Blackie Blackard Wins the Colorado Hall of Fame & CVOR Race of Champions

Saturday, 29 August 2009 23:19

It was retro night at Colorado National Speedway on August 29th. The vintage cars were on display at the front gates, the mod coupes raced wingless, and mother nature tagged along as always to give us a little sprinkle before the main events. Thousands of fans packed the grandstands (umbrellas ready), pumped to see the Sportsman headline the evening’s main events.

Currently leading the Comfort Shack Sportsman is Jim Bob Rogers with 292 points, followed by Tommy Roe at 284 and Jeffrey Walbaum with 279 points. Not far behind are Blacky Blackard with 249 points and Jeff Webb at 236. The talented Nick Brinlee and rookie Doug Jensen are riding close behind.
The much anticipated, 30 lap, Sportsman A Main kicked off with a bang as #99 Nicholas Brinlee and #98 Lee Kemmit sped away for 1st and 2nd respectively, leading the massive field of 25 cars. #62 Jim Bob Rogers raced up past Kemmit with ease as #46 Blackie Blackard, who started in 8th place joined the fray. Contact in turn 4 drove Frankie Estes into the wall and the ensuing yellow lined Brinlee and Jim Bob up. When the race resumed, Jim Bob and Blackie, passed Brinlee. Soon, Blackie rode along the outside of Jim Bob, but Blackie got loose and Jim Bob sped off. The tides turned for Blackie as a yellow flag closed the distance between him and Jim Bob Rogers. It only took 5 laps for Blackie to steal the lead from Jim Bob. Good ol’ Jim Bob wouldn’t give up though, sticking with him and nearly passing him along the front stretch at the very last lap. But it was Blackie Blackard (the guy who just two weeks ago, said that damage to his car could take him out of the 2009 season altogether) who passed the checkered first, winning by a nose!

An impressive field of 14 Mini Sprints made it to the 20 lap A Main at Colorado National Speedway. By lap 8 #9 Nick Burton & #24 Jay Sant were approaching lapped traffic with a full straight away’s lead over the rest of the field. Sant took full advantage of the situation and darted into the lead via the inside at lap 11. Unshaken, Burton kept his momentum, sticking mere inches behind Sant. It looked like Burton was eyeing a move around the outside of Jay Sant, but a yellow flag lined the field back up for a single file restart. When the green flag flew, Burton made his move on the inside of Sant, but some fancy driving by Sant kept him at bay. Jay Sant crossed the checkered first followed by Nick Burton.

The crowd moved to the edge of their seats in preparation for the 20 lap Figure 8 A Main. #28 Vick Johnson sprang into the lead early on, giving us a show in the X by only the 3rd lap! At lap 7 the action in the X was like never before as the leaders approached lapped traffic. Halfway through the race Johnson was penalized 4 places for spinning out #69 Tammy Totos. #90 John Johnson, who’d been riding in 2nd place was sent to the rear of the field for rough driving. With our leaders dropping like flies, #22 Joe Matlock and #24 Joe Martinez were bumped to row 1 for the restart while everyone waited to see what would happen next. When they got back to racing, Matlock kept a fair amount of distance between himself and Martinez. Suddenly, Vick Johnson spun out in a cloud of smoke going into the X and got tagged by #50 Justin McKeachie who was too damaged to continue. When the race got back underway, Matlock held onto his lead, coming originally from 5th for the win followed by Martinez and Vick Johnson.

20 laps of Midget racing came next. #48 Brian Bossel took the lead but #12 Keith Rauch was reeling him in and passed him at lap 7. #11 Chris Sheil spun out for a yellow flag and the field pulled it back together for a restart. Rauch had the pole with #14 Tony Rossi on his outside. Some fancy driving saw Rauch into a dominating lead and he took the win here at Colorado National Speedway. Rossi finished second followed by Sheil and Bossel.

With vintage race night in full swing at Colorado National Speedway, the mod coupe drivers opted to eschew their wings in homage to the good ol days of stock car racing. The wings assist with stability, allowing the vehicles to move more quickly around the track. Without them, the drivers have the opportunity to show off their skill behind the wheel.
#90 Frank Denning started the night off in typical fashion, speeding to the front of the pack for the lead. #55 Gary Land followed behind giving Land a run for his money! A yellow lined the two up for a drag race around 2 laps. Denning bested Land but Land came back for a second helping as #21 Cory Gordon jumped into the mix, following closely behind in 3rd. with only 5 laps to go Land moved into the lead! It was looking like Denning would move back into first, but Gordon passed him on the outside sending Denning to 3rd. Gary Land passed the checkered first followed by Cory Gordon and Frank Denning. The tight racing between the top 3 left everyone wondering why these guys don’t race wingless all the time!

When asked what he thought about racing without the wing Land remarked “Half the guys hate it, but I love it!” Congrats to #55 Gary Land!

#66 Kyle Clegg, #22 Chris Eggleston and #8 Jon Krizman rocketed ahead to start the 25 lap RMLRA Legend A Main. It was tight between the 3 of them until Eggleston dug his tires into the pavement, pulling away for a 5 car length lead. Clegg stuck with him and the two left Krizman behind. Eggleston held it together for the win!


Comfort Shack Sportsman
1 #46 ERIC BLACKARD, 2 #62 JAMES ROGERS, 3 #6 TOMMY ROE, 4 #8 JEFFREY WALBAUM, 5 #98 LEE KEMMIT, 6 #84 BRUCE BORCHARDT, 7 #99 NICHOLAS BRINLEE, 8 #39 SCOTT ESTES, 9 #32 BEAR LYNCH, 10 #55 CRAIG HOLMES, 11 #49 DENNIS POBANZ,
12 #41 # DOUG JENSEN, 13 #43 STAN GRIFFIN, 14 #58 JEFF WEBB, 15 #28 ALAN CARTER, 16 #21    TROY MEYER, 17 #26 # DALE REEDER, 18 #67 STEPHANIE BROWN, 19 #83 # GREG WOHLCKE, 20 #13 ERIC POTTS, 21 #29 JAN OXLEY, 22 #3 WADE GROVE, 23 #38 FRANKIE ESTES, 24 #00 STEVEN MAAS

RMLRA Legends
1 #22 CHRIS EGGLESTON, 2 #66 KYLE CLEGG, 3 #8 JON KRIZMAN, 4 #3    WAYNE BARLOCK, 5 #03 DARRELL STEWART, 6 #62 PHIL PECONI, 7 #9 JOSHUA BANDSTRA, 8 #7 COREY SEIP, 9 #16 TIMOTHY FAATZ, 10 #96 RICK RUSK, 11 #24 DEREK KOPP, 12 #57    JASON SETWART, 13 #84 MICHAEL WEBBER, 14 #6 LARREL SCOTT, 15 #78 BRITTANY DUNCAN, 16 #07 WILLIAM SEIP, 17 #4 # GARY KOPP, 18 #13 PETE DELARCO

RMMRA Midgets
1 #12 KEITH RAUCH, 2 #14 TONY ROSSI, 3 #11 CHRIS SHEIL, 4 #48 BRIAN BOSSEL, 5 #99 KYLE RAYBURN, 6 #6M JUSTIN MALLO, 7 #6 MICHAEL HEBERLING, 8 #22 JULEE JAMISON

CARC Mod Coupes
1 #55 GARY LAND, 2 #21 CORY GORDON, 3 #90 FRANK DENNING, 4 #24 CHAD GUILFORD, 5 #36 # MATT BURTON, 6 #17    SCOTT RHOADES, 7 #77 # MICHAEL ANDERSON, 8 #45 CARL VAIR, 9 #56    # MICHAEL FETTERS, 10 #33 CHET GRAHAM, 11 #51    JOE SULLIVAN, 12 #11 STEVEN CORRENTI, 13 #88 SCOTT REMKAMP, 14 #6L JOE LEHMAN

RMMSA 600 Mini Sprints
1 #24 JAY SANT, 2 #9 NICK BURTON, 3 #56    TROY SIMPSON, 4 #69 PAUL BABICH, 5 #5 BRANDON STEELE, 6 #19 LARRY PACHELLO, 7 #31 JIM RESER, 8 #40 TODD WELAND, 9 #2 CHUCK MILLS, 10 #21 TYLER JOY, 11 #26 CHRIS CROWDER, 12 #10 SHANNON ELLIOTT, 13 #27    DAVE WEIHRICH

Loveland Goodyear Figure 8s
1 #22 JOE MATLOCK, 2 #24 JOE MARTINEZ, 3 #28 VICTOR JOHNSEN, 4 #17 HARRY LIVERMORE JR, 5 #25 PHIL TAYLOR, 6 #23 AL DURAN, 7 #26 NICHOLAS MARTINEZ, 8 #69 # TAMMY TOTOS, 9    #66 JOHN MARTELLO, 10 #15 JEREMY WALL, 11 #90 JOHN JOHNSON,
12 #05 JEROME HOHN JR, 13 #86 SHIRLEY THOMPSON, 14 #50 JUSTIN MCKEACHIE, 15 #52    JARED WALL, 16 #03 # LUKE ZIKE