By: Geoff Briggs, CNS Media

Defending track champion Rick Smith out of Gering, NE took the Late Model portion of the Blue Sky Towing Ice Breaker 2008 at Colorado National Speedway Saturday night. In other action: Eric Blackard took the Suss.net Sportsman feature, Emett Grazier was king of the Doc Popcorn Super Stocks and defending champion Al Duran claimed the Loveland Goodyear Figure 8's.

The first feature to rull onto the speedway was the Figure 8's with Joe and Nick Martinez on the front row. At the drop of the green flag N. Martinez shot to the early lead over Joe Matlock, J. Martinez, Al Duran and Dave Smith. John Martello spun for lap 2 caution. Then Harry Livermore Jr went into the turn 3 wall for another caution. John Johnson was second on lap 3 as everyone was following N. Martinez. Duran took second from Matlock on lap 6 before Livermore stopped for a lap 7 caution to end his night. Matlock faded nack on lap 8 and N. Martinez led at lap 10 over Duran, Johnson, J. Martinez and Dennis Stepanich. Harvey Webb Jr and Daniel Martinez tangled for a lap 13 caution and Matlock pulled off. By lap 13 Dennis Stepanich Jr was fourth ahead of J. Martinez and D. Stepanich. On lap 16, Joe Gastineau was stopped at the X for oncoming traffic and got hit by John Martello sending Gastineau into Dennis Stepanich. After the cleanup, a green-white-checkered was put into place. As N. Martinez took the white flag, a caution flew and N. Martinez was awarded the win over Duran, Johnson, J. Martinez and Stepanich. In post-race inspection N. Martinez and Johnson were penalized 2 positions reverting the order to Duran, J. Martinez, N. Martinez, Stepanich Jr, and Johnson. Nick and Joe Martinez took the qualifier races.

In the Super Stock feature, Mario Garramone and Darrell Smith lead the field to the green flag. Garramone led the first lap over Smith, Damon Dickey, Emett Grazier and Corey Greer. A big pile-up in turn 3 on the second lap shuffled the field and AJ Grasso was now fifth. On lap 4, Dickey and Grazier got by Smith, and Jeremy Schenfeld rode the wall by the billboards and pulled off without caution. On lap 9 Grazier took second and Sandy Thompson took fifth from Smith. Mike Cox moved into fifth on lap 13, and the second big wreck occured on lap 16 with Cox involved. Thompson was now back to fifth, and a green-white-checkered would follow. On the last lap Dickey, Grasso and Jason Garnett went three-wide with Grasso and Garnett spinning. Garramone was first to the stripe over Grazier, Thompson, Dickey and Smith. In post-race inspection, Garramone was disqualified moving Grazier to the win and Matt Burton to fifth. Smith, Garramone and Dickey took the qualifier races, while Dennis Edwards took the Last Chance race.

Dennis Marion spun coming to the green flag for a quick caution to begin the Sportsman feature. Stan Griffin jumped to the early lead over Eric Blackard, Jeff Walbaum, Lee Kemmit and Tommy Roe. On lap 3, Jonathan Lindberg and Jim Lahey collided and Brian Anglim clipped Lindberg. Blackard took the lead on lap 4 and caution flew on lap 4 for Jason Trujillo and Steve Green tangled in turn 4. Anglim pitted as he was dragging sheet metal. Lahey spun into the infield on lap 11 without a caution, and Walbaum was second on lap 16. Kemmit and Griffin battled for third starting on lap 17. Kemmit started fading back towards the end of the race and Walbaum was throwing everything he had at Blackard. When the checkered flew, Blackard took the win over Walbaum, Griffin, Rick Hunt and JimBob Rogers. Griffin and Blackard took the qualifing races.

Cris Muhler and Dan Savage led the Late Model field to the green flag for the evenings final event. Muhler led early over Dan Savage, Bruce Yackey, Ronnie Hults and Rick Smith. Hults was third by lap 10 and Smith was fourth on lap 15. On lap 15, Avants knocked Yackey out of the top 5, but Yackey fought back. On lap 27, Savage broke and a lap 28 caution was thrown for a spun Adam Gastineau with Yackey having damage. Under the caution, race long leader, Muhler broke and was done for the night. Hults inherited the lead over Smith, Yackey, Avants and Chris Eggleston. Yackey's hood started coming up and fell back moving Chris Atkinston into the top 5 by lap 30. On lap 31, Smith and Hults started fighting for the lead with Hults throwing everything at Smith. Smith held on for the win over Hults, Avants, Eggleston and Atkinson. Savage and Muhler took the qualifing races.

Colorado National Speedway A Main Results
Blue Sky Towing Ice Breaker 2008
Saturday April 5, 2008

Loveland Goodyear Figure 8's
1. 23 Al Duran, Lakewood
2. 24 Joe Martinez, Centennial
3. 26 Nick Martinez, Littleton (penalized 2 positions)
4. 8 Dennis Stepanich Jr, Arvada
5. 90 John Johnson, Golden (penalized 2 positions)
6. 10 Frank Gastineau, Wheat Ridge
7. 4 Stephen Webb, Thornton
8. 42 Daniel Martinez, Commerce City
9. 22 Joe Matlock, Aurora
10. 18 Dennis Stepanich, Arvada
11. 81 Dave Smith, Englewood
12. 66 John Martello, Denver
13. 11 Joe Gastineau, Golden
14. 50 Justin McKeachie, Aurora
15. 75 Harvey Webb Jr, Thornton
16. 17 Harry Livermore Jr, Lafayette
17. 86 Shirley Thompson, Northglenn

Doc Popcorn Super Stocks
1. 33 Emett Grazier, Denver
2. 82 Sandy Thompson, Gering NE
3. 91 Damon Dickey, Longmont
4. 02 Darrell Smith, Littleton
5. 36 Matt Burton, Englewood
6. 93 Jesse Knight, Longmont
7. 15 James Minor, Denver
8. 48 Corey Cox, Littleton
9. 39 Jack Nugent, Longmont
10. 75 Emilio Abeyta, Denver
11. 00 Dennis Edwards, Golden
12. 92 AJ Grasso, Longmont
13. 07 Joel Sidell, Grand Lake
14. 13 Jason Morris, Denver
15. 29 Keenan Riddell, Denver
16. 81 Bob Foster, Lakewood
17. 89 Jason Garnett, Brighton
18. 09 John Patte, Brighton
19. 31 Ronald Duran, Denver
20. 30 Connie Cox, Littleton
21. 76 Gerry Gardner, Ft. Lupton
22. 01 Corey Greer, Loveland
23. 99 Ryan Raley, Denver
24. 70 Mickey Hilton II, Commerce City
25. 3 Mike Cox, Littleton
26. 80 Chris Cox, Westminster
27. 2 Jeremy Schenfeld, Thornton
28. 06 Lloyd Dempewolf, Denver
29. 23 George Gallegos, Lakewood
30. 66 Beth Krueger, Denver
31. 17 Jeremy Barclay, Brighton
(Mario Garramone was disqualified in post-race inspection)

Suss.Net Sportsmans
1. 46 Eric Blackard, Lakewood
2. 8 Jeff Walbaum, Thornton
3. 43 Stan Griffin, Strasburg
4. 02 Rick Hunt, Lakewood
5. 62 Jim Bob Rogers, Erie
6. 6 Tommy Roe, Thornton
7. 98 Lee Kemmit, Thornton
8. 55 Craig Holmes, Lakewood
9. 99 Nick Brinlee, Westminster
10. 4 Matt Curless, Cheyenne WY
11. 49 Dennis Pobanz, Colorado Springs
12. 58 Jeff Webb, Arvada
13. 84 Bruce Borchardt, Lafayette
14. 28 Alan Carter, Thornton
15. 40 Jason Trujillo, Commerce City
16. 21 Troy Meyer, Denver
17. 13 Eric Potts, Lakewood
18. 88 Steve Green, Firestone
19. 17 Dennis Marion, Aurora
20. 5 Jim Lahey, Denver
21. 47 Brian Anglim, Wheat Ridge
22. 76 Jonathan Lindberg, Ft. Lupton

Late Models
1. 31 Rick Smith, Gering NE
2. 42 Ronnie Hults, Centennial
3. 27 Roger Avants, Littleton
4. 22 Chris Eggleston, Erie
5. 91 Chris Atkinson, Cheyenne WY
6. 66 Darren Bucklen, Greeley
7. 11 Darren Robertson, Arvada
8. 47 PJ Mattorano, Trinidad
9. 54 Joe James Jr, Denver
10. 12 Bruce Yackey, Greeley
11. 48 Sam Walls, Longmont
12. 77 Steve Yackey, Loveland
13. 18 Ed Vecchiarelli, Brighton
14. 10 Tyler Chrisinger, Littleton
15. 19 Mike Bowen, Brighton
16. 15 Mike Hannah, Platteville
17. 1 Tommy Powers, Aurora
18. 13 Joni Cowan, Gering NE
19. 74 Dan Savage, Aurora
20. 97 Adam Gastineau, Aurora
21. 95 Cris Muhler, Brighton