LAKEPORT — The 19th annual Kelseyville Lumber Deake Lyndall Memorial held at the Lakeport Speedway Saturday night drew a record number of 80 cars to the event, with all new winners in each of the five Lyndall Memorial divisions.
Derrick Crayford of Windsor led all but two laps in the non-stop modified feature for a $650 payday. It was Crayford”s second win of the season. Forrest Kuecker of Lucerne took the lead away from Sean Caturegli on lap three and drove the distance for his second season win in the Airport Auto Brokers Late Model main event. Kuecker also pocketed $650 for his victory.
In the Guy Strohmeier Auto Center bomber and bonus bomber divisions, it was Scott Sabol of Lakeport in the George Abella bomber holding off points leader Ron Duke, Jr. to take his first win, and Andy Vanderveer of Santa Rosa claiming his third bonus bomber victory.
The evening began with a parade of past Lyndall Memorial winners that extended all the way around the quarter-mile oval. Then race fans were treated to an exhibition race between Bob Strauss in the purple No. 3 Lyndall stock car and Mike Neilson in the purple No. 3 Lyndall super modified. Both cars were owned and driven by the late Deake Lyndall Sr. and Deake Lyndall Jr.
Patti Lyndall donated extra prize money to the top five drivers in the local divisions and added money to the midget purse to give the winner $1,000. The Lyndall grandsons, David, Brandon, Noah and Payton Lyndall, presented the winners with the 4-foot tall purple trophies.
Modifieds
The modified field was reduced to only 13 cars when points contenders Codi Barba and Strauss blew engines during hot laps. Drew Foster broke his transmission, and Thomas Leiby suffered suspension problems. This put Crayford on the pole, where he battled Gary Lowblad the first two laps before pulling ahead. Andrew Snider was running third in front of Mike Smithhart as David Furia and Mark Marek were working their ways through traffic.
Furia, Marek and Thomas Wright took over fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, by lap 10 and Marek drove around Snider for third place at the halfway mark. Wright worked the outside groove, taking fourth away from Snider on lap 19, and the following round Marek inched by Lowblad for second.
Wright worked the final laps on Lowblad and made the pass count on the white flag lap. Crayford held off Marek to take the win with Marek a close second. Wright finished third with Lowblad fourth. Brian Gard, driving the Mike Linnell modified, finished fifth.
Modified heat wins went to Crayford and Wright. Marek won the trophy dash and Jonathon Reynolds set the fast time of 12.715 seconds.
Late Models
Thirteen drivers took the green flag in the Late Model 30-lapper, with Caturegli shooting out in front of Kueker at the line. Kuecker gathered it up and took control on lap three as Blair Aiken followed him to the front. David Furia passed Caturegli for third on lap eight just before the yellow flew for a three-wide drive that saw John Dalerio slide up into Caturegli, causing both drivers to lose control and spin. With nowhere to go, last week”s winner, Gary Collins, was collected up in the accident and hit the turn-four concrete.
When racing resumed, Aiken pulled into the lead and Jeremy Hopkins took third away from Furia. Three rounds later Mike Doss and Furia made contact, resulting in Furia”s car stalling on the front stretch.
Kuecker pulled ahead of Aiken on the restart with Hopkins and Noel McCormack Jr., driving the Lovell No. 15, inching by Aiken for second and third.
The next 10 laps ran without incident. However, Furia pushed high into Aiken on the final lap. Furia lost contol and spun coming out of turn four. Dalerio was collected in the melee and limped to the finish line.
Kuecker celebrated his victory and was followed to the line by Hopkins, McCormack, Aiken and Chris Salmina.
Keucker and Furia were heat race winners, Kevin Estep won the dash, and Hopkins set fast time of 12.520.
Bombers
Anthony McCoy and Jimmy Sorrels started in the front row of the bomber feature and when the green flag dropped, McCoy pulled ahead. Sorrels lost ground in the high groove, allowing Robert Byers to slip into second just before the yellow flew for a Dylan Rose spin.
Byers took the lead on the restart with McCoy in second, Sorrels third and Richie Schwarm fourth.
Roman Rose retired to the infield on lap 15 and the Schwarm”s tire blew while attempting an outside pass on McCoy on the following lap. The Schwarm car slapped the wall and retired for the night.
When racing resumed, Randy Portlock and Sabol both drove by Sorrels, with Duke following them to the front. The race was slowed on lap 21 for another Dylan Rose spin, and the next four laps saw a side-by-side battle for the lead between Byers and Sabol.
Sabol pulled ahead on lap 25, with Duke hot on his trail. The final five rounds saw Duke make several outside attempts on Sabol. As the two closed in on the checkered flag, Duke”s car made contact with Sabol”s car, resulting in Duke hitting the wall. Sabol drove on to take the checkered followed by Byers, Sorrels, Andy Norton and Richie Hoven.
Sabol also won the trophy dash. Duke set fast time of 15.505.
Bonus bombers
It was Vanderveer”s night at the races as he not only won the bonus bomber feature but set fast time of 13.918 and won the trophy dash. Vanderveer”s time was good enough for a track record, but it was taken away when his car failed to pass a tech inspection.
The bonus bomber feature was plagued by two accidents in the early laps, the first when Dino Guevara spun and the second when Manuel Antonio lost control. This gave Gary Collins a chance and he took the lead away from David Jones on lap three. Bill Mucci ran in second behind Collins as Vanderveer and Eric Johnson were weaving their way through traffic.
Lap eight saw another caution for a second Guevara spin. When racing resumed, Johnson drove under Mucci for second. Vanderveer followed his path and at mid-race it was Collins, Johnson, Vanderveer, Jared Martin and George Mavrakis. Johnson began his outside run on Collins and inched into the lead on lap 21. Vanderveer assumed second on lap 23, pulled along side of Johnson on lap 25 and made the winning pass on lap 27.
Johnson followed Vanderveer to the line for second, with Collins finishing third. Jared Martin ended up fourth and Mavrakis was fifth.
Auto racing returns to the Lakeport Speedway on July 21 for race No. 14 of the King of the Hill Challenge Series, which will feature the popular Fiberglass 500 II boat races.
