Texas Speedzone - Memorial weekend special @ Heart O Texas Speedway 5/28/06

Memorial Weekend Special @ Heart O Texas Speedway 5/28/06
By J M Hallas
Sunday night Heart O Texas Speedway(Waco) hosted a special show on the high-banked 1/4 mile clay track headlined by the Sprint Series of Texas. Despite being down on horsepower with a 305 CI motor rule, these winged warriors put on a show equal to that of their outlaw motored brothers. On a short track the speed difference is hardly evident to any of the fans. The series mainly consists of north Texas racers, with a few central and west Texas drivers in the mix. The SST runs at seven tracks in the area, with return trips to HOT Speedway scheduled for Sept 3rd and 30th. .

Clement Clicks in SST Showdown
Josh Dooley and Johnny Suggs paced the 21-car, 25 lap SST Main event to green after a three wide salute to the crowd. Last race’s feature winner Ron Beechler, carrying the yellow streamer, was awarded his starting position(by rule) at the tail. Dooley was first out of turn 2 with the lead, with Chad Wilson coming from row three to grab third. Suggs quickly put the heat on Dooley for the lead trying the high side on lap 2.

The two were wheel to wheel for the top spot on lap 3 as they went three wide around a slower car. Finally on lap 4 Suggs got the point to lead lap 5. Traffic once again became an issue as Suggs tried to duck under a slower car in turn 1. Suggs carried too much speed in on the low side and slid up the track and spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. Dooley was the beneficiary as he re-inhierited the lead on lap 7. On the restart Dooley got a good jump as the top three got away from Jay Smith in fourth.

Shane Clement looked inside Dooley on lap 8 and snuck by down the back stretch to get the point on lap 9. Smith moved by Dooley for second with Wilson and Dooley in a fight for third. As the duo battled they got tangled in turn 3. Once Wilson broke free he clipped an infield tire and slid to the infield nearly taking out members of the track crew, to bring out the caution on lap 11. Once back to green, Clement and Smith got ahead while Mike Herring got past Matt Myers for third.

At the crossed flags it was Clement, Smith, Herring, Myers and Jerry Hammock in the top five. Clement then began inching away from Smith by lap 15 with Myers and Josh Hawkins scrapping it out for fifth. Beechler was on the charge as he took sixth from Phil Harris on lap 16 after starting dead last. Smith, Herring and Hammock got hung behind slower traffic as that group bunched up in the scramble for the second spot.

Hawkins brought out the yellow on lap 18 when he got into an infield tire while running fifth. Smith took a look inside Clement as green waved again, but Clement held Smith off and once again began building an advantage. Just when it looked like Clement would run off to the win, Jeff Hill spun in turn 3 setting up a green, white, checkered finish. Smith tried one last shot at Clement on the restart, but Clement held his line and the spot. At the checkers it was Clement, who blew up his regular car Friday at Grand Prairie Speedway, in the Polk Construction, Cecil Pharris, J&J Chassis, going unchallenged to the victory.
“ This was our first time in this car,” said Clement. “ We blew up our primary car Friday night and they gave me this one for tonight. It worked out real good.”
“It’s my first time in a Sprint Car here,” added the former IMCA Modified driver. “It was a real fast track. Travis Dodson had the car set up and it made it real easy for me. It started getting dry on top and we just kept working the bottom. We had our car set up to run the bottom. It worked out. Everyone was moving up a groove and I could stay on the bottom.”

Jay Smith, who finished second in his Maxim Chassis said, “We weren’t real sure what the track would do. It ended up getting slick, especially on the back. We just took a gamble, and it was pretty good. We maybe could have had it a little better.”

Third place finisher, Mike Herring added, “It got a little slick out there, but we were having a good time. I think we put on a good show for the fans and look forward to coming back.”

Sprint Series of Texas
1 2 Shane Clement
2 2j Jay Smith
3 99 Mike Herring
4 4 Jerry Hammock
5 69 Ron Beechler
6 16 Mike Harris
7 91 Kerry Rush
8 14 Don Carr sr
9 3 Matt Myers
10 51 Phil Harris
11 50 Jeff Hill
12 66 Josh Dooley
13 80 Josh Hawkins
14 20 Chad Wilson
15 9 Troy Bontrager
16 6 Brian Carter
17 1 Johnny Suggs
18 13 Matthew Brooks
19 25 Sean Mayfield
20 18 John Cline
21 57 Shannon Thorton

In SST heats, Shane Clement got out front on lap 1 as the field separated out. Lap traffic bunched up the top three in the final laps but Clement held on for the win. Johnny Suggs put on a driving clinic in heat 2 as he took the lead out of turn 2 and then ran away from the field for the victory.

P J Keeps Egbert Weekend Win Streak Intact

The 24 fastest IMCA Modifieds took the track for the 20 lap A-main led to green by Keith Green and Steven Carter. As the green flew, Green got out front in turn 1, but Allen Waltermire got sideways and was collected by Trevor Egbert, Ken Old, George Egbert and several others all getting a piece of the action. The next try saw Green again jump out with J P Dowell second, G W Egbert third, P J Egbert fourth and Carter falling to fifth.

Chris Bragg got sideways on lap 2 with a flat tire then rolled to a stop on track to bring out the yellow on lap 3. Bragg was black-flagged for intentionally causing a single car caution.(A good rule I might add!) Once back to green, G W Egbert, Dowell and P J Egbert were nearly three wide for second. GW Egbert got slightly ahead of Dowell on lap 4 but Dowell fought back with the two side by side for second on lap5, and P J Egbert hot on their heels.

P J Egbert moved in the battle win cousin G W Egbert on lap 7 as they ran wheel to wheel before P J Egbert snagged the spot on lap 8. G W Egbert’s hopes of a three win weekend went away as he broke and rolled to stop in turn 4. With Green holding the point, P J Egbert got a run on Dowell on the restart. P J Egbert got the spot in turns 3-4, while Daryl Campbell was looking on the high side of Carter for fourth.

At halfway the top five were Green, P J Egbert, Dowell, Carter and Campbell. Carter slowed on lap 10 causing Campbell to check up as well. This gave Kenny Stone the chance to blast by both for fourth. With P J Egbert closing rapidly, Green’s shot at the victory ended when he pulled off on lap 12 handing the top spot to P J Egbert on lap 13. Stone, Campbell and Carter continued their scrap for third with Stone finally securing the position on lap 13, and Campbell moving into fourth.

With five to go, P J Egbert had a huge lead on Dowell in second with a big gap to Stone and Campbell. P J Egbert easily diced through traffic losing little to no ground in the process. As the white waved P J Egbert had a comfortable margin and took the checkers in the Phils Paint & Body, Mid-Tex Motorsports, Pflugerville Engine & Machine, Big Tex Autoplex, Greg May Honda, D&D Cabinetry, Cooper & Bright Plumbing, Nightmare Graphix, Wel-Ran Construction, Kramer Trucking, Donnie Moore Chassis. After finishing second to G W Egbert the past two nights, P J kept the Egbert tradition alive for the weekend Egbert sweep.
“Patience and persistence finally paid off,” replied Egbert about finally finishing somewhere besides second. “I think we had the fastest car all weekend and tonight we proved it. The only one that I would be worried about in a modified is Keith White. I’m glad he’s taking his time getting his car ready.”

IMCA Modified
1 707 P J Egbert
2 715 J P Dowell
3 5k Kenny Stone
4 183 Daryl Campbell
5 11j Justin Radcliff
6 34 Ronnie Warren
7 9 Pat McGuire
8 78/70 George Egbert
9 41 Eric Hughes
10 3A Matt Hood
11 144 Allen Waltermire
12 15 Andrew Simmerman
13 118 Steven Carter
14 98j Jarrod Jennings
15 4 David Hanusch
16 555 Ken Old
17 104 Fred Wajtek
18 29 Mac Harmon
19 5 Keith Green
20 717 G W Egbert
21 24B Chris Bragg
22 6 Mike Hanusch
23 70/78 Trevor Egbert
24 28 Russ Reed

Heats winners; Waltermire, Old, J P Dowell and Carter. B-main winners; George Egbert and Chris Bragg.

White Wins Yet Another in SportMod Main
Young hot shoe, Dillon Smith and veteran, Keith White paced the 24-car IMCA Southern SportMod 20 lap main to green. White jumped into the top spot going into turn 1 with 2-3 wide racing from sixth on back. By lap 2 White was showing why he was the defending SSM National Champion as he began to walk away from Smith, Chase Jupe and Duain Pritchett. Lap 3 saw yellow wave for Brandon Hood who got sideways in turns 1-2, then tagged by Chris Cogburn who had nowhere to go.

White got a good jump on the green while Jupe got past Smith for second. Chris Wills slowed on lap 5 while running in the top five giving Mark McDaniel and Kevin Green the chance to get by. T J Green did a 360 in between turns 3-4 on lap 6 and as the field scattered Robert Black jumped the rear wheel of Scott Tacker and rolled to stop against the turn 4 wall to bring out the yellow.

Again White was quick on throttle as the green waved for the restart. Former IMCA Stock Car National Champion, Pritchett got inside Smith for third. As the race came to halfway White was inching away from Jupe, Pritchett, Smith and McDaniel. By lap 12 the front half of the field was sorted out with side by side racing from 13th on back.

White caught slower traffic with five to go and by lap 17 his lead was cut to six car lengths over Jupe, Pritchett and Smith all running together. As the white waved, White was in heavy traffic but had no trouble negotiating his way through to pick up the victory in the Traceys Auto Sales, Pflugerville Engine & Machine, Stewart Painting, Central Texas Pest Control, Jeff Kousal Carbs, San Antonio Auto Auction, Smileys Chassis.
“We don’t change a whole lot,” said Saturday nights winner at Texas Thunder, White. “We keep it pretty simple. About all we do is move the right rear around a bit. I drew that “2", that helped a bunch. Starting up front tonight was nice, definitely a change of pace.”
“I think the people we concern ourselves with are right here at Heart O Texas,” added White regarding running against the out-of-town drivers. “You have some of the fastest cars in the state right here. No one is going to come in and take our money!”

IMCA Southern SportMod
1 1w Keith White
2 30 Chase Jupe
3 22 Duain Pritchett
4 03 Dillon Smith
5 52 Mark McDaniel
6 5d Kevin Green
7 7 Cody Frank
8 45t Eric Tomlinson
9 14 Rickey Heckel
10 5c Chris Cogburn
11 72 Jason Howell
12 77 Jody Buzbee
13 2 Brandon Stewart
14 55 T J Green
15 47 Shannon Dulock
16 771 Sam Sovey
17 181 Ed Thompson
18 T7 Scott Tacker
19 1b Brandon Hood
20 17 Jeffery Sheppard
21 4 Bill Coleman
22 24 Chris Wills
23 07 Robert Black
24 3 Dave Stewart

Heat winners; Shannon Dulock, Smith, McDaniel and Jupe. B-main winners; Black and Eric Tomlinson.

Dulock Defeats Strong I-Stock Field
B J Dulock beat outside polesitter, Robin Rasmussen into turn 1 for the lead at the start of the 17-car, 20 lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Eric Jones came out of the mad scramble behind Dulock with second, Jason Honey third and Benji Kirkpatrick fourth. Dulock had began to edge ahead by lap 3, while Duain Pritchett, Mark Guerin and Dan Johnson ran three wide for fifth. Pritchett came out with the position as J. Honey got by Jones for second on lap 5.

Pritchett then charged forward getting by Kirkpatrick for fourth on lap 7, then Jones for third on lap 8. At the mid point it was still Dulock on the point, J. Honey, Pritchett, Jones and Kirkpatrick in the top five. Kirkpatrick was able to take fourth from Jones on lap 10. Dulock built a good lead by lap 13 as Pritchett was running down J. Honey for second. The races only caution came out on lap 15 when Kevin Watson and Rasmussen tangled on the back stretch. Watson went airborne as he rode up the side of Rasmussen’s car and tagged the wall. Both cars were torn up, but the drivers ok.

With Dulock’s big lead erased, J. Honey stayed glued to his bumper on the restart. Pritchett’s chance at a top finish ended on lap 16 when pulled off with a flat right rear. In the final laps J. Honey kept the pressure on Dulock with an occasional tap on the bumper in the turns. In the last corner of the last lap, J. Honey got up to the quarter panel of Dulock, but Dulock was able to outrun him back to the checkers in the Boo Boo’s Enterprises, Oasis Heating & Cooling, Eastward Signs, Affiliated Auto Glass, Midwest Motorsports Engines, Qwik Chassis by Dulock.
“He’s very competitive every week,” said Dulock about Jason Honey. “There’s a lot of drivers around here that are very tough, Benji Kirkpatrick, Tommy Honey, Chad Estes, Tim Ezell. Week to week you never know who’s going to win. We got the opportunity to start up front tonight and that helped out quite a bit. I’ll take ‘em however I can get ‘em.”
“Most of the out-of-town guys like Duain(Pritchett) that come down here for big shows have just as good a chance pf winning. A lot of it is where you start. I was fortunate to start up front tonight.”

IMCA Stock Car
1 251 B J Dulock
2 4 Jason Honey
3 47 Benji Kirkpatrick
4 84x Eric Jones
5 42 Mark Guerin
6 25 Toby Miller
7 3x Quinten Noel
8 181 Ed Thompson
9 66 Lance Shaw
10 221 Billy Wade
11 18k Tommy Honey
12 22 Duain Pritchett
13 34 Justin McCullough
14 11 Dan Johnson
15 3 Robin Rasmussen
16 37 Kevin Watson
17 23 Shad Steven

Heat winners; Pritchett, Guerin and Kirkpatrick.

Smith Sneaks in for Hobby Win
The 15 lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature saw Nathan Sodek and Billy Taylor lead the 19-car pack to the green flag. Sodek was first out of turn 2 with the lead, while Hobby National points leader, Allen Montgomery took second. Jason Gallimore snared second from Montgomery on lap 1. Gallimore would then spin from second on lap 3, with Montgomery spinning to miss him. Both continued both lost numerous spots. Dillon Smith got around Taylor on lap 4 to take over second, but Taylor fought back until Smith finally secured the spot a lap later.

Mike Robertson, Justin Shaw and Mike Hulsey had a good three car battle for fourth as the race came to halfway. At the crossed flags it was Sodek, Smith, Taylor, Robertson and Shaw in the top five. Tommy Jenkins brought out the yellow on lap 9 when he spun on the back stretch. Once back to green, Sodek and Smith got clear while Robertson and Shaw passed Taylor for third and fourth. Smith was looking inside Sodek for the lead on lap 10 with Taylor and Robertson door to door for third.

Smith had just ducked inside Sodek for the lead when Dustin Mickel spun after bouncing off Hulsey. On the restart, Taylor spun from third at the same time Chandler Simons was tagging an infield tire. The next restart saw Smith get inside Sodek for the lead as green came back out. Sodek then spun and got drilled by Jeremy Bost. This put Smith in the lead as the race went back green.

Gallimore brought out the red with night’s scariest incident as he rolled several times down the front straightaway after getting turned by Trey Johnson, who was black flagged for not letting off once he had Gallimore sideways. Gallimore would climb from his car shaken, but uninjured. Smith would get a good jump on the single file restart and go on to grab the win in the Brazos Roofing, Austin Roofing Supply, China Spring Cleaners, Western Roofing Services, Ray Mac Racing Engines, Lambs Muffler, MDS Engine Service, Wise County Detailing, Performance Transmissions, Left Hand Graphics, Destroyer Chassis.

IMCA Hobby Stock
1 03 Dillon Smith
2 17 Mike Robertson
3 53 Mike Hulsey
4 27 Mark Bullock jr
5 33 Charles Cosper
6 10 Jeremy Bost
7 55 Justin Shaw
8 38 Allen Montgomery
9 87 Dustin Mickel
10 60 Nathan Sodek
11 37 Lynn Gibson
12 21 Jason Gallimore
13 46 Billy Taylor
14 5c Chandler Simons
15 18 Jeremy Hendrix
16 83 O N Harcrow
17 35 Noel Jones
18 27x Tommy Jenkins
22 Trey Johnson---DQ Rough Driving

Heat winners; Hulsey, Gallimore and Mark Bullock jr.