| By Bruce Crowley
Elko, NV…Elko’s George Quintana swept the ECAR Pro Stock races this past
weekend during the annual ‘joint points’ races at Summit Raceway. Quintana
had previously won a feature event earlier this season led a combined 45 out
of the 50-lap total of the two nights. If that wasn’t enough, the young man
won his preliminary heat race on both nights. The Friday night affair turned
to be a route, as he led wire-to-wire after racing in between defending
champion Brian Thorp and Marnie Thorp to take the lead on the very first
circuit. He lapped all but second place finisher Brian Thorp and Dave
Jenkins, who finished in that order. On the Saturday portion of the weekend,
Quintana waited for six laps before passing leader Marnie Thorp for the
lead. Jenkins, who is battling with B. Thorp for the Winnemucca point
championship, was unable to start the Saturday feature due to engine
problems after finishing fourth in the heat race. With joint point racing,
all of the points received in all the features this weekend (except the IMCA
drivers) would be add to the driver’s total at all three tracks of
Winnemucca, Battle Mountain and Summit. Quintana’s points this weekend was
76 points, with that number added to the points at all three venues. On
Saturday, after Quintana it was Brian Thorp, Marnie Thorp, Dave Carrera, and
Terry Lister. Lister was the point leader at Summit going into action this
weekend, but with a fourth and a fifth in the two features, Brian Thorp
regained the point lead by a mere point over Lister. Quintana moved to
within one of Lister, and only two behind Thorp. Thorp was already the
leader at both Winnemucca and Battle Mountain, but adds 74 markers to his
ledgers at those tracks also. None of the regular cars and drivers from
Battle Mountain bothered to show up, with the exception of Carrera.
The newest class at both here and at Winnemucca, the
Pure Stocks drew nine cars for the weekend races, but the much anticipated
match-up between Winnemucca point leader Chris O’Neill and Summit Raceway
leader James Lister was not to be; at least not on Friday night. Riding a
four race win skein, O’Neill was unable to make the first feature on Friday,
leaving Lister to take his fourth feature of the season over Valerie McCloud
and Bernie Sethaler. Earlier, McCloud won her first trophy dash. Winnemucca
drivers Walt Frazier and Keith Armstrong each won the heat races. Clinging
on a four point advantage over Armstrong in points at Winnemucca, O’Neill
failed to appear on the first night. Armstrong finished in sixth in that
feature, and that was enough to wrest the inactive O’Neill out of first
place. If that wasn’t enough, Frazier, Michael Massing, and Mindy Gardner
all roared ahead of O’Neill in the point chase. O’Neill, who was undefeated
in four races this season at his home track, stumbled big time by not being
at Elko; he now trails the leader by 28 markers. Should O’Neill continues
his impressive string of victories, he could go undefeated at Winnemucca and
still lose the track title. On Saturday night, O’Neill showed up and turned
into ‘Jack the Bear’, winning his heat and took the lead at the third lap
from Massing in the feature, and checked out early. Lister never got close
to him during the 20-laps. Bernie Sethaler finished in second and Massing
was third. Coupled with his win and Armstrong’s seventh place finish,
O’Neill pared the deficit from 28 to 20 points. Sethaler chopped two points
from Lister’s lead after this past weekend’s results.
In the Gen-X class, defending champion Teri Kellum was
unable to race due to a severe leg and ankle injury, so her son Chris took
over the family jalopy, but he had to promise he would return the car home
in time for church on Sunday morning. The man of the hour on Friday and
Saturday had to be Elko’s Geoffrey Bullock. Bullock won both nights in the
features races, although his thorn in his side was Cody Maier, who finished
a close second both nights. Maier beat Bullock in the heat races on Friday
and Saturday. In fact, Kellum was third in the feature in both nights. By
winning, Bullock is now alone on top of the point parade, a scant four
points over Kellum but with four wins this already this season, Bullock is
in the driver’s seat. No other cars run this class at Battle Mountain and
Winnemucca.
Lamoille star Dennis Pruitt went from zero to hero in
24 hours this weekend, as the three time winner finished last in the Mini
Mod feature on Friday, but was able to turn the whole thing around the very
next evening. Taking full advantage of an outside front row start on
Saturday, Pruitt turned in a sparkler beating three Winnemucca drivers Casey
Katzenmeyer, Ken Knight and Lee Bosch. On Friday, it was all Winnemucca
point leader Ken Knight took the feature after fellow townsman Lee Bosch led
the first 14 circuits before the old pro put the hammer down for the last
six laps. Katzenmeyer was second, Knight in third, and Bosch in fourth. Mike
Fietzek is the Summit point leader, as he fashioned a pair of five place
finishes for his weekend racing. Knight added points ahead of Bosch at
Winnemucca points.
Another Winnemucca ace, Chad Farstveet, the state of
Nevada point lead, won his second feature this season at Elko, as he guided
his Bosch Motorsports machine over three-time Summit champion Cory Steensen
on the sixth go-a-round to victory. The winner started ninth on the grid and
shook off a determined Steensen for the win. Another Steensen, Bobby
Steensen finished in third at the checkered flag. Local favorites Ray
Thompson and Wade Taylor finished in fourth and fifth, respectively. The
three heat races were garnered by Bobby Steensen, Cory Sample, and Farstveet.
With his win, Farstveet became the first repeat IMCA feature winner at the
track this season. Taylor saw that, and said that he could do that also, so
he did the very next night. Taylor won his first ever feature on opening
night at the end of April and was the track point leader going into this
past weekend races. His lead evaporated Friday when Farstveet were onto
victory, but was determined to take it back. Taylor saw team mate Ray
Thompson make mincemeat out of the field during the first 18 circuits of the
30-lap feature. Corey Steensen and brother Scott Steensen shadowed Thompson
for most of it. Starting 12th, Taylor ran fourth by lap 8, and
waited patiently behind the brothers Steensen. First, he got by Corey, and
than set sail for Scott, but Farstveet was also looking for advancement.
Taylor took Scott on lap 16, but Farstveet went out of shape, causing a
yellow. With 10 to go, Taylor roared into the lead over Thompson. Steve
Pruitt, strong all night, slipped past Corey Steensen for the fourth spot.
By this time the white flag was out, and Taylor was ready to post victory
number two. At the checkered it was Taylor, Thompson, Scott Steensen,
Pruitt, and Joe Hood. Taylor regained his point lead, and became the second
repeat Modified winner this season at the track. Scott and Corey Steensen,
and Cory Sample won the earlier heat races. The next joint point races will
be on Friday and Saturday nights June 29 & 30 at Winnemucca Regional
Raceway.
SUMMIT RACEWAY results June 8, 2007 race 5 of 16
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Heat one: Bobby Steensen, Jimmy Lester, Joe Hood, Wade
Taylor, James McCoy
Heat two: Cory Sample, Joe Rigsby, Cliff Hagan, Ray
Thompson, Scott Steensen
Heat three: Chad Farstveet, Corey Steensen, Steve
Pruitt, Tracy Greenwood
Feature: Chad Farstveet, Corey Steensen, Bobby
Steensen, Ray Thompson
Wade Taylor, Jimmy Lester, Cliff Hagan, Joe Rigsby,
James McCoy
Tracy Greenwood, Steve Pruitt, Cory Sample, Joe Hood
Scott Steensen
ECAR PRO STOCKS
Heat: George Quintana, Terry Lister, Dave Carrera,
Marnie Thorp, Brian Thorp
Feature: George Quintana, Brian Thorp, Dave Jenkins,
Terry Lister
Dave Carrera, Bernie Sethaler, Matt Mashburn, Marnie
Thorp
ECAR MINI MODS
Heat one: Ken Knight, Mike Wogan, Mike Fietzek, Dennis
Pruitt, Andrea Fietzek
Heat two: Casey Katzenmeyer, Lee Bosch, Jack Hammond,
Mike Scott, Tim Garner
Feature: Ken Knight, Mike Fietzek, Lee Bosch, Casey
Katzenmeyer,
Jack Hammond, Tim Garner, Mike Scott, Andrea Fietzek,
Mike Wogan
Dennis Pruitt
ECAR PURE STOCKS
Heat one: Keith Armstrong, Valerie McCloud, Bernie
Sethaler, Mindy Gardner
Heat two: Walt Frazier, Dustin Greenwood, Michael
Massing, James Lister
Trophy dash: Valerie McCloud, Walt Frazier, Keith
Armstrong, Dustin Greenwood
Feature: James Lister, Valerie McCloud, Bernie
Sethaler, Dustin Greenwood
Walt Frazier, Keith Armstrong, Michael Massing, Mindy
Gardner
ECAR GEN-X
Heat: Cody Maier, Geoffrey Bullock, Tanner Roche,
Chris Kellum
Feature: Geoffrey Bullock, Cody Maier, Chris Kellum,
Jennifer Fietzek
Tanner Roche, Shalynn Guthrie, Heather Bame
Summit Raceway Results Saturday night June 9, 2007 6
of 16
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Heat one: Scott Steensen, Chad Farstveet, Ray
Thompson, Joe Rigsby
Heat two: Corey Steensen, Dan Basanez, Steve Pruitt,
Jimmy Lester
Heat three: Cory Sample, Joe Hood, Randy Hadlock, Wade
Taylor, J. McCoy
Feature: Wade Taylor, Ray Thompson, Scott Steensen,
Steve Pruitt
Joe Hood, Scott Steensen, Cory Sample, Chad Farstveet
Bobby Steensen, Joe Rigsby, Randy Hadlock, Tracy
Greenwood
Jimmy Lester, Cliff Hagan, Dan Basanez, James McCoy
ECAR PRO STOCKS
Heat: George Quintana, Marnie Thorp, Dave Carrera,
Dave Jenkins, T. Lister
Feature: George Quintana, Brian Thorp, Marnie Thorp,
Dave Carrera, Terry Lister
Bernie Sethaler, John Levi
ECAR MINI MODS
Heat one: Mike Wogan, Ken Knight, Jack Hammond, Mike
Fietzek, V. McCloud
Heat two: Casey Katzenmeyer, Lee Bosch, Dennis Pruitt,
Tim Garner, A. Fietzek
Trophy dash: Ken Knight, Lee Bosch, Casey Katzenmeyer,
Mike Wogan
Feature: Dennis Pruitt, Casey Katzenmeyer, Ken Knight,
Lee Bosch,
Mike Fietzek, Tim Garner, Jay McCloud, Andrea Fietzek,
Mike Wogan, Mike Scott, Jack Hammond
ECAR PURE STOCKS
Heat one: Walt Frazier, Valerie McCloud, James Lister,
Mindy Gardner
Heat two: Chris O’Neill, Michael Massing, Bernie
Sethaler, Dustin Greenwood
Feature: Chris O’Neill, Bernie Sethaler, Michael
Massing, Valerie McCloud
Dustin Greenwood, James Lister, Walt Frazier, Mindy
Gardner,
Keith Armstrong
ECAR GEN-X
Heat: Cody Maier, Tanner Roche, Geoffrey Bullock,
Chris Kellum
Feature: Geoffrey Bullock, Cody Maier, Chris Kellum,
Tanner Roche
Heather Bame, Jennifer Fietzek, Shalynn Guthrie
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