SMRA Supermodifieds

From the Offical SMRA web site!!

Troy Regier Sweeps Super Saturday Event at Madera.

By Gerald Laurie

The moon was not full over Central California Saturday evening, but the happenings at Madera Speedway made one wonder if maybe it should have been. It was not a good night for West Coast Supermodified Racing. The current economy and $5.00 per gallon diesel fuel costs kept several long tow teams home and late discovery of mechanical gremlins during preparation kept others in the barn as well. Several on track incidents damaged an additional five cars before the evening was over.

This was the third of six Super Saturday Events scheduled for Madera Speedway in 2008. These events feature the Supermodified Racing Association winged roadsters and Madera Speedway’s 360 Supermodifieds in combined events. Although competing in combined events, the two classes are scored separately for points and a Madera Speedway Championship will be decided at the end of the season.

An incident during practice with Jim Birges was a harbinger of things to come. Coming off turn two low on the track, the 89 car suddenly just turned right. Birges corrected and locked the car down, just managing to keep it off the wall. It would happen again later with quite different results.

The first competitive event of the show was qualifying. The 360 Supers took to the track first and David Tuey was quickest at 13.676 seconds. Rounding out the top five were Lance Tatro at 13.684, Kenny Kinchen at 13.691, Donnie Large at 13.885 and Lance Jackson at 14.059.

The SMRA cars were the next to challenge the clocks and Troy Regier turned a lap of 12.342 seconds on the 1/3 mile banking. Close behind was Jeff Russell at 12.464, Jim Birges at 12.667, Bobby Dalton at 12.684, and Kenny White at 12.694.

Trophy Dashes were the first multi car events of the evenings. The 360 Supermodified Dash featured Donnie Large and Kenny Kinchen on the front row followed by Lance Tatro and David Tuey. At the green, Large and Kinchen went side by side with Kinchen easing out front at the line. Tuey was third with Tatro in the back. Kinchen finally cleared large on lap two and Tuey began a challenge for second place. David took second on lap four coming of turn two and the finish showed Kinchen as the winner over Tuey, Large, and Tatro.

The SMRA Dash had Jim Birges on the pole with Troy Regier on the outside. The second row consisted of Kenny White and Bobby Dalton. Again, the leaders went side by side into turn one with Regier pulling a half car length advantage down the back stretch. Regier cleanly took the lead coming off turn four and that was the race. Regier won over Birges, White, and Dalton.

Heat races were combined events and the first eight lapper lined up with Larry Hinz and David Prickett in row one followed by Kenny Kinchen, David Tuey, Kenny White, Jim Birges and Troy Regier. On the start, Hinz and Prickett banged wheels and then Hinz slid up and made wall contact ending his evening with right side suspension damage. . This moved Kinchen to the pole for the restart. At the green, White and Regier charged to the inside and the first lap was led by White over Regier, Kinchen, Birges and Prickett. Birges cut inside Kinchen coming off of two on lap two and then the car suddenly turned right into the backstretch wall leaving Kinchen no place to go. The incident was identical to Birges’s hot laps incident except at a higher speed and with more tragic results. Neither driver was injured, but two more cars were eliminated for the remainder of the event. During the red flag, Prickett headed to the pits. With just three cars remaining for the restart, White led lap two before Regier made a pass on the high side to lead the rest of the show. Regier won over White and Tuey.

Heat race number two featured Lance Jackson, Donnie Large, Lance Tatro, Brian Warf, Bobby Dalton, Jeff Russell, and Whitey Janssen. Large and Warf charged around the outside of Jackson in turns one and two with Warf turning under Large to lead at the line over Russell, Large, Jackson and Tatro. On lap two Tatro passed Jackson and then Dalton and Janssen both went inside of Jackson. There was contact between White and Dalton as the cars entered turn three. Dalton then contacted Jackson sending Jackson into the wall. Another car eliminated from the show. Dalton had suspension damage and headed to the pits. On the restart, Warf held the lead over Russell, Large, Tatro, and Janssen. Tatro took third on lap four and Russell took the lead on lap five. Janssen got around Large for fourth at the checkers. Russell won over Warf, Tatro, Janssen, and Large.

The remaining ten cars lined up for the fifty lap feature with Donnie Large and Lance Tatro on the row one. Their pursuers were David Tuey, Brian Warf, Kenny White, Bobby Dalton, Jeff Russell, and Troy Regier. Behind the invert were Whitey Janssen and David Prickett. Tatro and Warf charged around the outside on lap one with Tatro leading over Warf, Large, Dalton and White. Warf took the lead on lap two with Dalton charging all the way to second followed by White, Russell, and Tatro. Regier took fifth on lap four. Russell took second from Dalton on lap six and Regier displaced White to take fourth a lap later.

Jeff Russell took the lead on lap ten making the order Russell, Warf, Dalton, Regier, and White. Regier took third on the eleventh circuit and second a lap later. Dalton passed Warf on lap fourteen. Warf headed for the pits on lap seventeen with rear axle problems. At the lap twenty juncture, Russell led over Regier, Dalton, White, and Janssen. Janssen then hit the pits with a bad engine vibration at lap twenty-three moving Tuey up to fifth place. Prickett retired on lap twenty five. Regier started to challenge Russell and they ran some very dicey laps before Regier prevailed just past the half way mark. At thirty laps, Regier began pulling away from Russell who had a good lead over Dalton and White. Tuey was a lap down in fifth place. The yellow and then red flags flew on lap thirty seven when Jeff Russell went straight in to the turn three wall. Either the right front tire failed or they had a radius rod break sending the car into hard contact. The race resumed with Regier, Dalton, and White on the lead lap with Tuey, Tatro, and Large two or more laps down. The race finished without addition incident. Regier took the checkers over Dalton, White, Tuey, Tatro and Large. The final three finishers were all 360 cars.

There was a controversy during the feature when the flagman black flagged Dalton without direction from the SMRA Race Director. With the race director being in radio contact with the drivers, Dalton was not told to heed the flag and pull off and the flag was rescinded. Several teams were upset that the flag was ignored, but the Race Director stood by his ruling. This was just one more incident to top off a not so pretty evening. Oh, did I mention that it was 103 degrees in the pits all afternoon before the Sun mercifully sank in the West. From the keyboard in the dining room, I am a very tired and footsore Racing Widow’s Husband.

June 14, 2008

Madera Speedway

Qualifications: 1. 98 Troy Regier, 12.342; 2. 85 Jeff Russell, 12.464; 3. 89 Jim Birges, 12.667; 4. 36 Bobby Dalton, 12.684; 5. 96 Kenny White, 12.694; 6. 91 Brian Warf, 12.771; 7. 6* David Tuey, 13.676; 8. 72* Lance Tatro, 13.684; 9. 5* Kenny Kinchen, 13.691; 10. 26* Donnie Large, 13.885; 11. 21 David Prickett, 13.984; 12. 18* Lance Jackson, 14.059; 13. 4* Larry Hinz, 14.400; 14. 50 Whitey Janssen, N/T.

360 Trophy Dash: 1. Kinchen; 2. Tuey; 3. Large; 4. Tatro.

SMRA Trophy Dash: 1. Regier; 2. Birges; 3. White; 4. Dalton

Heat 1: 1. Regier; 2. White; 3. Tuey;; 4. Kinchen; 5. Birges; 6. Prickett; 7. Hinz.

Heat 2: 1. Russell; 2. Warf; 3. Tatro; 4. Janssen; 5. Large; 6. Jackson; 7. Dalton.

Feature: 1. Regier; 2. Dalton; 3. White; 4. Tuey; 5. Tatro; 6. Large; 7. Russell; 8. Prickett; 9. Janssen; 10. Warf.