LOVELOCK - Blessed with perfect weather the Lovelock Speedway hosted its final event of 2009. This time the drivers were racing for fun, trophies and a bit more serious cause.

Both competitors and spectators could either pay the reduced prices or donate cans of food to the Community Food Bank. Even thought this was a fun event, the racing was as intense as ever.

And several first time drivers got a taste of competition.

Due to a low car count, the track used its usual policy of combining several classes into each race. The closest finish of the day came in the Pro/Hobby Stock feature that ended with a surprise winner.

"The race was fun, exciting and I just tried to get up there," Remi Lopez said after winning the feature.

When the green waved the two pro stocks driven by Adam Watson and Eddie Scarberry took off with the Lopez and John Wright in hot pursuit.

With their horsepower advantage both Watson and Scarberry seemed to have the race well in hand. Further back Byron Hutchinson, actually racing a Rat Mod was on the move but his car failed him before the race was over.

Up front Wright spun out of contention then in the final two laps leader Watson spun out of the lead while Scarberry also spun his car.

Asked about seeing this, Lopez said, "I was happy as I could get around them since they were faster.

After going as hard as he could, Lopez just kept the pedal to the metal as he headed for the victory. Scarberry recovered and almost caught the leader at the checkered flag but had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Back in the pits, Scarberry, who is on active with the Navy at NAS Fallon, said, "I got into Turn 3 real hard, spun out and did two laps in a circle. They got me push started and I got going again. On the final turn I cut down low, tried to take it on the bottom but he had a little more than I did so the difference was maybe a fender but not very much."

The mixed feature was all Jeff Macedo. His IMCA Modified was parked for repairs after last week's Dirt Track Championship event at Fallon.

When the green waved he took off and showed the field his heels. Behind him there were several spins and later, Macedo had to use some caution as he lapped almost the entire field.

"It was a fun car but it's been a hassle for the whole year and today it just got going," Macedo said. "The track was tacky, very tacky and I just had to be careful and gas it."

Jeff Elerick was another driver that had everything his own way. With only three Modifieds and an IROC car in the main he was clearly the fastest.

Once the green waved Elerick took off, and due to his set up, circulated most of the track on only three wheels. With most of the weight on the right rear wheel his left front was usually several inches above the track.

After winning the final race of the 2009 season, he said, "It was a pretty good race and the car was handling good."

Once the dust settled everyone headed either home or to a motel to get ready for the night's award banquet at Sturgeons Casino.

Among those winning both the Rookie-of-the-Year honors and their respective class championships were Loren Bianchi (Rat Mods), Tony Taylor (360 Sprints) and Adam Watson (Pro Stocks). One woman, Jenny Greathouse, who scored her double in the IROC division, joined them.

Greathouse is a mother of three, two- and four-year old daughters as well as an 11-month old son.

"The season was pretty good considering I started about in the middle of it and it was very adventurous," she said. "It's definitely a lot of fun but racing is a family sport and has to be because it's a lot of work. Everyone in the family has to be involved in order to get it done and my girls have a blast and a really good time at the race track."

Scoring his second championship in as many years was Jeff Macedo, who is the newly elected vice-president to the track's board.

Reflecting on this past season and the increased competition he said, " It was a tough year, a whole lot faster and a lot harder. This title means a whole lot and I'm looking for the same thing next year."

The new association president Galen Reese commented that he'd spend the winter lining up new sponsorship and helping with the improvements slated for the facility. Among those are pit lighting, new bathrooms in the spectator area, enlarged grandstands as well as improvements in the scoring tower and flagman's station.

Next season should begin, weather permitting, around the end of April. For those wishing further information the track's website is; www.lovelockspeedway.com

OTHER RACING NEWS

•Three of NASCAR's Nevada Quartet were in action this weekend at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.

Kyle Busch won Friday evening's Nationwide event while Brendan Gaughan came from 30th to finish 15th. In Saturday night's Sprint Cup event, Kyle Busch ended up eighth two spots ahead of his older brother Kurt, who ended up 10th.

RESULTS

• Lovelock Speedway - Oct. 17

Mixed Class:

Heat Race - 1. Jeffrey Macedo, 2. Duncal Lee, 3. John Scherer, 4. Loren Bianchi, 5. John Garretson Sr., 6. Tom Molloy

Main (15 Laps) - 1. Jeffrey Macedo, 2. Duncal Lee, 3. John Garretson Sr., 4. John Scherer, 5. Tom Molloy, 6. Loren Bianchi

Hobby/Pro Stocks:

Heat Race - 1. Remi Lopez, 2. John Wright, 3. Adam Watson*, 4. Neetra Childs, 5. Laura Richardson, 6. Jimmy Berhorst, 7. Eddie Scarberry*, 8. Byron Hutchinson

Main (15 Laps) - 1. Remi Lopez, 2. Eddie Scarberry*, 3. John Wright, 4. Adam Watson, 5. Neetra Childs, 6. Laura Richardson, 7. Byron Hutchinson

IMCA Modifieds:

Heat Race - 1. Jeffrey Elerick Jr., 2. Alec Childs, 3. Jack Cooney

Main (8 Laps) - 1. Jeffrey Elerick Jr., 2. Alec Childs, 3. Chris Garretson, 4. Jack Cooney

•Lovelock Speedway Awards:

IMCA Modifieds:

Rookie of the Year - Don Childs

Top 5 - 1. Jeffrey Macedo, 2. Shawn Natenstedt, 3. Jeffrey Elerick Jr., 4. Don Childs, 5. Bob Cooney

360 Sprints:

Rookie of the Year - Tony Taylor

Top 5 - 1. Tony Taylor, 2. John Garretson Jr., 3. Galen Reese, 4. Mike White, 5. Rusty Baglin

Pro Stocks:

Rookie of the Year - Adam Watson

Top 5 - 1. Adam Watson, 2. Kevin Kentopp, 3. Al Goss, 4. Ed Goss, 5. Brent Lawrence

Hobby Stocks:

Rookie of the Year - 1. Alec Childs

Top 5 - 1. (tie in points) Paul Shamlian and Alec Childs, 2. Rocky Goetz, 3. Remi Lopez, 4. Joe Millican, 5. Gordan Richardson

Super Mods:

Rookie of the Year - Darrel Gogert

Top 5 - 1. Darrel Gogert, 2. Chris Overman, 3. Kenny Knight, 4. Darrell Gogert, 5. Jeffrey Macedo

Rat Mods:

Rookie of the Year - Loren Bianchi

Points finishers - 1. Loren Bianchi, 2. Michael Goldsworthy

IROC:

Rookie of the Year - Jenny Greathouse

Top 5 - 1. Jenny Greathouse, 2. Paul Rogers, 3. Katie Rogers, 4. John Garretson Sr., 5 Gary Rogers

Dwarf Cars:

Rookie of the Year - Dalton Smith

Top 5 - 1. Frand Hinds, 2. Dalton Smith, 3. Drew Jenkins, 4. Chri Forgnone, 5. Jeremy McKinnon

Outlaw Karts - (5-8) 1. Danneeka Garretson, 2. Aliyah Garretson, 3. Angelica Lopez, 4. Mary Millican, 5. Kolbie Mace

- (9-13) - 1. Dylan Garretson, 2. Zachary Cail, 3. Danner Barrick, 4. Shay Smith, 5. Eric Taylor