Western Allstars-Great Basin Raceway notes

What started out rough, turned out to be a great weekend of racing at Jim Hicks Great Basin Raceway in Ely, NV. A total of 32 racers made the long tow for 2 seperate nights of racing. Friday the racers were real troopers as it took a little longer (ok about 3 hours) to pack the track in. Once it was ready though, it was as they say back east "BAD FAST". The Friday racing was awesome with one of the best heat races I have seen in a long time between Chris Shannon, Marcus Aue, Dean Moore and Chet Buckley putting on one hell of a show. The Main event was hooked up and fast with Kellen Chadwick showing some muscle against some of the best drivers in the Western States. Saturdays racing was on a much different track with the same results. Track was still very fast, racing was great and Kellen Chadwick did it again for a $7000 weekend. I would like to thank all of the racers who made the long tow for this event, especially the Western Allstars regulars who are not used to traveling. Alot of them were on hand for the first time ever in Ely, NV. My only advise to them was don't drive home at night (animals on the road) and stay out of any bar that has "Ranch" in the name. I know I thank them every week, but this time I owe a huge thank you to all of the Western Allstars Officials. This was the first time ever that they ran the show 100% on their own with no communication or help from track officials. Scoring, line up, flagging, race directing, etc. was all handled by them. Friday nights event was about 2 hours and 45 minutes from the start of qualifying to the end of the main event. Saturday nights event was 3:45 from the start of qualifying to the end of the 50 lapper with an intermission. So Thank you to Lorinda Kearns, Blade Kearns, Jennifer Biggs, Jason Vance, Melissa Bohard, Darren Jackson, Deanna Macht, Ray McCann. Deanna was a great unexpected help on Friday and Ray filled in for her on Saturday. After Fridays event Deanna had to drive 500 miles back to work at Bakersfield Speedway, which wouldn't be bad, but she had to ride with Tom. A special thanks to Jill McCann for kicking butt selling T-Shirts and handling the Bike giveaways, and to Ray for giving Latemodelracer.com the live updates. Also thank you to Photo Finish Photos and to KC Rooney for making the long trip and taking pictures for all of us. I am not superstitious but there might be something to Friday the 13th. My dog was attacked by a pit pull and my wife and I were bit, 2 hours before we left for the event. Tom and Deanna Macht ran out of gas at 1am, 20 miles outside of Ely. John Duty had 3 flat tires on his way. Randy Carder had a flat on the rear of his hauler that stranded him in the middle of the desert and did alot of damage and I believe I was told Craig Hansen lost a wheel and tire on his trailer. Those are just the stories that I know of, I am sure there were more. It is a good thing that the Crocketts weren't there!!! Here are this weekends contingency winners. 7-13 INDIANA TRUCK SALVAGE $100 Fast Time: Chris Shannon 17.390 PIONEER MERCANTILE Fast Dash: 1st Steve Drake $100 2nd Jeffrey Priddy $75 3rd AJ Kirkpatrick $50 4th Kellen Chadwick $25 LITTLE DARLINS CHILD CARE $100 Hard Charger: Lonnie Parker Sr. 11 positions. (Randy Carder also moved up 11 positions, but award goes to highest finish.) www.PhotoFinishPhotos.com $100 Hard Luck Award: Reldon Hatch (3 hours of wheel packing and never got to race) $3000 Main Event Winner: Kellen Chadwick 7-14 INDIANA TRUCK SALVAGE $100 Fast Time Award: Kellen Chadwick 17.860 PIONEER MERCANTILE FAST DASH 1st Steve Drake $100 2nd Richard Papenhausen $75 3rd AJ Kirkpatrick $50 4th Mark Carrell $25 LITTLE DARLINS CHILD CARE $100 Hard Charger: Rob Sanders 16 positions !!! (great job Rob) www.PhotoFinishPhotos.com Hard Luck Award: $50 Dean Moore, $50 John Duty $4000 Main Event Winner: Kellen Chadwick Thanks to everyone for a fun weekend, and we will see you this Saturday July 21st @ BAKERSFIELD SPEEDWAY The Wests Fastest 1/3 Mile High Banked Clay Oval