It was a good night for race fans at Motiva. The track was smooth and fast, with a good showing of cars in all divisions.
The Cruisers won the car count wars with 20. They had three heats with #15 of Cheyenna Yates winning heat one. She drove her Cruiser from last year since her Street Stock was out with a sick engine. Finishing second in heat one was #80 of Ernie Sandoval who was looking especially good this night. Last on the podium was #00 of Leo Dennison.
The second Cruiser heat saw the young hot dog of Devon Gates #33 take the win with #28 of Cooter Fraizer who was doing double duty tonight in Cruisers and A Mods. Third was #20 of John Morningstar.
The third heat has #7 of Rick Boelter lead the way with Brandon Cauldwell #49 hot on his heals all the way, the #96 of Jake Brenholdt rounded out the leaders in this heat.
The Cruiser main was fast with Cheyenna Yates #15 taking an early lead with Boelter #7 hot after her, but Cheyenna appeared to have some mechanical issue and pulled off the track. #00 of Leo Dennison was fast but spun and hit a infield tire, then a few laps later caught the front wall, but he fought on to finish third. #7 of Rick Boelter was not to be denied and he won with #96 Jake Brenholdt in third.
For the Street Stocks there were eight car and all were fast on the track. Their heat had points leader R C Combs in the lead with #73 Rick Valdes in second. Returning after a few months off was Mario Truden Sr in his orange #3 taking third place, and he was fast. Word is he is going to take a main from R C who seems to have a lock on that race.
Since Cheyenna's Street Stock out, she drove her Cruiser and did a very respectable job against the more powerful engines, in fact she finished third. Keeping R C honest was #99 of Joel Duke who looked faster than he has been, looks like he will be a force to recon with, he ran right behind R C the entire race.
The Mini Sprints fielded 15 cars running in two heats. Heat one saw #07 of Patrick Hurtado take the win with #72 Mike Barns and #2 of David Gay following.
The second Mini Sprint heat had (and I'm sure of this) #9x of Eric Smith winning and #22 of Robert Turner second. Both of the Turner cars #22 and #27 were very fast tonight.
The Mini Sprint main saw a repeat of #07 of Patrick Hurtado winning and #72 of Barns second. Third was #9x Eric Smith.
The A Mods had a strong field of 12 cars with 10 of them true A's and two X Mods joining. They put on two very fast heats.
Heat one saw #58 Clint Miller take the win with #45x of Todd Budlong right on his heals. Justin Weber #63 ran a strong third.
The second heat saw #3j of Josh Cain jump out to an early lead only to see him have mechanical problems and pull out, that opened the door for #28 of Cooter Fraiser for his first win after a long absence. It was nice to see the beautiful #75 of Bob Harter back at Motiva, and from his speed it looks like he has not forgotten how to work this track. Finishing third in the second heat was also a returning driver Donald Clinger #05. He looked good, especially since he didnt get his engine in until Friday afternoon. Thanks to Budlong Motorsport for getting it tuned to run fast. Good Job Donald.
The A Mod main was again a great show for the fans. Clint Miller #58 spun in turn one and collected #14 of returning driver Jesse Lynch and #62 of Tom Melloy and this all on the first lap. After the restart we saw some four, yes I said four wide racing. In turn three we say #71 Derel Meek, #45X Todd Budlong, #58 Clint Miller and #28 of Cooter Fraizer trying for the lead, this caused #71 of Meek to catch the front straight wall and end his night. Cain was back after mechanicals in the heat to win, but the story was the fight for second between #45 of Budlong and #28 of Fraizer, Budlong had it in the bag until a mid turn 3-4 high slide on the final lap gave Cooter Fraizer the opening he had been looking for to take second place. Great show.
Now for the Sprint Car main, NMMRA had a good field with 16 competitors. They put on three heats. In heat one it was Robert Marfia driving #6 of Michael Marfia, seem his regular ride the Russell Gosset car #24 was having problems. Robert won the heat in great style, he is always fun to watch. The 4X of Cody Mansfield placed second and last years Sprint champ Jesse Baker #7 in third.
Heat two saw the other Mansfield, Austin #57 (there is some discussion who is the better of the Mansfield boys) taking the win with a hard charging #19r of Ronnie Smith right behind him and the Farmington Flash #45 Jason Grady right in the fight.
Heat three was a barn burner with #11w of Dillon Tanner in the Truman West ride seeing a roll over. (the West crew threw everything they had into the car and it was able to return for the main). In the winners spot was #26 of Randy Smith.
The NMMRA main was another slug fest with the Mansfield boys and Jason Grady #45. First it was the Mansfields #4x and #57 in first and second, then Grady passed them both to take the lead only to do his own high slide and allow the 4x of Cody Mansfield to get by. After that it was Grady the meat in a Mansfield sandwich. Cody took the win with Grady and Austin Mansfild getting second and third.
Great crowd, Great racers, and a Great track, what more could you ask for. Best entertainment value in Albuquerque. Come out and see for yourself.
Next week will be the Wing 305 Sprints, X Mods, Cruisers and Hornets. The Street Stocks have an off week.
God Bless Bob and Ray Ingram
Re: Motiva Recap 5/31/14 Addendum
Posted by Bob & Ray Ingram on June 1, 2014, 2:20 pm, in reply to "Motiva Recap 5/31/14"
There was so much action going on last night at Motiva that I forgot some interesting stories.
First was Bobby Seals. Bobby has been the crew leader for the Russell Gosset team sprint #24. Well they were having power steering problems and did not make the heat. Their driver Robert Marfia drove his sons #6 to a win in his heat.
Bobby took the #24 out for a shake down in the Sprint main. He showed that he hasn't forgotten how a sprinter drives. He had it high, low, fast, slow and did just about everything a sprint car can do. It was fun to see this old timer showing us how its done.
Also in the sprints was the rookie Chris Perea in his #8 did a good job of keeping his nose clean in the heat and showing improvement. Sadly the main event was not as good to him, with a mild roll over. Chris, if you drive a sprinter you gotta get on your head at least once, or more just ask Robert Marfia.
In the A Mods, the four wide thingie I talked about when #71 of Derel Meek caught the ft wall was actually in the heat not the main. It was spectacular either way.
In the heat race I was noticing #45 of Todd Budlong entering turns by just letting off for a second and then going full throttle even before mid turn. It was fun to watch his left rear wheel move forward 6" each time. It takes a chassis engineer to figure these A Mods out.
In the Street Stocks I mentioned the return of #3 Mario Truden Sr. What I failed to tell you all is he did a slow roll over in turn one. He was going very fast trying to real in R C Combs and got high in the cushion and did not let off the gas and dropped the rear over the end of the track and put his orange #3 on it head. Thankfully no injury and it looks like the car will be able to return.
Here are the full results for all divisions. These results are UNOFFICIAL and we apologize for all errors.
NMMRA Traditional Non-Wing Sprints
Heat #1 #6 Robert Marfia, #4X Cody Mansfield, #7 Jesse Baker, #38R Michael Fanelli, #62 Bill Mitchell DNF
Heat #2 #57 Austin Mansfield, #19 Ronnie Smith, #45 Jason Grady, #55 David Dykes, #8 Chris Perea, #7M Matthew Cardenas
Heat #3 #26 Randy Smith, #17 Steven Spiak,#52NM Steve Nix DNF, #11W Dillon Tanner DNF, #41 James Hatch DNF
Main Event #4X Cody Mansfield, #45 Jason Grady, #57 Austin Mansfield, #19 Ronnie Smith, #26 Randy Smith, #52NM Steve Nix, #11W Dillon Tanner, #62 Bill Mitchell, #41 James Hatch, #4L Kristi Smith
Heat #2 #28 Cooter Frazier, #75 Bob Harter, #05 Donald Clinger, #95 Andrew Fowner, #14 Jesse Lynch, #3J Josh Cain DNF
Main-Event #3J Josh Cain, #28 Cooter Frazier, #45X Todd Budlong, #58 Clint Miller, #62 Tom Melloy, #63 Justin Weber, #29 Mike O'Neal, #95 Andrew Fowner, #14 Jesse Lynch
Street Stock
Heat #1 #53 R.C. Combs, #73 Ric Valdes, #3 Mario Truden Sr., #99 Joel Duke, #15 Cheyenna Yates, #48 John Glass, #54 Shawn Dutcher Jr. DNF, #11 Casey Gossett DNF
Main-Event #53 R.C. Combs, #99 Joel Duke, #15 Cheyenna Yates, #54 Shawn Dutcher Jr., #48 John Glass, #11 Casey Gossett DNF, #73 Ric Valdes DNF, #3 Mario Truden Sr. DNF
Cruisers
Heat #1 #15 Cheyenna Yates, #80 Ernie Sandoval, #00 Leo Dennison, #76 Madison Conrad, #43 Art Hurley, #42 Mike Baca, #50 Todd Hendrixson
Heat #2 #33 Devon Gates, #28 Coooter Frazier, #20 John Morningstar, #1 Phil York, #57 Steven Ashley, #11 Anthony Cordova DNF
Heat #3 #7 Rick Boelter, #49 Brandon Caldwell, #96 Jake Brenholdt, #79 Thomas Travis-Bateman, #58 Frank Payne, #18 John Kosinski DNS
Main-Event #7 Rick Boelter, #96 Jake Brenholdt, #00 Leo Dennison, #80 Ernie Sandoval, #58 Frank Payne, #76 Madison Conrad, #57 Steven Ashley, several DNF's
Mini-Sprints
Heat #1 #07 Patrick Hurtado, #72 Mike Barnes, #2 David Gay, #11X Tyler James Congleton, #38 Duane Oldfield, #5jr. Tyler Grier, #84 Anne Gatewod, #4L Todd Matson DNS
Heat #2 #9X Eric Smith, #22 Robert Turner, #14 Alex Robinson, #69X T.J. McHugh, #16 Kalee Justus, #27 Randy Turner
Main-Event #07 Patrick Hurtado, #72 Mike Barnes, #9X Eric Smith, #14 Alex Robinson, #2 David Gay, #16 Kalee Justus, #27 Randy Turner, lost track of the balance of cars ( Sorry About That ).
on June 1, 2014, 10:05 am