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(APRIL 18, 2005 - SANTA MARIA, CA) Second year
sprint car pilot Jimmy Reeves showed his years of experience racing stock cars
and IMCA modifieds paid off in winning his first career Bandit Sprint Car
feature and collecting the $1500 first place cash Santa Maria Speedway Cash!
With car owner Jim "Okie" Phelan helping his grandson at another race
the team came to Santa Maria shorthanded and with an old cast iron headed
modified motor and drove the race of his life to date. "I was kinda hoping
Okie would be here," Reeves declared in his victory circle interview
"It is great to win, but it's a little bittersweet because he wasn't here
to share in it." Chuckling Reeves said, "I guess he should stay away
next week, too." "We've been waiting for something like this all
year&and even last year," he said jubilantly.
Reeves was chased to victory by a hard charging Aaron Cheney of Clovis and Greg
Porte after passing Jason Montgomery of Atascadero for the lead on lap 18 of the
30 lap feature. The race began with Reeves on the pole but Montgomery jumped
right to the lead in the first corner and looked dominant through the first 15
laps before he began to fade as Reeves reeled him in on the very hooked up tacky
clay 1/3 mile oval. "It just wore me out," said an exhausted
Montgomery after settling to 5th place by the finish, as it proved to be a very
physical sprint to the end. The feature was marked by close action throughout
the field.
The only serious break in the action came on lap 22 when Scotts Valley's Evan
Suggs was battling with eventual fourth place driver Davey Pombo and both came
upon the lapped car of Joey Layman. As Layman suddenly changed lanes on the
front straight Pombo's rear tire jumped Suggs front tire causing Suggs to lose
his steering as he was passing on the inside. The helpless Suggs could only hold
on as he crashed hard into the inside retaining wall culminating in a
terrifyingly violent flip. Suggs walked away from his very damaged mount a bit
shaken but not seriously stirred. This ended a great battle for position that
was part of a six-car freight train with Porte and Montgomery.
The heat races were run promptly and without incident in a very fast fashion as
John Burnett speed to the first heat race win followed in order by A.J. Burgin,
Pombo and Suggs. The second heat went to veteran driver Layman as he was chased
by past champion Bobby "Tiger" Elliott, Porte, Montgomery and Dennis
Rodriguez of Camarillo. The third heat was a dazzling affair as the colorful and
exciting Rusty Carlile of Bakersfield flew to the finish line over the
ever-charging Cheney. With Layton's Jimmy Reeves hot on the trail of Cheney and
Carlile local aces Thad Bennett of Santa Maria and rookie Mike Larson of Nipomo
tailed the lead trio.
The Bandit Series opened Santa Maria Speedways 2005 racing season and although
the tracks opening had been postponed by rain, the 2,500+ crowd was treated to
great action on the marvelously prepared re-clayed track. It was smooth, sticky
and fast as Kerman's Davey Pombo blistered a fast time of 13.630 to pace the
field. As Reeves said from his winners interview referring to the track
conditions "Starting up front is very important, which means that you've
got to run well from the start of the day's event". This proved to be a key
to success with the race formula but should not down play a near flawless job of
driving with an underpowered car on a very fast racetrack. Jimmy Reeves showed
his talent and ability on this night. He is a real player for title contention
as he moved into a first place tie with defending champion Davey Pombo for the
series points lead. And the drivers that chased Reeves to the line proved to all
that they are a talented and very fast group dicing in clusters that kept the
fans riveted all race long. With only one yellow for Mike Larson's bump on the
front straight wall that left debris on the track to go with the Suggs
high-speed incident, the crowd was left abuzz with the show they had witnessed.
This is surely indicative of the great racing to come as the series heads back
to Kings Speedway in Hanford on the 23rd to make up a rain postponed date from
March and then return to SMS on the 30th of April. The Golden State Challenge is
up next for Santa Maria Speedway.
The many improvements at the forty-one year young track helped the fans as well
as the race teams enjoy the evening that took the final checkered flag at 9:55
PM for a very well run program. Local celebrity news anchor for Fox 11, the
beautiful Katie Marzullo presented trophies to the feature winner as well as the
"Best Appearing" award to the beautiful Porte Trucking 3G team of San
Luis Obispo's Greg Porte. Beautiful coastal weather was the order of the day for
a great time to be had by all and it was a fantastic kick off to the famed
1/3-mile ovals resurrection season.
Results
Fast Time: Davey Pombo II, 13.630
Heat 1: John Burnett, A.J. Burgin, Davey Pombo, Evan Suggs, Patrick Frisco, Jeff
Culver
Heat 2: Joey Layman, jr., Bobby Elliott, Greg Porte, Jason Montgomery, Dennis
Rodriguez
Heat 3: Rusty Carlile, Aaron Cheney, Jimmy Reeves, Thad Bennett, Mike Larson,
Mike Baker.
Feature: 1.Reeves,0 2.Cheney,69 3.Porte,3G 4.Pombo,3 5.Montgomery,3K
6.Burnett,68 7.Burgin,2 8.Carlile,51 9.Elliott,6A 10.Bennett,77 11.Layman,11
12.Culver,71x 13.Suggs,33 14.Rodriguez,20 15. Larson,7 16.Frisco,10 17. Baker,29
(DNS-rear end)
I can be reached for questions,comments or concern at
(805)-354-2069
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