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By Bruce Crowley and Terri Kellum
Elko, NV…In the 1880’s, Horace Greeley advised people
to “Go west young man, go west.” Evidently, Battle Mountain charger Randy
Artz and Winnemucca ace Chad Farstveet listened to these words, but ignored
them. Not that the two did anything wrong, but they went east instead of
west. Artz, a former Battle Mountain Raceway IMCA Modified champion, became
the first winner at Summit Raceway’s inaugural ‘Pot of Gold’ race this past
Friday night. With a capacity crowd in attendance, Artz beat out a stellar
field of 35 other modified cars to pocket $2300. Farstveet was right behind
him at the checkered. The feature was billed as a Twin-30 format, but time
constraints made it necessary to modify this modified event to a Twin-25
race. The top two drivers in each of the five heat races were automatically
transferred into the feature; the remainder moved into one of the two ‘b’
mains. The top seven finishers in those ‘b’ mains earned positions in the
feature as well. The final starter in the feature was former Gold Rush
winner Richard G. Anderson, winner of the night’s trophy dash. Artz took
full advantage of the pole position in his heat race to win and transfer to
start on the pole in the feature. Joining him on the front row was another
former Battle Mountain champion, Nick Ayers. Justin Yeager, Cory Sample, and
Malen Gonzales, the winners of the other heats, filled the next three
positions. At the initial green, Artz shot into the lead over Ayers and
former Wyoming champion Justin Yeager. Yeager and Ayers both got past Artz
on the second go-around and held the point until near the end of the first
segment of the feature. Yeager had to deal with the Battle Mountain Hounds
nipping at his heels through lap 23, when Artz finally broke through and
regained the lead. Artz then led the last three laps until the break. At
that time, the cars were stopped on the front straightaway, and the fans
were treated to the sight of pit crews rushing out onto the track to refuel
the cars. The line up to start the second segment of
the race was as follows: Artz, Yeager, Ayers, Denny Robblee, Chad Farstveet,
Billy Smith III, Levi Kiefer, Dan Waldemar, Todd Nunnally, Cory Sample,
Travis Metz, Scott Steensen, Joe Hood, Richard G. Anderson, John Rogers,
Corey Steensen, Bobby Steensen, Cliff Hagan, Larry Rogers, Jimmy Lester,
Wade Taylor, Mitch Green, Jason Donnelly, Malen Gonzales, and James McCoy.
As the green came out to start the second portion of
the race, Yeager bolted past Artz to take the lead. One lap later, Ayers
passed Artz for second. Meanwhile, Nevada point leader Farstveet pulled into
fourth over Robblee. As Yeager was hauling the mail, he went high into turn
one and was hit by Ayers, which prompted a yellow to be thrown. Ayers was
sent to the back of the pack and Yeager retained his first place status.
However, in the melee Yeager’s car received a flat tire and he had to head
for the pits. In IMCA rules, any driver who leaves the track must start in
the back when he returns to the race. As a result of this, Artz regained the
lead over a charging Farstveet, Robblee, and Hood. On the 40th
lap, Hood roared by Farstveet for second. Two laps later, Taylor pulled into
fourth behind Farstveet. At that point, Hood went into the infield, coming
to a stop facing backwards. No yellow was thrown, due to the fact he was far
enough away from the racing surface and there was only a handful of laps
left to complete. A few cars decided to end the race with a nod to the dust
bowl years, sliding through the infield, obscuring the track and making sure
each spectator took a part of Summit Raceway home with him. At the
checkered, it was Artz ahead of second place Farstveet by a length and a
half. Taylor salvaged third over Robblee and Scott Steensen. For Artz, it
was his second feature win in a row at the track, and Winnemucca’s Farstveet
followed Artz east to Elko to take away the $1200 runner-up portion of the
Pot of Gold.
INAUGURAL POT OF GOLD RACE SUMMIT RACEWAY AUGUST 3,
2007
Heat one: Malen Gonzales, Billy Smith III, Ray
Thompson, Frank Iturriaga, B. Vandermay
Heat two: Nick Ayers, James McCoy, Dan Waldemar, Gene
Kay, Cliff Hagan
Heat three: Justin Yeager, Chad Farstveet, Larry
Rogers, Joe Hood, Mitch Green
Heat four: Cory Sample, Scott Steensen, Bobby Steensen,
Jimmy Lester, Wade Taylor
Heat five: Randy Artz, Denny Robblee, Corey Steensen,
Travis Metz, Richard G. Anderson
Trophy Dash: Richard G. Anderson, Ray Thompson, Frank
Iturriaga, Larry Wright, Tracy
Greenwood
B main 1: Joe Hood, Bobby Steensen, Levi Kiefer, Mitch
Green, Dan Waldemar, Wade Taylor,
Cliff Hagan, Ray Thompson, Richard G. Anderson, Gene
Kay, Joe Rigsby,
Brandon Vandermay, Frank Iturriaga
B main 2: Corey Steensen, John Rogers, Jason Donnelly,
Travis Metz, Jimmy Lester,
Larry Rogers, Todd Nunnelly, Tracy Greenwood, Larry
Wright, Jesse Gonzales,
Jeff Tooley, Craig Maestretti
Feature: Randy Artz, Chad Farstveet, Wade Taylor,
Denny Robblee, Scott Steensen,
Nick Ayers, Corey Steensen, Mitch Green, Richard G.
Anderson, Bobby Steensen,
Levi Kiefer, Travis Metz, Todd Nunnelly, Jimmy Lester,
John Rogers, Cory Sample,
Joe Hood, Jason Donnelly, Justin Yeager, Billy Smith
III, Larry Rogers,
Dan Waldemar, Malen Gonzales, Cliff Hagen, James McCoy
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