May Valley Speedway Drivers do Well at Thunder Valley

By Gloria Woller

August 1, 2003

Twenty race cars representing May Valley Speedway were ready for competition Friday evening at Thunder Valley Speedway, just north of Alamosa. Two tracks, four days, Valley Days Championship Series was ready for the green flag. May Valley Speedway track promoters, Don and Gloria Woller, assisted Thunder Valley by setting up the agenda for two days of racing which included heat race qualifiers, pole dashes, car transfers, A & B Main Events, and a point scoring system along with the alignments.

Friday evening, drivers drew pills for their positions to start their heat. The finish of the heats determined their alignment for the Qualifying Heats which qualified them for their Saturday’s positions in the A or B Mains.

Friday evening, 27 Hobby Stocks qualified. Eight drivers were from Lamar. #97 Jimmy Jenkins took 3rd and #24 Seth Salisbury placed 4th in the Pole Dash made from the fastest of the 27 car field.

In the Super Stock Division, 17 drivers, nine from Lamar area, did a fine job. In the Pole Dash, #17 Chuck Hackett finished 3rd place, #12 Kelly Yutterman in 4th, #68 Brad Hopkins in 5th, and #86 Justen Beakley in 6th, transferring them directly to the "A" Main.

Hobby Trucks raced on Friday night. Three from Lamar joined the 11 truck field. #43 Cameron Austin was the winner, #90 Keith Nidey finishing in 5th and #92 Keith Eldon Nidey finishing 6th.

Saturday’s final showdown was 50 laps for each division. The Super Stocks were first to run their 50 lap feature race. Halfway through, #86 Justen Beakley had worked his way up to the back bumper of #4 Dean Huss, Jr., but couldn’t get past. By the time of the checkered flag, the track’s surface had changed somewhat adding and taking away to the handling for the drivers.

Several racers were plagued with mechanical difficulties, flat tires, broken radiators and hoses, broken rear ends, plugged carburetors, blown engines, spin outs, and even a few black flags.

Hobby tock #19 Keith Stegman blew his engine on Friday night. Shortly, his crew had borrowed an engine from last year’s Super Stock Valley Days Champion, #4 Dean Huss, Jr. By 5 AM Saturday they were ready to race and grab an overdue nap. 2002 Hobby Stock Champion, #24 Seth Salisbury managed to get ahead of #97 Jimmy Jenkins early and that’s the way they raced the rest of the 40 remaining laps, bumper to bumper.

Both nights of racing demonstrated great sportsmanship and courteous driving, both on and off the track. Among the many fans, there was a good turn out of dedicated Lamar race fans that traveled and supported our Lamar drivers at Thunder Valley.

Valley Days at May Valley Speedway has been rescheduled for September 12 and

13th.

1. #4 Dean Huss, Jr.; 2. #11 Dave Kopp; 3. #17 Chuck Hackett; 4. #12 Kelly Yutterman; 5. #86 Justen Beakley; 6. #2 Angel Munoz; 7. #5 Andy Woller; 8. #8 Lindsay Huss; 9. #67 Jeff Woller; 10. #1 Fred Elliott; 11. #44 Max Butner; 12. #68 Brad Hopkins; 13. #17 Tommy Torrez; 14. #00 Jeff King; 15. #007 Tony Hill; 16. #24 Tony Garcia

1. #33 Marvin Hatton; 2. #24 Seth Salisbury; 3. #97 Jimmy Jenkins; 4. #2 Phillip Munoz; 5. #19 Keith Stegman; 6. #37 Doug Hayes; 7. #31 Leon Berry; 8. #17 Eric McGowan; 9. #68 Skyler Weeks; 10. #26 Mike Sterle; 11. #55 Mike Dempsey; 12. #35 Dean Ross; 13. #00 Don Droll; 14. #22 Linda McCormick; 15. #22x Angel Munoz.