Motiva Motor Speedway Dirt Track 6-7-2014
Bob & Ray Ingram

On a very warm day the Dirt Track at Motiva Motor Speedway was in excellent shape for some exciting side by side action in four divisions. The car count was down somewhat but the drivers who were on hand put on a great show.

As has been the case all year the X-Mods had the best turnout with 19 cars on hand to do battle. Heat #1 saw the return of J.R. Bonesteel in his #0 car come from the last starting spot to take the win over the #63 of hard charging Justin Weber and the #54D of Shawn Dutcher. There was some excitement in this race as the #00 of J.R.'s dad Steve caught on fire and brought out the only red flag of the night. Heat #2 saw the #29 of Mike O'Neal take the win over the #5X of Rick Boelter who was making his first start of the year at Motiva, chasing O'Neal and Boelter to the checkered flag was the #761 of rookie driver Hayden Foy. O'Neal is the driver who took out a few feet of fencing, some lights and part of the sound system a couple of weeks ago. Good to see O'Neal back and going as fast as ever. Heat #3 had fan favorite #62 Tom Melloy take the win in front of the #34S of Donald Scott with the #28 of Skimmer Leathem taking the 3rd position. Leathem had been running a strong 2nd when he developed mechanical problems that slowed him down and was barely able to limp across the finish line. Leathem was unable to make repairs in time to make the Main Event. With 17 cars taking the green for the Main Event the action was wild and wooly from the get-go. There was a 3 car pile-up on the first lap that took out the #62 of Tom Melloy. As the race continued there were a few more fender benders that eliminated some more cars. In the end only 9 of the original 17 were still on the track. The #0 of J.R. Bonesteel started inside the fourth row and had a race long battle with several drivers, most notably the #63 of Justin Weber who exchanged the lead several times with Bonesteel and the #29 of Mike O'Neal, these 3 finished in that order. All in all a very exciting race.

The 305 Winged Sprints are still working to get more cars out but the 4 that were on hand put on a very good show. The heat race was won by half a straightaway by the #12 of Jerry Mosher with the #77 of Colt Treharn in 2nd and the #52NM of Dave Burns / James Hatch ( not sure who was driving tonight ) taking 3rd. The Main Event had the #77 of Treharn lead the entire way with the #99 of Chuck Jackson driving one of his best races ever staying hot on Treharn's heels. One little slip by Treharn and Jackson would have slipped by for the win. Chasing Treharn and Jackson to the stripe was the #12 of Jerry Mosher.



The Winged Mini-Sprints also had a short field of only 4 cars after having a great turnout of 16 cars a week ago. The heat race had a couple of minor spins as the track was still a bit slick. The #2 of David Gay and the #72 of Mike Barnes had a heated battle all race long with Gay taking the checkered flag in front of Barnes with the #5JR of rookie driver Tyler Grier doing a very good job of staying close to the frontrunners. The Main-Event looked to be a replay of the heat race between Gay and Barnes but the Barnes ride had mechanical problems ending his night. At the stripe it was Gay taking his second win of the night with the #14 of Alex Robinson holding off the 5JR of Grier to take second spot.

After having their biggest field of the year last week with 20 cars the Cruisers came out with 15 for this weeks show. Heat race #1 saw Cheyenna Yates in her #15 take the win over the hard charging #33 of Devon Gates coming from his back row start to make it interesting at the end. Chasing Yates and Gates home in 3rd place was the #79 of newcomer Thomas Travis Bateman. Heat #2 had a great battle for the win with everyone in the hunt. At the end the #80 of Ernie Sandoval took the win in front of the #00 of Leo Dennison and the #58 of Frank Payne. The Main-Event had 14 starters as the #65 of Fransisco Baca was not able to make the call. There was only one yellow flag and lots of action throughout this race with first one then another of the leaders taking the scenic route around the infield tires. At the finish it was the #00 of Dennison taking the hard fought win in front of the #49 of Brandon Caldwell who had taking one of the scenic trips and fought his way back to second with a very good drive. Chasing home Dennison and Caldwell was the #80 of heat race winner Ernie Sandoval.

Once again the Hornets had a very short field of 4 cars. The heat race saw regular winner Justin Morgan #97B take the win over the #99 of Lena Duke with the #29 of Larry Johnson coming in a very close 3rd spot. The Main-Event looked to be the Larry Johnson show as he lead from the drop of the green flag until the middle of the backstretch on the final lap when the #97B of Morgan made his move to take the lead and the win over Johnson with the #99 of Duke taking 3rd position. It surely must be a heart breaker to lead 19 ½ laps and lose the race withing sight of the checkered flag.

Here are the full results of all races. These results are UNOFFICIAL and we apologize for any errors.

X-Mods
Heat #1 #0 J. R. Bonesteel, #63 Justin Weber, #54D Shawn Dutcher, #98 Toy Fisher, #15 Dee Yates, #95 Andrew Fowner, #00 Steve Bonesteel DNF

Heat #2 #29 Mike O'Neal, #5X Rick Boelter, #761 Hayden Foy, #54 Perry Held, #73 Gerald Haste, #19 Patricia Gallegos DNF

Heat #3 #62 Tom Melloy, #34 Donald Scott, #28 Skimmer Leathem, #18 Kevin Hibdon DNF, #1 Mychal Lucero DNF, #60 Tanner Higdon DNF

Main-Event #0 J.R. Bonesteel, #63 Justin Weber, #29 Mike O'Neal, #54D Shawn Dutcher, #761 Hayden Foy, #15 Dee Yates, #98 Toy Fisher, #19 Patricia Gallegos, #95 Andrew Fowner, #73 Gerald Haste DNF, #5X Rick Boelter DNF, #34 Donald Scott DNF, #18 Kevin Hibdon DNF, #00 Steve Bonesteel DNF, #1 Mychal Lucero DNF, #62 Tom Melloy DNF, #28 Skimmer Leathem DNS, #60 Tanner Higdon DNF

305 Winged Sprints
Heat Race #12 Jerry Mosher, #77 Colt Treharn, #52NM Dave Burns / James Hatch, #99 Chuck Jackson

Main-Event #77 Colt Treharn, #99 Chuck Jackson, #12 Jerry Mosher, #52NM Dave Burns / James Hatch

Winged Mini-Sprints
Heat Race #2 David Gay, #72 Mike Barnes, #5JR Tyler Grier, #14 Alex Robinson

Main-Event #2 David Gay, #14 Alex Robinson, #5JR Tyler Grier, #72 Mike Barnes DNF

Cruisers
Heat #1 #15 Cheyenna Yates, #33 Devon Gates, #79 Thomas Travis Bateman, #18 Jim Kosinski, #11 Anthony Cordova, #50 Todd Hendrixson, #65 Fransisco Baca DNF, #49 Brandon Caldwell DNF

Heat #2 #80 Ernie Sandoval, #00 Leo Dennison, #58 Frank Payne, #20 John Morningstar, #76 Madison Conrad, #42 Stephanie Sanchez, #7 Rob Moesley

Main-Event #00 Leo Dennison, #49 Brandon Caldwell, #80 Ernie Sandoval, #7 Rob Moesley, #15 Cheyenna Yates, #58 Frank Payne, #20 John Morningstar, #42 Mike Baca, #50 Todd Hendrixson, #76 Madison Conrad, #33 Devon Gates DNF, #18 Jim Kosinski DNF, #79 Thomas Travis Bateman DNF, #11 Anthony Cordova DNF, #65 Fransisco Baca

Hornets
Heat Race #97B Justin Morgan, #99 Lena Duke, #29 Larry Johnson, #987 Coulter Morgan

Main-Event #97B Justin Morgan, #29 Larry Johnson, #99 Lena Duke, #98Y Coulter Morgan

Next Saturday the NMMRA Non-Winged Sprints will be joined by the A-Mods, Street Stocks, Non-Winged Mini-Sprints, Cruisers and Hornets for a full night of racing on the Dirt Track @ Motiva Motor Speedway.

Have A Great Day
God Bless Everybody