Valley Days Invitational Completes Season

By Gloria Woller

September 26, 2003

Valley Days Invitational 2-Day Series took the green flag at 7 PM Friday evening wit a series of Heat Races, Qualifying Races, and Pole Dashes, and one of the season’s craziest Main Events in the Mini Stocks Division

Friday’s six fastest cars that qualified for Saturday’s "A" 50 lap feature race were Super Stock #9 Randy Tipton of Wesken Kansas, #112 Ray Laird of Howard, #6 Joe Shoup of Lamar, #17 Chuck Hackett from Poncha Springs, #68 Brad Hopkins of Eads, and #44 Max Butner of Lamar. In the Hobby Stock Division the six fastest cars were #1Wayne Williams of Lamar, #88 Raymond Dechant of Lamar, #2 Phillip Munoz of Lamar, #19 Keith Stegman of Lamar, #38 Lonnie Dague of Salida and #97 Jimmy Jenkins of Lamar. Friday’s Mini Stock Australian Pursuit winner was #3 Jared Hays of Lamar, #29 Shawn Lopez of Lamar was second, and #13 Nick Squire finished 3rd.In the Mini Stock Main Event, out of 12 cars, only three finished because of continuous spins and wrecks throughout the 20 lap race. The red came out when #17 Brian Smith’s Toyota got tangled up on the front straightaway, crashing into the wall and rolling. Smith was helped out of the wreckage uninjured, as the fans held their breath. #40 Parke Hawkins was the winner, #13 Nick Squire of Syracuse finished second. Strong running #29 Shawn Lopez of Lamar, who seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, was third.

Saturday’s show was hampered by cold, wind, and finally rain as the show was to start canceling the racing program for the evening, rescheduling for the next day. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. Racing received the green flag at 4 PM and great racing it was!!

Hobby Stock "B" Main was won by #22 Angel Munoz of Lamar, #24 Seth Salisbury of Lamar in second. The Super Stock "B" Main winner was #4 Dean Huss, Jr of Howard, Colorado and #5 Andy Woller of Lamar came in second. The Econo Australian Pursuit saw #73 Justin Rainwater of Lamar as winner, #22 Doug Lapar of Springfield was second, #11 Eric Settles of Holly came in 3rd. In the 25 lap Main Event once again #73 Justin Rainwater was the winner, #11 Eric Settles was second, and #22 Doug Lapar came in 3rd. Leaving no one out, Hobby Trucks raced on Sunday. The Australian Pursuit was won by #80 Reese Spady of Lamar, second place #16 Matt Ratzlaff, and 3rd place was #57 Kent Ruark of Alamosa. The 25 lap Main Event was won by a very happy #92 Keith Eldon Nidey of Lamar as the fans cheered. #8 Frank Perez of Lamar took second with #57 Kent Ruark finished third in a close race.

The 50 lap Super Stock Main Event demonstrated some fine driving skills on the black smooth clay oval. Halfway through , the fans focused in on #44 Max Butner’s car slowly but steadily, closing the small gap held by leader #9 Randy Tipton. Because of an earlier back injury to Max Butner, Lamar’s Darren Deloach was invited to drive and that he did. About lap 43, Darren took over the lead in lapped traffic for the win. #9 Randy Tipton finished second, #6 Joe Shoup was third, and #4 Dean Huss, Jr in 4th with #5 Andy Woller along side for 5th place and #68 Brad Hopkins right there for 6th place.

The Hobby Stock feature event packed plenty of excitement for the race fans. Following a big crash during the first lap, the race was stopped, wreckage removed, cars realigned by flagman Brett Buxton, and racing was back to green. There were 50 exciting non-stop laps of great competition all the way to the checkered flag. #19 Keith Stegman, driving very smooth, lead the 20 car field for 32 laps when he started developing rear end problems, putting him out of the competition at lap 40. #22 Angel Munoz was the winner with brother #2 Phillip Munoz finishing in second. #97 Jimmy Jenkins was 3rd, #88 Raymond Dechant 4th, #20 Shawn Salisbury of Lamar was 5th and #37 Doug Hays finishing in 6th.

Congratulations to our winners of Valley Days 2003 Championship Series between Thunder Valley Speedway and May Valley Speedway. The Super Stock Championship was tied in points with #17 Chuck Hackett from Poncha Springs and defending 2002 Champion #4 Dean Huss, Jr. The tie breaker is determined by best Main Event finisher. Congratulations to #4 Dean Huss, Jr from Howard, Colorado, our 2003 Valley Days Point Champion. Congratulations to the rest of our drivers all are doing a fine job. Second place was #17 Chuck Hackett, 3rd place #68 Brad Hopkins, 4th place #44 Max Butner, 5th place #5 Andy Woller and #86 Justen Beakley in sixth.

Our Hobby Stock 2003 Valley Days Series Championship was presented to Lamar’s #97 Jimmy Jenkins, #2 Phillip Munoz placed second and defending 2002 champion #24 Seth Salisbury came in 3rd, #37 Doug Hays was 4th, #22 Angel Munoz was 5th place, and #19 Keith Stegman placed sixth.

This concludes May Valley Speedway’s 2003 racing events for the season. It’s time to relax and enjoy the off season.