IRWINDALE RUNS 7 MAINS – LUPTON WINS LATE MODEL FEATURE AUG. 2011
By noderel:
Irwindale, Ca. - Aug. 20, 2011 – Outside front row starter Dylan Lupton, a 17-year old high school senior from the Sacramento area, won the fourth Auto Club Late Model feature of his rookie season Saturday in the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Whelen All-American Weekly Racing Series. The 2010 S2 track champion as a rookie for the same High Point Racing team, took the lead on lap 19 after pole starter/race-long leader Rod Johnson, Jr blew the right rear tire of his Position One Motorsports No. 03 and slammed off the third turn wall. His car spun to the infield and was eliminated. Johnson escaped without serious injury. After a nine-minute red flag, Lupton opened a 30-yard lead over his HPR teammate Brandon Davis, the point leader/fastest qualifier/third starter. Davis closed ground during the final five laps and trailed by 0.309 at the checkers. Lupton climbed from third to second in points, only 60 digits in back of Davis with three races remaining.
Other main events on the half-mile: Eric Sunness won a Vista Paint Super Stock 25-lap event that started feature racing at 7:10. The first Drive Tech Racing School main of the year at TS@I had six participants in Chevy Monte Carlo late models. Richard Smith, of Los Angeles, started second and led all 20 laps. He won the all-green light race in 7+ minutes.
Winners of mains on the third-mile were:
> Brandon “Shorty” Weaver, of Bakersfield, who thrilled a crowd of 3,000+ in a sensational Jan's Towing Bandolero 20-lap race. He made his winning pass on the final lap only a few feet from the finish line and won by a mere 0.009. It was the third consecutive Bandolero triumph for the 11-year old “Bandit” driver racing against Bando Young Guns aged 12-14.
> Chad Schug emerged with his sixth victory in the 13 Echo Equipment Legend Car races run to date. He started from pole position as fifth FQ, dropped to fifth by lap 3 and benefited from bumps, spins and penalties that moved three leading drivers to the back. All he had to do was outrace Brent Scheidemantle for the victory after he inherited the point on lap 23. Chad beat Brent by 0.388. The two leaders entered the race tied for the EELC point lead at 544. Schug now leads three-time winner Scheidemantle 594-592 with three races remaining.
> Ken Porter Auction Open Comp: Only four cars qualified during afternoon time trials, but 15 cars took the green flag for the 20-lap main. The 13-minute race had two cautions. The first yellow flew when FQ/pole starter/lap 1-13 leader Joe Anderson spun on lap 14 entering the third turn. P. 2 Jerry Toporek received damage in the ensuing smokey melee and pitted under caution. They returned at the back as Austin Grabowski took the lead. The 22-year old Upland resident was racing for the final time before returning to college in Kansas. It was his second win in the Karynann Dale-owned Lucas Oil winged modified. The field included: 3 late models, 7 super stocks, 2 Figure 8s, 1 Lucas modified, 1 IMCA dirt modified, and 1 SCCA Super Production car.
> Seidner's Collision Skid Plate Race: A strong 27-car field of experienced and first-time drivers (including four females) used front-wheel drive cars and ran relatively sane laps for the first ten laps of the 20-lap race that started at 9:48. It concluded 17 minutes later after three red flags on laps 11, 12 and 17 to remove stalled cars blocking the track. The race had three leaders—Jim Smith (L 1-8), four-time 2011 winner Jim W. Altman (L 9-10) and Robert Rice, the father of skid plate racing in Irwindale, (L 11-20). His winning car was the same orange No. 4 Pick Your Part 1989 Honda Accord that he uses in each event. Altman's 1994 Ford Escort broke the fuel pump and his car stalled in a perilous position causing the first red flag. The season-high skid plate car count of 27 topped the 26 cars present for events 1, 4 and 5 of the six race, non-points fan-favorite events that conclude race nights. Winner Rice received $450 and all starters received at least $35. Amazingly, 19 cars were still racing at the finish.
ACLM 40: A field of 17 cars qualified at 4:15 and three additional late models started at the back along with three super stocks. Reigning ACLM champion Rod Johnson, Jr, the SLM 2011 point leader, seemingly had the field covered in his first 2011 Position One Motorsports late model ride. His RR tire problem on lap 19 prevented a late model showdown with the rival HPR team that had five cars in the top eight positions at the time. After his exit, Luptpn's crew watched Davis and 2009 VPSS champion Larry Cerquettini exchange P. 2 on laps 19 and 25, when nine-time 2011 ACLM winner Davis took P. 2 for good. He was 25-yards behind Lupton at the time. A pair of lapped cars racing high and low on laps 36-37 cost leader Lupton ground before he passed the two slower cars. Cerquettini finished third, 3.922 seconds (a straightaway) in back of Lupton. It was his first ACLM podium and improved on his ACLM career-best fifth position. Late model rookies Nik Romano and Taylor Miinch finished fourth and fifth. Rookie Devon Ostheimer, Kyle McGrady, Toni McCray, Andrew Murray, 14, and first-time TS@I driver Mike Lerwill, from Lakeside, completed the top ten. P. 11 Jeff Williams was the last driver on the lead lap; 13 cars finished the 13-minute event.
VPSS 25: Pole starter Zach Green, 21-year old son of TS@I 2000 super stock champion Jeff Green, led lap 1 in his Camaro. The Sunness Camaro made an inside pass on lap 2 entering turn three and opened a 25-yard (1.344 second) victory in the 8:56.431 all-green flag race. Curtis White (Camaro) passed Green for P. 2 on lap 11 and finished 3.033 seconds in front of him. White took the series point lead by 4 points (362-358) over 2010 champion Rich DeLong III. Ralph Adams, a 71-year old dirt and paved track veteran, made his second TS@I start. He raced his Camaro from P, 7 to P. 4 in a race-long battle with P. 5-7 drivers Gary Reid, Gary Frankovich and DeLong. Brad Keegan and rookie Michael Parr also finished and ran all 25 laps.
EELC 35: Three leaders, six yellows, and one red flag caused the race to run 34 minutes. Schug, Scheidemantle, Darren Amidon, Jared Torres, Blake Dunkleberger, Mark Iungerich, Mark Borchetta, Parker Malone, Racin Vernon, 12-year old son of driver Kevin Vernon, of Bakersfield, and Aaron Wells completed the top ten.
Seidner's SKID PLATE 20: The 27 starting cars ran 17-minutes with three red flags so track official Mike Atkinson could push disabled cars of the track with the track's ex-LAPD black & white patrol car. Three leaders and 19 cars still racing at the end made the event fun for fans and drivers alike. The top ten were: Rice (from 15th), Angela DeFazio, daughter of track executive Bob DeFazio, (from 14th to P. 2 on the lead lap), Todd Hartwig, Jonathon DeStefano, Jim Smith, Adam Ditto, Rick Dial, Randy Kruce, and Bandolero driver Ricky Schlick. DeFazio, who finished second on the lead lap for the second consecutive race, was a straightaway behind leader Rice on lap 19. He spun out in the third turn on his final lap and lost half a straight lead, but he recovered and finished 5.404 seconds in front of the runner-up. P. 3-6 finished 19 laps, P. 7-8 logged 18 laps and P 9-10 ran 17 laps.
KPA OPEN COMP 20: Grabowski repeated his KPA Open Comp feature triumph of July 9 for the new owners of the ex-No. 84 DeLong modified. Lap 1-13 leader Joe Anderson charged back following his spin to finish second, 2.505 seconds back. Late model driver Jim Schoening, J. Toporek (F8), Robert Dezarov (SS), DeLong III (SS), Sean Hansen (F8), R. Adams (SS), M. Parr (SS) and Jason DeLong (SS) followed. Six drivers ran all 20 laps. Two drivers made their Irwindale debuts. Anthony Mainella (LM No. 45) and Greg Austin (SCCA Super Prod. Olds Cutlass) were in the DNF column (P. 11-12). The No. 48 IMCA dirt modified overheated, lost water and also was not classified.
JAN'S TOWING BANDOLEROS: (Friday) – It was the best weekend showing ever for popular “Shorty” Weaver and his blue No. 4. Fourteen Bandos started Friday and Weaver, the third leader, led laps 5-20. R. J. Stearns led the first lap after starting third. Blaine Perkins led laps 2-4 and was hit and spun in turn four on lap 5 by P. 2 Danny Nikolai. Perkins and Stearns cars collided heavily and were sidelined. Nikolai had to restart at the back where fellow eight-time feature winner Christian McGhee had to start. McGhee's pole winning car stalled with a stuck throttle and then had a battery problem. Outside front row starter Ricky Lewis also stalled with ignition or battery problems and did not start. The 8:05 pm start was delayed 15-minutes by a red flag to remove affected cars. Thirteen cars started. McGhee raced from the back row and took P. 2 on lap 14. He battled Weaver, who is partial to wearing his caps backwards, for the final six laps. Weaver won by 0.489. Mikael Lovas was third; penalized Nikolai reached P. 4 on lap 15. Brent Scoggins, 11-year old son of the track mini stock champion, finished a career-best fifth and had his car go through the top five finishers post-race tech inspection for the first time. Austin Farr, Ricky Schlick, brothers Ian and Troy Wesolowski, and Kendall McCulty completed the top ten. All ran 20 laps in the 13-minute race during regular Friday night open practice for all divisions. In group qualifying at 7:15 pm, McGhee set a new 1-lap track record of 17.988 (66.644 mph) that beat the 18.047 (66.427 mph) set by Nikolai on 7/22/11.
(Saturday): Eighteen Bandos raced Saturday in the second feature of the evening. McGhee again set FQ time (18.005) and led the first six laps. Second place Nikolai tapped and spun McGhee in turn two and both had to restart at the back for the second race in a row. Schlick paced laps 7-10 and 14-19. Lovas led laps 11-13. Weaver was in P. 9 after lap 1, 7th on lap 5, 4th on lap 8, 3rd on lap 9 via an inside pass entering the third turn in a three-way duel with Schlick and Lovas. Weaver took P. 2 on lap 15 and went under leader Schlick entering the first turn on lap 19, but a caution flag intervened. Weaver chased Schlick on lap 19 and a lap later made his move for the lead. Shorty raced to the outside entering turn 3 and pulled even with Schlick leaving turn 4. He literally inched ahead at the finish line and won by 0.009. The 23-minute race had a season-high seven yellow flags for spins or crashes. Schlick, P. 8 starter Austin Farr, 11, Lovas, Nikolai, McGhee, Scoggins, Ricky Lewis, Ian Wesolowski and Ryan Dunkleberger completed the top ten as 17 of 18 drivers finished and all ran 20 laps.