Recap for the Dirt Track @ Sandia Speedway 6-6--2015
Posted by Bob & Ray Ingram on June 7, 2015, 7:11 pm
Wes Wofford Takes Another Sweep @ Sandia Speedway Bob & Ray Ingram 6-6-2015
The Dirt Track @ Sandia Speedway, Albuquerque, New Mexico. With threatening weather in the area and early rain and hail storms there was a good field of cars to put on some great racing for a nearly packed house of fans. At times the racing in all divisions was 2 and 3 wide on a hammer down FAST track. Thanks to O'Reilly Auto Parts as tonights' sponsor.
The 305 Winged Sprints had 9 cars to put on some extremely fast racing on a tacky, smooth track. Young Wes Wofford from Alamogordo brought along a couple of friends from down south to join our local shoes. If the weather would not always look iffy on race day Wofford might get even more drivers to venture up to Sandia Speedway and join the fun. Wofford has been making a habit of taking the wins at Sandia and tonight would be no exception. Heat #1 saw the 77C of Colt Treharn take the win in front of El Paso driver #77X C. J. Hulsey with the #49 of local favorite Chuck Jackson in his #49 coming home in 3rd. Heat #2 saw the #19 of Wofford jump out to the early lead only to loop his car in the #2 turn and restart at the rear of the field. Wofford was able to get by a couple of racers before coming up behind the beautiful Green / Orange #65 of Las Cruces driver Richard Wilbee. Wofford and Wilbee fought side by side for several laps before Wofford made the pass and held on for the win in front of Wilbee with the #21P of Paul Whitehead taking the 3rd spot. The 25 lap main-event saw a great battle among the top 6 drivers with the #19 of Wes Wofford leading every lap to take yet another win at Sandia with the #77X of C. J. Hulsey coming home in 2nd and the #65 of Richard Wilbee taking the last podium position.
The X-Mods had some of the most exciting races of the night with 3 heats and a WILD main-event. Heat #1 saw 3 of the 6 starters have mechanical problems or flat tires to end their race. In the end the #1 of Mychal Lucero took the win in front of the #15 of Dee Yates with the #25 of Derek Deitz taking 3rd. Heat #2 saw all 5 starters running within a few car lengths of each other. The #28 of Skimmer Leathem held off a very hard charging #11X of Clay Gossett with the #29 of Mike O'Neal coming home in 3rd spot. Heat #3 was a family affair as the #0 of J.R.Bonesteel and the #00 of J.R.'s dad Steve Bonesteel fought side by side the entire race with J.R. Bonesteel holding off Dad Steve for the win with the #54 of Shawn Dutcher a very close 3rd. The Dash for Cash had the third and fouth place finishers in the 3 heat races run for $100.00 to win and $50.00 for second place. At the checkered flag it was the #25 of Derek Dietz holding off the only lady driver in this division #19 of Patricia Gallegos a very close 2nd. The main-event was certainly a wild and wooly affair with a couple of yellow flags for very hard hits and a red flag for a really scary crash against the front stretch wall. There were 15 of the original 16 cars on hand to take the green flag as only the #23 of Andy Gensen Jr. who blew his motor in spectacular fashion in his heat race unable to make the call. On the backstretch of the 1st lap as the cars were 3 wide the #19 of Patricia Gallegos got turned sideways in front of most of the field with the #761 of Hayden Foy having no where to go and slamming hard into the #19. Fortunately the safety equipment in these cars did their job and both drivers were able to walk away from the incident. The battle for the win in this race was terrific as the top 10 or 12 cars were side by side and 3 wide lap after lap, keeping the fans on their feet. At about the halfway point the #54 of Shawn Dutcher and the #28 of Skimmer Leathem came together coming out of turn 4 and smacked the front straight wall just short of the flagstand. You always hear the term “ He hit the fence” when a driver actually hits the wall. Well, Mr. Leathem took this term to heart as he did in fact take out a portion of the frontstretch fence in spectacular fashion, coming to rest with 2 wheels on top of the wall and in the fence. Again the safety equipment in these cars did their job as both drivers were able to walk away from this VERY hard crash. Amazingly the #54 of Dutcher was able to continue in the race and actually work his way into second spot and give a serious challenge to the leader J.R. Bonesteel before a flat tire on the white flag lap ended his charge to the front. Once the dust had settled and the action continued the “Ironman” J.R. Bonesteel in his #0 took another win in front of the very fast and hard charging #1 Mychal Lucero with the #15 of Dee Yates coming home in 3rd spot. There are 10 to 12 drivers in this division who are legitimate contenders every week to take a win.
The Street Stocks were down a little on cars as 3 or 4 of the top competitors were missing in action tonight, however this division put on some good racing. Heat #1 was a great race as the top 3 cars fought side by side the entire way. At the checkered flag it was the #M77 of Cameron Martin holding off the #143 of Danny Gross Jr. by about a foot with the #43 of Dan Gross Sr. right on their back bumper. Heat #2 saw the #5X of Rick Boelter take off from his pole position start and run away with this race. Chasing Boelter home was the #74M of Rob Moseley and the #82 of Gerald Haste. The main-event again saw the #5X of Boelter take off from his front row start and take the win. The battle was good as the rest of the field fought for the 2nd spot. In the end it was the M77 of Cameron Martin taking 2nd and the #43 of Dan Gross Sr. taking 3rd. This division will be REALLY exciting when the #1 or Ronnie Bell, the #53 of R.C. Combs and the #15 of Cheyenna Yates are back in action to battle with the very fast 5X of Boelter.
The Cruiser / Hornet class had 15 cars to run 2 heats and a very good main-event. These mostly novice drivers always seem to run some of the closest races of the night. These drivers ran their heat without a caution period. Heat #1 had the #80 of Ernie Sandoval have a race long dual with the #18 of Jim Kosinski without ever making contact with each other. In the end the #80 of Sandoval was able to hold of the #18 of Kosinski with the #5.7 of Derek Sturgeon coming home in the 3rd spot. Heat #2 saw another great battle among the top 4 cars with side by side action, lots of position changes and NO crashes. At the checkerds it was the #16 of Francisco Baca holding off the station wagon of #28 Gary Smith in 2nd and the #79 of Thomas Travis-Bateman coming home in 3rd position. The main-event saw lots of 3 and even 4 wide racing with a fair amount of beating and banging going on throughout the field. Eight of the 14 starters in this race had a real shot and taking the win. After all of the action and the dust had settled the #28 station wagon of Gary Smith took a very close win over the #18 of Jim Kosinski with the #80 of Ernie Sandoval who had come back from an earlier spin finishing in the last podium spot.
The Winged Mini-Sprints ran 2 heats and a main-event. This division has become the Jacob Johnston #17J show as he has won every race he has been in this year. Heat #1 had a good battle among all 4 starters running side by side or nose to tail the entire race. In the end the #72 of Mike Barnes took the win in front of the #5F of Brianna Francini and the #24K of Cody Dons. Heat #2 had the #17J of Jacob Johnston come from inside 2nd row to take the win in front of the #9X of Eric Smith and the #5JR of Tyler Grier. The main-event saw the #17J of Johnston take off from outside the front row and lap the entire field, Johnston isn't just in a different area code he is in a different time zone. Chasing Johnston was the #619 of Lalo Saenz in 2nd and the #5F of Brianna Francini taking 3rd.
Here are the full UNOFFICIAL results, we apologize for any and all errors.
Have A Great Day God Bless Everybody
305 Winged Sprints Heat #1 #77C Colt Treharn, #77X C. J. Hulsey, #49 Chuck Jackson, #40X Jesse Baker, #50X Jerry Higginbotham DNF
Heat #2 #19 Wes Wofford, #65 Richard Wilbee, #21P Paul Whitehead, #12 Jerry Mosher
Main-Event #19 Wes Wofford, #77X C. J. Hulsey, #65 Richard Wilbee, #40X Jesse Baker, #12 Jerry Mosher, #49 Chuck Jackson, #21P Paul Whitehead, #77C Colt Treharn DNF, #50X Jerry Higginbothan DNF
X-Mods Heat #1 #1 Mychal Lucero, #15 Dee Yates, #25 Derek Dietz, #761 Hayden Foy DNF, #7 Steven Bertetto DNF, #23 Andy Gensen Jr. DNF
Heat #2 #28 Skimmer Leathem, #11X Clay Gossett, #29 Mike O'Neal, #19 Patricia Gallegos, #95 Andrew Fowner
Heat #3 #0 J.R. Bonesteel, #00 Steve Bonesteel, #54 Shawn Dutcher, #62 Tom Melloy, #31 Dan Parks
Dash for Cash #25 Derek Dietz, #19 Patricia Gallegos, #62 Tom Melloy, #761 Hayden Foy, #29 Mike O'Neal, #54 Shawn Dutcher DNS
Main-Event #0 J.R. Bonesteel, #1 Mychal Bonesteel #15 Dee Yates, #00 Steve Bonesteel, #29 Mike O'Neal, #62 Tom Melloy, #95 Andrew Fowner, #54 Shawn Dutcher, #25 Derek Dietz, #31 Dan Parks, #28 Skimmer Leathem DNF, #11X Clay Gossett DNF, #7 Steven Bertetto DNF, #19 Patricia Gallegos DNF, #761 Hayden Foy DNF, #23 Andy Gensen Jr. DNS
Street Stocks Heat #1 #M77 Cameron Martin, #143 Danny Gross Jr., #43 Dan Gross Sr., #76 Madison Conrad, #48 Dan Glass
Heat #2 #5X Rick Boelter, #74M Rob Moseley, #82 Gerald Haste, #54 Shawn Duther Jr. DNF
Main-Event #5X Rick Boelter, #M77 Cameron Martin, #43 Dan Gross Sr., #82 Gerald Haste, #48 Dan Glass, #74M Rob Moseley DNF, #76 Madison Conrad DNF, #143 Danny Gross Jr. DNF, #54 Shawn Dutcher DNS
Cruisers / Hornets Heat #1 #80 Ernie Sandovalll #18 Jim Konsinski, #5.7 Derek Sturgeon, #58 Frank Payne, #97B Coulter Morgan, #43 Art Hurley, #78 Anthony Sandoval DNF, #02 Ariel Bonesteel DNF
Heat #2 #16 Francisco Baca, #28 Gary Smith, #79 Tomas Travis-Bateman, #1 Phil York, #44 Art Hurley III, #26 Cody Sanchez, #7J Josh Thorburg
Main-Event #28 Gary Smith, #18 Jim Kosinski, #80 Ernie Sandoval, #43 Art Hurley, #1 Phil York, #58 Frank Payne, #7J Josh Thornburg, #44 Art Hurley III, #97B Coulter Morgan, #26 Cody Sanchez, #02 Ariel Bonesteel, #78 Anthony Sandoval, #79 Thomas Travis-Bateman, #16 Francisco Baca DNF, #5.7 Derek Sturgeon DNF
on June 7, 2015, 7:11 pm