The Riverside FANatic

By Alan Plummer                

 

The rain tried to stop the racing on Saturday at the P.A.S.S. sanctioned Riverside Speedway, but persistence paid off, the track was dried and the races finished. 

First out of the gate were the Street Stocks.  The 16 of Daniel Gooden started on the pole with the 1 of Mike McGee outside.  Gooden takes the lead as McGee goes high and gets shuffled back.  The 07 of Bill Stebbins Jr. then took 1^st, only to be passed on lap 5 by the 68 of Derrick O’Donnell.  On lap 8 the 28 of Dustin Jackson moves into 3^rd then 2^nd.  On lap 13 the 76 of Ryan Delabruere moves into the 3^rd spot.  As the top 3 get to lap 22 they start bunching up because of lap traffic.  Delabruere makes a valiant effort on the inside of Jackson , but can’t get it done.  O’Donnell takes the checkers followed by Jackson and Delabruere.

The Super Stocks were up next.  The 10 of Adam Hurd started on the pole with the 76 of Shawn Hood outside.  Hurd took the initial lead, but Hood took it away.  The 48 of Willie Holbrook quickly moved into the 2^nd spot. On lap 8, the 32 of Jeff Marshall moves into 2^nd, just after Holbrook took the lead.  On lap 15 the 18 of Ron Watson gets loose in turn one and slides through the infield, just as it looks like he has it under control, the car spins again and hits the pavement putting the car up on the drivers side.  As they push the car back over a fire starts under the hood.  Watson tried to get the car back out, but after they changed 2 tires they realized the axle was bent.  Holbrook takes the restart.  On lap 17 the 74 of Dan Sydney goes up in smoke in turn 3.  Holbrook again takes the restart and the win. Marshall takes 2^nd and the 1 of Jeremy Lacoss comes in 3^rd.

The Daredevil novice division took to the field next.  The 2 of Curtis Randall was on the pole with the 3x of Jamie Kenison Jr. outside.  Randall took the lead.  The 7 of Dayna Randall starts to go around, but saves it, but the car won’t refire.  The 00 of Ciara McCoy takes the restart, as the 8 of Tyler Leighton moves to 2^nd and the 41 of Vanessa Brown moves into 3^rd.  On lap 7 the 22 of Tori Delabruere takes 3^rd, then moves into 2^nd. Delabruere charges towards the front, and with 2 laps to go takes the top spot, and the win.  McCoy comes across 2^nd and Leighton 3^rd. 

In the Daredevil masters division, the 5 of Jesse Switser started on the pole with the 93 of Alex Theroux outside.  Switser takes the lead.  The 01 of Sami Gooden wastes no time and takes the 3^rd spot on lap 2 and the 2^nd spot on lap 5, taking the lead on lap 6, bringing the 04 of Shawn Swallow with him.  On lap 11 the 72 of Cody Hodge takes the 3^rd spot.  Gooden and Swallow go 5 laps side by side, but with lap traffic approaching Swallow falls back to single file behind Gooden.  Gooden take the win, followed by Swallow and Hodge. 

Having 3 weeks off, the Late Models seemed to have a hard time getting back into the groove.  The 42 of Brian Greer started on the pole, with the 90 of Floyd Bennett Jr. outside.  Bennett took the lead.  On lap 5 the 10 of Bryan Mason moves into the 3^rd spot.  On lap 8, I’m not exactly sure what happened, but at least 5 cars were involved in a frontstretch mess.  Coming out of it the worst was Bryan Mason.  His car had to be hauled back to the pits on a flatbed.  The 11 of Brian Gosselin and the 04 of Jamie Swallow Jr. both blew radiators in the mess.  Bennett takes the lead on the restart.  On lap 11 the 01 of Sam Gooden goes around.  On the restart the 4 of Ken Dufour either missed a shift, or checked up, causing Gooden to plow into the back of the 89 of Owen Wimble.  Gooden went back to the pits angry, and as a result of his unsportsmanlike actions, got himself suspended for the rest of the season.  Bennett again takes the restart.  On lap 20 the 18 of Brooks Clark goes outside of Bennett for the lead.  Then Greer sneaks under Bennett for 2^nd.  On lap 31 Wimble takes 3^rd.  At the line it was Greer, in his 1^st Late Model win in his 25 year career, followed by Clark and Wimble.

Closing out the night were the Cyclone’s.  The 72 of Paul Hodge started on the pole and stayed there the entire night lapping the whole field.  The rain slowed them up for a while, but it was a great race.  Rounding out the top 5 were the 41 of Jeff Ainsworth, the 36 of Nate Biggart, the 95 of Paul Schartner, and the 73 of Roger Hartshorn.

Next Saturday, Riverside will be honoring all military personnel, anyone in a military uniform will be admitted for free of charge.  On the card will be the Late Models, Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Daredevils and Angels. Post time 6 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.com