The Riverside FANatic

By Alan Plummer                

 

The S.T.A.R. (Senior Tour Auto Racers) were on hand July 29, at Riverside Speedway, a PASS sanctioned speedway.  The STAR race is more of an exhibition of older race cars.  One driver of the car was asked if that was all the car had, his reply was, "no barely had it half way on the throttle, but it is fun".

The Angels were the 1^st on the card for the night.  There were a few more out there than the past few weeks, which is great.  The 55 of Traci Nelson started on the pole, with the 36 of Allison Brown outside.  Nelson got the initial jump, but Brown soon overtook the first spot.  By lap 3 the 44 of Jennie Dion had taken the 2^nd spot, and the 7 of Kate Demar moved into 3^rd.  Lap 5 saw a caution for a car going of turn 1.  Didn’t catch who it was, but she kept rolling through the pits and rejoined the field.  Dion got the jump on Brown on the restart.  Last weeks battle of the sexes winner, the 7 of Kate Demar started having problems; the car kept cutting out on her, and finally died on lap 7.  Dion again got the restart and stayed out in front getting the win.  She was followed across the line by Brown and the 11x of Miranda Gervais. Hopefully we will see this many Angels back again next week.

The Daredevil Novice division took to the field next. The 2 of Curtis Randall started on the pole, with the 3 of Kristopher Russell outside his door.  Randall took the early lead, but the 41 of Vanessa Brown took the lead on lap 2.  On a lap 5 restart, Randall again jumped out in front, but Brown again regained the lead bringing the 19 of Walter Bandy, and the 11 of Brett Gervais with her.  On lap 10 for some reason the rear of the car seemed to just come out from underneath Brown, sending her around in turn 2 then facing the wrong way on the backstretch.  Bandy took 1^st on the restart.  On lap 12 the 00 of Ciara McCoy moved into the 2^nd spot and the 73 of Riley Hartshorn moved into 3^rd.  The 22 of Tori Delabruere tried to edge out Hartshorn on the last lap, but couldn’t quite do it.  Bandy crossed the stripe 1^st, with McCoy in 2^nd, and Hartshorn 3^rd.

The 48 of Tyler Barrows started on the pole for the Daredevil Masters division.  Outside was the 8 of Tyler Leighton.  Barrows took the early lead. The 04 of Shawn Swallow and the 01 of Sami Gooden were coming through the field quickly, and were sitting in 3^rd and 4^th when the caution came out.  Barrows was able to hold off the 77 of Brandon Lambert for on lap on the restart, before Lambert took the lead, bringing with him Swallow and Gooden.  On lap 9 the 72 of Cody Hodge took the agricultural route off turn 1 and 2.  He was OK, and rejoined the field.  On the restart, Lambert held on for 2 laps before being passed by Swallow and then Gooden.  Swallow took the checkers followed by Gooden and Lambert.

The STAR drivers had their 15 lap exhibition race next.  Charlie Lima and David Fish won their respective races.

The 16 of Daniel Gooden was on the pole for the Street Sock feature.  Outside Gooden was the 1 of Mike McGee.  McGee takes the early lead, with the 07 of Bill Stebbins Jr. falling in behind him.  On lap 8 the 68 of Derrick O’Donnell sneaks under Stebbins for 2^nd and right behind him the 19 of Jake McDowell moves into the third spot.  On lap 11, O’Donnell and McDowell both go by McGee. On lap later the 76 of Ryan Delabruere moves into 3^rd.  O’Donnell picks up his first career win, followed by McDowell and Delabruere.

The Super Stocks took to the field next.  The 76 of Shawn Hood held the pole with the 10 of Adam Hurd on the outside.  Hood takes the lead as Hurd drops back.  The 74 of Dan Sidney moves into 2^nd on lap 4.  The 04 of Nathan Swallow and Sidney get together bringing out the caution on lap 11.  Hood again takes the restart over the 73 of David Ofsuryk Jr.  On lap 16 the 32 of Jeff Marshall moves into the 1^st position, followed by the 48 of Willie Holbrook.  Lap 23 the 93 of Reggie Theroux passes Hood for 3^rd.  On lap 28 Swallow spins in turn 1, almost everybody misses him, but the 18 of Ron Watson didn’t, Watson smacked in the front pretty good, and called it quits for the night.  Marshall again took the lead, and the win, followed by Holbrook in 2^nd and Theroux in 3^rd.  Following the race there was a heated altercation in the pits, originally between the Swallow and Degreenia teams, but there were a lot more people there that made it hard to tell who was who. 

The Cyclones started the night with rain free skies, but somewhere around lap 40 the skies opened up.  The rain slowed the cars a little, but they were all still racing.  The rain helped a few teams, keeping the tires from blowing.  The 7 of Todd Kenison got the win followed by the 41 of Jeff Ainsworth, and the 72 of Paul Hodge.  Rounding out the top 5 was the 10 of Dana Cota and the 32 of Pete Gilcris.

Next weekend is huge doubleheader, with racing Friday and Saturday night.  On Friday night, Monster Truck Mayhem invades Riverside .  Scheduled to compete in a jumping contest are Eradicator and Backdraft.  Also on the card will be a 100 lap Street Stock Special.  Cars from Thunder Road and White Mountain Motorsports Park are competing with the Riverside Street Stocks in a $500 to win main event. Daredevils, Angels, and spectator drags are also on Friday’s agenda.  Post time is 7:30 pm.  On Saturday the P.A.S.S. Outlaw Late Models make their first ever appearance at Riverside , in a 100 lap main event.  Also on hand will be the P.A.S.S. Modifieds, I love this division, as well as the Super Stocks, Dwarf cars and Cyclones. Post time 6:00 pm. Pictures and archived FANatic articles can be seen at http://racing.apcomptech.com   If you have any questions or comments email me at riversidefanatic@apcomptech.c