May 11, 2013

By Ken Wagner

The third round of unlimited URA sprint cars came off under sunny skies and very little normal desert wind as 16 cars came to take away the $2550 first prize this week. The water truck battled all night long as the swooshy streams covered the oval as often as possible to give the competitors the best surface to race on. When the dust settled, ha ha, Matt Mitchell stood head and heels above the rest as he jumped around early leader Seth Wilson from his own pole position starting spot and shuttled off to his first big URA win in the Bobby Ferro owned # 91 special. Racing thru the traffic, no one had anything for him as they tried to get close enough to catch him, but he methodically chose the right path and moved to the checkers with some heady driving on the difficult but racy track. It brings back memories of a 13 car field at Manzanita back in the day and that race was hot, hot, hot! This one too was pretty fun to watch!

For my pics from Victorville click here to view. For Doug Allens quality photo's Click here to see.

The mighty 13 car field put on a great show with David Cardey coming from his 8th starting spot and rushing by everyone but the winner as he made some good moves in the Moosemobile to claim 2nd place and take over the URA points lead ahead of Mitchell. Cardey ran the outside lane until the end. Cody Williams battled from his 6th starting spot to climb on the podium as he pushed Brody Roa back a spot in a hard fought battle that went on for nearly 30 laps.

Seth Wilson continues to get a handle on his “new” to him 4 bar car and he raced his way to a strong 5th in the end. Austin Williams passed more cars than any one as he had one stop, then an infield spinning move that put him back to the rear twice, yet he roared up to 6th with all that. Danny Ebberts returned to 410 sprint car racing, due to a long layoff from an injury, and was 7th on the final grid.

The night featured two heats, then two more “scramble” type dashes with the second of those creating a long pause after an incident took out three cars from the main because they couldn’t go back to the pits and get ready in time. Corey Ballard was running well on the start when he came around turn three, hit a bump and got 4 wheels off the track enough to spun in front of the 8 car field, then to add insult to injury, did a quick flip high in the air and landed on first Tony Everhart, then square on top of Kenny Perkins taking out all three cars for the evening. Even though they were all DNS (did not start), they were paid starting money as if they did run, at $350 a clip. Cudos to Dirt Entertainment! The apparent first time “to work a race” tow truck driver was extremely slow and cumbersome in extracting the four cars involved in the incident, only David Carey was able to repair and return for the main because he was the first car hauled off.

Round three of the URA schedule was worthy of attending, yet the next event will be memorable as the URA will fete Don Blair in the first annual Don Blair Cup on June 1st at Orange Show Stadium! Don was a lifelong fan who won the CRA championship as a car owner back in the early 70’s. His Blairs Speed Shop was famous over the years for producing hot cars including for drag racing. His many wins with his own sprint cars was topped off with his last victory, one at Victorville two years ago with David Cardey at the wheel. Don was thrilled over that one! He passed away September 29, 2011. On June 1st Brandon Thomson will drive the # 12 Don Blair car with Jim Blakesly, the long time crew chief for Don, turning the wrenches. Jim was Don’s caretaker in the later years of his life, and was more than a friend to him as he took care of everything for Don.

Along those lines, I am looking for 10 people who can donate $ 500 each to increase the Don Blair Cup purse for the June 1 race, or 50 who can put $100 in. Whatever, all $$$ will help make this a special race to honor Don. His longtime efforts to help racing reached many of you out there, So call (949-981-5497), E-Mail (winglesswarriors@aol.com) or see me if you are interested to be part of the event. Your name and amount will be in the program and announced that night. Let’s honor Don for his past good works, as it should be. Also a very nice trophy cup has been ordered from Trophy City as a perpetual trophy and If someone would like to sponsor it, let me know! I am always asking for cash aren’t I, so…………. Step up!

A little birdie told me there was a devine intervention at Ventura recently where tons of red clay showed up from who knows where and is now on the little oval by the sea and the racers are loving it. It is another good move for promoter Jim Naylor as he gets to play with new clay and mold it to a racy surface. Perhaps it will bring him more cars and spectators like everyone wants.

Ooops, there will be a break in my racing schedule this next week as I will miss my trip to one of my favorite race tracks when CRA visits Tulare this coming Saturday night. Boy the great races we have seen over the years there are too numerous to remember them all, but it is a special track for me. Instead I will be attending a wedding of the former Manzy track photographer, and longtime Wagtimer, Jim Fargo to Marilyn Griffith on said Saturday May 18th. Being a big race fan, didn’t he notice it was a race day for us??? Whatever, Mrs Wags and I will make the trek to Arizona for their nuptials and keep an eye on the internet for results.

Coming next at Perris is the annual Salute to Indy 30 lapper on May 25th that should be a barnburner for all fans to go see! Look for me there as Mrs Wags will be off to Texas and her yearly travel outing to visit with son Chris, his wife Vanessa and their 4 girls. Imagine being in the Texas heat and bug safari this time of year. Love to be there, but ………………………………. I gotta go racin!

UNITED RACING ASSOCIATION (URA) – ROUTE 66 MOTORPLEX – MAY 11, 2013 – RACE RESULTS

Position / Car # / Name / Hometown / Car Owner

Winner / 91 / Matt Mitchell / Yorba Linda, CA / Bobby Ferro, (2) / 92 / David Cardey / Riverside, CA / Tom & Laurie Sertich , (3) / 44 / Cody Williams / Yorba Linda, CA / Jack Jory, (4) / 91r / Brody Roa / Buena Park, CA / BR Motorsports, (5) / 1 / Seth Wilson / Las Vegas, NV / Seth Wilson, (6) / 2 / Austin Williams / Yorba Linda, CA / Jack Jory, (7) / 01 / Danny Ebberts / Canyon Lake, CA / Todd Carroll, (8) / 3 / Rip Williams / Yorba Linda, CA / Jack Jory, (9) / 21 / Alec Bender / Ramona, CA / Richard Bender, (10) / 3x / Logan Williams / Yorba Linda, CA / Jack Jory, (11) / 52 / Trent Williams / Spring Valley Lake, CA / Rich Howell, (12) / 39 / Cal Smith / Phelan, CA / Cal-Sun Racing, (13) / 1 / Chancellor Tiscareno / Menifee, CA / Bill Perkins, DNS / 0k / Kenny Perkins / Oak Hills, CA / Bill Perkins, DNS / 20 / Corey Ballard / Orange, CA / Jan Ballard, DNS / 55 / Tony Everhart / El Cajon, CA / Tony Everhart

URA Points: 1- Cardey 63, 2- Mitchell 50, 3- Faas 42, 4- Gardner 42, 5- C. Williams 41, 6- A. Williams 35, 7- R Williams 33, 8- Wilson 27, 9- L. Williams 25, 10- Perkins 25, 10- Spencer 25.

Next URA race June 1 at Orange Show Stadium.