PURSLEY'S 27TH IRWINDALE VICTORY HIS 1ST IN NASCAR TOP WESTERN TOURING SERIES JULY 2011
By noderel:
Irwindale, Ca. - July 2, 2011 – Greg Pursley, a former Newhall, CA driver, realized a personal and team goal Saturday at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale The 43-year old Parker, AZ resident won the NASCAR K & N Pro Series-West 200-lap feature on his home track starting in the initial 1999 season. The 2004 Super Late Model track, California and NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series National Champion won 26 main events on the Irwindale half-mile, but he considered his outstanding track record incomplete without a K & N West triumph. His best finish at Irwindale in the touring series had been fourth in 2002. The July 4th weekend crowd was 6,500+ on a mid-90 degree day and balmy evening. Pursley set fastest qualifying time and led 166 laps of the Southern California Toyota Dealers 200 presented by King Taco. His 27th Irwindale victory tied him for 11th place on the list of all-time TS@I main event winners. His 2.069 second winning margin also was his fifth feature victory in seven K & N West events in the scheduled 14 race 2011 season.
With all 29 K & N cars present on the starting grid, Pursley started from pole position in the No. 26 Gene Price Motor-sports 2011 Ford Fusion. He was next to his rookie teammate Dylan Kwasniewski, 16, of Las Vegas in Pursley's GPM Ford ride last season. They ran 1-2 for the first 58 laps. Then Utah driver Michael Self, the fourth starter, took second on lap 59 and on lap 67 shot past Pursley on a straightaway. He increased his lead gradually and was 100 yards in front of Pursley at the lap 101 half-time ten-minute full field service break for fuel and two tires. The only caution in the first half lasted from lap 26-34 for a two car crash in the third turn involving the P 15-16 cars of Irwindale late model point leader Brandon Davis and Arizonan Taylor Cuzick. Both cars were sidelined.
On lap 103 Pursley took command for good. Self stayed within ten yards to a lap 157-163 caution for an engine fire that sent the No. 5 Chevy to the infield with a fire truck in pursuit. The green flag on lap 165 produced the best lead pack racing all night. Top four drivers—Pursley, Derek Thorn, Self and Kwasniewski—raced in a tight pack for ten laps after Thorn took second with an outside pass exiting the second turn on lap 165. Pursley gradually extended his advantage to 30-yards over 25-year old Thorn by the finish. Kwasniewski dropped Self to P. 4 on lap 170. On lap 199, past series champion Eric Holmes dropped Self to fifth finishing position. Johnny Borneman, K & N rookie and Irwindale late model front runner Chris Holloway, David Mayhew, Andrew Myers and Jason Fensler completed the top ten. Fifteen drivers ran all 200 laps, with 25 cars still racing a the checkered flag. Pursley increased his K & N record point lead to 278 points over 12th finisher Moses Smith.
The race started 28 cars at 8:34 pm after Billy Kann's No. 18 scratched on the grid. It concluded at 10:06 pm for a total running time of 1:17.21.956, an average speed of 77.554 mph. The race had three cautions, including the mid-race break, for 16 laps. Three drivers, including the two Price team drivers, ran sub-19 second laps during the race. Kwasniewski's 18.718 beat Pursley's quickest lap of 18.847 and Self's 18.927 during his first half charge to the lead. Positions changed frequently in close racing throughout the field. Comers and goers and various strategies played into the running order until the final 35 green flag laps when drivers charged forward amid lapped cars with three-wide racing commonplace. The race was taped by a TV crew for a one-hour telecast on SPEED Thursday, July 21 from 3-4 pm PDT. The K & N West race had a purse of $96,774 in posted awards, including $4,049 NASCAR K & N West championship point fund money. Pursley earned $5,000 with second worth $3,000 and third place $2,000. Fourth through tenth paid $1,750, $1,500, $1,410, $1,375, $1,350, $1,300 and $1,285. P. 20 paid $1,100 and last place was worth $1,040.
PURSLEY COMMENTS: Pursley addressed the crowd from start/finish after accepting his hardware. An aircraft jet-engine powered pickup truck ran burnout laps on the front straight. and the track's annual 10+ minute aerial pyrotechnic show followed. Pursley said, “I can't thank my Gene Price Motor-sports crew enough. To come back to my home track and win it in front of such a large home crowd is special. Our plan was to let him (Self) or anyone go in the first half and save our tires for the second half.” Pursley came to the press box and admitted, “This takes a big load off my shoulders to finally get one here. I've won just about everything else here except one of these K & N races. My car was good on long runs. It's a dream season. We're on a roll and have to ride it as long as we can. We have great cars, crew chief Jerry Pitts, and team and I'm proud to be part of it. It's a lot easier to start out front and run at your own pace without using up your car. Qualifying up front pays off. It's always hard coming here. There is always a good caliber of drivers here. I hoped we wouldn't have something stupid happen like flat tires as in the past.” He added that his team built the winning Ford this year and it ran three races—Roseville in April, the Las Vegas Bullring victory on June 11 and the victory Saturday in Irwindale.
Two preliminary main events had local divisions in action. King Taco Super Trucks and Langer's Juice S2 cars also used the progressively banked half-mile. Both series had season high participant counts. Twenty-five super trucks took the green flag at 7:00 and ran 40-laps with three yellow flags for crashes or spins in a 31+-minute event that almost reached the 35-minute time limit. It was the largest truck field in three years, except for 30 trucks present for the 2010 season finale. Eleven Langer's S2 cars took the first lap green at 7:39 and concluded at 7:53 pm in a 14+ minute contest with one caution flag. It was the largest field of S2 cars ever for the new type of Racecar Factory-built car that debuted at Irwindale in 2009.
KTST 40: Event seven of 2011 for the entertaining truck series produced the third different winner and a point leader change. Jeff Peterson, 20-year old son of Ron Peterson, the KTST 2004 and 06 series champion, won his second career truck feature and first in two years. The Riverside resident said it partially made up for his lost victory opportunity last week when he was moved from the front to back row for missing the drivers meeting. He had moved from the back row up to third place and was about to move on the two leaders when a lengthy yellow caused the race to be checkered under caution. Second generation drivers Peterson and Rod Johnson started from the front row and ran 1-2 for the initial 26 laps. A lap 10 five-truck crash in turn four involved spinner Kenny Smith, plus Robert Manley, Scott Corrigan, Derek DiSarro and Philip Lauck. Only Lauck returned and he did so minus the entire front bodywork.
On lap 20 newcomer Darrell Shields spun out of turn four in front of the oncoming leaders, who avoided contact. On lap 25 Kenny Brown, Lucas McNeil and “Trick” Mintey collided in the first turn and met the wall. Point leader Ryan Partridge, who replaced an engine during Friday night practice, blew his engine while in 11th place and parked in the infield for a 19th place finish. It dropped the 2010 KTST champion to second in points,18 points in back of new leader Connor Cantrell. Eighteen of 25 drivers finished with 15 on the lead lap. Two-time 2011 winner Todd Cameron came from fifth grid position to second place, 1.157 seconds back. Johnson settled for third, -1.894 behind the winner. New point leader Cantrell started and finished fourth. Sixth starter and now third-ranked point driver Matt Kimball was fifth. Kenny Maler, Jr., Donny St. Ours, Dennis Arena, Jameson Spies and McNeil completed the top ten. Taylor Miinch, a 16-year old Alpine resident, raced from the back row up to third place by lap 25. Cameron re-passed him after a caution and both drivers dropped Johnson to P. 4 on lap 27. Miinch, in an ASA Speed Truck, was black flagged out on lap 31 and placed 20th. Peterson ran the fastest race lap on lap 2 at 19.849 (90.685 mph).
S2 MAIN: The inverted start put High Point Racing late model rookie Devon Ostheimer, 17, on the pole with fastest qualifier Andrew Anderson alongside. At the lap 1 green, Ostheimer, from Morgan Hill, took charge in the HPD No. 56 S2 car recently vacated by USAC Ford Focus Midget national point leader Jessica Clark, 17. A second lap crash involved HPR teammates Trevor Huddleston and Austin Dyne, with Huddleston's car ending against the first turn wall. Ostheimer, a 2010 sprint car veteran at the Watsonville, CA quarter-mile clay track, increased his race lead to 25-yards (1.770 seconds) at the finish. Anderson battled inside-running Andrew Porter closely during the final 15 laps. Their duel for P. 2 produced side-by-side “rubbing is racing” action during the final five laps. Anderson edged Porter by 0.049. Joe Anderson drove the No. 15 McAnally Racing “4-sale” car to fourth place. Dyne, Mike Colato, Jr., 50+ year old brothers Gary and Bill Waters, first-time S2 drivers Anthony Giannone and radio personality Riki Rachtman completed the top ten.