Thunder Valley Racers Compete
August 30, 2004
by Allison Pettygrove

This past Saturday was the last hot August night for the 2004 season at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino , CA . The night began with a huge autograph session, and with such a high car count for the night, the autograph session spanned the entire front straightaway and curved around into turns three and four. After the cars returned to the pits, the national anthem and normal opening activities were performed. It was time to kick off the night with a heat race for the Jr. Scale Racing League.

The Lady Pure Stock main event had four cars starting and finished with only three. Christina Carpenter took the checkered and win in her #57 pure stock, and was closely followed by the #20 of Deanna Betzer , the #21 of Patty Pfouts , and the #8 of Kirsten Ficher . The remaining divisions took to the track for their heat races and intermission followed with the normal festivities.

The Scale Racing League, or Mini Stock Cars, took to the track to compete in their main event. After a fast race, the #17 of Cody Hart emerged as the winner. Following were the #28 of Nick Wilhite, the #08 of Dean Caskey, the #41 of Mike Brown, the #5 of Kit Cooney, the #71 of Patti Caskey , and the #22 of Oscar Smith. The #15 of Doug Evans and the #40 John Brown of had to pull off the track early on in the race, resulting in eighth and ninth place finishes for the drivers. 

The ASA Pure Stock main event began with the cars setting out to compete for thirty laps. After a long caution caused by a frightening crash between the #81 and #8 cars, the race ended with the #36 of Brian Malone claiming the win. Following were the #16 of John Mattie, the #24 of Paul Vitale, the #5 of Jeff Elder, the #01 (driver n/a), the #25 of Justin Good, the #20 of Johnny Betzer, the #21 of Stuart Pfouts, the #42 of Ryan Spencer, and the #57 of Christina Carpenter . The #81 of David Rice and #8 of Sean Spencer claimed eleventh and twelfth places after their crash and the #18 of “Shakin” Blake Utilson rounded out the field.

The next main event brought the Jr. Scale Racing League division out onto the track. After a twenty lap race, the #21 of Kyle McGrady took the win. He was followed by the #99 of Brent Scheidemantle, the #41 (driver n/a), the #82 of Robby Ragains, the #29 of Devin Myrick, the #42 of Taylor Hede , and the #08 of Gus Ramirez Jr.

Next the ASA Pro Stock Late Models came out to run their thirty lap main event. After a few caution flags, the #11 of John Kelly took the lead and the win. He was followed by the #08 of J.D. Reyes, the #19 of Brian Malone, the #32 of Cindy Spies , and the #07 of Brandon James. The #69 of Jim Conklin had to pull off the track early and claimed sixth place. The #00 (driver n/a) and the #69x of Cliff Conklin also had to leave the track early and rounded out the rest of the field.

The CEC Embroidery ASA Street Stock division took to the track for their main event. Following a couple of yellow flags, the #69x of Cliff Conklin came out victorious. Following closely behind were the #92 of Johnny Russo, the #00 of Stevie Smith, the #16 of Ruben Duran, the #60 of Tom Gilstrap, the #07 of Brandon James, the #86 of Jeff Marquet, the #22 of Nathan Gruwell, and the #71 of Mike Hanes. The #38 of Coke Frederick and #52 (driver n/a) claimed tenth and eleventh places after leaving early on in the race.

Then it was time for the DJ Safety Sport Trucks to run their thirty lap main event. The race experienced a few yellow flags caused by this reporter spinning out and her brother experiencing mechanical failure with his truck. In the end, the #18 of Roberto Calavera took the checkered flag first and won. Following were the #23 of Jason McKensie, the #24 of Karl Roth, the #3 of Ed Reid, the #75 of Jim Belter, the #7 of Michael End, the #12 of Eduardo Garcia, the #32 (driver n/a), and the #87 of Kelly Reid. The #50 of Allison Pettygrove and the #05 of Walter Chapin pulled off early and claimed tenth and eleventh places.

Finally the premiere division of the night, the Leno's Rico Taco ASA Super Late Models, came out to run their fifty lap main event. On only the second lap, a crash in turn two took both the #61 and #57 out of the race. A few more yellow flags were thrown as a result of a few cars spinning out. The #10 of Mark Shackleford became victorious after taking the lead from the #2 of Lou Gamache, who had led for most of the race. Following were the #4 of Greg Beresford, the #94 of Robbie Hewitt, the #25 of Shawn Steele, the #22 of Glen Cummings, the #48 of Linney White, the #27 of Frankie Gould, the #43 of Tony Forfa Jr., the #11 of John Kelly, and the #29 of Del Delrumple. The #57 of Wade Riddering and the #61 of Ron Daniel crashed on the second lap and took twelfth and thirteenth places.

Los Angeles area auto racing enthusiasts can see these Thunder Valley racers at the Orange Show Speedway when racing resumes on Friday, September 3 with the Soboba Casino Pro-4's.

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