Modifieds

The Modified 12 car field was led to the start of the main event by Mike Sullivan and Charles Pruett. Pruett took the outside lead, but Sullivan rallied and took it back one lap later. Danny Bishop swung inside Pruett to challenge for second, followed by Mike Smithhart. Bob Strauss was inside David Furia fighting for fifth, followed by Mark Marek and Noel McCormack Jr.

In lap five, Pruett broke loose in turn two and lost position all the way back outside Strauss. Smithhart swung outside Bishop for second as Strauss, Marek, and McCormack reeled by inside Pruett with Furia trapped behind.

In lap 10, Smithhart continued outside Sullivan for the lead, and Bishop followed one lap later into second. Marek and McCormack passed Strauss on the outside for fourth and fifth, and set their sights on Sullivan.

As Smithhart and Bishop out-paced the pack, Marek took third from Sullivan on the outside in lap 16 and McCormack tried to follow. In lap 18, Sullivan broke loose in turn three trying to keep fourth, and spun out into the infield for the first caution.

Smithhart and Bishop led them to the restart and Smithhart took the inside lead. Marek followed inside Bishop into second as Furia got fourth inside McCormack, and Kevin Ostern got sixth inside Pruett. In lap 22, Sullivan spun in turn three and smacked hard sideways into the infield giant tires. He was transported by the track emergency crew to get checked out.

Smithhart and Bishop led the restart again and Bishop took the outside lead, but Smithhart took it back in the next lap. Marek moved up inside Bishop to challenge for second, followed by McCormack and Furia. Bishop settled into the outside groove and moved back up outside Smithhart. For four laps, Smithhart and Bishop see-sawed for the lead as McCormack got inside Marek to fight for third, and Furia followed looking for an opening.

When the white flag fell, Bishop had a fender lead outside Smithhart. In turn two, Smithhart pushed (his front tires lost grip) and slid up into the left-rear of Bishop. They slid through the backstretch with Bishop sideways on the nose of Smithhart, slowing back into McCormack who threw a rooster-tail of sparks trying to slow down.

Marek barely managed to dart through on the outside when they got to turn three and, locked together, Bishop and Smithhart spun to a stop on the inside groove. McCormack made it by them just before Furia and Pruett came through.

Ostern was fighting for seventh outside Strauss when the were faced with only one unblocked groove. Ostern hit the wall and stopped as Strauss somehow scraped through. Shelby Helm managed to come to a stop just behind Ostern.

Since the yellow fell on the white-flag lap, the race was over. Marek found himself the winner, followed by McCormack, Furia, Pruett, and Strauss. Strauss won the trophy dash, and Rick Tommila and Bishop the heat races.

Mini-Stocks

�Fast-Freddy� Schmidt and Jessica Aceves led the 13 car Mini-Stock pack to the start of their main event. Andy Norton blew up after qualifying seventh and did not make it. Aceves took the outside lead as F. Schmidt pushed the inside line back.

Davey Coyne took the outside lead past J. Aceves when she moved inside. David Aceves managed to jump to the outside from behind F. Schmidt and followed D. Coyne into second. Robert Schmidt and Alex Andrews passed outside J. Aceves for third and fourth.

In turn one of lap three, Marcus Hatfield was following outside J. Aceves, in front of Dale Balmer inside of Don Presler, when they made contact causing J. Aceves to slow suddenly. Balmer and Presler had to quickly split three-wide around Aceves through turn three, but everyone recovered.

By lap four, the field was already lapping cars. D. Coyne suddenly slowed and started throwing a trail of sparks behind his car as his muffler came loose and was dragging. D. Aceves took the lead as R. Schmidt, Andrews, Hatfield, Presler, and Balmer rolled on by D. Coyne.

R. Schmidt took the lead from D. Aceves on the outside, and Andrews, Hatfield, and Presler quickly followed suit. Passes had to be quick and sure because of the lapped traffic. In lap 11, second place Andrews suffered a close call when he was about to lap Stevey Coyne. Ahead of him, R. Schmidt had just lapped Kasandra Norton when S. Coyne broke loose and drifted high. Andrews dove to the inside only to find Norton now there. He barely made it three-wide safely between them. You could hear the entire grandstands let out a collective sigh of relief.

By lap 17, Andrews had caught up to R. Schmidt as Presler gained the inside groove on Hatfield. He and Balmer passed Hatfield for third and fourth.

In lap 20, R. Schmidt and Andrews had just lapped D. Aceves in turn two. Ahead of them, F. Schmidt, just ahead of the Volkswagen Beetle of Jason Pratt, swung outside of Norton as the leaders came rocketing up. F. Schmidt darted by Norton to the inside as the leaders hit the brakes. R. Schmidt and Andrews barely made it by F. Schmidt and Norton, but Presler found himself outside D. Aceves as the came up on Pratt. Only the fact that they were at the widening of the track at the start of the backstretch saved them from a three-wide disaster. Yet again, the sure-foot Mini-Stocks had come through unscathed, and the crowd was ecstatic.

It wasn’t to last. One lap later, Balmer and Hatfield were jockeying by more lapped traffic when they made contact on the backstretch, spinning Hatfield into the infield. Balmer retired to the pits during the yellow.

R. Schmidt and Andrews led the restart and R. Schmidt took the inside lead. Presler followed R. Schmidt into second, as Andrews settled into third, and D. Coyne and Hatfield wove through lapped traffic into fourth and fifth.

The top five ran single-file for three laps when, in turn three of lap 25, R. Schmidt suddenly slowed and Pressler darted into the lead. Schmidt immediately regained the pace in second just ahead of Andrews.

In turn three of the last lap, R. Schmidt again suddenly lost power and was passed by Andrews and D. Coyne. He finally spun out in turn four as the checkers were thrown for Presler. Andrews took second, followed by D. Coyne, Hatfield, and R. Schmidt. Andrews won the trophy dash, and D. Aceves and Hatfield the heat races.

Bombers

Keven Ostern (doing double-duty in a Modified and a Bomber) and Andy Norton led the 13 car Bomber main event field to the green flag, and not much further. As they accelerated in turn four, Norton spun his rear tires which turned and shot him to the inside into Ostern. They took that green flag with Norton sideways on the nose of Ostern, and everyone packing up behind them as they slid into turn one.

As Bob Mook dodged around them on the outside, they collected Richard Bray and Jon Waner from the inside. Robert Byers tried to fit through inside George Abella, but tagged the rear of Norton as he went by. George Lovrin managed to dodge into the infield, but Roman Rose tore up his right-front on the rear bumper of Dylan Rose. It all happened so fast that, by the time the yellow was thrown, they were almost all stopped. Bray, Lovrin, R. Rose, Byers, and Waner all had to visit the pits, and Norton had to retire.

A strange note to all of this: While Laird elected to start in the back because he lost first gear, Chuck Hackbarth had also done so because he �didn’t want to get in the way of the leaders�. When asked about this, veterans of the Lakeport Speedway simply nodded their heads and said �Hackbarth always knows�. Scare-ry.

Mook and Abella led the restart ahead of D. Rose inside Gary Collins, Ostern inside Bray, Lovrin inside R. Rose, Byers inside Brad Laird, and Waner inside Hackbarth. Abella took the inside lead followed by Collins past Mook. D. Rose was looking outside Mook as R. Rose passed Bray on the outside for fifth, when Waner retired to the infield. One lap later, Hackbarth blew his engine in turn one for another caution.

After one false start, Abella and Collins brought them to the green and raced side-by-side for two laps followed closely by D. Rose as R. Rose challenged Mook for fourth on the outside. In turn one, Collins wiggled loose and lost position into third.

R. Rose made it by Mook into fourth as the three leaders out-paced the field. For 10 laps, Collins tried to regain position outside D. Rose, but kept wiggling loose and falling back. Lovrin and Byers both made it by Mook for fifth and sixth.

Finally, in lap 22, Collins claimed the inside groove just as Abella lapped Laird. Collins dove three-wide between D. Rose and Laird to keep his position. Two laps later, he completed the pass by D. Rose into second.

In turn three of lap 27, Collins swung to the outside of Abella, but wiggled loose again allowing D. Rose to move up on the inside beside him followed closely by R. Rose. In lap 28, Collins broke loose at the entrance of turn one which swung him about and shot him into D. Rose. Collins recovered, but this caused D. Rose to push through turn two back into Collins.

They banged front-and-rear through the backstretch, almost recovering at the entrance to turn three. However, this left Collins in bad position with too much speed. He snapped loose and spun, barely avoiding the wall, for the last caution. During the yellow, something caught fire underneath Collins’ car. He was stopped in turn two and it was put out by the track fire crew. Collins had to retire to the pits.

This set up a green-white-checker shootout led by Abella and R. Rose. Behind them, Ostern pushed the outside line back causing everyone to scramble for position. R. Rose was a fender behind Abella in the straights, but surged ahead at the turn exits.

In the final turn, Rose dug hard and beat out Abella at the line by less than half a fender. Lovrin finished third, followed by Byers and Mook. Collins won the trophy dash, and Ostern and Abella the heat races.

Modifieds

Noel McCormack Jr. and Bob Strauss led the 11 car Modified field to the start of the main event. McCormack took the inside lead followed by Mike Smithhart as Strauss settled back into third in front of Chuck Pruett.

The field strung out as Mark Marek started a long and steady climb on the outside from sixth past Sullivan, Pruett, Strauss, and finally Smithhart into second. The race ran without any cautions, and Marek simply ran out of laps before he could catch up to McCormack.

McCormack finished first, followed by Marek, Smithhart, Pruett, and Strauss. Smithhart won the other heat race, and Sullivan the trophy dash.

Mini-Stocks

The Mini-Stock 13 car main event field was led to the start by Jason Pratt and Fred Schmidt. Terry Shannon, David Aceves, and Michael Adkins were unable to make the field due to problems suffered in the heat races.

F. Schmidt fell back on the outside as Stevey Coyne darted inside him to run with Pratt for the lead. Davey Coyne and Robert Schmidt got caught behind F. Schmidt and were pushed almost to the back.

Buddy Silva and Dale Balmer had advanced to the leaders when they lapped Kasandra Norton three-wide to either side. This allowed Silva to take the lead, followed by S. Coyne, D. Coyne, Pratt, and Balmer.

By lap seven, D. Coyne and Balmer had made it past S. Coyne into second and third when the leader Silva was about to lap F. Schmidt on the outside coming out of turn four. D. Coyne tucked behind Silva, but Balmer swung down three-wide inside F. Schmidt to take second.

One lap later, D. Coyne got his nose inside Balmer, retook second, and continued on the inside past Silva in lap 10 for the lead. It didn’t last long. One lap later, D. Coyne went to the outside to follow Jessica Aceves who was outside Pratt, when Silva swung to the inside. As Pratt was lapped, Silva and D. Coyne locked together side-by-side in turn three and the two leaders turned straight into the wall for the first caution.

R. Schmidt and Jay Strugnell (a lap down) restarted the field. Strugnell faded back as Schmidt took off with the lead followed by Alex Andrews, Marcus Hatfield, and Don Presler. In lap 16, Hatfield broke loose in turn one and got turned into the infield. He quickly recovered and rejoined the race at the back of the pack.

Andrews and Presler had chased R. Schmidt down when, in lap 18, Schmidt wiggled loose in turn two allowing Andrews and Presler to dodge three-wide around either side of him for first and second. One lap later, Silva spun into the turn four infield for another caution.

Andrews and Presler led them to the green in front of R. Schmidt and D. Coyne. Andrews surged ahead on the inside and R. Schmidt followed and then swung outside to challenge for the lead. Presler dove inside when R. Schmidt pushed in turn four and settled into fourth behind D. Coyne.

Andrews was hard pressed by both Presler and D. Coyne when, in lap 23, he snapped loose coming out of turn two and spun into the backstretch infield for a caution. During the caution, D. Coyne’s car gave it up and he had to retire to the infield.

Presler and R. Schmidt led the last restart and Schmidt took off like a rocket. Presler gave chase leaving behind Hatfield and J. Aceves. Presler caught back up to and swung to the outside of R. Schmidt on the frontstretch at the start of lap 28.

In turn four, R. Schmidt pushed like he did earlier allowing Presler to take the lead at the white flag. At the finish, it was Presler, R. Schmidt, Hatfield, Andrews, and J. Aceves. Hatfield won the other heat race, Shannon the trophy dash, and J. Aceves the slow dash.

Street Stocks

The nine car Street Stock main event was led to the green by David Jones and Richard Bray. Jones, showing his greatly improved power and handling this season, held the lead as R. Bray wiggled loose in turn four and settled into second. Robert Byers pushed Eric Johnson and Chris Salmina back on the outside as Mike Bray, Mike Rose, and Andy Vander Veer advanced.

In lap five, Rose had passed M. Bray on the outside and was continuing on to challenge R. Bray for second. Vander Veer was following outside M. Bray ahead of Salmina outside of Johnson. Rose snapped loose at the exit of turn three and drifted back outside M. Bray. Vander Veer slowed on the outside while Salmina and Johnson tried to dodge inside. In turn four, Salmina got pin-balled, first into Johnson and then into Vander Veer knocking Vander Veer loose.

Everyone recovered and, on the frontstretch, it was M. Bray in third behind Jones and R. Bray, followed by Rose outside Johnson, and Salmina. Vander Veer recovered in the back. Everyone in the grandstands let out a huge sigh of relief.

Rose moved up outside R. Bray to fight for second, followed closely by Johnson. In lap seven, Rose and R. Bray tangled in turn four and spun for the first caution.

Jones and Johnson led them to the green and they stayed side-by-side. Vander Veer stayed with them, but M. Bray had a slow start and pushed the rest of the pack back. In lap 10, R. Bray had developed problems and a yellow was thrown to allow him to get to the pits before anything spilled onto the track.

Jones and Johnson again led the restart. One lap later, Johnson would lead his first lap by only a bumper, and lost the lead one lap later. Vander Veer kept to the inside of Johnson looking to take second.

Johnson tried to creep back up outside Jones, but Jones kept drifting into that outside lane and had to be shown the pink flag several time. A yellow was thrown the third time and Jones was put to the back. During the yellow, Salmina blew his engine and had to retire.

Vander Veer and Johnson led the single-file restart, but it was immediately called off when a line of oil was spotted on the track. A red flag was thrown to stop the race so the track crew could clean it up. The restart was stopped by another caution when Jones spun in turn two.

Vander Veer and Johnson led the double-file restart and Vander Veer took the outside lead. M. Bray had another slow start and pushed the outside line back leaving Rose and Byers in third and fourth.

Johnson tried all he could to pass Vander Veer on the outside but, in lap 27, he broke loose in turn four and lost ground to just ahead of Rose. At the white flag, fifth place M. Bray wiggled in turn one which sent him across the infield and allowed Jones to pass him.

At the line, it was Vander Veer, followed by Johnson, Rose, Byers, and Jones. Jones won the heat race, and Rose the trophy dash.