LAKEPORT — The 111-degree temperature made for a slick and tricky track on Saturday and Jimmy Sorrels of Ukiah led only four surviving cars out of 10 to win the Guy Strohmeier Auto Center bomber main event at the Lakeport Speedway.
In other action Saturday, Matt Preston from Kelseyville, substituting for Mitch Preston, avoided a last-lap spin to win the mini-stock main event, and Sam Cookson was the fans” choice in the “Eve of Destruction” boat race.
Bombers
Ron Portlock and Adam Oubre led the 10-car bomber field to the start. Oubre went high to allow the pack to safely pass, leaving Robert Byers in second and Wendy Ray Pierce in third. Meanwhile George Abella and Sorrels took advantage of the shuffling pack to move up to fifth and sixth, respectively, behind Andy Norton.
Pierce”s car blew its radiator, dropping water all around the track, and she ended up in the frontstretch wall. Portlock and Norton led the restart. However, with the addition of water and oil, brought up from the track by the record heat, the slick conditions changed the racing conditions dramatically.
As the pack started to shuffle, Norton”s car broke loose up high in turn three, allowing Sorrels to take second. Byers and Abella suffered the same fate a short time later and were passed by Mike Bray and Jon Waner. Sorrels advanced on Portlock, worked him hard, and finally passed him on lap 13. Abella had just worked his way past Waner and Byers to move into fifth and he was closing on Norton and Mike Bray when Oubre spun into the turn two infield.
The lap-14 restart saw Portlock break loose inside of Abella, causing Abella to swerve and then spin. Sorrels and Norton restarted but Richard Bray and Oubre both retired to the infield.
Sorrels and Norton again led the lap-15 restart and, two laps later, Norton bobbled on the backstretch, causing Portlock to swerve. However, Portlock overcorrected and broke loose into Waner, sending him into the turn three wall. Both Portlock and Waner retired.
That left only four cars at the restart. Sorrels and Norton moved to the front and were followed by Abella and Byers. Abella pressed hard for second but could not make it past Norton. At the checkered it was Sorrels, Norton, Abella and Byers.
Abella set the fast time of 15.082 seconds.
Mini-stocks
The mini-stock main event, led to the green by David Coyne and Rich Schramm Jr., immediately saw Brad Laird take to the infield with radiator damage. Schramm and Preston quickly took the lead and Preston tried many times to pass Schramm on the heat-slicked surface.
Coyne broke loose low in turn one on lap seven, sending him into the infield and raising a huge dust cloud and the first yellow flag of the race. Preston restarted outside of Schramm and tried to hold that outside line only to fall back behind him.
Refusing to give up, Preston tried several times to pin Schramm on the inside behind the lapped cars of “Fast Freddie” Schmidt and Coyne. However, Schramm foiled every bid as darted to the outside before Preston could close the door. On lap 15, Coyne again broke loose into the turn two dirt, bringing out the second yellow. Again Preston tried to aggressively hold that outside line but he could not pass Schramm.
By lap 28, Schramm and Preston were again about to lap Coyne. On the white flag lap, Schramm moved to the outside but got a little wobbly in that slick groove and Preston made his move, darting inside just behind Coyne. Schramm tried to close that opening on the backstretch while regaining control, but he broke loose and nosed into Coyne. The contact sent Coyne up into the turn three wall.
Racing under the yellow flag, Schramm regained control and took the checkered flag ahead of Preston, but because his contact with Coyne caused the yellow flag, Schramm was set back in the field. This gave the win to Preston, followed by Schramm, Coyne, Schmidt and Laird.
Schramm set the fast time of 13.964.
Boat races
Twenty-one cars packed onto the quarter-mile oval for the second of three “Eve of Destruction” boat races on the season schedule.
With all the cars pulling boats, the object is to dislodge your opponent”s boat by whatever means possible, all the time while driving on a wet surface. The full field featured L.A. Cruisers and clunkers that included station wagons and even retired police cars.
When the field was given the green, it was maritime carnage on the high asphalt. Cars ran into, ran around, and even ran up onto other boats. Some cars even got trapped atop a boat, spinning their wheels and sending up clouds of tire smoke.
The accumulating debris started to take its toll on the cars and thin the field. Andrew Snider lost a wheel and threw sparks all around the track and Scott Sabol”s car caught fire — it was quickly extinguished and he was able to battle on. Eventually the once-mighty armada was scuttled down to an embattled few.
Three drivers managed to keep their boats intact all the way to the end. They were the No. 14 Cookson car, a retired Lakeport Police Department cruiser, the No. 75 driven by WestCar Late Model driver Chris Monez, and the No. 16 car of Ken Moeller.
It was up to the fans to choose a winner at that point based on the amount of excitement — and carnage — caused by each driver. The fans picked Cookson followed by Moeller and Monez third.
The final “Eve of Destruction” boat race is Sept. 16.
Auto racing continues at the Lakeport Speedway this coming Saturday with the Thunder Roadsters and the Pro-4 modifieds joining the Northern California Racing Association modifieds, mini-stocks and L.A. Cruisers.
