The six race Western Late Model "Chase to the Championship" at Madera Speedway continued to march towards its conclusion with round #4 on Saturday evening August 18.

Chase points leaders Mark Holeman, age 22 of Los Altos, and Ross Strmiska, age 21 of Stockton, started side-by-side in the second row of the 100-lap Western Late Model feature just behind Stockton’s Joey Stearns and pole sitter David Philpott of Tracy. It took Holeman only 16 laps to get by Stearns, who had gotten the jump on Philpott, to assume the lead.

Strmiska struggled before he was finally able to make his way up to Holeman on lap 60, but once Strmiska got there it set the table for a battle between the two young rivals that would last throughout the remainder of the event.

The Holeman-Strmiska fight was slowed by numerous yellow cautions for a variety of incidents, but Holeman was able to get the best of Strmiska on each of the restarts to earn his fifth win of the season. Tracy’s David Philpott, Trevor Schlundt of Clovis and Raymond’s Dale Kascht completed the top five.

"Wow, it sure feels good to win again. The car was working well, but then it got tight at the end and Ross was catching me. We were fortunate to stay ahead of him," said Holeman. "Ross has been getting faster and faster while we have stayed about the same. We finally got our car right and I could run with him tonight."

The end result was a virtual status quo in the fight for the 2007 championship. After entering the night with a 10 point lead over Strmiska, Holeman’s win, combined with Strmiska’s fast time, resulted in Holeman picking up one point on his rival to extend his lead to 11 points with just two races remaining in the Chase.

"We just didn’t have a good enough car to get Mark tonight. It was frustrating," said a dejected Strmiska following the race. "We’ll work to make the car better and try it again next time."

Stockton’s Donny Darter continued his mastery of the American Limited Stock Car (ALSC) division by posting his 12^th win of the season in 13 races. Starting in the 12 car main from the fourth position, Darter cautiously worked his way up to early leader Brian Vosburg, of Stockton, before taking the top spot on lap 15.

While Darter checked out on the rest of the field, a spirited battle royal raged behind him for second between Vosburg, Modesto’s Dennis Saunders Jr., Howard Holden of Clovis, Oakdale’s Tony Schmitz, Pete Anderson Sr. and Joe "Racer" Allen both of Stockton. Vosburg finally prevailed to take the checkered flag in second place with Schmitz, Anderson, Allen, Holden and Saunders hot on his tail.

It was a busy night for Darter, who shattered the ALSC track record with a blistering qualifying lap of 16.078 seconds and made his debut in a late model, which he plans to compete with full time in 2008.

"We wanted that record and I got it by about four tenths of a second so I think it is going to be a tough one to beat," said Darter. "Good luck to everybody next year trying to break it."

Darter also snagged the win in the night’s ALSC dash while Holden and Allen each earned wins in the class heat races.

Fresno’s Stan Hankins jumped out to the lead on the first lap of the 12 car field of the Toyota Sedan feature and looked to be out on a Saturday night cruise until the car driven by Jason Kerns, also of Fresno, suddenly began to fill his rear view mirror in the late stages of the 20-lap race. Kerns was able to sweep under Hankins on the back straight of lap 18 and hang on over the final two laps for an exciting win. Hometown driver Randy Fleming Sr., last week’s winner, completed the Toyota Sedan podium.

"It took a while to get to the front, but this is where we want to be," said an ecstatic Kerns.

Hankins earned wins in both the dash and his heat. Fresno’s Steve Trusner was the victor in the second Toyota Sedan heat race.

It took only three laps for Madera’s CJ Dizney to march to the front of the seven car starting field in the Hornet division main. Dizney would keep the top spot for the remainder of the 20-lap event, easily holding off division points leader Miles Humphreys, of Clovis, who began the race from the back of the pack after missing qualifying.

Dizney captured fast qualifying time and the dash, but Humphreys got the best of his young rival in the Hornet heat race.

After an opening lap caution jumbled the original starting lineup, Michael Zarevich, of Manteca grabbed the lead in the NCMA 30-lap main and held on for dear life to the finish over Rob Hammond, of Morgan Hill, for the first victory of his career in the powerful open-wheel class.

"It feels great to get my first win in six years," exclaimed Zarevich. "We really didn’t have the greatest car tonight, but we tried everything we could to stay up front and hoped for the best."

Modesto’s Ed Amador led the NCMA qualifying while Zarevich and Brentwood’s Jimmy Lavell earned dash wins.

After going dark next weekend Madera Speedway will be back in action on Saturday, September 1 of Labor Day weekend with a big late model doubleheader featuring twin 100-lap mains for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series Western Late Models in round #5 of the "Chase for the Championship" and the SRL Wild West Shootout Series. The American Limited Stock Cars, Modified Super Toyotas, Toyota Sedans and Hornets will also be racing on the "Fastest 1/3 in the West" on Saturday, September 1.

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

For Madera Speedway information call the Info/Race Line at (559) 673-RACE or go to www.racemadera.com on the web.

Fast Time – Ross Strmiska (Stockton) –15.107 seconds

Dash – None

Fast Time – Donny Darter (Stockton) – 16.078 seconds (new track record)

Dash – 1) Donny Darter (Stockton), 2) Pete Anderson Sr. (Stockton) 3) Joe Allen (Stockton), 4) Jason Aguirre (Atwater)

Heat 1 – 8 Laps

Howard Holden (Clovis)

Bryan Jones (Stockton)

Larry Pasquale (Fresno)

Donald Selsor (Fresno)

Randy Bayne (Fresno)

Russell Scarillo

Heat 2 – 8 Laps

Joe Allen (Stockton)

Dennis Saunders Jr. (Modesto)

Tony Schmitz (Oakdale)

Jason Aguirre (Atwater)

Brian Vosburg (Stockton)

Pete Anderson Sr. (Stockton)

Fast Time – Ed Amador (Modesto) - 14.936 seconds

Fast Dash – 1), Jimmy Lavell (Brentwood), 2) David Goodwill (Napa), 3) Jeff Burrows (Manteca), 4) Jeff Burrows (Manteca)

Slow Dash – 1) Michael Zarevich (Manteca), 2) Dennie Burell, 3) Rob Hammond (Morgan Hill)

Heat 1 – 6 Laps

Steve Trusner (Fresno)

Steve Nugent (Madera)

Mike Gardner (Fresno)

Ronnie Roberts (Fresno)

Justin Kawahata (Clovis)

Adam Ballesteros (Dos Palos)

Heat 2 – 6 Laps

Stan Hankins (Fresno)

Jason Kerns (Fresno)

Randy Fleming Sr. (Madera)

John McCollum Jr. (Stockton)

John McCollum Sr. (Stockton)

Candee McIntosh (Madera)

Fast Time – CJ Dizney (Madera) – 19.559 seconds

Dash – 1) CJ Dizney (Madera), 2) David Lander Jr. (Madera), 3) Sheldon Phillips (Fresno), 4) Sue Hannah (Madera)

Heat – 6 Laps

Miles Humphreys (Clovis)

CJ Dizney (Madera)

Sheldon Phillips (Fresno)

Sue Hannah (Madera)

David Lander Jr. (Madera)

Kathy Evans (Madera)

Dan Evans (Madera)