Ronnie Hults Wins the 2010 Midseason Debacle

Saturday, 10 July 2010 23:31

Only 10 cars avoid the most disastrous pile up in CNS history to finish the Late Model Midseason Championship. Ronnie Hults rides the outside line once again to victory.

Speedy's Autos Late Models
#74 Dan Savage and #31 Rick Smith blew the doors off the rest of the field, competing in a race all their own as they moved to the front of pack and dueled for the lead. At lap 24 of the 100 lapper, the leaders approached lapped traffic and Savage controlled a comfortable lead. Further back, 2009 champ #12 Bruce Yackey proved that fast and steady can win season championships as he moved smoothly into 4th. Behind Yackey, Roger Avants and Ronnie Hults were coming out of the woodwork. A yellow flag flew and the fastest Late Model drivers lined up for an epic double file restart. Only God knows what caused it but a massive 15 car pile up ensued in turn 1. Cars literally piled up on top of each other, coming into close contact with the fence. Several cars were torn to pieces and completely destroyed, but NO ONE was injured! After the clean up crews did their thing, we were down to 10 cars and the race had been modified to from 100 to 75 laps. The new Late Model line up went like this: #74 Dan Savage, #31 Rick Smith, #42 Ronnie Hults, #06 Mike Gallegos, #08 Jace Hansen, #27 Roger Avants, #6 Trent Phillips, #12 Bruce Yackey, #25 Scott Rueschenberg, #54 Joe James Jr. Dan Savage dashed into the lead on the restart but struggled to maintain his position as Ronnie Hults on the inside and Rick Smith on the outside simultaneously gunned for the lead, resulting in 3-wide racing through turn 2. Savage fended them off and sped off for a 2 car length lead. 2 laps later, contact along the back stretch between Smith and Savage was ruled the fault of Smith and he was sent to the rear of the field. With 25 laps to go, Savage and Hults lined up for yet another double file restart. Any Hults fan knows that when he's in the lead, he always elects to take the outside on a double file restart. It was all over for Savage when he went with the more traditional option, taking the pole for the restart. With less than 10 laps to go, Ronnie Hults had taken a lead the length of the front stretch. Savage was in 2nd, aggressively fending off the ever approaching Roger Avants. Meanwhile,  Rick Smith was making his way back toward the front of the field. Speedy Ronnie Hults took the win for the midseason championship, securing his point lead for another night.

Pair-A-Dice Sportsman
21 Sportsman hopeful for a win had only 30 laps of A-Main racing to show their stuff. #84 Bruce Borchardt had the pole with #58 Jeff Webb on his outside. Points leader #46 Blackie Blackard had the inside of row 2 with #62 Jim Bob Rogers on his outside. By lap 12 only 18 Sportsman remained and Blackie Blackard was in the lead. The action was fierce behind the leader as Borchardt, Brinlee and Walbaum fought for position. At lap 21 Brinlee was in 4th, Walbaum and Borchardt were dueling nose to nose for 2nd and Blackie had a commanding lead. With 2 to go Walbaum had taken 2nd and nothing stood between Blackie and another Main Event win. Blackie took 1st followed by Walbaum, Borchardt and Nick Brinlee.

Two Doors Down Figure 8s
It seemed like the figure 8 Main Event would conclude in abnormal fashion; without a yellow, a spin out or a flipped car in sight until Jerome Hohn's #05 machine dumped its driveshaft going through turn 1. #24 Joe Martinez and our current point leader #4 Joe Matlock had a tight, 11 lap race for 1st. After a yellow flag, the two drivers lined up for a restart but just as the field was revving it up for green flag racing, Matlock's car died in a puff of grey smoke. #23 Big Al Duran took Matlock's spot behind Martinez and the crazy figure eighters were ready to finish the race. Martinez shot back into his lead but it wasn't long before a direct hit in the X between #28 Vic Johnsen and #52 Jared Wall brought on another yellow flag and another chance for Big Al to line it up with Martinez for a shot at the lead. Smokin' Joe couldn't be taken down! Martinez passed the checkered first followed by Big Al Duran and #67 Keith Swenson.

Sunoco Grand American Modified
It was a 30 lap Main Event for the field of 12 Modifieds. #69 Forest Smith darted out from his 4th place start, taking the lead before the completion of a single lap. #77 Jeff Hansen wouldn't let him run  away with this one. By lap 13 Hansen had pulled up along side Smith for an old fashioned drag race. The two made contact going through turn 3 at lap 14 and Hansen sprinted into the lead on the inside! With 11 laps to go, a wreck in turn 3 signaled a yellow flag and a double file restart. Our leader Jeff Hansen was forced to leave the track because his exhaust was dangling off his vehicle, but he returned at the last caution lap and took his new spot at the rear of the field. Forest Smith and #44 Justin Case lined up for the restart. With Hansen working his way up from dead last, Smith was free to take a massive 10 car length lead over Case. At the checkered it was Smith followed by Justin Case, #4 Mark Sopr and Jeff Hansen.

Late Models
1 #42 RONALD HULTS, CENTENNIAL, 2 #74 DAN SAVAGE, AURORA, 3 #27 ROGER AVANTS, LITTLETON, 4 #31 RICHARD SMITH, GERING, NE, 5 #08 X JACE HANSEN, EATON, 6 #06 MIKE GALLEGOS, 7 #12 BRUCE YACKEY, GREELEY, 8 #6 X TRENT PHILLIPS, HEMINGFORD, NE, 9 #25 SCOTT RUESCHENBERG, 10 #41 X MARK NEFF, EATON, 11 #54 JOE JAMES JR, DENVER, 12 #39 JACK NUGENT, LAFAYETTE, 13 #48 ED VECCHIARELLI JR, BRIGHTON, 14 #11 DARREN ROBERTSON, COMMERCE CITY, 15 #66 DARREN BUCKLEN, GREELEY, 16 #61 CHRIS ARCHER, ARVADA, 17 #91 CHRIS ATKINSON, CHEYENNE, WY, 18 #37 DEREK MURPHY, 19 #63 BUTCH TILTON, CHEYENNE, WY

Sportsman
1 #46 ERIC BLACKARD, LAKEWOOD, 2 #8 JEFFREY WALBAUM, BRIGHTON, 3 #84 BRUCE BORCHARDT, LAFAYETTE, 4 #99 NICHOLAS BRINLEE, BROOMFIELD, 5 #41 BEAR LYNCH,  6 #55 CRAIG HOLMES, ARVADA, 7 #49 DENNIS POBANZ, COLORADO SPRINGS, 8 #72 GARY CAGLE, FT COLLINS, 9 #43 STAN GRIFFIN, STRASBURG, 10 #62 JAMES ROGERS, ERIE, 11 #3 WADE GROVE, COMMERCE CITY, 12 #44 RANDOLPH MOSSMAN, JOHNSTOWN, 13 #29 X JAN OXLEY, 14 #2 X NICHOLAS MARTINEZ, 15 #28 ALAN CARTER, THORNTON, 16 #00 STEVEN MAAS, 17 #26 DALE REEDER, WESTMINSTER, 18 #10 X BRANDON DREILING, WESTMINSTER, 19 #02 RICHARD HUNT, ARVADA, 20 #6 TOMMY ROE, THORNTON, 21 #58 JEFF WEBB, ARVADA

Figure 8
1 #24 JOE MARTINEZ, CENTENNIAL, 2 #23 AL DURAN, LAKEWOOD, 3 #67 KEITH SWENSON, AURORA, 4 #15 JEREMY WALL, 5 #17 HARRY LIVERMORE JR, ENGLEWOOD, 6 #52 JARED WALL, COMMERCE CITY, 7 #03 LUKE ZIKE, MORRISON, 8 #8 X MATT WILLAMS, ARVADA, 9 #81 DAVID SMITH, ENGLEWOOD, 10 #28 VICTOR JOHNSEN, NORTHGLENN, 11 #89 EDDIE GARCIA, LITTLETON, 12 #69 TAMMY TOTOS, COMMERCE CITY, 13 #4 JOE MATLOCK, AURORA, 14 #05 JEROME HOHN JR, DENVER

GAM
1 #69 FOREST SMITH, 2 #44 JUSTIN CASE, 3 #4 MARK SOPR, 4 #77 JEFFREY HANSEN, 5 #22 MICHAEL CASTAGNO, 6 #51 X BRADLEY TILTON, 7 #26 MINDY McCARD, 8 #56 JUSTIN FORNSTROM, 9 #1 ERIC GRIMM, 10 #68 BRIAN MURPHEY