Rain was in the forecast all day, and it seemed as if a canceled event or possibly poor track conditions was imminent. Neither proved to be true as the weather stayed to the south and the track was the best it has been in many many years. It was a textbook night to open the season at Uranium Capitol Speedway.

As the pits began to fill up, we noticed that there was a really good turnout in the mini sprints! With all the weather in the forecast, and a long tow ahead of them, two drivers from El Paso, TX (Jerrod Warhurst and Jet Carney) and Dave Vann Ess from Phoenix, AZ made the trip to Milan, NM for the season opener and joined 12 other drivers hungry to get the first win of the season at UCS.

The heat races ticked off like clockwork with Lynette Antonio picking up right where she left off taking the win in the caution free Pure Stock Heat. The mini sprints were split in to two heats with VanEss taking heat one convincingly and Jacob Johnston running home with the win in a very tough heat two. The Modified heat might have been the best race of the night as Deral Meek Sr and Max Sadler seemed to jockey for top spot with a different leader every lap! Meek was able to pull off one of the closest and most competitive races of the evening. In the Street Stock division Scotty Morlang led all but one lap as George Basiden waited for just the right time to dive under Morlang to take the top spot and ultimately the pole position in the main. The last two heat races belonged to the X-Mods and they were a tale of two stories. Heat one, a story of the veteran who has turned some heads this season already across the state, Mychal Lucero wheeled his #1 to the top spot after early challenges from Kevin McDonald and Toy Fisher. In the second heat it was all about the rookie, Tanner Higdon of Los Lunas held off a strong charge from defending champion Shorty Rodriquez to get his first heat win in a dirt modified!

The main events in each class began with the pure stocks and unlike the heat this one had a stoppage mid race due to the #54 car of Kimmer Ward getting upside down in turn two. Thankfully Kimmer was unharmed in the incident. Lynette Antonio was able to run away with the win, but the real story was the success of the two hornet drivers, Lena Duke and Chris Stout, who decided to run up a class while the other 4 cylinder cars are being built. Lena and Chris weaved in and out of traffic all night coming home an impressive 2nd and 3rd in the main event! Not too shabby for a couple four bangers. It should be noted that this was Stouts first time in a race car!

In the Mini Sprints it was all Jacob Johnston as he flew by the competition with only one halt in competition when The #5jr Tyler Greer machine got upside down in a wild flip exiting turn two. Greer was also unharmed. Spenser Hill was quick as he won the race long battle for second with VanEss. Only 4 cars finished on the lead lap.

The modifieds showed a great battle once again from top two starters Meek Sr and Sadler. Sadler led most of this one in what seemed to be a runaway after Meek got crossed up in one and two. With no cautions and laps winding down, Meek seemed to cut the lead ever so slightly each lap but there just did not seem to be enough time. Two laps in a row the M71 machine found something nobody else did and cut the half a lap deficit to virtually a car length. Without waiting, Meek dove to the bottom of turn four and muscled his way back to the top spot to lead the final couple laps and go on to get his first dirt modified win and complete the clean sweep! The crowd was going crazy!

The street stock main was never really close as Baisden completed the clean sweep from the pole by a large margin over Scotty Morlang and a hard charging Joel Duke who rounded out the top 3.

The final race of the evening was the X-Mod feature. Mychal Lucero lead the whole race but it got close on the last lap. The battle for second was so good that they actually were cutting into Lucero's lead each lap. Skimmer Leathem and Toy Fisher were putting on a great battle as they swapped lines and positions each lap with Skimmer eventually coming out on top and coming within two car lengths of the leader on the final lap. Kimry Ward was a strong fourth and Hayden Foy took the very nice looking #761 to a fifth place finish.

I would like to thank Lynette Antonio and Bry Bunny for donating Easter baskets to give away last night! Also thanks to Toy Fisher for the T-Shirt we have away as well! We do it all again next Saturday night! For more info check out www.uraniumcapitolspeedway.com or find our “like” page and “group” on facebook!

Official Finishing Order

Pure Stocks
1- Lynette Antonio #03
2- Lena Duke #99
3- Chris Stout #77
4- Anne Martinez #22A
5- Kaylynn Mace #33
6- Tony Mace Jr #22
7- Brandon Caldwell #49
8- Kimmer Ward #54

Mini Sprints
1- Jacob Johnston #17J
2- Spencer Hill #4s
3- Dave Van Ess #6 (Phoenix, AZ)
4- Robert Turner #22
5- Eric Smith #9x
6- Randy Turner #27
7- Tyler Congleton #11k
8- Joshua Huish #5J (Farmington, NM)
9- Patrick Hurtado #Mr07
10- Jet Carney (El Paso, TX)
11- Tyler Greer Jr. #5jr
12- Bradley Huish #5
13- Don Kruse #29
DNS- Jerrad Warhurst #7 (El Paso, TX)

Modifieds
1- Deral Meek Sr #M71
2- Max Sadler #32
3- Shorty Rodriguez #11
4- Gary Guinn #78
DNS- Kevin McDonald #K3

Street Stocks
1- George Baisden #69
2- Scotty Morlang #24
3- Joel Duke #99
4- Danny Gross Jr #143
5- TJ McHugh #99xx
DNS- Keith Ford #96

X-Mod
1- Mychal Lucero #1
2- Skimmer Leathem #28
3- Toy Fisher #98
4- Kimry Ward #55
5- Hayden Foy #761
6- Clinton Purcell #14
7- Shorty Rodriguez #11
8- Bry Bunney #3xx
9- Gary Guinn #78
10- Tanner Higdon #60
DNS- Kevin McDonald #K3