Eric Williamson, John Dalerio, Jeremy Hopkins and Noel McCormack shine on Memorial weekend.

A parade down Main Street in Lakeport Ca. kicked off the weekend. Lakeport Speedway had several entries to show off how much fun it is at the speedway. The World Famous 2 Man Bombers made a showing, as well as Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, the Boat Racers and even Airport Auto Brokers Late Model point leader Noel McCormack JR and fellow racer Eric Williamson showing off the Best Appearing car in the late model division.

16 cars qualified for the weekend Airport Auto Brokers Late Model events, sponsored by ALL IN ONE STOP Tire and Brake. Kevin Estep set fast time with a 12.116, Mike Lovell 12.164,  driving Mikey Lovell’s #15 machine with a 12.184, Noel McCormack JR 12.205 and Jeremy Hopkins qualified 5th with a 12.225.

The cars qualifying 11 through 16 ran the Saturday night trophy dash. Steve McClean started on the pole, Williamson on the outside. Williamson took advantage of his position and took off on the first lap; he never looked back as he easily won the caution free 6 lap event. Jarred Beddow, Dan Knight, Derek Lovell, Steve Taylor, McClean and Mike Swaney followed in that order.

The Saturday night main consisted of the fastest 10 cars for 25 laps with a full field invert. This put Jim Stillman on the pole and Charlie Collins on the outside. Collins made the outside work as he grabbed the lead on the start. The first and only yellow for the night was on lap 4 for McCormack and Estep in turn 4.McCormack was out for the night and Estep restarted in the back. After the yellow, Hopkins, Kevin Ostern and Mike Lovell charged to the front using the outside groove. Collins held the lead for 18 laps and it looked like he was slated to win when the hard charging Jeremy Hopkins got the lead on lap 19 and opened the door for Ostern and Lovell to follow with a 2nd and 3rd place finish. Collins came in 4th and Stillman, Estep, Forrest Kuecker and David Furia filling in for Bill Binns rounded out the top 8.

Sunday started us with wild weather, and the rain put an early stop to practice. The drivers wondered if we were ever going to start, but we were gifted with a clear cool night. David Furia, Danny and Wendy Mcintire and crew were not going to let the rain ruin the evening; they kept working on the track and were very successful getting the track dry just in time to start the dashes.

The Sunday dash consisted of the 6 fastest qualifying cars. Kuecker started on the pole, with Dalerio on his outside. Everyone was wondering if we would have the same outside groove that we saw on Saturday, after all that rain. Dalerio showed it was still there by assuming the lead on the start. A yellow came out on lap 4 for Estep who broke in turn 1 and was out for the night. Dalerio took the win followed by Kuecker, Ostern, Hopkins and McCormack.

The Airport Auto Brokers Late Model / ALL IN ONE STOP Tire and Brake main brought us 18 cars for 50 laps. Sean Caturegli and Mike Bourbon showed up for the Sunday show without a qualifying time and were assigned to the back row. The Excitement started at the green flag when Hopkins, who started on the outside pole, tangled with Collins. Collins was able to keep his pole position while Hopkins was moved to the end of the field, although this would not hold him back. The race restarted with Collins holding the pole and Dalerio on his outside. Dalerio took the lead on the start and held it the next 7 laps. McCormack came up from his 5th place start and took over the lead on lap 8, quickly putting a few car lengths between him and the rest of the field. The next 17 laps showed a lot of side by side racing for 2nd 3rd and 4th. Lap 35 Kuecker brought out a yellow and this bunched up the field again. On the restart, McCormack is in the lead followed by Dalerio, Beddow, and Hopkins in 4th. The next 10 laps brought out 2 more yellows on laps 37 and 45.With 5 laps to go, the race was on for 2nd and 3rd. McCormack was leading and Beddow and Hopkins were battling side by side for the last 3 laps. Last lap, Hopkins passed Beddow to finish 2nd. Finish order, McCormack, Hopkins, Beddow, Dalerio, Stillman, Collins, Ostern, Caturegli, Binns, Steve Taylor, Williamson, Knight, Mclean, Kuecker, Mike Bourbon, Swaney, Todd Coburn (filling in for Mike Lovell), and Kevin Estep.

Saturday night brought 18 cars to the 2^nd Airport Autobrokers Late Model race. Once again, a new track record was set by Noel McCormack Jr at 12.078. Four other drivers beat the two week old record set by Noel. Kevin Estep was a close second best at 12.081,  Jeremy Hopkins pulled 12.223, Mike Lovell was 4th fastest with 12.288 and Dan Knight (sitting in for Derek Lovell) qualified 5th at 12.314. The top ten cars were all within 3 tenths of a second, which made qualifying exciting and the competition fierce.

Mike Doss once again lined up the top six cars for a six lap trophy dash by having them draw a card. This really made the dash more thrilling. Sean Caturegli was on the pole with Hopkins on the outside, Mike Lovell started 3^rd with Bill Binns on his outside getting into the race as an alternate for Knight, who was working on the Derek Lovell machine. The final row was McCormack and Estep, last weeks dash winner. Hopkins took advantage of the outside groove; he grabbed the lead and never looked back. He easily took the win, followed by Caturegli, Mike Lovell, Estep, Binns and McCormack.

Yet again, the ten ball was pulled signaling a 10 car invert for the main event. That put Forrest Kuecker on the pole with Kevin Ostern on his outside. The Airport Auto Brokers Late Model 50 Lap North Counties Development Main Event started with a full field of 18 late models. The first lap brought out a yellow for Jim Stillman Jr and Mike Swaney. Daniel McIntyre called for a restart of the field, Stillman and Swaney lined up in the back of the pack. Williamson broke during the warm-ups and never restarted. On the restart, Kuecker took the lead and held it for the next nine laps. Lovell was gaining ground on the outside when the big one happened, a 6 car crash putting Lovell, Binns, Estep and Knight out for the night. Estep and Binns suffered the worst damage with Mike Bourbon and Hopkins going to their pits for repair. The next 5 laps brought out 2 more yellows and saw McCormack move up to 3^rd. Lap 14 Kuecker had the lead, by the next lap McCormack was in 2^nd. On lap 20 Jarred Beddow brought out the yellow for a spin out in turn 4. That gave McCormack time to cool his tires down and take the lead on the restart. The next 15 laps were caution free, letting McCormack check out. Ostern moved up to 2^nd and was gaining on McCormack, Hopkins also moved into the top 5 after being involved in the lap 9 crash. Lap 36 Caturegli brought out the final yellow. Caturegli had a good run, being in the top 3 most of the race, including holding onto 2^nd place for 6 laps. The next 14 laps saw McCormack with the lead by a few car lengths on Ostern and the race was on for 3^rd 4^th and 5^th, Mike Martin sitting in for Mikey Lovell, Hopkins, and Beddow recovering from a lap 20 spin. With 5 to go, Martin and Hopkins were challenging Ostern for 2^nd. Noel McCormack took the checker with Ostern, Martin, Hopkins and Beddow rounding out the top 5. Charlie Collins had a good night, finishing in 6^th place. Steve McClean, who on the first race was having handling problems and didn’t make the show, came back strong with an 8^th place finish.

The next race will be May 24 & 25 2008, Memorial weekend with a Friday May 23 test and tune 4pm-7pm.

Report by Bob Cook