After posting top-five finishes in
each of the first four Winter Extreme events Jimmy Mars broke through for a
victory Saturday evening in the NDRL Late Model main event at the Tucson
International Raceway.
After dominating his heat race Mars
drew the pole position for the 40-lap main event and easily outran Justin
Asplin into turn one for the lead. The veteran driver out of Wisconsin wasted
no time in building an advantage until the first of four cautions in the event
waved for Billy Moyer on lap ten. On the restart Tony Jackson Jr. and Billy
Moyer Jr. jockeyed for the runner-up psition again allowing Mars to sprint out
to a big lead until Kent Robinson's spin in turn two brought the field back to
him. A lap twenty-four caution for Jason Papich again caused a restart and this
two new payers joined the discussion as Ryan Gustin soon moved to second and
John Blankenship who had started tenth was now running third. Gustin was
noticeably closing in on Mars and was within five car lengths when Justin Kay
slowed in turn two with six laps remaining. Gustin chose the high side for the
double file restart and Blankenship took advantage racing into second as Gustin
slipped high in turn two dropping all the way back to fifth going down the back
straightaway.
Blankenship had been fast all night,
but he would not be fast enough to catch Mars who would earn the $5,000
victory. Billy Moyer Jr, followed Blankenship in for third, Ryan Gustin
recovered to finish fourth and when Justin Asplin slipped high off turn four on
the final lap Tony Jackson Jr. stole away the fifth position.
For the second night in a row Brad
Dierks would start from the pole of the 20-lap Modified feature and he would
lead the fist two laps before caution slowed the field on lap two. On the
restart Stormy Scott tookover the lead as a pair of northerners Blake Jegtvig
and Cody Skytland moved into second third to challenge. Jegtvig was keeping
pace with the leader until he slowed on lap twelve and while Skytland could
stay within striking distance the rest of the way he could not run down Stormy
Scott who collected $1,000 for the victory. Skytland finished second for the
second night in a row, Fito Gallardo charged from thirteenth to third, Austin
Arneson finished in the fourth position while Dereck Ramirez. Local driver Jake
O'Neil had moved from the tenth row into the top five only to break on the lap
twelve restart.
TIR WE Notes......Anybody from around Iowa who is watching the
fantastic pay-per-view coverage on Dirt on Dirt may have caught a glimpse of the car that Jason Rauen
drove last year running near the back. Dr. Dave Deetz out of New Mexico has
purchased the car from Rauen and has yet to change the wrap.....Nebraska's
Travis Dickes has had rough weekend so far. On Friday night he was leading his
heat before smacking the wall and tonight he was penalized for jumping the
start of the second heat race moving him off the pole and back to third. Dickes
recovered nicely though finishing second to Pat Doar, but was then the first to
retire from the main event to finish 24th......It looked like the track was
going to be one groove around the bottom until the fifth heat race when
Missouri's Justin Asplin went to the high line and drove away from Californians
Jason Papich and Tony Toste. A MARS and MLRA regular, Asplin looked good during
the main event as well and it was unfortunate that a top five finish slipped
away from him on the final turn......After winning last Sunday Billy Moyer Jr.
had failed to qualify on Wednesday and Friday while fighting flu-like symptons.
His voice still sounded a bit rough when he was interviewed tonight, but his
on-track performance definitely ad to make "The Future" feel better......Jason
Hughes and Garrett Alberson appeared to have the two transfer spots locked up
in the first B-Main before Alberson's right rear tire went flat. This allowed
A.J. Diemel to keep his streak of qualifying for all five Winter Extreme
feature events alive as he passed the Modified ace Hughes for the win…..The
green flag was still to wave for the second B-Main as the left rear wheel came
off of Kyle Beard’s #86 car. Iowa’s Justin Kay would win this one with Will
Vaught also making the transfer…..While his son would start near the front of
the main event Billy Moyer would earn the 21stposition on the
starting grid by winning the third B-Main……Friday night’s Modified feature
winner Ricky Thornton Jr. was an early casualty with motor problems before his
heat race.
In a bit of a senior moment I realized this morning when I went to
check in for my flight that I had actually booked my return for Monday. With
the cost of changing to today being a bit over a thousand dollars I decided
instead to rent a car for another day and book one more night of a hotel for
about $150. What a bummer to be stuck in sunny and warm Tucson for another day
with the grand finale of the Winter Extreme also on the schedule! My boss is
skeptical and you are likely skeptical as well……oh well, it’s tough getting old
out here on the Back Stretch J
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