Rain again was a factor for the Mickey Thompson Stadium Off-Road Racing series. Round one held a month earlier in Anaheim was
\na real “Mud Bowl”. It was late afternoon before the rain paused
\nfor round two of the series held at San Diego’s Jack Murphy
\nStadium. Occasional cloud bursts eliminated practice and
\nqualifying as the track sat dormant under plastic. But rain or
\nshine over 34,000 devoted stadium fans came to watch.<\/p>\n
Three consecutive days of rain was too much for the
\nprotective plastic. At race time, track workers using heavy
\nequipment hurried to skim the goo off the top of the track. It
\nallowed the event to get underway but the track changed so often
\nthroughout the evening the heavy equipment had to be brought out
\nfor corrections periodically.<\/p>\n
The Sport Truck main event went off without a hitch; if you
\nwere Ivan Stewart. Stewart shared the front row with Roger Mears.
\nWalker Evans sat inside row two with Rob MacCachren but when the
\ngreen flag flew it was Ivan Stewart that powered the Toyota out
\nfront. Brain Stewart got his Dodge stuck in mud at turn two and
\nhad to set out the race.<\/p>\n
With Ivan Stewart out front the action turned to Roger Mears
\nand MacCachren. But before MacCachren could be a serious threat
\nhe tagged a barrier and allowed Rick Johnson to get around. Ivan
\nStewart was long gone with five seconds separating himself and
\nMears. Johnson, tried everything to catch Mears, and was able to
\npull within a couple of seconds from him, but if and butt’s
\nwere nickels we would all be rich.<\/p>\n
Stewart appeared to be cruising to an easy victory when on
\nthe last lap Walker Evans, who had been hung up on MacCachren’s
\nrear bumper, got loose and was backing up as Stewart made his way
\naround the track. Stewart was able to swerve and Evans just
\ncaught his door but Stewart drove on to victory. Roger Mears was
\nsecond ahead of Johnson. Stewart’s teammate Rod Millen finished
\nfourth ahead of Roger Mears Jr.<\/p>\n
Things didn’t go so easy in either of the Sport Truck heats.
\nThe first heat race was the first test to see if their wet setup was going to work. With no qualifying the grid positions were
\nbased on point standings from Anaheim.<\/p>\n
Due to the inverted starting order both the Mears’ sat on
\nrow one. The second row was made up of opposing family members
\nIvan Stewart, Toyota, and Brian Stewart, Dodge. The family affair
\nended in the third row as Danny Thompson and Walker Evans sat
\nside by side. Rivals Rick Johnson and current champ Rod Millen
\nwere on the fourth row ahead of Rob MacCachren, who came into the
\nevent as points leader. Evan Evans sat at the back of the pack.<\/p>\n
The track had a rather long outside option to it, at first
\nmost everyone took this line as the inside option was tighter and
\nhad two muddy 180 degree turns. With the wet track the outside
\nappeared to offer the least resistance. Track workers would have
\nto come back several times throughout the night in an attempt to
\nmake these two options equal.<\/p>\n
Roger Mears took the outside option and came into the
\nintersection leading. Brain Stewart had taken the twisty inside
\noption and lined up second. Ivan Stewart had his Toyota hung on a
\nhydro barrier and was at the back of the pack before getting
\ngoing. Danny Thompson brought his Venable Ford up behind Brain’s
\nDodge. Roger Mears held the lead for four laps. Everyone followed
\nMears around the track except Johnson who, after working through
\nthe traffic to second, tried the inside option and came out
\nheading Mears.<\/p>\n
Johnson held on for the win with Rod Millen a close second.
\nRoger Mears held the third spot and Rob MacCachren was fourth
\nahead of Brain Stewart. <\/p>\n
The second heat was a restart nightmare. I believe there
\nwere six restarts throughout the heat. Roger Mears Jr stalled the
\nNissan in turn two and Brain Stewart collided with him (blocking
\nthe track) and caused the first restart. On the restart Ivan
\nStewart grabbed the lead but before things could heat up Walker
\nEvans rolled his Dodge. When they got underway again Ivan Stewart
\nagain pulled out front and Rick Johnson grabbed second, but back
\nin the pack Danny Thompson had the Ford tipped over causing
\nanother restart. On what was lap four Brain Stewart rolled at the
\nfinish line (blocking the track) so another single file restart
\noccurred. Danny Thompson rolled again and brought out another
\nrestart. Ivan Stewart got hooked up on the next time out and
\nappeared to be pulling away when he caught the rut at the corner
\nbefore the finish line and rolled the Toyota.<\/p>\n
When they did get to racing again Rod Millen was able to get
\nout front and hold on for the win. Rick Johnson put his Chevrolet
\nacross second and third went to Ivan Stewart. Johnson later said,
\n“We lost a cylinder three laps into the race so I was happy to
\nfinish, let alone end up in second.” When Stewart rolled he was
\nput to the back of the pack and had moved to third in three laps
\nof racing. Rob MacCachren was fourth and Roger Mears fifth.<\/p>\n
Rod Millen may not have had the best night in San Diego but
\nhis two race consistency has him leading the series points 112
\nover Rick Johnson’s 111. Rob MacCachren trails in third with 87.<\/p>\n
The Sport Utility heat belonged to current points champ
\nTommy Croft. Croft left the starting line and never had to look
\nback. Had he looked over his shoulder he would have seen Tim
\nLewis. Third went to Christopher Neil and Fourth was newcomer
\nT.J. Clark.<\/p>\n
he main event appeared to be a repeat of the heat race.
\nCroft jumped out front and held the position for four laps then
\ngot stuck in the muck as he went inside a stalled vehicle. This
\nallowed T.J. Clark to take over the event. Clark drove on to his
\nfirst series victory. Clark appeared confident during a pre(c)race
\npress luncheon by saying he had spent several hours preparing for
\nrain in the skid car at Bondurants driving school where he is an
\ninstructor. Tim Lewis crossed over second ahead of Larry Noel and
\nBrian Collins was fourth.<\/p>\n
After the San Diego event Tim Lewis is the points leader.
\nChristopher Neil has earned second and third is T. J. Clark.<\/p>\n
Rick Reynolds appeared to take the early lead in heat one of
\nSuper 1600 action. But Jimmy Nichols was able to cut him off at
\nthe pass to grab the top position. Current champ Jerry Whelchel
\ngot hung on a barrier and started last. Whelchel got lucky as Ed
\nHerbst rolled on the first lap creating a restart.<\/p>\n
Once underway Nichols grabbed the lead. Except for a close
\nencounter with Marty Coyne on the fifth lap he was never
\nthreatened. Coyne held on for second and Whelchel had a hard
\ndrive into third.<\/p>\n
The second heat appeared to belong to Eric Arras. Arras
\npulled out front and was aided by a multi car pile up early on
\nwhich spread out the pack. Then Arras got his Chenowth sideways
\non the sixth lap opening the door of opportunity. Gary Gall
\ninherited the win and Bill Goshen moved into the second spot.
\nKevin Smith, the Anaheim winner, managed third and Wes Banks was
\nfifth ahead of Arras.<\/p>\n
The Super 1600 main was again to be a hometown victory.
\nJimmy Nichols grabbed the early lead with Marty Coyne on his
\ntail. A roll over on the second lap caused a restart which
\nallowed the pack to close in on Nichols.<\/p>\n
Nichols was able to keep Coyne at bay for three laps but
\nlapped traffic held Nichols up just long enough for Coyne to slip
\nby. Before Nichols could get back up to power Gary Gall had taken
\nthe second place position and third was Jerry Whelchel. That’s
\nhow they finished with Nichols fourth.<\/p>\n
The current reigning camp Jerry Whelchel has 76 points
\ntallied to lead the Super 1600 war. Second place is Jimmy Nichols
\nwith 66 points and Kevin Smith has 65 points.<\/p>\n
In the UltraCross action Ray Crumb rode his Kawasaki to the
\nmain event victory over local favorite Larry Brooks. Craig Canoy
\nwas third. The first heat race was won by Scott Myers and Jim
\nHolley trailed in second. The second moto went to Shaun Kalos on
\nhis Team Noleen Yamaha and Craig Canoy crossed over in front of
\nLarry Brooks which gave Yamaha a clean sweep of the event.<\/p>\n
Larry Brooks is currently leading the UltraCross series with
\n119 and Shaun Kalos has 110. Third place is Jim Holley with 85
\npoints.<\/p>\n
SuperLite racing brought out some good action in the first
\nheat race. Scott Klaers won his first stadium victory but had to
\nwork for it. Klaers overshot a corner early on and Don Archibald
\nwas able to lead the event for five laps until he lost power.
\nAlex Briones took over the lead but lost traction and spun
\nshortly after taking the lead giving the lead back to Klaers.<\/p>\n
Scott Klaers was followed by Sean Finley. Third went to J.C.
\nDean and Briones managed to recover for fourth. Fifth was Fred
\nShepherd.<\/p>\n
The second heat favored Clint Mears. Mears took the new
\nMirage off the line and held the lead for five laps until lapped
\ntraffic slowed him and allowed Greg George to slip by. Mears fell
\nback to fourth place as Jimmie Johnson took second and Frank
\nChavez sneaked into third. Former motocross star Jeff Ward took
\nfifth. Ward was filling in for an absent Mercedes Gonzales.<\/p>\n
In the main event Sean Finley, still fresh from his Anaheim
\nwin, took the lead. Current champ Jimmie Johnson trailed in
\nsecond but was able to close in on several occasions. By the
\nthird lap Greg George had pulled into third to increase the
\npressure on Finley. Johnson pulled alongside on the fifth lap but
\nFinley held. Then at the end of a long straight Johnson out powered Finley, only to roll over, and hold up Finely which
\nallowed Greg George to inherit the lead.<\/p>\n
Out front Greg George tried to put distance between himself
\nand Scott Klaers but Klaers was able to make a decent race of it
\neven though he had to settle for second. Third went to Frank
\nChavez and Joe Price was fourth ahead of Shannon Millen.<\/p>\n
Greg George has the lead in SuperLite action with 94 points
\nwith Sean Finley in second with 70. Scott Klaers is third with
\n57.<\/p>\n
Kory Ellis was able to take his first ever 4(c)Wheel ATV main
\nafter taking the position from veteran Mike Olmsted on the second
\nlap. Charles Shepherd also took advantage of Olmsted and slipped
\ninto the second spot. Olmsted was able to hold third. Gary Denton
\ncame home fourth and Mark Ehrhardt was fifth.<\/p>\n
Gary Denton took off early in the first 4(c)Wheel ATV heat.
\nDonny Banks came charging through the pack and received a penalty
\nflag for his effort. Setting in the penalty box for five seconds
\ndropped him from second to ninth. Kory Ellis came across second
\nand third went to Doug Eichner. Mike Olmsted lead the first heat
\nfor four laps until Charles Shepherd found a way around. Olmsted
\nheld second and third went to Cris Berger.<\/p>\n
Charles Shepherd has the 4(c)Wheel ATV lead with 71 points.
\nDoug Eichner has 69 with third Gary Denton with 60 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rain again was a factor for the Mickey Thompson Stadium Off-Road Racing series. Round one held a month earlier in Anaheim was a real “Mud Bowl”. It was late afternoon before the rain paused for round two of the series held at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium. Occasional cloud bursts eliminated practice and qualifying as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}