The Late Model track record was broken yet again when Eric Graham set the fast time of 11.767s. Ken Gifford led the 75 lap main event from the start, but was taken out in lap 45 by the turn four wall while lapping Myles Anderson. Kevin Ostern took over the lead followed by Mike Lovell and Jeremy Hopkins. In lap 64, Lovell suddenly started to fade back. Ostern took the checkers followed by Hopkins, Jimmy Stillman, Mike Doss, and Mike Lovell. More details and points can be found at www.AirportAutoBrokersLateModels.com.

Returning champion Mark Marek set a season best Modified fast time of 12.502s. There would have been 15 cars in the main event, but Terry McIntire and Noel McCormack Jr. opted out after they were both disqualified from their heat race for some after-checker bumping and banging. Tommy Lyndall held the lead from the start, but Marek made his traditional slow and steady climb from the back, avoiding a big mid-race tangle, and took the lead in lap 27 to the finish. Lyndall moves up to second in points behind DeRosier by 36.

The Mini-Stock fast time of 14.021s was set by points leader Robert Schmidt. It was a gremlin feast of Mini-Stocks as cars kept falling out of the main event field with a variety of technical problems. Even Schmidt broke on the frontstretch in lap 20. Out of the seven, only three cars finished the race. Kyle Tellstrom took the win, followed by Jay Strugnell and Jessica Aceves. John Johnson placed fourth and Robert Schmidt fifth. This brings Tellstrom within four points of leader Schmidt.

Terry Pittman (substituting for Richard Page) set the Bomber fast time of 14.001s. He was disqualified form a track record for bad compression. Roman Rose set a new track record of 14.134s, overturning his own from last year. The 13 car main event got off to a bad start with a lap four tangle as new driver Kenny Grinols was being passed. Dylan Rose was hit by both the wall and cars. He had to be medi-vac’d with shoulder pain. George Abella was black-flagged for rough driving. D. Rose suffered a cracked shoulder and will be in a sling for a few weeks, but is otherwise all right. Roman Rose took the lead from Brenton Smith at the restart after a mid-race tangle, and held it until the race was called for time in lap 20. Pittman finished second, followed by Smith, Jimmy Sorrels, and George Lovrin.

The stars of the night, however, were the kids in the Clover Hydro-Jammers. Kelsie Kennedy set the fast time of 16.209s. Their very first main event started with nine cars. Corey Crawford had the poll and Gary Judd quickly took the lead followed by Kennedy and Carl “The Goose”. With street tires and almost completely stock cars, there were a lot of spins, but no yellow flags (if there were a safety problem, a red flag would be thrown). Judd and Kennedy held it together best until they took the white flag. Kennedy managed one of those best-of-stock-car-racing nail-biting last lap passes to take the Founder’s Cup trophy. Judd crossed second, and Carl placed third followed by Casey Crawford and James Atkins. The next Jammer race is May 9th where even more cars are expected.

The Ukiah Speedway hosted the “King of the Hill Challenge Series” #3 last Saturday night featuring the Legends Cars Series and the Bandoleros, and all four of the King of the Hill classes: Modifieds, Mini-Stocks, Street Stocks, and Bombers.

The Legends Cars fast time of 14.931s was set by Mike Martin, but it was Cody Martin who proved speed isn’t everything by winning all three races. He took and held the main event lead from the green flag. Randy Portlock came hunting from the back of the field and, when M. Martin and Chelsea Champagne got tangled in lap eight, took the lead from C. Martin on the restart. He held it for nine laps until, when Chelsea Champagne was lapped, C. Martin took it back just long enough to claim the checkers.

Bob “Mighty Mouse” Strauss finally got his engine running right and his car hooked up to set the Modified fast time of 13.199s. He finished second just behind Terry McIntire in both the trophy dash and the heat race, and was looking stronger the longer he went. However, his Ukiah gremlins caught up to him in the main event when his exhaust overheated and caught fire. McIntire also fell out when his brake rotor shattered. Clay Caturegli took the lead from Codi Barba in lap two, won a five lap mid-race duel with Trevor Cristiani, and held off the rest all the way to the finish.

Two-year defending champion Robert Schmidt started the inaugural Mini-Stock event off in style. He set the fast time of 15.097s. Kyle Tellstrom managed to hold him off in the trophy dash, but he won the heat race and looked strong for the main event. However, at the start of the main event, he had to dive into the pits with a problem. Jason Pratt spun out in the next lap, so Schmidt was able to return only one lap down. He had a great restart, caught up to leader Tellstrom, and passed him back onto the lead lap in lap 13. Then he got lucky as, two laps later, David Coyne blew a water hose for a yellow. This allowed Schmidt to come all the way around and restart at the back of the pack. Another great restart and a seven lap duel later, Schmidt took the lead to the finish.

Scott Sabol set the Street Stock fast time of 14.300s, only 14 one-hundredths ahead of Jared Martin, in his season debut. Ron Duke Sr. also came out to play and won the trophy dash, but he and Wade Coleman suffered problems and could not make the main event. Sabol took the main event lead from Charlie Tour in lap six. Andy Vander Veer and Martin did all they could to chase him down, but Sabol was too fast, too stable, and held them off for the win.

“Gentleman” George Abella finally broke the Rose fast time streak with a time of 15.142s, only six one-thousandths of a second under Mike Rose (driving for Roman Rose). However, mechanical problems plagued almost everyone that night. Matt Gerjets won the trophy dash, Terry Pittman (driving for Richard Page) could only make, but won, the slow heat. Jimmy Sorrels won the middle heat, and Brandon Verde held off all of the top runners to win the fast heat. Everyone worked out what bugs they could and were set for the 18 car main event.

Dylan Rose took the lead from Sorrels after a lap one tangle. Drew Smith’s car died on the front stretch and accordioned Sorrels and Abella into the wall. Pittman was pinned in the back, but made a Darring dive under George Miller and Brandon Powers to freedom. He eventually made it into third behind M. Rose, but had trouble keeping traction for a pass. At one point he broke loose in turn two and fishtailed all the way through the backstretch and turn three before getting it back together. With only four laps to go, M. Rose was about to lap Sorrels on the outside when Sorrels drifted a little high. There was just enough room for Pittman to dive under both of them and finally take second just as Abella had caught up to them in fourth, and that’s how they followed D. Rose to the checkers.

The Bandolero fast time of 15.801s was set by Darrin Silva. James Stillman did win the trophy dash, but was not three times lucky. Silva took the lead in lap three of the main event and held it ahead of the various spinouts all the way to the finish.