Champions Crowed at RAR

The final points race of the season for the five local divisions came
and went this past Saturday night at Eureka, California’s Redwood
Acres Raceway.  In addition to champions being crowned, the event held
a special air as it was the annual memorial night at the 3/8-mile
paved oval facility, coinciding with the ninth anniversary of the
events that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Going into the night, the points race for the mini stock track
championship was already locked up by the brother combination of Scott
and Craig Baker.  Craig Baker was behind the wheel of the car this
night and took the win in the trophy dash over Brian McIntosh, Brian
Murrell and Brian Murrell, Jr.  Due to the car count, the division had
to forego a heat race and ran a 10-lap main event.  Baker had issues
from the drop of the green flag and fell out of the event.  McIntosh
briefly took the lead but got loose off turn two allowing Murrell, Jr.
to take the win.  A brief caution flag served as a delay to Murrell,
Jr’s victory celebration as he was able to take the main event victory
ahead of his father, Murrell, Sr., Ken Barrett and McIntosh.

Ryan Walters won the real stock trophy dash over Steve Kimberling,
Casey Mitchell and Ryan Robinson.  Bill Middleton’s night was ended
prematurely in the heat race when Nick Green pushed Middleton going
into turn one.  Middleton jumped on his brakes in attempt to slow down
but was unable to as he hit the wall hard ending his night.  Mitchell
took the heat race victory ahead of Kimberling, Robinson, Doug Way and
Matt Simon.  Green took the race lead in the early stages of the main
event.  Mitchell proved to be the fastest car on the track but had to
maneuver through the field before finally getting to the second spot
with eight laps remaining in the 20-lap feature.  Mitchell closed in
with three laps remaining but could not mount a charge to get by
Green.  At the checkered flag it was Green winning over Mitchell,
Robinson, Kimberling and Jim Redd.  Mitchell was crowned the 2010 real
stock champion.

Raleigh Willoughby claimed the track championship in the roadrunner
division just by showing up to the track.  Willoughby went on to win
the trophy dash over Nick Hansen, Robbie Nelson and Dax Kinsey.
Nelson took the win in the heat race over Hansen, Kinsey, Kolby
Jackson and Willoughby.  Jackson held the lead at the start of the
roadrunner main event while the faster cars tried to maneuver through
traffic to get to the front.  Hansen had power issues and pulled his
car behind the wall on the second lap of the event.  At the same time
Hansen had his issues, Kinsey and Nelson got together on the back
stretch resulting in Nelson getting a flat tire and the caution
flying.

Kinsey was sent to the rear and the race restarted with Jackson
leading brand-new father, Michael Lawrence on the restart.  Willoughby
looked poised to capitalize on his championship win with a main event
win on the night as he got by Lawrence on lap 12.  Willoughby worked
on Jackson until finally finding the inside line coming off turn two
on lap 16 to take the lead.  The caution flew on lap 20 when Nelson
spun Kinsey on the front stretch.  Nobody was able to touch Willoughby
after the restart and at the checkered flag it was Willoughby winning
over Jackson, Lawrence, Tim Abeyta and Kinsey.

Much like Raleigh Willoughby, Tommy Payne merely needed to show up to
the track to claim the track championship for the thunder roadster
division.  Paul Peeples, Jr. won the roadster dash over Payne, Chris
Sarvinski and Bruce Ziemer.  Rob Nelson held off Peeples to take the
heat race win followed by Belinda Ward, Ziemer and Payne.  Fergy
Ferguson took the lead at the start of the main event, but after a
brief caution flag and a restart, he could not hold off the faster car
of Peeples as Peeples moved into the lead on lap two.  Payne did his
best to try to put pressure on Peeples, but it wasn’t enough for
Peeples to make a mistake as he took the win over Payne, Ferguson,
Ziemer and Ward.

The championship in the sportsman division was still wide-open between
Mic Moulton and Angelo Marcelli.  Moulton struck first with the trophy
dash win followed by Joe McDonald, Larry Pries and Marcelli.  McDonald
took the heat race victory over Marcelli, Moulton, Jerry Peterson and
Pries.  Kenny Demello seized the lead in the main event from his pole
position starting spot but by lap two, McDonald was there to take the
spot away.  On lap three, Demello spun between turns three and four.
Marcelli spun to avoid Demello but unfortunately Jimmy Yarberry spun
into Marcelli’s car damaging his front end.  Fortunately Marcelli was
able to return to action, unfortunately the track position he lost
diminished his hopes for the sportsman track championship.

After the restart, McDonald pulled away as second place Ken Hallis did
his best to hold off Pries for the second spot.  On lap 11, the two
came together with Hallis spinning into the infield bringing out the
yellow.  Pries was sent to the rear moving Moulton into second.  This
set the stage for a showdown that fans had been waiting for all season
as McDonald and Moulton led the rest of the field to the restart.
Moulton rode in McDonald’s mirror for the duration of the race.  With
six laps remaining in the race, the two ran into slower traffic.
McDonald was better able to maneuver through the cars while Moulton
lost a bit of ground.  Moulton was able to close the gap but unable to
make the necessary maneuver to take the lead away from McDonald.  At
the checkered flag it was McDonald victorious over Moulton, Peterson,
Pries and Hallis.  Nevertheless, Moulton’s strong finish was enough
for him to take the sportsman division crown.

Even though the track championships have been decided at the Acres,
the racing season is yet to be over.  The annual Fall Spectacular is
still to be run.  Joining the real stocks, roadrunners and thunder
roadster cars will be the Northern California Pro-4 Modifieds.  The
featured attraction for the weekend will be the 100-lap late model
event.  For the first time in several years, the Fall Spectacular will
return to being a two-day event, Saturday September 25th and Sunday
September 26th.  Any questions concerning the Fall Spectacular should
be made to Redwood Acres Raceway’s track office at 707-443-2118.