A cool summer Saturday night made for a fantastic evening of family fun at the races. Saturday was a night of first for many which include two first time winners and the first time many kids got to ride on a race car! Kids lined the infield eagerly awaiting their turn to ride on the cars they root for every weekend, and the smiles that were seen, made it all worth it!
Starting off the action was the IMCA Stock Car division. Blake Clark made some aggressive moves all night long beginning with his heat race win, and once again in the feature to capture the win in the IMCA Stock cars. Behind Clark there was not one person that didn’t shuffle around not knowing who was going to round out the rest of your top five. Lewis Blackwood would bring home second place running the high side all night long, meanwhile Jerrett Bransom was doing everything he could to get by him on the low side finishing third. Craig Moss who seemed like he was going to the front with Clark, kept getting shuffled around and round up fourth place, and rounding out the top five was the always exciting Matt Guillaume.
IMCA Stock Car:
- Blake Clark – #88
- Lewis Blackwood – #65
- Jerrett Bransom – #28
- Craig Moss – #25
- Matt Guillaume – #50
Following up the IMCA Stock cars, we had our next generation of racers in the Jr Mini Stock division. After so many times of coming close and finishing second behind his brother, Justin Anderson was able to get his first career win Saturday night! Following right behind his brother was Liam Holland who would pull off a second place finish. Addison Bailey who has been showing improvement every week she races would bring home third place. Brody Tarrant’s night started out with some bad luck as he hit the wall during his heat race. After a lot of work and some modifications, he was able to make the call for the feature race. Tarrant, Bailey and Holland swapped positions for a few laps before Holland would settle in at the second position, and while battling for third it looked as if those prior battle wounds would catch up to Tarrant in the closing laps and would have to settle for a fourth place finish.
Jr Mini Stock:
- Justin Anderson – #22
- Liam Holland – #9
- Addison Bailey – #5x
- Brody Tarrant – #74
The IMCA Sport Mod division was once again dominated by Casey Brunson, making it two weeks in a row that he has parked it in victory lane and his third on the season. Damon Hammond tried everything he could to catch Brunson, but Brunson was too fast around the top of the track and Hammond would have to settle in for a second place finish. Danny Cavanagh had an impressive run in Saturday night’s feature and would finish in the third position. Jeff Reynolds who looked to be a contender for the win early on in the race would slowly lose some momentum as the race went on and would finish fourth place. Gary Fox would round out your top five.
IMCA Sport Mod:
- Casey Brunson – #10
- Damon Hammond – #116
- Danny Cavanagh – #25J
- Jeff Reynolds – #29LR
- Gary Fox – #12
The IMCA Sport Compact division would see a new winner for the first time all season long as Jack Bransom would take advantage of a late race caution and pull off the win over Steve Riojas. Bransom drove up through the field and was gaining ground on Riojas, but a late race caution would put Bransom right on the rear bumper of the dominant Riojas and once the race went back green, Bransom would navigate the faster line and nab his first career feature win! Riojas who initially finished second would end up being disqualified after a claim rule dispute. Your rookie national points leader Bondy Cannon would end up finishing second. Sean Leasure would bring home his first podium finish and round out the top three. Frank Lackey would bring home a fourth place finish and rounding out the top five would be Kaleb Watson.
IMCA Sport Compacts:
- Jack Bransom – #29
- Bondy Cannon – #33B
- Sean Leasure – #67
- Frank Lackey – #41
- Kaleb Watson – 17W
Up next was the always exciting Factory Stock division and boy did they deliver. Trey Smitherman was once again your feature winner as he got the lead on lap three and never looked back! This making his second win in a row and third on the season. Finishing second and bringing home another top three is your Alvarado driver and guest on the 3 Wide Media podcast this week, Jeff Hauser. Hauser ran fourth for most of the race and had a great battle with AJ Gardner for the third position, but a late race caution gave Hauser the break he needed to get up to the second position to try and run down Smitherman. While your leaders were making their laps around the bottom, the best show of the night was happening up on the high side of the track with George White and Ryan Powers making their way through the field and throwing slider after slider on each other for the last half of the race. In the end White would walk away with third place and Powers with fourth. Brandon Taylor who led the first three laps and ran second for a majority of the race would fall victim to those cautions and ended up getting shuffled back to fifth place.
Factory Stocks:
- Trey Smitherman – #96
- Jeff Hauser – #81x
- George White – #P40
- Ryan Powers – #R12
- Brandon Taylor – #5*
Rounding out the racing action for the night was the IMCA Modified division. Glen Hibbard after having to settle for second place last weekend, was looking to reclaim his throne in victory lane. Hibbard would be successful in doing so and bring home the feature win. Second place and the man who gave Hibbard a race for a few laps was Chris Morris. What makes this even better, is that Morris is paralyzed from the waist down and has to race with a custom hand break and gas set up. If you have not met Morris, he is definitely an inspiration to all. Matt Martin would bring home third place as he tried everything to make up ground on Hibbard and Morris but could not do so. Jon White with a solid fourth place run and Derek Scott Jr would round out your top five.
IMCA Modifieds:
- Glen Hibbard – #127
- Chris Morris – #94
- Matt Martin – #11
- Jon White – #8J
- Derek Scott Jr – #01
This upcoming weekend 8/8/2020 you will have your Factory Stocks, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Sport Compacts, IMCA Sport Mods, IMCA Modifieds and the Dwarf cars back in racing action. It was great to see all of the families come out to the races, especially all of the new faces that were on hand! For more family fun and great racing action, join us again this weekend at Kennedale Speedway Park! You can bring your lawn chair, ice chest with your own drinks (no glass) and even your own food; but I wouldn’t want to miss out on a race track burger! Credit and Debit cards are accepted at the front gate for admission but it’s cash after that.
Pit Gates open at 5:00 pm
Grandstands open at 6:00 pm
Hot Laps at 7:30 pm
Racing Action begins at 8:00 pm
General Admission – $13
Ages 6-11 – $5
Ages 5 and under – Free with an adult general admission
Seniors and Military – $10 Pit Passes – $30
