DEVILBISS SWEEPS, POINTS TIGHTEN UP

In the midst of a racing season full of moisture across the country, the weather could not have been more perfect as the Border States Racing Series traveled to Cortez, CO and Fairgrounds Speedway. Many of the top IMCA Modified and Sportmod drivers in the western region were on hand to put on what could arguably be the best two days of racing the series has ever seen. Defending IMCA Modified National Champion and 2015 BSRS Champion, Zane DeVilbiss out of Farmington, NM entered the weekend with four series races and zero wins, finding himself sitting in 3rd place in the standings leading into the two day Colorado swing. Other notables for the modifieds included current national points leader Bryan Schultz from Arizona, local favorite Aaron Spangler, and former western region champion Regan Tafoya to name just a few.

On Friday night, 20 modifieds checked in with Tafoya, DeVilbiss and Allen Bradley victorious in their heat races. The feature was worth the price of admission as there was racing throughout the field. With only one caution early in the race, Schultz showed a packed house in southern Colorado why he is the current national points leader as he took the lead on the bottom of the track and looked to be the man to beat mid way through the race. DeVilbiss then took to the high side of the track and the two battled side by side for nearly twenty laps! The crowd was on their feet as the laps counted down, DeVilbiss gaining on Schultz, each lap, but seemingly running out of time. Lap traffic played a role in this one late in the race allowing DeVilbiss to notch his first series win of the year, lapping all but 6 cars! Schultz took home a solid second place, Tafoya, Spangler and Wyatt Howard rounded out the top 5.

The series wrapped up their Colorado swing on Saturday night with three more heat races that went green-white-checkered. Tafoya, Schultz and Brody Spangler took top honors in their respective heat races. The third heat race might have been the best heat of the weekend in any class as we saw Brody and his father Aaron and Wyatt Howard from Utah battle the entire distance for the win. The top 12 once again redrew for their starting spot in the main with a Spangler family front row, Aaron on the pole and Brody to his outside. Aaron Spangler jumped out front and lead by at least a straightaway for the first 11 laps until the cation flew for a car spun in turn two. The real race was for second between FIVE other cars! Mark Rogers from Farmington, NM joined Brody Spangler, Schultz, DeVilbiss and Tafoya for a race only seen in movies for those opening 11 laps. On the restart Spangler blew into one and two and pushed to the top losing several positions. With lap traffic coming into play with only two laps remaining, the crowd was treated to the best finish of the year, Schultz was hooked up on the bottom and DeVilbiss back on the top, in what seemed to be deja-vu from the first night, this time Tafoya, and the father-son Spangler team were right there with them. It was anyone’s race, and 3 lap cars were between those 5 and a trip to victory lane. Tafoya, who crossed 3rd at the white flag, seemed to have an unbelievable run on the top, while DeVilbiss took to the bottom to stay pace with Schultz. Exiting turn two a lap car slowed the leader causing DeVilbiss to slide up and attempt a pass for the lead. This bunched Schultz, DeVilbiss, Tafoya, Aaron Spangler and a lap car together entering turn 4 for the win! At the line it was 4 wide and DeVilbiss came home with the weekend sweep, Schultz was a close second, Tafoya, Aaron Spangler and Brody Spangler rounded out the top 5.

EDDLEMAN, BALDWIN SPLIT AGAIN

The IMCA Sportmods saw something rarely seen, six heat races, over two nights of racing, and each were won by a Baldwin brother. Jesse, Ricky and B Baldwin won two heats each sweeping the heat races for the weekend.

The Sportmods only had 2 yellows in Friday nights main event and some very close racing. Like the modifieds, the front runners were split between the high grove and the low groove. Jesse Baldwin seemed to control most of the 20 lap feature as he worked his #3 machine on the bottom grove with his brother Ricky close behind. Series points leader and 2014 BSRS runner-up, Jordan Eddleman took to the high side early in the race and never gave it up, with one lap to go the youngster put the #11x in the lead but not by much, down the back stretch, Baldwin and Eddleman were door to door, and out of turn four, it was anybody’s race. As they crossed the line, it was Eddleman in victory lane by about 8 inches! Rounding out the top 5 were Jesse Baldwin, Ricky Baldwin, Robert Gallegos and B Baldwin.

The sportmod division gained a few cars on Saturday night and with more cars came even better racing. This time around the crowd was in for a treat as Jesse Baldwin found himself on the front row and hoping to close the gap between himself and the current points leader Jordan Eddleman. Eddleman had some mechanical issues early in his heat and left him starting in the tail end of a full field of sportmods. As the cars came onto the track, the 11x car was nowhere to be found as the mechanical problems had it had been loaded on the trailer, and Eddleman jumped into the 818 normally driven by Cortez, CO driver Michelle Reed. Reed loaned her car to Eddleman to help salvage any points for the series. When the green flag dropped, Colorado drivers Dakota and Jay Kible, Juanita Faddis and Darrell Cordary gave the enthusiastic crowd a lot to watch as they raced door to door for several laps four wide! Baldwin was on rails and took the DeVilbiss Chassis #3 to victory lane for the third time this season for the BSRS. Bryan Carey was a solid second place and Ricky Baldwin wrapped up another top 3 for the weekend in third. The hard charger for the night was Jordan Eddleman in Michelle Reeds car as he started 17th and came home 4th, just enough to retain a one point lead.

With the points races tightening up, the BSRS will head to one of the widest and fastest tracks in the western region, Sweetwater Speedway in Rock Springs Wyoming July 3-4 for the Salute to Veterans Weekend. Each night will pay $1000 to win and $125 to start for the modifieds and $500 to win and $50 to start for the Sportmods! The BSRS completes its 2015 slate at Desert Thunder Raceway August 21-22 in Price, Utah.

For more information on the Border States Racing Series, please contact Tre' Brewbaker with Brewbaker Promotions at 505-227-5052 or tbrewbaker@hotmail.com