(09-26-2015 Dacono Colorado) In one of the most anticipated races of the season Mark Neff won both South Philly Cheese Steaks Late Model feature events and moved past Jeff Walbaum to take a dramatic season championship. While Chris Eggleston was busy winning the Legend car feature, Danny Medina took home his 3rd track championship. Kody vanderwal won the Pure Stock main but Will Alvarado secured the 2015 championship. Big Al Duran said goodbye retiring from the Figure 8 division while Jereme Wall completed a magical season winning the championship.
South Philly Cheese Steaks Late Models
Mark Neff in winner’s circle after winning the first 20 lap Late Model feature (Starr photo)
Entering the final points race for the South Philly Cheese Steaks Late Models #8 Jeff Walbaum led #42 Mark Neff by just a single point setting up a dramatic finale. Walbaum added a point to his lead winning the FAST DASH.
It would take two feature events to determine the 2015 champion and in the first 20 lap feature Neff struck back at Walbaum by powering his way to the win. However, Walbaum grabbed the second spot and maintained his point lead, but now by just a single point.
In the final 30 lap race of the season things couldn’t have been scripted better as Walbaum and Neff lined up side by side in the the 3rd row. In the early stages of the race Walbaum and Neff thrilled the fans passing cars on both side, and at times creating 4-wide action. With fans on the edge of their seats Neff and Walbaum moved into the 1st and 2nd positions passing race leader 90p Kyle Patee.
Neff on route to winning both features and the 2015 championship (Starr photo)
Mark Neff celebrates winning his first Late Model championship at CNS (Starr photo)
Walbaum who is the reigning Late Model champion gave it everything he had but it appeared his car began to fade at bit as the race wore on. Neff on the other hand appeared to be gaining momentum as he started to build his lead. #08 Jace Hansen was also hooked up and moving his way past cars eventually passing Walbaum for 2nd place. When the checkered flag flew it was Neff taking the win and the 2015 Late Model championship. Hansen finished an impressive 2nd in the race while Walbaum settled for 3rd and the runner-up spot in the season standings.
#32 Brett Yackey struggled all night with mechanical problems but did score the 2015 rookie of the year award.
20 LAP FEATURE: #42 Mark Neff 30 LAP FEATURE: #42 Mark Neff FAST DASH: #8 Jeff Walbaum DASH: #49 Dennis Pobanz QUICKTIME: #42 Mark Neff 17.567
Legends
Chris Eggleston had a free weekend from his NASCAR K&N Series West ride so he unloaded his legend car and returned to CNS to compete in the final points race of the season. Eggleston wasn’t fooling around as he set quick time, won the fast dash and took home the feature completing the sweep of the nights events. It was by no means an easy win for Chris as he drew the 6th place starting spot in the feature and had to make a daring pass on race leader #66 Kyle Clegg in the closing laps of the race.
#22 Chris Eggleston swept the evening in the Legends division (Starr photo)
Points leader and perennial race favorite Danny Medina in the #15 car ran strong early but quickly began to fade in the race finishing all the way back in 12th position. However it was more than enough to secure Danny’s 3rd Legends track championship at CNS.
Pueblo’s Austyn Radosta in the #23 finished 10th in points and took home rookie of the year honors.
Danny Medina is the 2015 Legend division track champion at CNS (Starr photo)
FEATURE: #22 Chris Eggleston FAST DASH: #22 Chris Eggleston DASH: #7 Corey Seip QUICKTIME: #22 Chris Eggleston 18.692
Lincoln Tech Pure Stocks
In 2015 no driver has been more dominate in any division than Will Alvarado in the Lincoln Tech Pure Stocks. Alvarado set quick time several times, won the majority of fast dash races, and also won 7 feature events when it was all said and done.
Will Alvarado had a dominating season in the Pure Stocks winning the championship by a large margin (Starr photo)
While Alvarado was cruising to what would have been his 8th win on the season he began to get pressure from #43 Kody Vanderwal who had come from his 6th place starting spot to battle for the lead. In the closing laps the leaders were battling heavy traffic. Vanderwal was going high around the slower cars while Alvarado was attempting to go low. The low line proved to be the wrong choice as Alvarado got bottled up which allowed Kody to make the pass for the lead and take his second feature win of the season.
While Alvarado settled for second he won the championship by 67 points over #84 Joe Mares.
Kody Vanderwal took advantage of lapped traffic to win his second Pure Stock feature of 2015 (Starr photo)
FEATURE: #43 Kody Vanderwal FAST DASH: #3% Will Alvarado DASH: #7 David Robinson QUICKTIME: #43 Kody Vanderwal 20.058
2015 CHAMPION: #3% Will Alvarado
Art’s Septic Figure 8s
It was a bitter-sweet final race for the Art’s Septic Figure 8s. Sweet because of the great racing and large field of cars but also bitter as it was the final race for long-time fan favorite driver “Big” Al Duran in the #23 car. Duran went out in style by winning the FAST DASH and finishing second in the feature.
Big Al Duran waves one last goodbye to the CNS fans (Starr photo)
The feature event was filled with hair-raising close calls in the X demonstrating why the Figure 8 division is one of the most popular at CNS. Jereme Wall who entered the night with a comfortable point lead added an exclamation point to his terrific season by winning the feature coming from his 7th place starting spot. This was Wall’s first championship finishing 23 points ahead of Duran.
Jereme Wall celebrates winning the 2015 Figure 8 Championship (Starr photo)
In the race Wall built a large lead on the field and cruised to the win. The only car near Wall was Duran who drove a fantastic final race. The top five finishers in the feature were: #15 Jereme Wall from Commerce City, #23 Al Duran from Lakewood, #50 Justin McKeachie from Aurora, #81 David Smith from Englewood, and #1 Michael Haywood out of Greeley.
#87 Bill Farris finished 7th in the final race but captured the 2015 Figure 8 rookie of the year award.
Jereme Wall and Big Al Duran stop to congratulate each other (Starr photo)
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Late Model
20 Lap Feature Pos No. Name Hometown 1. 42 Mark Neff Westiminster 2. 8 Jeff Walbaum Brighton 3. 15 Scott Miller Brighton 4. 3 Wade Grove Thronton 5. 90p Kyle Patee Thornton 6. 5w Troy Witthar Eastlake 7. 1 Tommy Powers Castle Rock 8. 30 Jan Oxley Ft Lupton 9. 32 Brett Yackey (R) Greeley 10. 16 Ryan McFadden Divide 11. 32A Joseph Andrade CO Springs 12. 49 Dennis Pobanz Colorado Springs 13. 27 Wendi Lewis Johnstown 14. 18 Robert Davey (R) Aurora 15. 28 Alan Carter Commerce City 16. 29 Rayshawn Carter Commerce City 17. 6 Jason Sharp Fountain 18. 21 Mike Hurst CO Springs 19. 8 Jace Hansen Broomfield
30 Lap Late Model Feature Pos No. Name Hometown 1. 42 Mark Neff Westiminster 2. 8 Jace Hansen Broomfield 3. 8 Jeff Walbaum Brighton 4. 90p Kyle Patee Thornton 5. 15 Scott Miller Brighton 6. 32 Brett Yackey (R) Greeley 7. 5w Troy Witthar Eastlake 8. 32A Joseph Andrade CO Springs 9. 1 Tommy Powers Castle Rock 10. 27 Wendi Lewis Johnstown 11. 16 Ryan McFadden Divide 12. 49 Dennis Pobanz Colorado Springs 13. 28 Alan Carter Commerce City 14. 29 Rayshawn Carter Commerce City 15. 3 Wade Grove Thronton 16. 6 Jason Sharp Fountain 17. 21 Mike Hurst CO Springs 18. 30 Jan Oxley Ft Lupton 19. 18 Robert Davey (R) Aurora
Legends Pos No. Name Hometown 1. 22 Christopher Eggleston Thornton 2. 66 Kyle Clegg Westminster 3. 21 Ryan Jones Arvada 4. 6 Scotty Scott Arvada 5. 3 Darrell L Stewart Arvada 6. 30 Darrell J Stewart Arvada 7. 16 Travis Roe (R) Thronton 8. 23 Austyn Radosta (R) Pueblo 9. 2 Brent Cave Thornton 10. 7 Corey Seip Littleton 11. 19 Larry Pachello Arvada 12. 15 Danny Medina Colorado Springs 13. 26 Christopher Brunker Lakewood 14. 46 Zachary Witherwax Arvada 15. 17 BreAnn Adkison Cheyenne 16. 9 Terry McBride Edgewater 17. 47 Jason Hulvey Thornton 18. 83 Donald Bedore Denver 19. 25 Adam Pechman Morrison 20. 20 Kynzer Riddell Westminster DNS 1w Jereme Wall Commerce City
Pure Stocks Pos No. Name Hometown 1. 43 Kody Vanderwal LaSalle 2. 3% Will Alvarado Ft Lupton 3. 84 Joe Mares Aurora 4. 21 Jamie Ward Denver 5. 02ss Sean Smith Greeley 6. 31 Mike Mathiesen Dacono 7. 33 Tyler Davis Lafayette 8. 63 John Ebel Littleton 9. 74 Lindy Pinelli Dacono 10. 126 Josh Friberg Westminster 11. 68 Matt Sowash Wheatridge 12. 84M. Joseph Mares Aurora 13. 7 David Robinson Johnstown 14. 96R Rhonda Miller Severance 15. 3 Tyler Mander Evans 16. 8 David Lewis Firestone 17. 23 Betty Lou Beierle Arvada 18. 39H Kasandra Haygood Firestone 19. 9 Darin Wainwright Littleton
Figure 8s Pos No. Name Hometown 1. 15 Jereme Wall Commerce City 2. 23 Al Duran Lakewood 3. 50 Justin McKeachie Aurora 4. 81 David Smith Englewood 5. 1 Michael Haywood (R) Greeley 6. 97 Adam Gastineau (R) Aurora 7. 87 Bill Farris (R) Englewood 8. 5 Curtis Chavez (R) Loveland 9. 52 Jared Wall Commerce City 10. 69 Tammy Totos Commerce City 11. 0 James Naranjo Denver 12. 11 Joe Gastineau Denver 13. 25 Phil Taylor Henderson 14. 27 Bobby Zike (R) Morrison 15. 10 Frank Gastineau Denver 16. 12 Harvey Webb Jr Longmont