Lovelock (July 8) – Lovelock Speedway hosts its latest points race on a hot day with thunderstorms in the area. But this time Mother Nature smiled on the track, well except for just a bit.
And the racing card had four divisions this night.
Bob Cooney on his way to winning the 360 sprint car main.
After winning the 360 Sprint Car main a somewhat tired Bob Cooney said, “It was long for an old guy. It was starting to get a little rough there but the car was really handling good. The track was holding up pretty good for a while then it kind of broke up.”
Then he thanked the Phillips Brothers, Robert, Jack, Lauren, my wife, all my grandkids, Competition Carburetion, the Powder Man and he added, “the list goes on”.
When the green waved on the 25-lap main Bruce Ferrier was on point but Cooney quickly moved into second and had the leader in his sights. Further back Keith Michaelson moved into third ahead of Robert Cooney.
Then Bob Cooney used an inside move in Turn 1 to take the lead and began to leave everyone in his dust. Both Jeff Macedo and Bruce Ferrier would fall out during the race.
Up front however the race was all Bob Cooney’s as he just keep extending his lead until the passed the checkered. Ray Thompson would take over second while Robert Cooney and Keith Michaelson finished third and fourth.
Next up were the Dwarf Cars and when the green waved on their 25-lap main Dan Geil briefly held the lead until he spun in Turn 1 handing the point to Steve Winters.
Whenever Joe Frock is racing he’s always a threat to win the race and this night was no exception. After quickly moving into second he set his sights on the leader.
The Frock took over the lead as he roared through Turn 2 while Christopher Winters took second ahead of Glen Sciarani.
After several laps, around 15 actually, it began to lightly rain then that increased. By then Frock decided to slow down handing Winters the point.
With their wide tires, power and lightweight a Dwarf car gets too much to handle on a rain slicked track. As a result the officials called a time out to their race and sent them back to pregrid.
Then they called up the Hobby Stocks as the track hadn’t gone away. Right after they began their 15-lap main the rain stopped and after taking the green Danielle Arroway was briefly on point.
At first Alex Kniestedt was second until Scott Tenney past both him and Arroway to take the lead in Turn 4. After that it was all over but the shouting.
Tenney scored the victory after running away from everyone. Kniestedt finished second ahead of Bob Shank, Crystal Kontny and Arroway.
Scott Tenney takes a victory lap after winning the Hobby Stock main.
After taking a victory lap Tenney, who is a Senior Chief in the Navy, said, “A little bumpy out there but it was fun, had to get aggressive to get out and get away. The track is tacky but it’s bumpy. Pretty special tonight as it’s my birthday and all six of my kids are here.”
Then he thanked his fiancee Candice and his kids that all chipped in to get the car ready for the weekend and Buehn Motorsports for giving him some appreciated fuel.
After that the Dwarf Cars once again took to the track so they could run the final 10-laps of their 25-lap main.
On the green Christopher Winters, who got the lead during the first part took off with Joe Frock giving chase. Only a lap or two later Winters pulled to the infield with motor problems.
Now firmly in the lead Frock left everyone in his wake as he stormed to claim the victory. And, like last time, Mother Nature blessed the class with some light sprinkles but it wasn’t enough to mess up the track.
Sciarani did his best but just couldn’t close the gap and had to settle for the runner up spot.
Joe Frock takes a victory lap after winning the Dwarf Cart main.
After the race Frock said, “The track was really good until the rain started and it really, really got slick out there. I just slowed down as the track was kind of dangerous, actually lost the lead and they took us off a few laps later. When we came back on the track was good to go.”
Then he thanked John Randall for his help as well as sponsors Damron Racing Las Vegas, Wild Island, DRI, Nature’s Bakery, Axel Sports and Voss Fabrication.
What the rain really did was to set up the track with lots of grip by the time the IMCA Modifieds ran their 25-lap main event.
When the green waved Glenn Plake took off and left everyone in his wake. Behind him Don Childs, Cory Sample and Chris Judy began their charge toward the front as did Robert Miller and Joel Myers.
Soon Miller and Myers were dueling for third before Miller took the spot and began to run down Sample for second. Once he accomplished that the next target was the fleeing Plake.
As they caught some cars Plake had to go up high while Miller went low an came out of Turn 4 in the lead. This dropped Plake to fourth and moved Myers to second.
Now the chase was on but Myers was unable to close the gap as Sample found him self running solo in third. After a spirited duel Alec Childs got past JD Jurad and Plake to take fourth spot.
Up front there would be no catching Miller as his car was on rails and he with a cushion was able to take his time passing lap traffic.
Behind him Myers wound up second ahead of Sample and Alec Childs while early Plake ended up fifth ahead of Jurad.
Robert Miller takes the checkered flag and wins the IMCA main.
“This BMX Extreme prepared by Jimmy Reeves and company back there in Kansas is amazing,” Miller said after the race. “It all goes out to my brother, R&J Landscaping, for making it possible to buying it. Jimmy having faith in an old guy to put a lot of technology in it, and want to thank my crew that came out, Dan, Steve and everybody else involved.
“Lappers, well you had to watch it, a lot of times the they’re being slow so you need to read their front wheels to see which way they are going. You don’t want to spend too much time as I didn’t know how close they were but on the other hand you don’t want to get impatient. Track was unbelievable considering the week we’ve had, I mean I was to the floor, it was awesome.”
Next race at Lovelock is Saturday, July 22. For further information go to, www.facebook.com/lovelockspeedway.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
- On Tuesday I’ll be on Teresa’s Garage Radio Show. My time is around 2:15 p.m. but the show itself is pretty informative for automotive subjects.
You can either hear it live on the radio or stream the show.
Teresa’s Garage poster.
Melissa Coker was also present and takes some great photographs. If you want to see what she took at the race check out, www.melissasoutonalimb.smugmug.com.
REPORTER’S NOTE: There is a photo gallery after the results.
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RESULTS:
Lovelock Speedway – July 8
• 360 Sprint Cars:
+ Heat Race: 1. Bob Cooney, 2. Jeff Macedo, 3. Ray Thompson, 4. Keith Michaelson, 5. Bruce Ferrier.
DNS: Robbert Cooney.
+ Main (25-Laps) : 1. Bob Cooney, 2. Ray Thompson, 3. Robert Cooney, 4. Keith Michaelson, 5. Bruce Ferrier, 6. Jeff Macedo.
• Dwarf Cars:
+ Heat #1: 1. Glen Sciarani, 2. Steve Winters, 3. Skip Wise, 4. Calvin Ryle.
+ Heat #2: 1. Joe Frock, 2. Roy Peterson, 3. Dan Geil.
DNS: Christopher Winters.
+ Main (25-Laps*): 1. Joe Frock, 2. Glen Sciarani, 3. Roy Peterson, 4. Steve Winters, 5. Christopher Winters, 6. Skip Wise, 7. Dan Geil.
DNS: Calvin Ryle.
* – Due to the rain the main was split run in two parts.
• Hobby Stocks:
+ Heat Race: 1. Alex Kniestedt, 2. Scott Tenney, 3. Bob Shank, 4. Danielle Arroway, 5. Crystal Kontny.
+Main (15-Laps): 1. Scott Tenney, 2. Alex Kniestedt, 3. Bob Shank, 4. Crystal Kontny, 5. Danielle Arroway.
• IMCA Modifieds:
+ Heat #1: 1. Cory Sample,2. Joel Myers, 3. Glenn Plake, 4. Don Childs, 5. Chris Judy.
+ Heat #2: 1. Robert Miller, 2. Alec Childs, 3. JD Jurad,4.Steven Anderson, 5. Brad Schmitt.
+ Main (25-Laps): 1. Robert Miller, 2. Joel Myers, 3. Cory Sample, 4. Alec Childs, 5. Glenn Plake, 6. JD Jurad, 7. Chris Judy, 8. Steven Anderson, 9. Don Childs.
DNS: Brad Schmitt.
PHOTO GALLERY:
