McCormack makes late pass to win 100 lapper
By Matthew J. Sullivan
Beautiful weather graced Eureka, California’s Redwood Acres Raceway this past Friday and Saturday for the season finale Fall Spectacular event. Acres fans were delighted to see a good field of late model tour cars for the first time in nearly two seasons at the 3/8-mile track.
Randy Houston set quick time for the late model cars but his car broke while warming up prior to the trophy dash ending his weekend prematurely. Mike Lovell took the dash over Jeremy Hopkins and Junior Roddy. The finish of the late model heats determined the starting lineup of the main event. The first heat saw Scott Lenz spin off turn two collecting Lovell. Later on, Berndt Akerstrom broke and he was unable to race for the rest of the weekend. Northern California racing legend and local favorite, Jim Walker excited the fans in the first heat taking the victory over Joe McDonald, Noel McCormack, Roddy and Rod McCombs. Jerry Peterson surprised folks by taking the victory in the second heat ahead of Keith Nelson, Robert Miller, Corey James and Kevin Ostern.
The first six were inverted giving pole position to Miller with McCormack starting outside the front row. It was a clean start for the 100-lap feature before caution fell on lap two when Ostern spun in the first turn infield. After the restart, the caution flew quickly when Walker and Roddy made contact going into turn three. Walker suffered minor damage and returned to the track briefly before retiring shortly thereafter. The racing went green for another 10 circuits until the caution dropped on lap 12 for Nelson’s car in the turn four wall. The best racing of the night took place for what would be the longest period of green flag action. McCormack rode constantly in Miller’s mirror while McDonald in third looked to take advantage of any mistake made by either driver. Things got interesting when the field caught up to lap McCombs. Though McCombs tried his best to give the leaders room to race, the pack bunched up behind him. Miller was able to clear McCombs while McDonald was able to sneak into second as McCormack tried his best to fend off Peterson for third. McCormack was able to hold off Peterson while on the high line, and then get back by McDonald for second before the caution flew on lap 49 when Mike Doss went for a ride through the front stretch infield.
The action slowed several times between the halfway and three-quarter lap marks. On lap 58, the yellow came for Lenz who had spun in turn four. The caution flew on lap 59 to clean up debris from contact between Roddy and Peterson. After a brief period of racing, the caution flew again on lap 68 when Lovell spun out from fourth position. Corey James also spun to avoid Lovell and both were able to continue racing. Racing resumed and things remained status quo up front between Miller, McCormack and McDonald until lap 76 when McCormack found the low line under Miller going into the first turn to take the lead. McDonald was able to follow behind to take the second position. Miller now had to fight off Doss for third. The two raced door-handle-to-door-handle for several laps before Doss took the position on lap 82. On lap 83, Hopkins and Roddy made contact while racing for the fifth position in turns three and four bringing out the caution flag for the final time. On the restart, Doss’ car slowed and he drove his car to the pits. While McCormack and McDonald drove away from the field, Ostern began to give Miller trouble for third. On lap 90, Ostern moved high and past Miller for third. At the front, McDonald was unable to mount a challenge on McCormack for the lead and at the finish it was McCormack winning over McDonald, Ostern, Miller and Lovell. Allen Gibney, James, Roddy, Hopkins and McCombs finished out the top 10.
Many of the drivers who raced this past weekend at Redwood Acres are headed over to Anderson’s Shasta Raceway Park for their 150-lap late model race. It will be interesting to see if McCormack will be able to win back-to-back events.
An Ostern Trifecta
Kevin Ostern set fast time with a new track record time of 12.412, won his 3rd feature event of the season and took home the championship flag. Labor Day Weekend was good to Kevin & Leanne Ostern and the #36 team of Ernie & Sheryl Ostern, David & Earlene Taylor, Logan Kessinger and William O’Donnell as a season of hard work paid off. If you ever stopped by the #36 pits, you would see Leanne, Sheryl and Earlene cooking up the best food at the track and nobody left hungry.
The regular AABLM season is officially over and the championship has been decided, Kevin Ostern clinched his 1st AABLM Championship. Ostern set a goal from the first race of 2009; he was going to be a contender for the 2009 tour. The AABLM added 2 new tracks to the 2009 tour that Ostern was not very familiar with, Ukiah Speedway was one of the new tracks added. Until the last race, Ostern’s average finish was 7th and Shasta Raceway Park is the other new track where Ostern finished 9th. Kevin knew if he was going to claim the 2009 championship, Lakeport Speedway was the place where he could gain the most Championship points. Sure enough, he did with and average finish of 1.8. Ostern with 3 wins and 8 top 5 finishes overall.
Ukiah Speedway brings out the best of the best late models; this track seems to attract driver talent. We had a newcomer to the AABLM Series, Trent Campbell from Laytonville, and last years regular Sean Caturegli returned in a new white #45x. Junior “Hot Rod” Roddy of Gualala was present, and David Miller of Coquille Oregon along with the AABLM regulars.
A hot and sunny day at Ukiah Speedway did not stop the AABLM from breaking another record. Kevin Ostern set fast time and new record for the Ukiah Speedway with a 12.412. He was followed by Mike Lovell 12.507, David Miller 12.533, Allen Gibney 12.584 and Junior Roddy 12.584.
Lovell won the fast dash; followed by Gibney, Ostern, Eric Graham, Miller and Roddy. Keith Nelson won the slow dash; followed by Trent Campbell, Eric Williamson, Myles Anderson, Joe Aiken and Mike Bourbon.
The Labor Day weekend brought a different format with the fastest 9 late models running a total field invert 20 lap heat race, and the winner of the heat would draw a pill from one through nine for the main event invert. Forrest Kuecker won the 1st heat race. He was followed by Chris Straka, Graham, Lovell, Ostern, Gibney, Miller, Roddy and Berndt Akerstrom. At the end of the heat race Kuecker pulled the nine pill for a full invert, putting Akerstrom on the pole and Roddy on the outside front row.
The next 10 Late Models ran a 20 lap heat race for the next 10 positions in the main event. Trevor Cristiani won the 2nd Heat race. He was followed by Sean Caturegli, Jim Stillman, Nelson, Aiken, Williamson, Clay Caturegli, Campbell, Anderson and Bourbon.
Nineteen Late Models lined up for the 75 lap main event with Akerstrom and Roddy on the front row. Akerstrom got the jump on Roddy and led the next 32 laps. On lap 33, Ostern took the lead from Akerstrom and a few laps later Graham moved in to 2nd. By lap 56, Clay Caturegli in the Black #45 was in 3rd. Graham and Clay are no strangers to victory lane at Ukiah Speedway, with Clay having won 2 of the past 4 races at Ukiah Speedway. Graham on his last win in Ukiah, he led wire to wire, so all the pressure was on Ostern. With 5 laps to go, Ostern was the Late Model to beat, Graham was trying to hold off Clay Caturegli and Sean Caturegli in the White #45x just moved into fourth. Ostern won the Main event; followed by Eric Graham, Clay Caturegli, Sean Caturegli, Mike Lovell finished 5th and held onto 2nd in the championship standing. Going into the weekend, Lovell only had 6 markers ahead of Jim Stillman. Stillman was able to hold onto 3rd in the championship standing; Graham moved up to 4th and Forrest Kuecker fell one spot to 5th. Myles Anderson took the AABLM 2009 Rookie award.
The AABLM regular season may be over, but the AABLM still has three non-points races left, the next race is September 25 & 26, 2009 at Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka CA followed by Shasta Raceway Park on October 3 & 4, 2009 and the October Classic at Lakeport Speedway on October 16 through 18, 2009.
In closing, the AABLM Promoter Mike Doss and staff would like to thank all the fans, sponsors, families and friends of the AABLM drivers, and let’s not forget the best of the best, the AABLM drivers them selves for making a successful year. Mike would also like to say thanks to Lakeport Speedway, Shasta Raceway Park and Ukiah Speedway for inviting the AABLM to their facility and to their staff for all the work that is done behind the scenes that is never noticed.
Thank You, From
Mike Doss – Promoter / Director of Competition
Bob Cook – Race Coordinator / Tech
Haley Ostern – Track Coordinator / Scorer
Denise Doss – Photographer / Co Promoter
Johnny Miskill – Ukiah / Shasta Flagman
Kelly Coburn – Lakeport Flag Person
Cheryl & Terra Cook - Pit Representatives
Caity Miller – AABLM Intern
Curtis Cook - Webmaster
See you at the track
Bob Cook
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