IT'S A CAUTION-FILLED NIGHT AT THE RACEWAY - QUEENER, FRONSMAN SWEEP THEIR DIVISIONS

Source: J.J. Calvacca
Date: 07/30/2007

VICTORVILLE, California - For the race fans who packed the grandstand Saturday night at Victorville Auto Raceway, it must have appeared that Starter Bob Rideout's favorite color is yellow.

Rideout held a firm grasp on the caution flag for most of the night and found himself using it more than a little during the night as the boys and girls came to play in the dirt and even bang around a bit.

In a bit of a change from the usual race program track officials decided to conduct the Mini Dwarf feature race prior to the intermission. Usually the little cars kick off the feature program immediately following the intermission.

Hesperia's Shayna Galloway, who raced to a fourth-place finish in the earlier heat race, showed everyone the way home as she captured the checkered flag in the feature race. Llano's Jimmy McDonald took second place while Hesperia's Kelsey McLaughlin came under the flag in third place. Arcadia's James "LJ" Billings, who won the earlier heat event, finished in fourth place in the Main Event.

Like so many of the youngsters who start their racing careers in the Mini Dwarfs, Galloway is waiting for the day when she can move up into, perhaps, a Junior Sport Compact car. "I'm still a bit too young yet, but when I get old enough I know I want to race in a bigger car," Galloway commented at the trophy ceremonies.

Rideout made plentiful use of the caution flag early as during the Street Stock feature the bumping and banging reached almost epic proportions. Torrance's Dan Queener and Whittier's Tim Foster raced hard during the feature, to the point where both wound up losing significant portions of skin from the sides of their cars.

Both drivers carried on, though, with Foster exiting the track and returning with almost the entire right side of his car naked.

Queener was the eventual winner of the feature and that win, coupled with his earlier heat victory, gave him the sweep in the Street Stock division this week. Trona's Ken Gosnell and Riverside's Frank Warnke rounded out the top three positions in the feature.

A couple of guys from the Phoenix suburb of Surprise, Arizona came to town to shake things up a bit in the IMCA Modified division. George Fronsman and Shawn Zelenka took advantage of a couple of nights off from racing at their home track in the Phoenix area and finished one and three, respectively, in the Modified feature. Sandwiched between the visitors was IFS Racing's Wayne Francis who began the night third in points in the local IMCA chase. Apple Valley racers Tony Kinkade, Jr. and Mike "Woody" Sabers finished a respectable fourth and fifth in the feature.

In an earlier heat race it was Zelenka who took the win. This race saw the unusual sight of all three members of the IFS Racing team pitted against each other in the same event. Barstow's Roger Gordon, Victorville's Andy Moreton and Francis faced off against each other in the race that ended up with Francis edging out Gordon while Moreton was finishing in sixth place.

Like just about every racer who has raced here, both Fronsman and Zelenka commented that they really enjoyed the track and would be back again should their regular home schedules allow. Zelenka is currently first in points back home.

Next out on the track were the Super Streets and it was Oak Hills' Ralph Adams coming away with the win in the feature race. It was Apple Valley's Keith Prischman who came off the green flag with the early lead and it was Prischman who held off early challenges by Adams, Bakersfield Ralph Cooke and Barstow's Mike Milender.

It wasn't long before both Adams and Prischman found themselves in traffic caused by slower cars. Adams took the inside groove and found his way through the pack to eventually take the lead, but Prischman came back strong to challenge once again.

The white flag lap proved to be a sprint to the finish line and the race ended up with Adams leading both Prischman and Cooke across the finish line. Prior to this race Adams and Milender were locked in a battle for the top spot in the Super Street division with Cooke barking at their heels.

It was another night where Adams pulled a back-to-back double shift, jumping out of his IMCA Modified car and climbing into his Super Street machine for the feature in that division.

The CDCRA Dwarf main event turned out to be one of the most uneventful of the night's program, if any Dwarf contest could be described as "uneventful". The race attracted some new faces (and cars) to the track and it was Brian Drake, who came up from the southern town of Warner Springs to sweep the Dwarfs in the Pro Division. Finishing second to Drake was his brother Kevin, who hails from Aguanga. The third-place finisher in the feature was Riverside's Walt Boyd, a familiar face to those here, and it was Boyd who took home the gold in the CDCRA Senior Division. The Dwarf gang also welcomed Craig Clements from Palmdale and Brian Saxton from Mentone.

The popularity of the Figure 8 races here continues to pick up speed and the night's action finished up with another contest, this time among the higher-powered 8-cylinder cars.

By the time all the banging and bumping was done, Hesperia's Jeff Singer, driving his Super Street car, grabbed the win in a sprint to the finish line with Apple Valley's Randy Vogel. These drivers go all out to put on a great show for the fans that, as always, don't leave the stands until the very end. As always they are rewarded with a super performance by dedicated drivers who put their all into the contest. Hesperia's John Lewis came across the line in third place. The attrition rate in this event was high as there were barely five vehicles that somehow managed to finish the race on this night.

Two off-track performances should be noted here as well. First was the stirring rendition of the National Anthem by local radio personality Barb Stanton. Stanton, who kicked off a brand new online talk show today, is an accomplished singer with numerous performances to her credit.

Mention also need to be made of the excellent announcing job done by local racer Joe Pasquale from Phelan who filled in for vacationing Track Announcer "DG" Gross. Joe is usually found behind the wheel of his own Sport Compact Senior racecar but shifted gears on this night to call the races for the fans in the stands.

The Modifieds and Dwarfs will be back on the track on August 4th as the Raceway finishes up a string of seven consecutive weekends of racing that began way back on June 21st. The 360/410 Sprints will also be back, along with Street Stocks and Senior Sport Compacts.

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