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| Thane Alderman after qualifying eight place | Thane after incident in Heat race. | Thane overtakes Coker and wins. |
Thane Alderman was overjoyed after winning the late model race at the Bullring on Saturday March 23rd. He qualified well in the top ten, and the inverted field in the Dash For Cash did not change his position to much. When he tried to challenge leader Dennis Rock Jr, he lost the side of his car. Mike Ayers passes into the lead with 3 laps to go, and held on for a win. Thane Alderman left the track and had enough time in the pits to re attach the lost front wheel panel before the main event. Chris Clyne #99 had the pole for the main event, however he left the track after a small warm up period, and failed to take the green flag. This placed last weeks winner Steve Anderson on the pole. The battle up front quickly belongs to Ray Hooper Jr. and Kyle Busch replacement in the 04 Mike Cofer, and followed close behind by Steve Anderson, Wayne Jacks and Alderman. While a fire in the pits on #66 Greg Haase car creates a yellow flag situation for the safety crews to cross the track, it allows the field to bunch up. Mike Cofer passes Hooper and Alderman follows with Scotty Gafforini placing Hooper in fourth after Wayne Jacks spins on lap 30. Followed by another crash in turn 1 that takes out some of the cars running in the top 10 including David Quartaro and Mike Ayers and Billy Newman. On lap 33 Thane Alderman takes the lead and remains unchallenged even after a late race crash including Lance Magin. Thane Alderman crossed the finish line first followed by Cofer and Gafforini, he thanked his crew for the great job in getting the car back for the main event, and thanked the driver for a clean race while tongue in cheek pointing at the right side of his car body that sported a black tire donut and blue duct tape accessories.
The Legend race was considerably subdued compared to last weeks record yellow race. Mike Morrissey #15 from Lake Tahoe, Nevada took the pole and dominated much of the race as he did last week. Morrissey is the one to watch this season, as well as last weeks winner David Anderson. Both battled it out in a clean race followed by #3 Robbie Guevara and Rick Rogas and would finish in the same line up. B.J. Bollman #555 won the Legend Heat or B-Main. Of the young guns the rookies who have joined the field from Go-Kart and Bandoleros Alex Haase once again did a great job finishing seventh, after a top 5 finish last week. Joey Mogar had some trouble and spun several times. Dustin Ash also spun and Jimmy Parker Jr, who flipped his car last week had a respectable finish in 19th without any damage.
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| B.J.Bollman spins causing a chain reaction | Field avoids wreck with Steve Legg and "Gippy" Taylor. | 15 Mike Morrissey passes Joey Mogar. |
The track had to issue black flags to Glenn Burke and Michael Haslam for rough driving and excessive blocking. The two seem to have the strongest cars in the Outlaw Stock division in which Glen Burke 96w dominated last year. However the 22 of Haslam seem to be as wide as the driving groove blocking any advances by Burke in the 20 lap race. Burke was patient but not patient enough spinning out Haslam twice in the main and the heat, giving both drivers the black flag penalty, which placed them in the rear of the field. The penalty gives 87 Mark Schottmuller the lead but he quickly gets overtaken by the 77 of Dick Attisani and #3 of Tom Youmans. Burke and Haslam were not able to move back to the front. Burke did win the heat or first 20 lap main.
The chargers 30 lap main was won by Guy Griebel in the 13 car, he sat on the pole and remained unchallenged. Travis Swallwell won the heat. Which brings us to the closing race the introduction of the Bullring Bombers. For a complete explanation of the division you could go to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway website or it could be compared to last week's Legend Race. A Free for all bashing and banging without yellow flags. It was obvious that some cars are looking at a longer season avoiding any banging while others took it as an invitation for a demolition derby. The Bombers concept is exactly that off a rolling Demolition Derby without yellow flags for debris, cars and other items on the track. It confused me that a red flag was thrown for a bouncing tire that rolled around the track. The new feature is certainly a crowd pleaser, more people stayed enduring the windy chill to see the bombers compared to last weeks Mechanix Wear Speed Trucks. Darren Rollins took the win in the Bombers.
Patrick Vogel was disqualified in Late Models for a weight violation in a post race tech inspection.
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| Michael Haslam challenged by Glenn Burke. | Bomber action | Barney Fife Bomber was a popular car. |
All photos by Peter Huender