Grady, Frazier, Boelter, Sanchez and Barnes take Dirt Track wins @ Sandia Speedway
Bob & Ray Ingram
8-22-2015

The Dirt Track @ Sandia Speedway finally was able to get two weeks in a row without rain delays or cancellations. The weather was nearly perfect for a great night of action in 5 divisions with a good crowd of enthusiastic fans on hand to enjoy the show.

After having a fairly short field of cars last week the NMMRA Traditional Non-Wing Sprints brought out a very nice field of 18 cars to put on 3 really good heats and an excellent main-event. Heat #1 had the scariest moment of the night as the #21P of Paul Whitehead took a very hard tumble off the #3/4 turn that launched his car high into the air and went side over side and end over end. Thankfully, Paul was able to exit the car and walk away under his own power, but the car was finished for the night. At the checkered it was the #7 of Jesse Baker taking the win in front of the #65 of Rick Johnson with the #48 of Larry Kesterson coming home in 3rd place. Heat #2 had the #4X of Cody Mansfield and the #6 of Robert Marfia start on the front row and jump out to a comfortable lead from the rest of the field with Mansfield holding off Marfia for the win with the #11W of Dillon Tanner and the #38 of Michael Fanelli having a race long duel for the 3rd spot with Tanner holding off Fanelli at the finish. Heat #3 saw the #19 of Randy Smith take off from his pole position start and lead several laps as he held off the very fast #45 of Jason Grady, once Grady got by Smith he stretched out the lead and took the win. Chasing Grady and Smith home was the #7M of Matthew Cardenas. The main-event saw only 16 of the 18 drivers on hand make the call as the #21P of Whitehead obviously was not able to race and the #70 of rookie driver John Bicht also did not start. This race saw battles throughout the field from the leaders all the way back to 16th position with many, many changes all race long. The #4X of Cody Mansfield jumped out from the pole position to take the early lead with the next 6-8 cars fighting each other in their efforts to run down Mansfield. One of the main competitors tracking down Cody was his younger brother Austin who was fighting off the #6 of Marfia, #7 Baker, #38 Fanelli and hard charging #45 Grady who started inside row four. At about the half way point the #4X of Mansfield got too high in turn #1 and slid off the end of the track and ending his chance for the win. With the exit of Cody Mansfield the battle shaped up between the #6 of Robert Marfia, #57 Austin Mansfield and the #45 of Jason Grady. Grady was able to run his car first high then low to cut the fastest laps as he was able to take the lead and hold off the very hard charging cars of Marfia and A. Mansfield who finished in the second and third spots. All in all one of the best races of the year.

The A-Mods again had a good field of 12 true A's who were joined by 4 X-Mods who did a very good job of running with the A's. Heat #1 saw fan favorite #62 Tom Melloy take off from outside the front row and hold off the very fast #3J of Josh Cain to take the win in front of Cain with the #73 of Gerald Haste doing a good job coming home in 3rd spot. Haste has run in A-Mods, X-Mods and Street Stocks this year and had one of his best runs of the year tonight. Heat #2 had a race long battle among the top 3 cars as they ran side by side lap after lap with position changes on every lap that had the fans on their feet cheering loudly. At the checkered it was the #63 of Justin Weber taking the win in front of the #58 of Clint Miller with the #28S of Skimmer Leathem in his X-Mod doing a great job coming home a close 3rd. Heat #3 also had a great battle for the win with the #28C of Cooder Frazier and the #M71 of Deral Meek ran side by side the entire race with first one then the other leading at the flag-stand At the final flag it was the #28C of Frazier holding of the M71 of Meek with the #71 of Randy Combs taking 3rd place. The heat race were nearly caution free with only a single yellow to slow the action, but the main-event was similar to last week as there were 8 cautions periods that kept the field bunched up. The main-event saw the M71 of Deral Meek take the early lead and have a battle with the #28 of Cooder Frazier with the rest of the field fight toward the front. The Meek and Frazier cars made contact with each other on several occasions and had the fans on their feet. The #63 of Justin Weber and the #58 of Clint Miller also came up to join the fray to make for some of the most exciting racing of the season with lots of contact throughout the field. Once the dust had settled the #28 of Frazier held on for a very close win in front of the #63 of Weber with the #00 of X-Mod Steve Bonesteel taking a hard earned 3rd position.

The Street Stock had 9 cars to run 2 heats and their main-event. Heat #1 had the #5X of Rick Boelter take off from his pole position start and pretty much run away from the field except for youngster #74M Rob Moesley staying close enough to keep Boelter honest. At the checkered it was Boelter with the win in front of Moesley with the #76 of Madison Conrad taking 3rd. Heat #2 only had 3 starters as the new entry of #14 Kevin Ward did not make the start. These 3 cars put on quite a show as they were never more that a few car lengths apart the entire race. The #99 of Joel Duke took off to the early lead but was hounded by the #M77 of Cameron Martin and the #143 of Danny Gross Jr. first the M77 of Martin got by Duke then the #143 of Gross got by to do battle with Martin. With the laps winding down Gross was able to take the lead for good and hold off Martin and Duke. The main-event looked like the heat as the #5X of Boelter took off from outside the front row and never looked back as he took a comfortable win in front of the #143 of Gross Jr. The real race here was for 3rd place as the M77 of Cameron Martin and the #74M of Rob Moesley fought bumper to bumper or side by side the entire race with Moesley taking the 3rd spot by a few inches at the checkered flag.

The Cruisers / Hornets had 16 cars to run 2 very good heat races and their main-event. Heat #1 had a yellow flag in the first turn of the first lap then went green the rest of the way. The #75 of Jared Hensley had one of his best nights of the year as he came up from his 3rd row start to take the lead and pull away from the rest of the field. Chasing Hensley was the #26 of Cody Sanchez and the #28 of Gary Smith taking the 2nd and 3rd spots. The new rookies from last week the #26N of Justin Neff and the #29 of Vanessa Frazier who struggled a bit last week both showed a lot of improvement and ran very well. Heat #2 saw two of the 4 cylinder Hornets come out of the second row and take the top two spots, with the #99 of Lena Duke taking the win in front of the #97B of Justin Morgan with the #58 of Frank Payne taking the 3rd position at the flag. The main-event again saw the #75 of Jared Hensley take off to a pretty long lead until the car hiccuped on the back-stretch and dropped down to about 7th or 8th giving the lead over to the #26 of Cody Sanchez. Sanchez had his hands full with the #97B of Justin Morgan who was able to get up alongside Sanchez on a couple of occasions but at the checkered flag is was Sanchez taking the win in front of Morgan with the #75 of Hensley making a nice charge through the field after the mechanical issues had dropped him deep in the field, taking home the final podium position.

The mini-sprints had 9 cars to run their races. Heat #1 saw young rookie Travis Oldfield #38 do a great job of leading every lap and taking the win in front of the #619 of Lalo Saenz with another rookie #84 Katie Seals doing a good job coming home in 3rd place. Heat #2 was a caution free race long battle between all 4 of the starters in the field. The #11K of Tyler James Congelton did a good job of leading the first couple laps but could not hold off the very fast #72 of Mike Barnes the had to do battle with the #1st of Bob Harrington. At the finish it was #72 Barnes followed by #1st Harrington with the #11K of Congelton in the 3rd spot. The main-event was nearly caution free as there was only 1 yellow for a minor spin that did not cause damage to any car. There was a good fight at the front among 4 or 5 of the 9 starters with these drivers swapping spots several times. When the checkered flag flew, the #72 of Barnes took the win in front of Saenz in the #619 with the #22 of Robert Turner taking home the 3rd position.

Here are the full UNOFFICIAL results for all races.

NMMRA Sprints
Heat #1 #7 Jesse Baker, #65 Rick Johnson, #48 Larry Kesterson, #17 Steven Spiak, #4L Kristi Smith, 21P Paul Whitehead DNF

Heat #2 #4X Cody Mansfield, #6 Robert Marfia, #11W Dillon Tanner, #38 Michael Fanelli, #29 Ted Schlote, #55 David Dykes

Heat #3 #45 Jason Grady, #19 Randy Smith, #7M Matthew Cardenas, #57 Austin Mansfield, #2D David Gay, #70LD John Bicht

Main-Event #45 Jason Grady, #6 Robert Marfia, #57 Austin Mansfield, #38 Michael Fanelli, #7 Jesse Baker, #19 Randy Smith, #4X Cody Mansfield, #7M Matthew Cardenas, #11W Dillon Tanner, #17 Steven Spiak, #4L Kristi Smith, #2D David Gay, #55 David Dykes, #29 Ted Schlote, #48 Larry Kesterson DNF, #65 Rick Johnson DNF, #70LD DNS, #21P Paul Whitehead DNS

A-Mods
Heat #1 #62 Tom Melloy, #3J Josh Cain, #73 Gerald Haste, #R7 Ronnie Salas, #29 Mike O'Neal, #17 Melinda Garcia DNF

Heat #2 #63 Justin Weber, #58 Clint Miller, #28S Skimmer Leathem, #20 Tim Lamm, #2 Kenneth Payne

Heat #3 #28C Cooder Frazier, #M71 Deral Meek, #71 Randy Combs, #00 Steve Bonesteel, #95 Andrew Fowner

Main-Event #28C Cooder Frazier, #63 Justin Weber, #00 Steve Bonesteel, #58 Clint Miller, #29 Mike O'Neal, #73 Gerald Haste, #20 Tim Lamm, #95 Andrew Fowner DNF, #R7 Ronnie Salas DNF, #71 Randy Combs DNF, #M71 Deral Meek DNF, #3J Josh Cain DNF, #17 Melinda Garcia DNF, #62 Tom Melloy DNF, #2 Kenneth Payne DNF, #28S Skimmer Leathem DNS

Street Stocks
Heat #1 5X Rick Boelter, #74M Rob Moesley, #76 Madison Conrad, #48 DanGlass, #11X Casey Gossett DNF

Heat #2 #143 Danny Gross Jr., #M77 Cameron Martin, #99 Joel Duke, #14 Kevin Ward DNS

Main-Event #5X Rick Boelter, #143 Danny Gross Jr., #74M Rob Moesley, #M77 Cameron Martin, #99 Joel Duke, #48 Dan Glass, #11X Casey Gossett DNF, #14 Kevin Ward DNF

Cruisers / Hornets
Heat #1 #75 Jared Hensley, #26 Cody Sanchez, #28 Gary Smith, #1 Phil York, #26N Justin Neff, #29 Vanessa Frazier, #02 Ariel Bonesteel DNF, #11 Rhi Rhi Hall DNF

Heat #2 #99 Lena Duke, #97B Justin Morgan, #58 Frank Payne, #43 Art Hurley, #2 Perry Held, #44 Art Hurley III, #98Y Coulter Morgan, #13 Rosemary Gallegos

Main-Event #26 Cody Sanchez, #97B Justin Morgan, #75 Jared Hensley, #43 Art Hurley, #1 Phil York, #29 Vanessa Frazier, #58 Frank Payne, #99 Lena Duke, #44 Art Hurley III, #2 Perry Held DNF, #26N Justin Neff DNF, #28 Gary Smith DNF, #13 Rosemary Gallegos DNF, #98Y Coulter Morgan DNF, #02 Ariel Bonesteel DNS, #11 Rhi Rhi Hall DNS

Mini-Sprints
Heat #1 #38 Travis Oldfield, #619 Lalo Saenz, #84 Katie Seals, #69X T.J. McHugh, #24T Taryn Stelzig DNF

Heat #2 #72 Mike Barnes, #1st Bob Harrington, #11K Tyler James Congelton, #22 Robert Turner

Main-Event #72 Mike Barnes, #619 Lalo Saenz, #22 Robert Turner, #11K Tyler James Congelton, #24T Taryn Stelzig, #38 Travis Oldfield, #84 Katie Seals, #1st Bob Harrington DNF, #69X T.J. McHugh DNS

Have A Great Day
God Bless Everybody