RATTLESNAKE RACEWAY: PRO STOCKS ROCK THE NIGHT

FALLON, NV (Sept. 9) – Rattlesnake Raceway welcomed area racers and the Nevada Pro Stock Association for a night of hard racing. With only two more points races left in the season it was an important night for the regulars.

Since it was two days before 9-11 before the show began there was a flag ceremony commemorating those lost in that attack 16 years ago. Presenting the colors before the national anthem was a color guard from Naval Air Station Fallon.

The Pro Stocks were the stars of the night. They put on a pretty good show that ended with a very narrow victory as well as a shake up in the points picture.

After climbing out of B.J. Pearson’s Nuclear Banana car winner Robert Miller said, “It was definitely an advantage starting on the pole. We’ve got way too tall of a gear in here, the tires are way too big, we just made some adjustments after the heat race and had the luck of the draw starting on the pole. And it looks like the points battle just tightened up a little folks.”

Then he thanked B.J. Pearson, Joe and the fans that come to see them race.

Things began to happen before the green even waved on the 12-car field as Rocky Boice had to drop out with mechanical problems. He would need a push as his car stalled in the pit entrance.

Once the cars formed up they got the green flag and Miller took off followed by Mike McMordie, David Paine and Jay Sears.

The first caution came after James Gonzalez got wide in Turn 4, went up the track and slammed into the wall. After a quick visit to the pits he returned to the fray as the crash only damaged the back body parts on his racer.

Once again Miller took off when racing resumed but now Paine was second with McMordie third and Sears close behind in fourth.

Behind the lead quartet points leader Shawn Natenstedt was carving his way through the pack. Soon he took over fourth dropping Sears to fifth.

The next caution came on lap 9 when Paine spun in Turn 4. He would pit with possible race ending suspension damage.

By now Travis White has moved into second with a charging Natenstedt, who set the fastest lap at 14.960 seconds in third.

The next caution came after another car headed for the pits but stalled. Back on the track Natenstedt’s car had been smoking then stopped on the front straight as something in the rear suspension broke.

He would be towed to the pits and lose several points, which tightened up the race.

When the green waved again only six cars remained on the track and Miller once again showed everyone his heels followed by White and Sears. Next in line was Jeff Olschowka followed by Gonzalez and McMordie.

Then Miller got to not only take a victory lap but collected the winner’s money from Chris Lumsden.

Due to the Super Nationals being held in Boone, Iowa, the IMCA drivers could not earn track points. So they had a qualifying session where Dave Sciaronni turned the fastest lap of 14.896 seconds.

Then for some reason they also ran their regular heat races a bit later.

When the main began 19 Modifieds took the green wit Malen Gonzalez leading the charge with Travis White and Sciaronni not far behind him.

Shortly after that there was a caution due to a car stopped on the back stretch then after racing resumed there was another after Byron Hutchinson’s car lost its drive shaft.

After another restart there was another tangle that brought out another caution. So far the field had only raced five green flag laps and on lap 9 there would be another caution.

By now Gonzalez was tailed by Gene Kay and White as all three got ready for the restart. One the green Kay made his move as did White, who came out of Turn 2 in the lead.

After that the chase was on.

In the final lap White caught a lapper, which allowed Kay to close up. Coming out of the final corner Kay had a run but White reached the checkered flag by less than a half a car length.

Gonzalez ended up third ahead of fourth place Sciaronni while Alec Childs and Royce Goetz too the next two spots.

“It’s been a long time coming, that’s the first real one I can say I actually got,” White said after scoring the victory. “I saw that hole and I went, ‘I’m going for it,’ and it worked out. At the end I knew Gene was coming so I kind of watched the outside and hoped like heck I was going to get it.”

Then he thanked Silver State Freight Brokerage, The Treasure Hut, Robert Miller for all his help, BSV manufacturing and Battle Performance. And of course his family and crew for their support.

When the Hobby Stock main began 13-cars took the green flag and Shayna Neiman led the charge into Turn 1. Behind the leader there was a bunch of pushing and shoving and the first caution came out after contact spun David Ausano.

On the restart Nieman was still I the lead but another caution flew a few laps later as one car getting loose set off a chain reaction that collected three other cars.

After three attempts at restarting the race everyone got going but another caution slowed things down. By now Randy Boyd was on point with Nieman close behind.

Then contact between two cars sent one of them into the wall at the entrance of Turn 3. The officials stopped the race as they rushed to check on the driver’s condition; fortunately he was uninjured although the same can’t be said for his car.

Boyd was still in the lead trailed by Nieman, Ausano and Cody Morris when things got rolling only to have two more cautions slow the pace. In one of them Nieman’s car quit and she had to be pushed to the pits.

In the end the field only completed 17 out of the possible 30-laps due to running out of time as there were so many cautions. Boyd scored the victory followed by Morris, Jake Aker and Crystal Kotney, who used a steady drive to score probably her best finish of the season.

There were only five cars listed in the Street Stock, but Shayna Nieman was unable to start the main. Of the four left all were Hobby Stocks with the exception of Trevor Quell as his car is actually a Street Stock.

In the end Jake Aker won followed by Ronny Goetz, Trevor Quell and Kotney.

When the seven cars in the Mod Mini field took off Tom Vukovich was on point with Rich Evans in hot pursuit. Behind the leaders Stephen Crook was carving his way to the front.

Soon an inside move on the front stretch had Crook in the lead and he left everyone in his dust. Behind him Jesse James and Steve Singley began a many lap duel for fourth.

In the end Crook won the race going away followed by Evans, Vukovich, James and Singley with Suzie Schmitt and Kevin Reuter ending up sixth and seventh.

A three wide charge started the Gen-X main with Josh Evans taking over the lead after an up-the-middle charge. Soon after that Aalana Foreman took the point.

The first of two cautions came after Sienna Burgess wound up on the infield at the exit of Turn 2. Then a few laps later there was another crash bringing out a caution.

Things kept getting pretty scrambled but in the end a steady drive Suzi Schmitt her first ever victory. Sienna Burgess ended up second ahead of Foreman, Shane Boyd and Josh Evans, although an earlier crash ended his night.

Now everyone gets to regroup and prepare for the final points race of the season on Saturday, September 23rd.

REPORTER’S NOTE: There is a photo gallery after the results.

OTHER RACING NEWS:

• Several drivers from the Northern Nevada Kart Club headed over to Simracway at Sonoma Raceway for round 5 of the KPX series.

Jarron Graves was second in the Kid Kart final while Brian Rivera scored a second place in the Master’s final. In the final SR (A) main Jess Peterson won with Cole Nelson second and Zachary Rivera eighth while Bryce Berry was 12th in the Junior 2 main.

The Northern Nevada Kart Club will host its next race on Saturday, September 23rd.

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RESULTS:

Rattelsnake Raceway – Sept. 9

Nevada Pro Stock Association (Round 9):

+Heat #1: 1. Shawn Natenstedt, 2. Jay Sears, 3. Travis White, 4. David Paine, 5. Robert Miller.

DNF: Jeff Olschowka.

+ Heat #2: 1. James Gonzalez, 2. Gordon Russell, 3. Mike McMordie, 4. Rocky Boice.

DNF: Eddie Stidham, Blayne Hill.

+ Main (25-Laps): 1. Robert Miller, 2. Travis White, 3.Jay Sears, 4. Jeff Olschowka, 5. James Gonzalez, 6. Mike McMordie, 7.Gordon Russell, 8. Shawn Natenstedt, 9. Eddie Stidham, 10. David Paine, 11. Blayne Hill.

DNS: Rocky Boice.

Fast Lap: 14.960 Shawn Natenstedt.

IMCA Modifieds:

+ Heat #1: 1. Dave Sciaronni, 2. Travis White, 3. Gene Kay, 4. Jeff Macedo, 5. Any Strait, 6. Bryon Hutchinson, 7. James Riggs.

+ Heat #2: 1. Malen Gonzalez, 2. Amanda Moore, 3. Royce Goetz, 4. Barry Stone, 5. Dan Hatfield, 6. Fred White.

+ Heat #3: 1. Alec Childs, 2. Jim Turner, 3. Mark Skender, 4. Rocky Goetz, 5. Don Childs, 6. Steven Anderson.

+ Main (25-Laps): 1. Travis White, 2. Gene Kay, 3. Malen Gonzalez, 4. Dave Sciaronni, 5. Alec Childs, 6. Royce Goetz, 7. Jim Turner, 8. Andy Strait,  9. Fred  White, 10. Amanda Moore, 11. James Riggs, 12. Barry Stone, 13.      Rocky Goetz, 14. Byron Hutchinson, 15. Jeff Macedo, 16. Mark Skender, 17. Don Childs, 18. Dan Hatfield, 19. Steven Anderson.

Hobby Stocks:

+ Heat #1: 1. Dan Dias, 2. Shayna Nieman, 3. Jimmy Ray Huffmon, 4. Randy Boyd, 5. Christopher Knight, 6. Ronny Goetz.

DNS: Rachel Gatlin.

+ Heat #2: 1. Mikki Beuchat, 2. Cody Morris, 3. Dave Ausano, 4. Chris Neal, 5. Ray Davis, 6. Crystal Kotney, 7.Jake Aker.

+ Main (17-Laps): 1. Randy Boyd, 2. Cody Morris, 3. Jake Aker, 4. Crystal Kotney, 5. Ray Davis, 6. Mikki Beuchat, 7. Dan Dias, 8. Dave Ausano, 9. Ronny Goetz, 10. Rachel Gatlin, 11. Shayna Nieman, 12. Jimmy Ray Huffmon, 13. Christopher Knight.

DNS: Chris Neal.

Street Stocks:

+ Heat: 1. Crystal Kotney, 2. Shayna Robertson, 3. Trevor Quell, 4. Ronny Goetz, 5. Trevor Quell.

+ Main (15-Laps): 1. Jake Aker, 2. Ronny Goetz, 3. Trevor Quell, 4. Crystal      Kotney.

DNS: Shayna Nieman.

Mod Minis:

+ Heat #1: 1. Rich Evans, 2. Steve Singley, 3. Tom Vukovich, 4. Suzie Schmitt.

+ Heat #2: 1.Stephen Crook, 2. Jesse James, 3. Kevin Reuter.

+ Main (25-Laps): 1. Stephen Crook, 2. Rich Evans, 3. Tom Vukovich, 4. Jesse James, 5. Steve Singley, 6. Suzie Schmitt, 7. Kevin Reuter.

Gen-X:

+Heat: 1. Shane Boyd, 2. Josh Evans, 3. Aalana Foreman, 4. Suzi Schmitt, 5. Sienna Burgess.

+ Main (20-Laps): 1. SuziSchmitt, 2. Sienna Burgess, 3. Aalana Foreman, 4. Shane Boyd, 5. Josh Evans.

PHOTO GALLERY: