Texas Speedzone - Houston Motorsports Park (Local Classes), 5/28/05

United States Racing Association @ Houston Motorsports Park, 5/28/05
By J M Hallas

Houston, TX (March 30, 2005) - The Houston Late Model qualifying saw Ray Drews run the best lap of the ten qualifiers. Drews turned a lap of 14.51 seconds in the Umschied Race Services, The Shop, Ray Drews, Chevy Monte Carlo.

Ten cars took the green for the start of the 50 lap Houston Late Model feature led to the flag by Ray Drews and Dean Baker. Drews and Baker stayed door to door completely around the 3/8 mile paved oval coming across in a dead heat. Baker then got ahead of Drews to secure the top spot on lap 2. Donnie Kelley spun on lap 4, but was aqble to keep rolling and avoid the caution.

By lap 10, Baker and Drews were pulling away from Mike Williams, who had a big gap back to Jim Eberle and Brian Moore. Eberle lost the spot on lap 18 when he spun between turns 1-2. Moore went high to avoid Eberle and spun in the marbles. Baker got a couple car lengths on the restart and the top three had a huge lead of nearly a full straightaway as the race neared halfway.

At the mid point the top five were Baker, Drews, Williams, Matthew Smith and Tim Spahr. Kristin Bumbera spun on lap 26 to bring out the yellow and regroup the field. Drews tried to hang with Baker on the restart, while they both motored ahead of Williams. Bumbera again spun, this time in turns 3-4 to bring out caution on lap 33.

Drews took a shot on Baker as green waved, but was unable to get by as Baker continued to creep away. Baker and Drews tooled away from Williams, while Smith, Spahr and Bumbera battlede for fourth. Spahr would spin from that fight on lap 44. Williams slowed to avoid Spahr and got rearended by Kelley.

On the restart with five to go, Baker tried to shake Drews, who was still hanging on to the bumper. In the final laps, Baker edged ahead of Drews and was easily able to grab the checkers driving the Houston Motorsports Park/Atascosita Towing/Massage by Noelle/Houston Freightliner/Chevy Monte Carlo.

Houston Late Model
1 66 Dean Baker (2)
2 97 Ray Drews (1)
3 3 Mike Williams (3)
4 20 Matthew Smith (8)
5 00 Kristin Bumbera (4)
6 46 Tim Spahr (9)
7 34 Shane Miller (10)
8 64 Jim Eberle (5)
9 69 Donnie Kelley (7)
10 10 Brian Moore (6)

The Allison Legacy feature got off to a wild start in their 75 lap feature event. Jeff Weir and Donnie Kelley stayed door to door through turns 1-2 with Weir grabbing the lead out of turn 2. Coming to the completion of lap 1 Kelley, trying to get down made contact with another car and spun in front of the field. Half of the pack would pile into the melee, some damaged too badly to continue, including last years champion, John Duchek.

On the restart, Weir, Kelley and Stephan McCurly were pulling away fromanother three car pack. Kayla Hintz picked up fifth on lap 8 as the field began to string out. Kelley and McCurly made contact as they fought to get by a lap car, giving Weir a chance to extend his lead. On lap 13, Richard Tyra spun as the leader was coming into the corner. Weir backed off allowing Kelley and McCurly to catch back up.

McCurly and Kelley then began a side by battle for second, as Stokely and Hontz reeled them in. Once McCurly got around Kelley, he began running down the leader, Weir, while Stokely and Kelley battled for position. Just as quickly as McCurlyy closed, Weir pulled back away. The gap continued to grow and shrink, with Stokely, Kelley and Hontz fought it out for third.

At the halfway point the top five were Weir, McCurly, Kelley, Hontz and Stokely as they ran through traffic. McCurly’s chances of a top finish came to an end when he spun dicing in traffic. Hontz and Kelley got together trying to miss McCurly, but were given their spots back on the restart.

As green waved again, Weir got away cleanly and started to motor away. Hontz and Stokely both cleared Kelley on lap 47. Shawn Cannon then got past a fading Kelley on lap 49 to move into the top five. Gary Poole brought out the yellow on lap 52 when he spun in turnh 2. Weir jumped ahead as green waved again, leaving Stokely and Hontz battling for second.

McCurly brought out his second yellow with another spin in turn 4 on lap 58. Weir again got away on the restart, with Stokely getting past Hontz for second. In the final laps, Weir built a six car margin over Stokely who had a three car gap to Hontz, Cannon and Todd Brady. as the white flag was shown, Weir was in control as he rolled across the first to grab the victory in the Phantom Motorsports Ford Thunderbird replica.

Allison Legacy
1 11 Jeff Weir
2 2 Wayne Stokely
3 24k Kayla Hontz
4 45 Shawn Cannon
5 58 Bill Dick
6 20 Todd Brady
7 40 Stephan McCurly
8 48 Gary Poole
9 86 Larry Howard
10 22 Donnie Kelley
11 10 Cory Neil
12 6 William Shaw
13 7 John Duchek
14 89 Richard Tyra
15 25 Jeremy Mooris

Legends
1 72 Jack Marino
2 42 Robert Marino
3 13 Ronnie Whitlock
4 24 Eddie Townsend
5 5w Steve Hyche
6 23 Mike Justice
7 6 John Whitworth
8 20 Tina Keene
9 38 Chris Ryan

Bandeleros(Advanced)
1 24k Kayla Hontz
2 8 Cody Kelly
3 99 Jared Reeder

Bandeleros(Beginner)
1 51 Zach Knowles
2 94 Alex Hickman
3 7 Tyler Neubaum
4 6 JJ Whitworth
5 83 Michael Aguilar
6 78 Dustin Hyche
7 24 Dewey Townsend
8 12 Joshua Perry