Schank Jr, DeCarlo, Brady, & Mosier Make Way to Triumphs
~~PETALUMA, CA, May 31— Beautiful weather, a packed pit area, and a hooked up track greeted the dedicated Petaluma Speedway Patrons after a Memorial Day Weekend dark week. Colton Slack in his awesome liveried #17 out-paced the 24-car Joe Hunt Wingless Sprints vs Pit Stop USA Spec Sprint field with a deft 14.672. The three heat race format saw Tommy Laliberte, visiting Scott Hall, and Trevor Schmid notch the 8-lap preliminaries. Hall also captured the 6-lap trophy dash that sets the line-up for the first three rows of the feature. The scheduled 25-lap finale saw Hall guide the Campanile #77 to lead from the pole. Joe Stornetta’s up and down season continued as back straightaway contact eliminated him on lap three. Hall’s night came to a scary end with a grinding front straightaway flip as he and Schmid vied for the lead. On the heels of Hall’s flip came a dual front straightaway red for Bobby Nichols and Terry Kirby. Back to green saw veteran Terry Schank Jr. pass three cars and jump to second from eighth starting behind the leader Schmid. Dicing was the order of the mid-race menu as Laliberte, Zack Lynskey, and Klint Simpson passed and re-passed each other. Laliberte inched past Schank for second on lap 10, only to be displaced by Lynskey two laps later. All the while, Schmid, having an outstanding year in his underfunded, self-owned team, guided the field. With one to go Lynskey made a last gasp high side maneuver that saw contact. With the green and white being displayed Schank made a drifting, banzai low side pass of Schmid entering turn one that proved to be the winning move. Rounding out the top five were Schmid, Laliberte, Simpson, and steady Jason McIntosh.
Round three of the seven-event Nor-Cal Challenge IMCA Modified Tour saw another nice 24-car field sign in with Carr Racing Chassis Modified Division and Petaluma locals capturing the three heat races. Defending champion Oreste Gonnella, multi-time champ Michael Paul Jr., and point leader Nick DeCarlo grabbed the undercard preliminaries. Veteran Randy McDaniel led from the outset over Brian Cass and Chris Sieweke. A couple of multi-car spins kept the action tight as Ryan McDaniel and DeCarlo inched their way into the top three from third row starting berths. DeCarlo grabbed the lead from Randy McDaniel on lap 11 & 12 only to see caution negate the pass both times. Finally on the 14th circuit DeCarlo, showing his mettle, made a beautiful outside pass of Randy McDaniel for the top spot. The final clean and green stretch to the checkers saw son Ryan dicing heavily on his way up to second with Cass, father Ryan, and Antioch Speedway Champion Troy Foulger. At the Scott Erwin twin checkers it was DeCarlo with his third Petaluma win in a row to start the 2014 season. Second through fifth were: Cass, Ryan McDaniel, Randy McDaniel, and Troy Foulger.
The Lumberjack Restaurant Super Stocks saw Mat While and Anthony Matthias top the heat race competition. In their 25-lap affair it was a topsy-turvy event from the outset with customary up front racers in the rear chasing down the next generation up-&-comers. Sophomore driver Trevor Brady led from the outset with Larry Drew auguring through the field to second by lap five. Back-to-back spins by Roger Miller and Gary Adams saw Brent Blackwood advance to third on lap 8 as Drew took the lead from Brady. On a mission was Matt While making nice passes until the lead duo of he and Drew collided on lap 17. Back up front was Brady over Shawn McCoy by lap 19. McCoy spun on the 21st lap as Steve Studebaker finally entered the fray. On the restart Studebaker did a half-spin and collected Blackwood. Staying calm though the rambunctiousness was Brady as he expertly guided his #12 mount to victory lane for an exciting first ever win over Adams, While, Blackwood, and Studebaker.
The Larsen Racing Products Dwarf Cars continued their great support with a nice 20-car field. Point leader Dave Mosier, Jack Haverty, and defending track champion Travis Dutra took top honors in the three preliminary heats. The 20-lap feature saw Haverty with the initial lead over Danny Wagner. Mosier, on a rail, grabbed the top spot on the second circuit, slipstreamed Dutra to second. Scooter Gomes from sixth starting entered the top three displacing Wagner on lap 6. Mosier stretched to a big lead in the middle portion of the event as Steady Eddie Sans III pushed the go button. Pat Urdahl and Carol Mendenhall played tag for a couple laps as the full field had nothing for the victor Mosier. With good points finishes were: Gomes 2nd, over Sans III, Tom Brown, and Haverty.
Petaluma Speedway returns to action Saturday Night, June 7th Petaluma Auto Parts- NAPA Night featuring the: Pit Stop USA Winged 360’s and Spec Sprints, Carr Racing Chassis IMCA Modifieds, Lumberjack Restaurant Super Stocks, and the Jakes Performance Hobbies Mini Stocks. For more information please go to www.petaluma-speedway.com.
