The first night of the Witten's Warriors Weekend produced plenty of action in all classes. With about 120 cars in the pits racing two B mains, one C main, one Pole Dash and 19 heat races and almost 300 laps of green flag racing.....well, it was a long night.

The IMCA stock car 30 lap feature with 24 cars was to be the "Diamond in the Rough" and it was both. With 6 caution flags in the first 20 laps providing the 'rough' for the event, the last 10 laps shined like a diamond. Kenny Hendershot took the lead on lap 1 and many thought he was about to win yet another feature. One car stayed close to his bumper all night and on lap 19 Jake Masters of Greattings, Iowa put his brightly colored #11 to the outside of Hendershot in turn three and then dived to the low side off turn four to set up the pass going into turn one. By the time this race took place the track was down to everyone running the bottom. They forgot to tell that to Masters as he used the middle of the track to his advantage. Great driving put $1000 in his pocket for the first night of racing this weekend. Kenny Hendershot held on for 2nd as Brandon Hopper of Lubbock, Texas took a very close 3rd. In fourth was Bruce Plumisto of Goodland, Kansas and fifth went to Cody Kays of Hobbs, N.M. Sixth on back were: Cary White of Hobbs, Colby Deming of Hobbs, Butch Reid,jr., Dillon Hill of Cortez, Co., Jeramey Bradley of Aztec, Race Fisher, Richard Trujillo, Travis Southerlin, Traci Jennings, Larry Bradley, Dustin White, Danny Stevenson, Ron Merritt, Michael Farley, Tony Hill, Skyler Heath Steffan Carey, colin Deming, Ron Brewer and Corbie McClearan of Seminole, Texas was DQd prior to the start for being 50 lbs. too light. The last five cars did not finish. Steffan Carey went out on lap 15 after hitting the turn one wall. He was ok. The B and C main winners were: Butch Reid,jr. and Jeramey Bradley. Heat race winners were: Brandon Hopper, Kenny Hendershot, Bruce Plumisto, Tony Hill, Steffan Carey, and Jacob Masters.

The CDM Late Models brough 28 cars to to town with 22 of them making the 30 lap feature. Jeep Berry of Grand Junction, Colo. put his #75B out in front on lap one but had to swap that spot with Jake O'neil of Tucson, Az. a few times before finally maintaining the lead and pocketing $1500. The race was quick with only three cautions for a couple of spins and one crash. Cody Cox of Lakewood, Colo. made heavy contact with the turn one wall and was done for the night. Cox was ok. John Hanson of Brush, Colorado moved up from his 12 starting spot to take 2nd by a car length, Fito Gallardo came up from his 15th spot to capture 3rd. In fourth was Jake O'neil of Tucson, Az. and fifth went to young Mercedes Abercrombie of Demming, N.M. She might be young, she might be small in stature, she is a lady and she can run with the best of them as she started 11th in this feature.
Sixth on back were: Ronnie Warman of San Angelo, Texas, Andy Hockenhull of the four corners, Dakota Berry (Jeep's son) of Grand Junction, Colo., Dean Moore of Colorado, Brad Williams of Tucson, Az., Daniel Shepherd of Greely, Colo., Dr. Dave Deetz of Las Cruces, N.M., John Ortega of Las Cruces, Nita Deetz (the Doc's wife) of Las Cruces, Terry Boushee of Denver, Colo., Jeff Whyman of Albq.,N.M., Corey Cox of Lakewood, Colo., Sean Bray of Tucson, Az. and Brandon Tenski of Farmington, N.M. The last three did not finish. Jeep Berry won the "Pole Dash" thus getting to start up front and he picked up 50 bucks from Park-N-Sell of Farmington in doing so.
The B main had 10 cars running 15 laps with six of these advancing to the main. They were: Sean Bray, Brad Williams, Scott Simfl, Terry Boushee, and Nita Deetz. Four cars didn't make the show and will try again tonight. Heat race winners were: Jake O'neil, Ronnie Warman, Dakota Berry, and Corey Cox.

The IMCA Modified 30 lap feature was also part of the Border State Racing Series that is wrapping up its' tour season at Aztec Speedway. Twenty Five cars took the green flag with John Hanson of Brush, Colo on the pole. Hanson had already finished 2nd in his late model and now was trying to add to the winnings for this weekend in a modified. And he did just that. Hanson jumped to the lead on lap one. His only true challenge came with just a few laps to go from Zane Devilbiss. Devilbiss had been slowly moving up from his 11th starting spot and appeared that he might take the win. He fell short by just .022 of a second. Hanson adds to his bank account for the night with
$1000 for the win but Zane Devilbiss will pocket the BSRS championship and possibly the track championship which will culminate tonight. Zane is also the in first place in the Nation in IMCA Modifieds. Finishing 3rd was his brother, Shane Devilbiss. Fourth went to Nick Nelson in a good run from his 13th starting spot. Fifth was Regan Tafoya. Tafoya is 14 points behind Zane for the track championship. Sixth on back were: Aaron Spangler, Ricky Alvarado, Tyrone Yazzie, Phillip Houston, Danny Bradford, Jason Gallardo, Allen Bradley, Matt Howard, Dereck Rhoden, Austin Huskey, Wayne Soares, Eddie Farley, Matt Ratzlaff, Ed Mangum, Matt Higgins, Tom Melloy, Dave Davis, Ryan Spangler, Jody Cornell, and Darrell Deming. Heat race winners were: Regan Tafoya, Zane Devilbiss, Ricky Alvarado, and John Hanson. Three cars did not finish.

The IMCA sport modified feature had 20 cars taking the green flag for 30 laps. The first three laps had the #26 of Luke McCormick and the #17 of Ricky Baldwin swapping the lead. Then on lap 4, Ricky Baldwin spun going into turn one and collected the McCormick machine which brought out the only yellow of the race. Both drivers had to start in the back...Baldwin made it back to 15th and McCormick to 10th. After the restart, Jessie Baldwin put his black #3 out front and went on to win his 3rd feature in a row at Aztec Speedway. Julie Boettler took 2nd in her quest to become the first woman to win a National championship in IMCA. She is currently 6 points behind the leader. Finishing 3rd was Brian Carey and fourth went to Kevin Faddis. Fifth was Rex Higgins with his #47 machine. Sixth on back were: Robert Gallegos, Darrell Cordary, Joey Klemish, Jordan Eddleman, Luke McCormick, Juanita Faddis, Christina Gallegos, Joe Esquibel, Bill Ferguson, Richard Baldwin, Jason Hockenhull, Robert Cody, Anthony Ludwig, Dakota Kibel, and Glenn Spangler. Three cars did not finish. The heat race winners were: Juanita Faddis, Jessie Baldwin and Richard Baldwin. Boettler is also only 5 points behing the track championship leader Brian Carey.

The hobby stock feature had eleven cars running 12 laps not counting the dozens of yellow flag laps. Kelly Klemm emerged as the winner for her first win with Paul Dorsett 2nd and Freddie Brooks 3rd. In fourth was Halie Brown of Hobbs, N.M. and fifth went to Brooklyn Kibel. Sixth on down was Jessica Radojits, Dave Allison, Luke Klemm, Jordan Hockenhull, Randy Lutz, and Joseph Lopez. Heat race winners were: Paul Dorsett and Jordan Hockenhull.

I apologize for getting this news out late but my old body said sleep first then write.

Quite a night of racing at Aztec Speedway. And now we get to do it again. Come out tonight for part two of the Witten's Warriors Weekend. We race at 7pm.....I'll see you there!!