2000 RACE RESULTS
Heat - John started the 4th heat race in the 6th position out of 6 cars. In turn one the front 3 cars (#'s 1DK, Z98, and 77t) got tied up with each other. John, Ron Luitgens, & Wally Wagner were able to slide around the mess and all 3 of those cars eventually got going without bringing out the yellow, and the race proceeded for another 2 laps until the yellow was inexplicably brought out. The caution was appearantly because Wally Wagner's back flap was loose; that is against the rules, and rather than just black flag him they stopped the race to send him to the pits. When the race resumed John was on Ron Luitgens' bumper, and the two drove away from the field to finish 1-2 in the heat. John was once again qualified for the A-feature out of the heat.
A Feature - The the success of the past few weeks had raised John's point average to the 2nd highest in the Modified division, behind only Reece Coffee. John started the A 11th on the inside of Reece, John got a good start, and moved up into the top 10. The race was halted early for the first of what would prove to be MANY caution periods. John was caught behind the Z-98 of Denny Johnson, and the 88X of Mark Wagner. After making a few attempts to get by Johnson, each time being held up by Johnson, who took his line away. John eventually moved up into the 6th position behind those two, after another caution period, John made a move to the outside of Johnson in turn 1 & 2 and when Johnson again slipped in the middle and threatened to take John out, the #1s moved out of the way and off the top of the 2nd turn, by the time John returned to the track, he had fallen to 14th position. Immediately behind a pack of cars containing Clark, Peck, Wenzlaff, Coffee, and W. Wagner. All of the cars John was trailing in the point standings were now immediately in front of him on the track, over the next few laps John was able to move by Wagner, and race in the midst of that pack of cars. The point leaders ran side-by-side for a number of laps, until Wenzlaff got together with another car and he and Coffee shot off turn 3. The race was stopped again for another caution period, the officials again made an incredible call in ruling that Coffee was not actually involved in the caution, thus warranting a rear of the pack restart, but had merely spun to avoid the wreck, and never actually stopped moving on the track. Although we adamently argued our opinion of their decision, they still gave Coffee his position back right in front of John. When racing resumed John was still very fast and was able to make moves to the outside of Coffee, and Peck, but each time his pass would be negated when another caution flag waved. In all there were 6-7 cautions in the race -- way too many to allow any good races for position to develop. John was running in 11th at the white flag, still behind Clark, Coffee and Peck. Coming out of turn 4, John made a move on the high side (as he'd done a number of times previously only to be called back) and passed both Peck and Coffee for position. John finished 9th in a race won by Ron Luitgens.
Standings - That last lap move changed the night of racing from a mediocre night to a decent night. Rather than losing ground in the points race, John was able to close on Coffee, but Clark who finished 7th was able to take the point lead, and John would lose ground on him. All in all John is still 38 points out of the lead, but lost the 5th place points position to Rich Hesse who finished 2nd. John gained ground on both Wenzlaff and Peck, and will be closer to 3rd place than he was last week, but fell to 6th overall. Four points races remain in the 2000 season and we're 38 points back. It'll be essential to finish out the season with top-5's to have a shot at the title.
News for the Week - After a tough run in the late model last week, John made the difficult decision to surrender his seat in the #57 Ritts Racing Late Model. Although he had some good showings in the car, having a 2nd place finish in a heat race just a few weeks earlier, he was unable to be competitive in the features, needing to start in the rear each week, after running his modified feature. The decision was made to give Al Ritts an opportunity to have a driver who could give 100% and to help the O.K. One Stop Racing team concentrate on finishing out the Park Jefferson Modified season strong. John proved that he could run competitively in the late model division and if the opportunity presents itself again John knows he is capable of the task.
Heat - After a few good finishes in the last couple of weeks, John's point average has gotten better, which unfortunately provides a poorer starting position in the heat and feature. John was slated to start 5th in a 7 car heat race field. While in the lineup area the official's sent the #3 of Mark Neal back to the pits, because his car was equipped with the illegal Hoosier Dirt Bozz Mod tires. Those tires had been legal for the USMTS show, and we had noticed Neal was running them even the previous Saturday. The officials had made it very clear at the pit meeting that only McCreary American Racers or Hoosier E-mods were legal, so he had a fair warning. John would move up to the 4th starting spot behind the #77t of Rick Schau. Schau jumped out to an early lead, and John followed him right to the front moving immediately into the 2nd position. The race was halted by a caution early on after Chuck Clark cut down a right rear tire after contact with the #88d of Derek Smith, Clark would not return to the track. When the race resumed John continued in pursuit of Schau and patiently waited in second position as the two opened up a confortable margin over the cars running behind them. John made a few cautious attempts to take the lead, but held onto a solid second place finish.
The other point leaders struggled in their heat races. Both Clark and Greg Peck did not qualify for the A and were forced to run the B feature, and Mark Wenzlaff and Rich Hesse finished 5th in their heats missing the inversion for the A. Jim Thies who had been tied with John for 5th in the points violently rolled his Harris mod in turn 3 during his heat and would call it a night. Jim escaped the accident without injury...his car on the other hand did not fair as well.
A Feature - The struggles of the other point leaders, meant that John's 7th highest point average would be the 2nd highest of those qualifying for the inversion, and he would start the A in 11th. After the field took the green and was exiting turn 2 the track lights went out, the field needed to come to a halt in pitch black. A number of cars made contact in attempting to slow their mods, but John wisely took his car to the infield, and got the car stopped without making contact with any other cars. After a 20 minute delay while the lights warmed back up the race resumed. In the second lap John got cut off entering turn one by the #11c of Chris Prussman, and ended up spending a few laps trying to get by the #11c who appeared to be suffering some severe handling problems. The race was halted by cautions on a few occasions during the races early laps and 6 laps were gone before the race was really able to get going. Once John cleared Prussman he was able to set out in pursuit of the leaders; John was in 7th position at the time. He made up about 5 car lengths in half a lap to reel in the lead pack. John would follow Rich Hesse into the 4th position, and Hesse was able to get by the #35 of Jeff Berens into the 3rd spot. John couldn't get by Berens who was battling an ill-handling car (by his own account after the race) and would slide into John's line each time he made a move. John was finally able to get a nose on him on the final lap, and was on the inside of Berens coming to the checkers, John missed a 3rd place finish by just a few feet. But on the other hand, a hard-charging Gary March in the #5m was right on Berens bumper at the finish so the 3 cars crossed the line within one car length of each other. John may have been able to make a move around Berens earlier, if he had been willing to take a chance...but at this point in the season those 2 points aren't worth the risk. We were very happy with the 4th place finish.
Standings - We've been pretty fortunate so far at this making up points deal. As discussed earlier, most of the point leaders struggled in their heats, and started at the rear of the field. Even after missing the final transfer spot in the B feature, Greg Peck was able to slide into the rear of the field after Kenny Cakebread, who had won his heat, mysteriously did not make it to the lineup for the A...hmmm. Reese Coffee will hold onto the point lead after a 9th place finish. John was able to shave 10 points off Coffee's lead, and will trail by just 38 with 5 points races remaining in the season. Peck did not finish the feature but by starting the race did garner at least a few points enabling him to narrowly hold onto the 4th place position in the points, John will have sole possession of the 5th spot. Clark and Wenzlaff each secured top-10 finishes ending up 10th & 7th, respectively. John will be just 30 points out of 3rd when racing resumes next weekend. The charge to the front continues!