Tribune/Dan McGee - On his way to winning the sprint car main Saturday at American Valley Speedway, Steven Tiner (94) is chased by Stephen Allard (14).
Tribune/Dan McGee - Ross Neely dominated the expert class at Sunday's MRANN race at the Honey Lake MX Park in Milford, Calif.
Tribune/Dan McGee - Continuing his comeback from injuries, Josh Morros gets some air as he raced to 35th overall in the expert race.
Tribune/Dan McGee - Daemon Pecoraro was the amateur winner at Sunday's MRANN race but he had to work his way to the front after starting in the top 10.
During the victory celebration Steven Tiner gave special thanks to his pit crew when he said, "I didn't even know I won as I was going to the pits as I thought I ran fifth. The track had its ups and down but when you come from 12th to win, you can't really complain about the racetrack and it's always fun to come up here. Everybody has their day and I guess today is my day."
Earlier in the evening things weren't looking up for Tiner as he had to come through the B main to earn his spot in the feature field. That race also eliminated three northern Nevada drives as Mark Tabor Jr., Mike Monahan and Rusty Baglin all failed to earn transfer spots.
When the green waved on the sprint car main, Quincy local Jim Richardson took off with the field in hot pursuit. Lap after lap, Richardson's black number 8 held the top spot, while behind him, Tiner was starting his charge.
The only female in the field, Nicole Miller, was also on the move and was holding her own with the men on the track.
Around the halfway mark, Justin Sanders used an inside move to grab the lead from Richardson, who finish fifth.
Behind the leaders, Tiner was picking off cars but had no idea of just where he was in the order. He had a small battle with Stephen Allard until he got past then set his sights on the fleeing Sanders.
Tiner, no knowing just where he was just kept driving as hard as he could and didn't even realize when he took the lead. Needless to say, he and his crew were overjoyed at the victory.
"I have to thank my guys," he said later.
Allard ended up second ahead of Sanders and Shawn Arriaga.
Rounding out the racing card were the Pro Stocks and their feature ended with contact.
Going into the final corner Craig Nieman turned Chris Nieman's car sideways. The officials judged it to be rough driving and when Craig reached the checkered he had the black flag waiting while Chris Nieman was able to continue and received both the checkered and win.
•This weekend MRANN ended its spring series at the Honey Lake Motocross Park. The race was staged by the Virginia City Motorcycle Club and named the 1st annual Corey Herring Memorial to honor the young racer that lost his life last year.
The race used the European Scrambles format where all three divisions, expert, amateur and novice, rode a two-hour timed race. And they competed on the same course the WORCS series used a few months ago.
Ross Neely, from Chester, Calif., got the hold shot, showed everyone his heels and just checked out. On the relatively short course the order soon became blurred as the faster and slower riders were intermixed.
In the end Neely claimed the victory with a time of 2:02:48 followed by Seth Johnson, who was less than a minute behind.
"I loved the course as there were some jumps out there, some ravines, waterfalls and it was watered so that was pretty nice," Neely said after taking the checkered flag. "There were some pretty cool jumps and I like those as I can launch off them and get some rest. I also need to thank RMS, WR-1, Buffalo Chips, my parents and pit crew."
One rider in the field is a testament on how a person can come back from a life altering head injury. After a long spell of training Josh Morros started the race second, until he got a flat then pressed on to finish 35th in the longest race he's run to date.
"I feel really good, my endurance still isn't fully back but it'll come back sooner or later. Doing these kind of races, and for so long, it's going to come back."
Second to tackle the course were the novice riders and many of them rose to the occasion while, just like in all the classes, it was an endurance test for others.
After a couple of lead changes Gentile took over and was never headed.
"I was passing a lot of people, never got passed and I've never ridden Honey Lake before," Darrian Gentile, a 16-year-old from Gardnerville, said after taking the checkered flag. "And there were lots of places to pass and you've just got to be creative and get around the lappers."
One happy rider was Chrystal Ponsock, who scored two victories as she won the V Women's race Saturday and the Novice Women's class on Sunday.
Unfortunately this reporter failed to pick up a copy of the Novice finishers.
The day ended when the Amateur riders got their shot at the track. A pile up soon after the start left one rider possible injured but all the others involved were able to continue.
Finally, when the dust settled Daemon Pecoraro claimed the victory by finishing 40 seconds ahead Steve Walkiewicz. But to earn the win Pecoraro had to work his way past a few riders before taking the point.
"I got a pretty good start, inside the top 10, and it was my style of track, really rough and I just tried to pull through with it. My favorite part of the track was probably the motocross part. And I need to thank my mom, dad and McCoy's Offroad Center."
While most riders that went down received just bruises young Sage Parker didn't fare so well when she crashed right after the novice start. Just as a precaution the young rider was airlifted to the trauma center at Renown in Reno.
Her stepfather later confirmed that she had a concussion but was all right.
•On Saturday, Dallas Serpa was first overall in the Pee Wee race while Kelby Brownell, Cody Schlefstein and Kai Kapahee won their respective classes. And Joe Haney was the overall winner in the Mini Bike race.
New to MRANN was the first Vintage/Bomber race and the honor of the first win went to Brad Bolton followed by Cliff Townsend and Tim Hill.
OTHER RACING NEWS
•Lovelock Speedway was in action Saturday night where Shawn Natenstedt won the IMCA feature followed by Jeffrey Macedo. The Sport Mod feature was won by Loren Bianchi while Steve McKellip was the Pro Stock winner.
Dalton Smith won the 360 Sprint Car main while Frank Hinds was the Dwarf Car victory and Billy Church was the Hobby Stock victor.
•This week the only race on tap is at the Lovelock Speedway on Saturday with a 6 p.m. start to the action as all the usual classes compete on the oval.
•Once again NASCAR's Nevada Trio was split up. On Saturday the Nationwide series competed at Road American where Brendan Gaughan started 20th and finished third.
The Sprint Cup series visited Infineon Raceway outside of Sonoma, Calif. While both Busch brothers have won at this hilly road course they didn't fare too well this year with Kyle finishing 27th and old brother Kurt ending up 32nd.
RESULTS
•American Valley Speedway - June 19
Civil War Series:
Heat Winners - #1 Mike Henry, #2 Trent Canaces, #3 Colby Weisz, #4 Jeremy Burt
B Main Winner - 1. Herman Klein
A Main (30-Laps) - 1. Steven Tiner, 2. Stephen Allard, 3. Justin Sanders, 4. Shawn Arriaga, 5. Jim Richardson, 6. Colby Wiesz, 7. Mason Moore, 8. Nicole Miller, 9. Andy Gregg, 10. Herman Klein
•MRANN Racing Series - Honey Lake Motocross Part
Overall Finishers**
• Sunday, June 20, 2010
Expert - Ross Neely, 2. Seth Johnson, 3. Levii Hutchings, 4. Stephen Tichenor, 5. Jason Alosi, 6. Matt Zulim, 7. Pete Neely, 8. Brad Bolton, 9. John Hay, 10. Zakk Audenried
Amateur - 1. Daemon Pecoraro, 2. Steve Walkiewicz, 3. Chris Houston, 4. Ryan Spelts, 5. Lou Bilotto
Novice* - 1. Darrian Gentile
•Saturday, June 19
Pee Wee - 1. Dallas Serpa, 2. Tony Barron, 3. Dawson Working, 4. Caleb Farley, 5. Julian Corridori
Mini Bikes - 1. Joe Haney, 2. Samuel Jacobus, 3. Corey Fletcher, 4. Mason Stone, 5. Ricky Dahlberg
V Women - 1. Chrystal Ponsock, 2. Taylor Kemp, 3. Danielle Rosenquist, 4. Chanel Honea, 5. Courtney Jackson
Vintage - 1. Brad Bolton, 2. Cliff Townsend, 3. Tim Hill, 5. Rodd Lighthouse
** - Full results to be posted on www.racemrann.com later this week.
* Novice Results weren't picked up.
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