Lovelock Speedway once again has two-days of racing to help celebrate the town’s Frontier Days celebration.

LOVELOCK (July 31) – This small rural Nevada town annually celebrates its founding with Frontier Days. In addition to the parade and festival the Lovelock Speedway also has a two-day show.

And Friday was a day of heat, speed and dust. Both the heat and wind conspired to keep the track crew busy.

After winning the IMCA feature, Cory Sample said, “It was definitely tough, you know it’s our first win for the year. Had to race with Miller and DeVilbiss, a past national champion, so it was kind of tough. On the last restart I kind of had one chance to do it, better hit my marks, make it right and it worked out for us.”

Cory Sample at the awards ceremony after winning the IMCA feature at Lovelock Speeday.

When the 20-car field took the green Jeff Macedo jumped into the lead only to slow a lap later when Alec Childs spun in Turn 4 bringing out a caution.

On the restart Macedo took off but now DeVilbiss was behind him and being chased my Sample, Regan Tafoya and Robert Miller.

About a lap later there were two cautions back to back but when the green waved Sample used a jack rabbit start to take the point.

Before the 20-lap mark the track had pretty well dried out, the wind died down and dust was becoming a problem, at least for those in the pack. Up front Sample was busy holding off DeVilbiss and a determined Robert Miller as they roared around the track.

As the dust got worse the officials decided to cut the race short by 10-laps for safety reasons as they couldn’t even see across the track.

On the final restart, in the dust, Cory Sample (00) leads Robert Miller (59) and Zane DeVilbiss (18).

With three to go there was a final caution that bunched the cars. Once again Sample made a jack rabbit start and Miller used the outside line to drop DeVilbiss to third.

Asked about the dust Sample said, “Not a problem for the top three cars but I’m pretty sure for the guys in the back it was pretty rough. For us by the time we’d make a lap all the dust would be cleared out.”

Then he thanked his father and Eddie Poole for the help they gave him.

Three divisions rounded out the show and all the winners got extra money.

When the Hobby Stock main began Dan Edgington got a huge jump on the field but slowed about a lap later and came to a stop on the backstretch. He had a flat and limped into the pits.

When the green waved again Bob Shank was briefly on point until Scott Tenney took it over. The caution slowed the field and on the restart Tenney led the charge with Tony Taylor and Chris Christiano giving chase.

Edgington did return but later brought out another caution when he spun in Turn 4. Turns out his car also had suspension problems.

On the restart Tenney took off but soon had Christiano right behind him. A few laps later there was contact between the two and Tenney’s car was spun exiting Turn 4.

The officials decided it was rough driving, sent Christiano to the back and put Tenney back in the lead.

Hobby Stock winner Scott Tenney (21T) being pressured and Tony Taylor (11X) in the final laps of their feature race.

At the end Tenney scored the victory followed, or chased actually, by Tony Taylor and Paul Shamlian while Christiano charged back to finish fourth.

Scott Tenney takes the checkered flag after winning the Hobby Stock Feature.

“It was a rough one but we made a few change to the car and it hung in there,” Tenney said later. “I knew Tony was coming but Christiano got a little over anxious and drove through me. But it was fun and a little bumpy.”

When the Dwarf Car main began Steven Winters was on point but soon Lovelock local Rodney Sweet was on his back bumper. However after that Winters began to extend his lead.

Early in the Dwarf Car main, Rodney Sweet (yellow car) chases leader Steven Winters.

A short caution bunched the cars and on the restart Sweet jumped into the lead and was never headed.

He was followed across the finish line by Nick Winters and Christopher Winters, who finished second and third.

Rodney Sweet taking the checkered flag as he wins the Dwarf Car main.

“I got him on the last restart but I don’t think I’d have caught him if there wasn’t a yellow. So that’s what got me up to the front and I changed the driving style after the caution, changed little things around and got up there to the front,” Sweet said later.

Then he thanked T&T Welding and Little Red’s Excavating.

The 360 Sprint Car main belonged to Joe Hood, who was also celebrating his birthday. He just left everyone in his dust.

Joe Hood (56) passes Orry Stevens during the Sprint Car main.

There were a couple of cautions but every time Hood just took off and showed his heels to the pack.

Behind him the battle was for second and Orry Stevens took that position after holding off Bob and Loren Cooney.

Joe Hood takes the checkered in the Sprint Car main. However a failure of a RPM limiting chip resulted in his disqualification.

Under the rules these sprint cars use every motor has to have a chip that limited its RPMs to limit its speed. Unfortunately in the post race inspection it was found that Hood’s chip had failed and, in that case, the car is automatically disqualified.

This changed the order so Orry Stevens was the actual winner followed by Bob and Loren Cooney.

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RESULTS

Lovelock Speedway – Frontier Day Races

• Friday, July 31:

IMCA Modifieds:

Heat #1: 1. Jeff Macedo, 2. Cory Sample, 3. Jesse Gonzalez, 4. Jim Lester, 5. Don Childs, 6. Andy Strait

Heat #2: 1. Robert Miller, 2. Regan Tafoya, 3. Shawn LaRocque, 4. Trevor Gurley, 5. Vincent Evenson

Heat #3: 1. Andy Artz, 2. J.D. JUrad, 3. Steve McKellip, 4. Keith Walsh, 5. John Demore

Heat #4: 1. Wade Taylor, 2. Jeff Olschowka, 3. Zach Cail, 4. Chris Sieweke, 5. Lisa Taylor

Heat #5: 1. Zane DeVilbiss, 2. Alec Childs, 3. John Parmeley, 4. Joel Myers, 5. Jake Aker

B Main (20-Laps): 1. Jesse Gonzalez, 2. Shawn LaRocque, 3. Steve McKellip, 4. Joel Myers, 5. Don Childs, 6. Zach Cail, 7. Andy Strait, 8. Chris Sieweke, 9. Keith Walsh, 10. Jake Aker, 11. Trevor Gurley, 12. Lisa Taylor, 13. John Parmeley*, 14. Vincent Evenson*, 15. John Demore*, 16. Jim Lester

Last Chance Qualifier: 1. Zach Cail, 2. John Parmeley, 3. Chris Sieweke, 4. Andy Strait, 5. Keith Walsh, 6. Jim Lester, 7. Jake Aker, 8. Vincent Evenson, 9. Trevor Gurley, 10. John Demore, 11. Lisa Taylor***

Main (30-Laps): 1. Cory Sample, 2. Robert Miller, 3. Zane DeVilbiss, 4. Randy Artz, 5. John Parmeley, 6. Jeff Olschowka, 7. Steve McKellip, 8. Shawn LaRocque, 9. Jeff Macedo, 10. Joel Myers, 11. Jesse Gonzalez, 12. Andy Strait, 13. Zach Cail, 14. J.D. Jurad, 15. Keith Walsh, 16. Don  Childs*, 17. Chris Sieweke*, 18. Regan Tafory*, 19. Alec Childs*, 20. Wade Taylor*

Hobby Stocks:

Heat #1: 1. Scott Tenney, 2. Chris Christiano, 3. Paul Shamlian, 4. Shirley Reeves, 5. Dan Edgington

Heat #2: 1. Tony Taylor, 2. Michael Barlett, 3. Dennis Buehn, 4. Bob Shank, 5. Raul Domguez

Main (25-Laps): 1. Scott Tenney, 2. Tony Taylor, 3. Paul Shamlian, 4. Chris Christiano, 5. Bob Shank, 6. Dennis Buehn, 7. Shirley Reeves, 8. Michael Bartlett*, 9. Prul Dominguez*, 10. Dan Edgington***

360 Sprints:

Heat #1: 1. Robert Cooney, 2. Ony Stevens, 3. Loren Cooney, 4. Robert Cooney

Heat #2: 1. Bob Cooney, 2. Jeff Macedo, 3. Joe Hood, 4. Keith Mikaelsen

Main (30-Laps): 1.Joe Hood (DQ’s at post race tech), 2. Orry Stevens, 3. Bob Cooney, 4. Loren Cooney, 5. Robert Cooney*, 6. Jeff Macedo**, 7. Howie Garretson**, 8. Keith Mikaelsen ***

Dwarf Cars:

Heat: 1. Rodney Sweet, 2. Christopher Winters, 3. Nick Winters, 4. Gene Winters, 5. Steven Winters

* – Did Not Finish

** – Did Not Start

*** – 2 Yellow DQ