TWO IN A ROW FOR BILL MITCHELL @ THE DIRT TRACK @ NAPA SPEEDWAY
BOB & RAY INGRAM 6-1-13

NAPA Speedway, Albuquerque, New Mexico. What a wild night of action on the Dirt Track @ NAPA Speedway tonight. Over 100 cars on hand in 7 divisions. With dry weather and high winds for the last week track prep has become a real challenge for Charlie Fegan and his staff. In what could be said was less than optimum track conditions, drivers in all divisions put on a great show.

The NMMRA Non-Wing Sprints made their second appearance of the year and brought out 23 excellent cars to run 3 heats and a single main event. All of these drivers did an amazing job in less than ideal conditions with only 1 yellow in each heat and 2 yellows in the main event. Heat #1 saw the #45 of Jason Grady out of Farmington take the win over the #22B of Bo Baker and the #7 of Jesse Baker. Heat #2 had the #62 of Bill Mitchell take the win over the #24 of Jason Tanner with the #29 of Randy Smith coming home in 3rd. Heat #3 saw the #4X of youngster Cody Mansfield take the win from #52NM Dave Burns and the #41 of James Hatch. Tonight was Mansfields’ first night out this year, a good way to start the season. The main event saw 22 of the 23 cars on hand make the call as only the 4L of Kristi Smith was unable to make it onto the track. These 22 drivers did a fantastic job on a very dry & dusty track and the racing was 2 & 3 wide throughout the field. Randy Smith in the #29 took off from the outside of the front row and led several laps as the battle raged behind him. Jason Grady #45 and Cody Mansfield #4X had a wheel-to-wheel battle for 2nd and finally overhauled Smith and swapped the lead several times with Mansfield seeming to take a solid hold on the lead. But as the laps wound down Bill Mitchell in the #62 came up to challenge Grady and dog the heels of Mansfield. The most amazing move of the night came as the leaders were coming out of turn 4 for the final lap. Mansfield looped it in front of the entire field and was able to keep his car going and avoiding a huge pileup behind him. Every car was able to keep it straight and finish the final lap. This little bobble allowed Mitchell to come from his 3rd spot to pass both Mansfield and Grady and take his 2nd win in a row at NAPA Speedway this year. Even though Mansfield had one of the most awesome feats of driving it is apparently against NMMRA rules to do a 360 and continue on which will probably cost Mansfield a DQ. He deserves “hero” of the night for not taking out five to ten cars with his 360 spin. Not to mention the fantastic driving ability of those drivers behind him keeping their cars running and finishing the race.

The A-Mods again had a short field, but all of these guys are fast. There were a couple of new cars out this week with the #3 of Kenneth Payne and the #13 of Luigi Truden, so maybe the count will start to increase. As usual the X-Mod of #62 of Tom Melloy ran with the A’s also, continuing his streak of getting more bang for his racing buck by running the same car in 2 divisions and running 4 races a night. Heat #1 saw the #09 of Bill Waltman take the win over a hard charging #13 Truden and #3 Payne. Heat #2 had Farmington driver Bob Harter in the #75 take the win over #58 Clint Miller and the #3J of Josh Cain. This is one of the rare races this year that Cain hasn’t won. The main event saw Cain go back to his winning ways as he took the win over #58 Miller and #75 Harter. Late in the race Cain hit a rut and got all 4 wheels off the ground allowing Miller to close the gap but was still able to hold on for the win.

The X-Mods were down under the 20 car count this week with 19 on hand for 3 heats and their main event. This division arguably had the most exciting racing of the night. Heat #1 saw newcomer to the X-Mods this year #8 Ronnie Bell take the win over #21 Tommy Barela and #62 Tom Melloy. Heat #2 saw the K3 of Kevin McDonald take the win over the #87 of Eric Ford and the #1 of Mychal Lucero. Heat #3 had Rob Haaland in the #37 win over #26 Ryan Dietz and #29 Mike O’Neal. The main event had all 19 cars on hand take the green flag for a fantastic race. Bell in the #8 took off to the early lead and seemed to be running away for an easy win, but boy that was not going to be the case as a couple of yellow flags allowed the rest of the field to close up onto his rear bumper. The K3 of Kevin McDonald and the #1 of Mychal Lucero had a great battle for second and eventually overtook Bell. But the exciting drive of the night came from the #0 of J.R. Bonesteel. Bonesteel had mechanical problems in his heat and had to start dead last in the main event. From the drop of the green Bonesteel seemed to be on a mission as he began his move toward the front by running the highest groove on the track and passing cars one after the other. With the laps winding down it seemed as if Bonesteel was going to fall just short of taking the victory but with 2 laps to go he turned up the burners a notch and took the very close win over the #K3 of McDonald with the #1 of Lucero taking the last spot on the podium.

The Street Stocks had 2 really good heats and a VERY scary incident in their main event. Heat #1 had the #8X of Mario Truden Jr. take the win over the #98 of Toy Fisher and the #3 of Mario Truden Sr. Heat #2 had the #43 of Dan Gross Sr. taking the win over the #53 of R.C. Combs and the #73 of Ric Valdes. These drivers never give up as was seen by the battle for 4th spot as the #00 of Jimmy Smith and the #143 of Danny Goss Jr. crossed the finish line sideways. The main event got off to a very scary start on the 2nd lap as the #3 of Truden Sr. bounced hard off the front stretch wall coming to rest at the entrance to turn 1 with the field baring down on him. The #98 of Toy Fisher attempted to squeeze by on the high side of the track and clipped the rear of the Truden car doing heavy damaged to both. To add insult to injury the #73J of Gerald Haste was unable to get his car slowed down in time and plowed into both of the disabled cars. Luckily all three drivers were able to walk away from their wrecked cars. Both the #3 of Truden and the #98 of Fisher are possibly total losses. We hope to see them out for the next show in their repaired cars or even possibly new cars. After all of the excitement of the lap 2 incident the #8X of Truden Jr. took the win over #73 Valdes with the #43 of Dan Gross Sr. coming home in 3rd.

The Cruisers ran all 13 of their cars in a single heat and their main event. The heat race was a wild and wooly affair with lots of action all over the track and a great battle for the win. Bobby Sandy in the #14X making his first start of the year took a wild ride on top of the front stretch wall but was able to make it back out for the main event. The heat saw the #4M of youngster Rob Moseley take the win over the Grocery Getter station wagon of #0 Gary Smith and the #80 of Ernie Sandoval. The main event had a great battle between the Brother and Sister duo of #4M Rob Moseley and the #15 of Cheyenna Yates with the rest of the field trying to keep them in sight. At the finish it was the #15 of Yates taking the win over the #4M of Moseley with the #00 of Leo Dennisson taking 3rd. Dennisson is a newcomer coming from Stanley New, Mexico. Dennisson is the only driver we have know to come from Stanley.

The Hornets also ran their 10 cars in a single heat and their main event. These little 4 cyl., front wheel drive cars always put on a good show. The heat race saw Patricia Gallegos in the #06 take the win over #94 Richard Garcia and #58 Frank Payne. The main event saw the #7 that is usually driven by Daysha Boelter but being driven tonight hubby Rick Boelter come from his back row start to fly by the other drivers on the high side of the track to take the win over the #06 of Gallegos with the #17 of Donette Ford coming home in the 3rd spot. Gallegos dominated the early part of the year but has been getting some stiff competition the last couple of weeks.

The Mini-Sprints had 12 cars to run 2 heats and their main event on the ¼ mile track. Heat #1 had the #17 of Jacob Johnston take the win over the #4S of Spenser Hill and the #5 Brianna Franchini. Heat #2 saw the #07 of Patrick Hurtado take the 2win over the #4L being driven tonight by Jordan Mattson with the #22 of Robert Turner. The main event had all 12 cars on hand make the call. The #17 of Johnston took off from his outside front row start to take a big lead but several yellow flags allowed the field to stay close. In the end Johnston took the win over the #07 of Hurtado with the #84X being driven tonight by Todd Mattson coming home 3rd.

Have A Great Day
God Bless Everybody