Baker and Yates Take Wins @ Sandia Speedway 4-11-2015
Bob & Ray Ingram

Albuquerque, New Mexico. The second week of the dirt track racing season at Sandia Speedway was sponsored by “Car Crafters”. Car Crafters gave away a bunch of “Crash Test” dummy stuffed toys to the munchkins during intermission. There was excellent racing in 5 divisions with a couple of first time winners taking the checkered flag.

The 305 Winged Sprints came out with 6 very fast cars to put on a good show for the fans. With a few more Winged cars being built this class is going to be REALLY good in the next few weeks. The heat race saw the #77 of Colt Treharn jump out to the lead at the git-go and never look back as he took the win in front of the #40X of Jesse Baker in the Butch Box car and the #12 of Jerry Mosher coming home in 3rd place. The main-event had the #52NM of Dave Burns shoot out from outside the front row and lead the first 15 laps with the other drivers trying to find a way around. With only a few laps to go the #40X of Baker made the pass on Burns and held on for the win. Chasing Baker and Burns to the finish was the #49 of Chuck Jackson in his new ride and looking very racy.

The X-Mods brought out a nice field of 17 cars for their first show of the season. Look for this class to grow by several cars by the next race. Heat #1 saw the #0 of J.R. Bonesteel hold off a hard charging Toy Fisher in #98 and #54D Shawn Dutcher. Heat #2 was a wild and wooly affair with false starts, spins, flats and a rollover. The rollover was the #43 of Dan Glass who has been running an older car for several years and always shows up and does a very good job. Although the car was heavily damaged and done for the night Dan was able to walk away from the crash. Once the dust had settled the #23 of Andy Gensen Jr. took the win over the #31 of Dan Parks with the #28 of Skimmer Leathem taking home 3rd place. Heat #3 was pretty tame compared to heat #2. Tom Melloy who suffered some major damage last week while running with the A-Mods was able to get his car repaired and come back today to take the heat race win. Chasing Melloy to the checkered flag was the #15 of Dee Yates and the #21 of Grants driver Tommy Barela. The main-event saw 16 cars start as the #43 of Dan Glass was the only driver unable to make the call. This 20 lapper was a thriller from the drop of the green flag. The early going saw a great battle among the #62 Tom Melloy, #15 Dee Yates, #0 J.R. Bonesteel, #28 Skimmer Leathem, #98 Toy Fisher and a couple of others. The #15 of Dee Yates was able to lead most of the early laps but at one point the #0 of J.R. Bonesteel got by Yates for the lead but Yates was able to do something that has been next to impossible the last couple of years and that was to take the lead back from Bonesteel. Another rarity was that when Bonesteel was trying to take back the lead from Yates he spun but was able to come back and take a very hard earned third at the checkered flag. Splitting the Yates / Bonesteel duo was another Bonesteel as the #00 of Steve Bonesteel drive a very good race to come home in the last podium position.

The Street-Stocks had 11 cars on hand to put on some VERY entertaining races. Heat #1 saw the #143 of Danny Gross Jr. pull away from a very fast field and take the win in front of the #88 of Andrew Fanning in second and the #5X of Rick Boelter in 3rd. Heat #2 had the #99 of Joel Duke take the early lead and hold off the rest of the field until the #53 of youngster R.C. Combs took the lead and the win with Duke taking 2nd and the #54 of Shawn Dutcher Jr. taking 3rd place. The Street-Stock main-event was probably the most unusual and exciting race of the last several years in this class. We could probably write pages about what went on but will try to keep it down to a minimum. There were probably 8 of the 10 starters capable of winning this race and boy did they all want the win. At times there were 2 or more ( sometimes nearly everyone ) not playing nice with each other as there was a lot of beating and banging not only during the green flag runs but also during yellow flag periods. In the end only 3 cars finished the race with the #5X of Rick Boelter taking the win in front of the very hard charging #99 of Joel Duke with the #74M of Rob Moseley coming home in third. There was nearly some excitement after the race as the Boelter car nearly got upside down on the victory lap when his car hit the inside berm and got up on one wheel.

The Cruiser and Hornets have combined this year and put on some great racing. At first it would seem that the 4 cylinder Hornets would be at a distinct disadvantage, but the 3 Hornets have done a more than impressive job. Heat #1 saw last weeks main-event winner Phil York in #1 take the win over the #99 of Lena Duke and the #43 of Art Hurley. Heat #2 saw the little Mustang II of Todd Hendrickson take the win in front of the #75 of Jared Hensley and the #7 of Daysha Boelter. Heat #3 had the grocery getter station wagon of #28 Gary Smith take the win in front of the #97B of Justin Morgan and the #18 of Jim Kosinski. All 17 Cruiser/Hornets on had were able to make the call for the main-event and put on a very good show. The early going saw 7 or 8 cars fighting for the lead. With the laps winding down the race narrowed down to 3 or 4 cars with the #1 of Phil York, #28 Gary Smith, #80 Ernie Sandoval and the #97B of Justin Morgan swapping position multiple times every lap. At the checkered it was the Hornet of #97B Justin Morgan taking the win in front of #1 Phil York and #28 Gary Smith.

The Winged Mini-Sprints had a short field of 7 cars to run a single heat race and a 20 lap main-event. The heat race saw the #72 of Mke Barnes take the win in front of the #24K of Devon Amos and the #619 of Lalo Saenz. Visiting NASCAR K&N East driver Devon Amos drove the #24K of Wim Dons tonight. The main-event got off to a rough start as the #22$ of Ian Stroud and the #24K of Devon Amos were involved in a crash on the first lap that ended both of their nights. The #72 of Mike Barnes took off to a long lead with the #22 of Robert Turner and the #619 of Lalo Saenz fight side by side for the 2nd position. With 2 laps to go Barnes came up behind 2 lapped cars that allowed Turner and Saenz to catch up to his rear bumper. Down the backstretch on the final lap the #619 of Saenz made it 3 wide on the high side and was able to hang on for the victory just inches in front of Barnes and Turner.

Have A Great Day
God Bless Everybody

Here are the full UNOFFICIAL results. We apologize for any errors.

305 Winged Sprints
Heat #1 and only, #77 Colt Treharn, #40X Jesse Baker, #12 Jerry Mosher, #49 Chuck Jackson, #21P Paul Whitehead, #52NM Dave Burns

Main-Event, #40X Jesse Baker, #52NM Dave Burns, #49 Chuck Jackson, #12 Jerry Mosher, #21P Paul Whitehead, #77 Cold Treharn DNF

X-Mods
Heat #1, #0 J.R. Bonesteel, #98 Toy Fisher, #54D Shawn Dutcher, #54 Tim Hooper, #22 Juan Dorcas, #7 Steven Bertetto DNF

Heat #2, #23 Andy Gensen Jr., #31 Dan Parks, #28 Skimmer Leathem, #25 Derek Dietz, #1 Mychal Lucero DNF, #43 Dan Glass DNF

Heat #3, #62 Tom Melloy, #15 Dee Yates, #21 Tommy Barela, #41 Ralph Dutcher DNF, #00 Steve Bonesteel DNF

Main-Event, #15 Dee Yates, #00 Steve Bonesteel, #0 J.R. Bonesteel, #7 Steven Bertetto, #23 Andy Gensen Jr., #62 Tom Melloy, #98 Toy Fisher, #41 Ralph Dutcher, #22 Juan Dorcas, #25 Derek Dietz, #31 Dan Parks, #28 Skimmer Leathem DNF, #54 Tim Hooper DNF, #1 Mychal Lucero DNF, #54D Shawn Dutcher DNF, #21 Tommy Barela DNF, #43 Dan Glass DNS

Street-Stocks
Heat #1, #143 Danny Gross Jr., #88 Andrew Fanning, #5X Rick Boelter, #74M Rob Moseley, #M77 Cameron Martin, #82 Gerald Haste

Heat #2, #53 R.C. Combs, #99 Joel Duke, #54 Shawn Dutcher Jr., #33 Devon Gates, #15 Cheyenna Yates DNF

Main-Event, #5X Rick Boelter, #99 Joel Duke, #74M Rob Moseley, #53 R.C. Combs DNF, #54 Shawn Dutcher Jr. DNF, #M77 Cameron Martin DNF, #33 Devon Gates DNF, #82 Gerald Haste DNF, #143 Danny Gross Jr. DNF, #88 Andrew Fanning DNF, #15 Cheyenna Yates DNS

Cruiser / Hornets
Heat #1, #1 Phil York, #99 Lena Duke, #43 Art Hurley, #26 Cody Sanchez, #52 Ronnie Bell, #80 Ernie Sandoval

Heat #2, #50 Todd Hendrickson, #75 Jared Hensley, #7 Daysha Boelter, #44 Art Hurley III, #16 Francisco Baca, #98Y Coulter Morgan

Heat #3, #28 Gary Smith, #97B Justin Morgan, #18 Jim Kosinski, #58 Frank Payne, #20 John Morningstar

Main-Event, #97B Justin Morgan, #1 Phil York, #28 Gary Smith, #7 Daysha Boelter, #80 Ernie Sandoval, #58 Frank Payne, #99 Lena Duke, #98Y Coulter Morgan, #75 Jared Hensley DNF, #26 Cody Sanchez DNF, #52 Ronnie Bell DNF, #44 Art Hurley III DNF, #50 Todd Hendrickson DNF, #20 John Morningstar DNF, #43 Art Hurley DNF, #18 Jim Kosinski DNF, #16 Francisco Baca DNF

Winged Mini-Sprints
Heat #1 and only, #72 Mike Barnes, #24K Devon Amos, #619 Lalo Saenz, #22 Robert Turner, #69X T.J. McHugh, #22$ Ian Stroud, #11K Tyler James Congelton DNS

Main-Event, #619 Lalo Saenz, #72 Mike Barnes, #22 Robert Turner, #69X T.J. McHugh, #11K Tyler James Congelton, #22$ Ian Stroud DNF, #24K Devon Amos DNF