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| BUMPER JONES AND JASON
TANNER WIN LAS CRUCES SPECIALS by Gary Jacob |
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Dirt Modifieds and Wingless Sprint Cars |
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Las Cruces, NM..April 23..After leading every lap of his heat race,
hometown racer Bumper Jones was out front for all 30 laps in the feature as he
scored a $1000 win in the first race of new Barnett Harley Davidson Touring
Series Saturday night at The Speedway of Southern New Mexico. With the Barnett
sanction now covering the states of New Mexico and Arizona and slipping over the
borders into Colorado and Texas, they have linked 13 of their special races into
a touring series and B Jones won the opener with his D&M Performance
Chassis. The series events have a solid payoff behind the winner as feature
runnerup Troy Godwin won $800 with his GRT and 14 year old Johnny Scott was a
$600 third in his D&M. J Scott's twin brother Stormy Scott won $400 for
fourth and Curt Barnett was a $350 fifth. The series opened with a two race
weekend as the teams also raced a daytime show at El Paso Speedway Park on
Sunday. Both events were promoted by the new Southwest Sprint Car Series which
rented both facilities. The wingless sprint car action had a big 36 car turnout
and Albuquerque's Jason Tanner drove his new 410 ci machine to the 30 lap
feature win for a $1500 payday. Tanner is a grandson of Indy 500 legend Al Unser.
Tanner led the final 25 laps after earlier winning the dash and the B Main.
Former World of Outlaws star Johnny Herrera blew a tire racing in second with
just 2 laps to run and another B Main transfer Leighton Crouch from Lubbock TX
was the $900 runnerup. Crouch was wheeling a 360 ci machine and Shawn Sander
passed the local 305 ci contingent with a solid $725 third. Albuquerque's Scott
Box won $625 for fourth and another 305 ci racer John Carney Jr was a $525
fifth. Bob Ream Jr flew in from Phoenix to drive for Charlie Fegan on the
weekend and he ran sixth tonight. The 27 car turnout for the dirt modifieds were divided into four qualifying heats. The lineup for the 30 lap main event was straight up off the heat finishers. B Jones got the pole for the feature with his win in heat 1 over Friday night El Paso $1000 winner Scott Logston. Christy Georges was third in heat 1. S Scott got the other front row starting spot by outdueling brother J Scott in heat 2. Lorne Wofford ran third ahead of MoPar faithful Chris Sims. C Barnett won heat 3 ahead of Tucson AZ invader R C Whitwell and former track champion Terry Tipton, who lives just over the border in Duncan AZ. Godwin earned the fourth starting spot with his win in heat 4 over Sherman Barnett and track prep expert Jimmy Ray. Jim Hardison was a feature scratch and the officials elected to start the other 26 cars in the main event. With windy conditions and the high powered sprint cars polishing off the track surface, the dirt modified feature was a one lap affair on the bottom. Despite the tricky conditions, the only caution in the 30 lap feature came for a Kevin Clark spin and all 26 starters were racing at the checkered flag. B Jones took full advantage of his pole start as he won in wire to wire fashion. Godwin moved from 4th to finish second and J Scott got around S Scott for third. C Barnett was fifth at the checkered flag ahead of Ray, Whitwell's Jet Mod, Logston, Wofford and Tipton. A special hard charger award was given to the driver who improved the most spots and Ray won that honor by coming forward six spots. This was the second 2005 race for the new Southwest Sprint Car Series as they ran the special New Year's Day race in Tucson. Their action on the 3/8 mile clay oval started with time trials and Herrera easily posted quick time with his 15.32 qualifying run. El Paso's Beau Binder was second quick at 15.64 and Sander ran a 15.79 lap. Tanner was fourth quick at 15.83 and Friday night Sertoma Speedway winged 305 sprint car winner Billy Roy Harris fared well without the wing as he timed in fifth at 15.84. The only other cars in the 15's were Crouch with a 15.94 and Don Grable's 305 at 15.96. The top ten was rounded out by J Carney Jr, Box and Robert Gomez. It took a top four to advance through the inverted heat action and the fast timers had trouble getting into transfer slots. Tanner did win the dash over Herrera and Sander. Former New Mexico champion Tom Ball won heat 1 over Colorado's Rich Bubak, Harris and Herrera. Binder won heat 2 over David Burns and the Arizona based duo of Ronnie Clark and Mike Martin. John Carney Sr won heat 3 over Sander, New Mexico champion Jon Taylor and Ream. Las Cruces star Rick Ziehl won heat 4 ahead of Bo Baker, Jerry Coons Jr and J Carney Jr. Tanner failed to transfer with a fifth in this heat, but did work his way into the feature with a B Main win over Crouch, Box and Gomez. Just missing the move up were Jimmy Scott, Grable, J C Powell and James High. The six car inversion for the 30 lapper put Crouch and Harris on the front row ahead of Tanner, Sander, Binder and Herrera. Harris did lead five laps before Tanner took over. Herrera worked his way into second and stayed there until he blew a right rear tire with just 2 laps to run. Sander inherited second, but Crouch drove by him on the final lap to finish second. Sander ran third ahead of Box, J Carney Jr, Ream and 19th starting Clark. Ziehl came from 17th to 8th, Ball moved from 18th to 9th and 10th place finisher Gomez started 20th. The top teams at the end of the Southwest Sprint Car Series will travel to Hawaii to race that state's best. The Hawaii teams are scheduled to be in Tucson for a two day show on Memorial Day weekend at USA Race Park. Summary Dirt Modifieds Wingless Sprint Cars |
