Ross Strmiska Captures His Third Victory
of the Year at Madera Speedway
By Dale J Bosowski

 

(August 11, 2007) The six race "Chase for the Championship" for the 2007 NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series Western Late Model season title at Madera Speedway reached its halfway point on Saturday, August 11 with a 50-lap A Main.

 

An invert draw of eight put the night's fast qualifier Harry Belletto, of Modesto, and the rest of the quick cars near the middle of the pack for the start of the 19 car Western Late Model feature.

 

Taking full advantage of his front row starting spot, Stockton's Joey Stearns immediately grabbed the lead from pole sitter "Slammin" Sam Solari, of Salida on the opening lap. He was then able to gradually pulled away from the rest of the pack until brake problems began to plague him which allowed Solari and Modesto's Mike Beeler to camp on his bumper late in the race.

 

With the race quickly drawing to a close on lap 46 Beeler tried the inside coming out of turn two and touched Solari who in turn got into Stearns. The end result was a metal grinding crash that ended with Beeler's car riding on top of Stearns front hood down the front straight.

 

"That was quite exciting. It was late and it looked like there was a little space down there so I went for it," said Beeler after the race. "All of a sudden we were up in the air seeing a bunch of sky. I feel bad that the eight car (Stearns) had to get tangled up there with us."

 

Stearns was able to limp back on to the track after repairs while both Solari and Beeler elected to park their cars for the night rather than continue from the back of the pack.

 

"It was one of those nights. It was just racing hard I guess," sighed Stearns, who was within sight of his second win this year. "It was disappointing. We have had a couple of bad weeks and we are trying to get back up in the points."

 

With the three leaders suddenly out of the picture, Mark Holeman, of Los Altos lined up on the front row beside Stockton's Ross Strmiska for a four-lap shootout. Strmiska got the jump off the start and held on over a fast closing David Philpott, of Tracy, to claim his third win of the season. Holeman, Belletto, Turlock's Chris Monez and Stearns followed the leaders to the checkered flag.

 

"I spent most of the race just trying to get up to the lead pack and then they had that big wreck," said Strmiska, who started the main from the seven spot. "This track is so competitive and everybody is so close out here. We lucked out a little bit tonight and pulled out a win."

 

It was the best race of the season for Dave Philpott, who earlier in the evening won the first of two Western Late Model heat races and then watched as his son Justin capture the win in the other heat race.

 

"It was a lot of fun tonight watching Ross, Mark and Justin running door to door like that, but they were holding up my parade a little bit at the end of the race," commented Philpott, a former two-time Stockton 99 Speedway champion. "I think I had a chance if there had been about five more laps."

 

It was an interesting blend of drivers in the Western trophy dash as Holeman, Trevor Schlundt of Clovis and Strmiska, who have a combined age of 59 years, led Harry Belletto, age 64, to the finish.

 

Like old man river, Stockton's Donny Darter just keeps rolling along in the American Limited Stock Car (ALSC) division. Starting from the eighth position, it took Darter only seven laps to get to the front and earn his 11^th win in 12 ALSC events this season. Stockton's Brian Vosburg and Modesto's Dennis Saunders Jr. completed the ALSC top three.

 

"We put our best motor in this week because we would like to get the track record from Brian (Vosburg) before we sell the car," said Darter, who is looking to run a late model before the end of the season. "This is one heck of a good car."

 

 

Darter topped the field in qualifying and won the dash but missed out on the ALSC sweep when Vosburg upset him in their heat race.

 

Randy Fleming Sr., of Madera, led wire-to-wire to secure his first win of the season in an exciting 12 car Toyota Sedan main. Fleming was able to just hold off a trio of hard charging Fresno drivers in Steve Trusner, Jason Kerns and Stan Hankins after a late race yellow caution set up a four lap mini dash to the finish in 20-lap race.

 

"I could have done just fine without that yellow," laughed Fleming, who earlier watched proudly as his daughter Destiny sang the national anthem. "I just wanted to get a good jump on the restart and go for it."

 

Kerns was the night's Toyota Sedan fast qualifier, Hankins took the dash while Fleming and Hankins were each victorious in the two Toyota Sedan heat races.

 

 

In virtually an instant replay of last week's race, Madera's Lance Tatro was eked out another narrow win over his teammate and car owner David Tuey, of Bakersfield, in the 360 Modifieds 30-lap feature.

 

"It feels good anytime you can get ahead of and beat Tuey. He will not give up," said Tatro, who battled brake problems all night. "I saw his nose coming up and I just kept pushing and pushing. I kept praying I could hold on to lap 30."

 

Tatro also grabbed wins in both the 360 Modified heat and dash. Only Tuey's fast time in qualifying prevented a Tatro sweep on the night.

 

Taking full advantage of the absence of division leader Miles Humphreys, the 67-year- old grandfather out of Clovis who was off celebrating Hot August Nights in Reno, CJ Dizney picked up the win in the wild and wacky Toyota Hornet division.

 

Dizney, age 16 of Madera, worked his way from the back of the field to take the lead at the halfway point of the 20-lap Hornet feature. Dizney never looked back as he cruised to his second win of the season in just four starts.

 

"I just took my time, waited it out, got to the front and held on to it after that," explained Dizney, who also won the Hornet dash and heat race. "I am having a lot of fun."

 

Madera's Sue Hannah, the "Racing Grandma", finished the Hornet main in second just ahead of her grandson David Lander Jr., also of Madera.

 

"It's great to be racing with my grandma, but it is not much fun to finish behind her," said a sheepish Lander with a big smile after the race.

 

Just before the main events the youngsters, age 2-10, took over the front straight for the 1^st Annual "Kids Night" Big Wheel races. The kids put on a great show and afterward celebrated with a free hot dog and soft drink courtesy of Jo's Grill.

 

Next Saturday, August 18 the NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series returns to the "Fastest 1/3 Mile in the West" with a special program featuring the Western Late Models in round #4 of the "Chase for the Championship" with a 100-lap, $2,000 to win main event. The American Limited Stock Cars, Toyota Sedans, Hornets, Northern California Modified Association (NCMA) Sprints and Western Racing Association (WRA) Vintage Midgets and Sprints will also all be racing at Madera Speedway next Saturday.

 

The Madera Speedway is located at the Madera County Fairgrounds just off the west side of Highway 99 at the West Cleveland Avenue exit.