Sports
Legends premiere at TMS
Tyler Ohmann
07/24/2012
Debuting at Thunder Mountain Speedway last Sunday evening were the INEX Legend cars.
The legends ran a heat race as well as a feature race on the night at TMS.
“They always race in Minot on Sundays, but because Minot isn’t running because of the state fair, they were looking for a place to come up,” said track manager Jeff Smith. “We got a guy willing to sponsor them. They were sponsored by Triple B Motor Sports.”
The Legends provided some excitement for the crowd, as they reached high speeds on the track and are a small car, which is different for spectators than the large sport stocks and Wissota midwest modifieds.
“Things went excellent, they are a good fun car to watch,” Jeff Smith said.
On the night, legends driver Zach Lutz was the top performer, winning both the heat race and the feature.
In the feature Lutz came from behind to catch Tom Wagner on the second to last lap to take the checkered.
Bruce Erickson took second in the heat race, and Steve Pankowski finished third place in the feature.
Also racing were George Keller and Jon Schumann.
A shuffle atop the leader board occurred in the sport stock division as points leader Erik Blada lost a tire in the heat race and was never able to recover.
Blada finished fifth in that heat race, and did not place in the feature.
Kevin Smith took the checkered in that first heat with Blada, and Cody Smith finished in second.
In heat two Steve Beckedahl cruised to an easy victory, winning by several car lengths over second place Pat Smith.
Cody Smith nabbed a win away from Chris Romfo in the trophy dash as he avoided a spinout by Kyle Romans and snuck ahead of Romfo coming out of the final turn on the last lap.
Romfo was able to get revenge though as he finished just ahead of Steve Beckedahl in the feature race.
Following the races the point standings changed to:
1. Steve Beckedahl 284
2. Erik Blada 281
3. Matt Hunter 266
4. Kevin Smith 257
5. Cody Smith 256
The modified division had only nine racers, which left them with one heat and a feature race on the night.
Bottineau’s Shawn Nostdahl raced his way to a win in the heat race, narrowly edging Jim Morlock and Norm Reitan for the win.
It was Jess Brekke though that got the win in the 20-lap feature race as he finished ahead of Norm Reitan and Jason Laducer.
Points currently stand at:
1. Jim Morlock 248
2. Ray Smith 245
3. Norm Reitan 235
4. Tyler Dosch 222
5. Jarret Lovcik 214
Jeff Smith has been pleased with how the season has gone thus far.
“Our car count started off real strong in the beginning, but we lost a little,”Jeff Smith said. “We’re also doing a few things, working the track in a little better.”
“We’re looking to get some different equipment in to help with track prep,” Jeff Smith continued. “Things are coming around and they’re going well.”
TMS will fire up the engines again on August 5, which will also serve as the powder puff race, as it was postponed last Sunday due to time constraints.