile) totaled 265 laps. Victory gave rising second generation racing star “RJ” 23 TS@I main event victories in four different series. The son of the track's initial SLM track champion in 1999 is edging closer to the top ten on the track's list of all-time main event winners.
Partridge was a featured attraction Saturday. He raced in four of the six divisions and won two of his four features—the Langers S2 and King Taco Super Truck races. It was his sixth KTST victory in nine races this season. Partridge led laps in all four features and finished a close second to Johnson in the SLM 75. On lap 53 he dropped out of the ASA Speed Truck main, which he led for 23 laps. A sway bar bolt broke while he ran fourth and caused his exit. Partridge, the chief driving instructor at the track's LA Racing School, made his first start ever in the three-year old S2 division and only his second TS@I start in an ASA Speed Truck. He now has 24 career feature victories in five different TS@I divisions—legends, super trucks, SLM, late models and S2.
In the 75-lap Lucas Oil SLM main fastest qualifier “RJ” led the first 37 laps over second quickest qualifier Partridge, his fellow front row starter. “RJ” had opened a 20-yard lead by lap 38 when debris caused a yellow flag. Johnson chose the inside for the two abreast restart of lap 38. The outside line produced a lap 38 lead for Partridge at the green flag. “RJ” made an inside pass leaving turn four on lap 39 and led through lap 44. Then Partridge reasserted himself and roared past “RJ” on lap 45 on the outside between turn 4 and the starting line and held it through lap 60. The two leaders put half a straightaway on the third place driver. “RJ” tucked in behind Partridge at times and was less than a car length off the lead on laps 50 and 56. On lap 61 Johnson made a strong move to the inside entering the third turn and pulled ahead exiting turn 4. “RJ” won by 20-yards (1.334 seconds) over Partridge, who used the same driving uniform in all four races. Partridge had 220 laps on his plate and completed 197 laps (89%) of the four-race distance. His feature finishes in order were: 1-1-2-9 (DNF).
LUCAS SLM 75: (Event 4) - Fifteen cars took the green and the race quickly became a two-car battle as Johnson and Partridge opened a straightaway lead over third place Nick Joanides by lap 15. The only caution flag came on lap 38 and gave Partridge the chance he needed. He took advantage of the lap 38 restart and grabbed the lead on the outside. RJ and Partridge exchanged the lead twice before “RJ” won. Kevin Thompson, the May 7 feature winner, took third from Joanides on lap 50 with an inside move in turn 4. Jack Madrid, 16, took P. 4 on lap 58 and Dennis Furden claimed fifth on lap 62. Legends veteran Corey Neveau, 17, made his SLM debut in the No. 97 raced occasionally in recent years by his father Ray. The impressive teen from San Clemente earned his hard charger post-race award by starting ninth and finishing sixth. He passed Joanides' fading No. 71 on lap 65. Race Liberante, also 16, came from eighth to take P. 7 at the end. Joanides, the last driver on the lead lap, finished eighth. Older brother/SLM veteran Kyle Neveau, 19, finished ninth and Gary Jenkins tenth. Twelve of 15 starters finished. “RJ” and Partridge both ran their quickest laps on lap 2 at 98+ mph. Partridge ran 18.204 and “RJ” 18.255.
Molly Saleen, 27-year old daughter of former SCCA/IMSA/LeMans 24-hour sports car racer Steve Saleen, made her SLM debut. She started 14th with a qualifying lap of 19.209 (93.706 mph), only 1.283 off the fast time. The platinum blonde driver, who resembles past TS@I SLM driver Candace Muzny, ran a best lap of 19.321 on lap 4 and was not lapped until lap 14. While in P. 14 of 15 cars on lap 22 she was black- flagged after officials not iced smoke according to her dad Steve. She drove a car rented from Brandon Loverock and made her Friday practice/Saturday racing part of her new Style Network reality TV show that has six shows set to air this fall and a possible 12 shows overall. She made her Irwindale half-mile debut a week earlier by driving the No. 77 Southwest Tour Truck.
KTST 40: (Event 3) – Fourteen trucks started on the half-mile with FQ Connor Cantrell, 20, starting fourth. Pole starter Matt Kimball led the first three laps. Then Cantrell took the point in three-wide racing with his pass up the middle exiting turn 4. Kimball retook the lead briefly on lap 7, but a tangle between P. 3 Partridge (the second FQ and third starter) and P. 4 Jeff Peterson sent Peterson's truck spinning into the infield. He restarted at the back and worked through the field to finish sixth. Partridge, who took second from Kimball on lap 10, grabbed the lead on lap 13 from laps 4-12 leader Cantrell as the first five trucks pulled away from the field. Partridge's No. 48 LA Racing-sponsored Toyota, owned by Steve Latina, opened a 40-yard victory margin over runner-up Cantrell. Kimball, Dennis Arena, and Todd Cameron completed the top five. Eleven trucks ran all 40 laps and all 14 drivers finished the 17 minutes race that had one brief caution for Peterson's off-track excursion.
ASA SPEED TRUCK 75: (Event 6) – Partridge drove the No. 33 Todd MacLaughlin truck for the second time at Irwindale and set third quickest time to earn the pole in a three-truck inversion. He led the first 23 laps in a tight, three-way battle with front row starter Darren Young (the May 28 TS@I feature winner) and FQ Jeff Catlin's No. 1 Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction Chevy Colorado. Catlin took P. 2 by lap 15 and opened a 30-yard advantage by a lap 52 caution for a spin by the P. 9 truck. On the lap 52 restart the first four trucks, including P. 4 Partridge, dived into the first turn, but Catlin held his lead. Partridge slowed to fifth with a broken sway bar bolt and exited to the infield, ending his quest for victory number three. The final laps rolled off with Catlin, Young, 16-year old Taylor Miinch, Matt Jaskol and Brandon Underwood completing all 75 laps. P 6-8 finishers Jason Black, Joe Farre and Logan Mainella ran 74 laps in close proximity.
LANGERS S2 30: (Event 1) – The race started all ten cars with a four-car inverted lineup, putting FQ Austin Dyne, 19, outside row two. On the initial lap at the end of the backstretch three High Point Racing team cars crashed and caused a 12-minute red flag. Dyne's car got into Trevor Huddleston's pole starting No. 50, which hit the crash-wall. Jessica Clark's HPR 56 car backed into the wall and also had to be towed tot he pits. Dyne pitted briefly after the red flag period ended and finished sixth with eight cars running at the conclusion. All cars ran 30 laps. Partridge drove the No. 15 ex-Bill McAnally S2 car that HPR has for sale on consignment. Incredibly, Partridge started sixth and led all 30 laps. He went to the extreme outside in three-wide racing on lap 1 in the first two corners and shot into P. 1 on the backstretch. He held his high-line all the way. Devon Ostheimer, a HPR 17-year old ACLM rookie, started second and dropped to fifth on the opening lap. He climbed back to P. 2 by lap 7 using the inside groove and closed in on leader Partridge. The lap 23 caution for Gary Waters' second turn spin gave Ostheimer the chance he wanted. He almost passed Partridge several times, but the leader held the high-line next to the wall and beat his HPR teammate by 0.192. He became the fourth different winner in six 2011 S2 features. Andrew Anderson, Andrew Porter and ex-classic stock driver Mike Colato, Jr. followed.
VPSS 25: (Event 2) – A 12-car field of Vista Paint Super Stocks had a fully-inverted starting lineup. Third starter Larry Sampson's Camaro paced the first two laps. Fifth starter Curtis White's Camaro took charge on lap 3 and could not be caught. He won his first main by 1.779-seconds over 2010 series champion Rich DeLong III in his No. 84 Impala SS. FQ Gary Frankovich (No. 66 Impala SS) came from row five to earn third, 2.171 seconds back. Gary Read's Camaro finished fourth. Gerrit Cromsigt ran second from lap 3 to the final lap when he faded to fifth. His car was disqualified later and not classified in the official finish. Eric Sunness inherited P. 5. Ten drivers finished the 9:00;.254 race that ran entirely under the green light with only one driver lapped.
KPA OPEN COMP 20: (Event 5) – Only four cars qualified for the Ken Porter Auctions open comp 20-lap non-point race, the only event on the third-mile. However, ten other drivers participated after they survived their regular series point mains. The diverse field had 1 SLM, 3 late models, 1 winged modified, 1 super truck, 6 super stocks, 1 classic stock and 1 Figure 8. Fastest qualifier Craig Rayburn led all 20 laps from the pole in his late model. Venice resident Jerry Toporek's F-8 special was second, 0.614 back. July 9 open comp winner Austin Grabowski placed third in the ex-DeLong Racing winged modified. Jim Schoening (LM), Ken Michaelian (ST), and Jeff Williams (LM) all ran 20 laps. Down a lap were 7-10 drivers Rich DeLong III (SS), Gary Jenkins (SLM), Zach Green (SS) and -2 laps Michael Parr (SS). The 7:33.308 race had one caution at lap 4 for a solo spinner. There have been five different winners in six KPA open comp features this season. Joe Anderson is the only repeat winner in two different HPR cars.