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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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SANTA MARIA GRAND SLAM EVENT (8.8.09) by Norm Bogan |
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For nearly fifty years, the Santa Maria
oval on the Central Coast has been a favorite stop during the hot
summer in the inland valleys. The
warm summer days and cool evenings have provided an excellent racing
surface over the years and usually attracting a good field of
racecars for the evening’s competition. Families plan this journey as a
mini-vacation, taking in the local sites, whether it is wine tasting
with some of the local vintners, sampling some clam chowder at
nearby Pismo Beach or consuming Danish delicacies at Solvang. Tonight’s program featured a field of
thirty-one sprint cars under the VRA/ West Coast 360 cubic inch
rules in a format offering an elevated purse, with the winner
collecting $2000. Joining the Sprints on the agenda were the IMCA Modifieds,
thirty-seven strong and the ever popular local Mini-Stock class. The sprint cars did not qualify, but
drew a pill establishing their position in one of four heat races.
The top four finishers in each heat race would then qualify
for the front eight rows of the “A” Main, with the top six Semi
finishers tagging the field for the feature. Heat race wins went to Johnathon Henry, Greg Alexander, Chris
Wakim and Rick Hendrix. Davey
Pombo captured the Semi. Cody Burke bankrolled a Modified Semi
Main victory and came from the back of the field to overtake early
leader, Brad Pounds and go on to capture the feature. The Grand Slam feature saw the four
heat race victors lined up in the first two rows.
Greg Taylor scratched from the “A” Main with a broken
power steering unit and first alternate Bruce Douglass was added to
the grid. At the start,
Greg Alexander propelled the Stansberry #75 into the lead, moving to
a substantial advantage. Lap
six saw VRA Champ, Kevin Kierce slow on the front straight and was
rear-ended by Jeff Culver, sending both to the sidelines.
Douglass stopped in turn three on Lap 18, possibly some
missed damage from a heat race flip.
At the same time Cory Kruseman retired reportedly due to
engine problems. On Lap
23, Johnathon Henry had just passed Rick Hendrix for second and
going into turn one had the steering break and crashed hard into the
wall. The car was
destroyed, but Henry appeared uninjured.
On each ensuing restart, Alexander would accelerate back into
the lead and was definitely the class of the field this evening.
This was Greg’s sixth ride in the Stansberry sprinter.
Congratulations to Ray Stansberry, who had the ideal setup in the
car tonight. Following Alexander to the checkers
were Danny Faria Jr., Rick Hendrix, Chris Ennis, Chris Wakim and
Tyler Edwards. Kudos to the track prep crew, who gave
us a great track for the big show.
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