Press Release by Jim Pluhar
Santa Maria, CA - August 15, 2009

West Coast 360 Sprint Cars, Papich Construction IMCA Modifieds, Toste Grading & Paving Mini Stocks, and NMRA TQ Midgets rolled into Santa Maria Speedway Saturday night for Mega 97.1/Hyundai of Santa Maria "Ladies Night".

Peter Murphy, of Clovis, started third in a field of 22 Sprint Cars in their 30-lap "A" main event and took 13 laps to catch and pass co-point leader Justyne Hamblin for the lead. Hamblin suffered a flat tire later in the event that dropped her well down in the field at the finish. Atascadero's Greg Porte ran a strong event to place second ahead of Albert Pombo of Easton. Santa Maria's Danny Sheridan had a night off from his usual USAC/CRA 410 Sprint Car ride and drove his 360 to fourth place, just ahead of last week's VRA Grand Slam winner at SMS, Greg Alexander of Gardena. Dennis Howell, of Rancho Palos Verdes, won the 12-lap "B" main event and 8-lap heat races were won by Porte, Hamblin, and Koen Shaw of Fresno.

Modifieds had an identical 27-car field that required a "B" main of their own. Bakersfield's Nick Sylvester returned for the second week in-a-row, and this time came out on top in the 25-lap "A" feature event. Jason Papich, of Arroyo Grande, took the lead on lap 2 and held onto it until the 21st circuit before Sylvester got by and went on to the victory. Papich was second, followed by Robby Sawyer, of Bakersfield, and Santa Marians Daylan Coffey and Josh Vogt. Austin Burke, of Salinas, captured the 10-lap "B" main and 8-lap heat race wins went to Bob Diaz, of Arroyo Grande, Doug Thornton and Danny Lauer, both of Santa Maria.

After nine straight 20-lap Mini Stock feature victories, Tom Grzincic, of San Luis Obispo, was knocked out of victory circle by Nipomo's Jeremy Heroux, who is second in points. It all happened in dramatic fashion when Heroux caught the point leader napping on a last lap restart and was able to get by and then hold him off to the checkered flag. Nipomo's Dustin and Korban Ensign came in third and fourth with Robby Cervantes, of Arroyo Grande, fifth. Eight-lap heat races were taken by Grzincic, Korban Ensign, and Ben Caswell of Santa Barbara.

Camarillo's Richard Ortega, Jr. won his third 25-lap TQ Midget feature event in succession at Santa Maria. Ortega outgunned Scott Dobson, of Newbury Park, and Bruce Hiroshima of Camarillo. Kenny Wiley, of Sunland, and West Evans, of Moorpark, completed the top-five. Hiroshima and Jimmy Dodson, of Bakersfield, captured 8-lap heat races.

Next Saturday night Super Late Model Stocks, California Lightning Sprints, and MMI Factory Stocks will see action on the 1/3-mile oval. Ticket prices will be $16.00 for adults, $14.00 for seniors and military and their spouses, and $5.00 for youngsters six to twelve. Children five and under are free. Spectator gates will open at the new time of 4:00 p.m., with qualifying at 5:00 p.m. and racing at 6:00 p.m. Santa Maria Speedway is located 1/4-mile north of the US 101/166 interchange on Hutton Road.

RACE SUMMARIES:
Sprint Cars: Fast Time - Richard VanderWeerd, 14.550.
Heat 1 - Greg Porte, Albert Pombo, R. VanderWeerd, Greg Alexander, Wes Gutierrez, Chris Ennis, Joey Layman, Jay Waugh, Terry Nichols.
Heat 2 - Justyne Hamblin, Mike Knopf, Danny Sheridan, Peter Murphy, Davey Pombo, Jayson May, Jared Little, Jeff Culver, Rick Eberhardt.
Heat 3 - Koen Shaw, Jace VanderWeerd, Rusty Carlile, Hobie Conway, Dennis Howell, Bill Jones, Lynn Anderson, T.J. Smith, Bruce Douglass.
"B" Main Event - Howell, D. Pombo, Gutierrez, Ennis, May, Layman, Smith, Jones, Little, Nichols, Waugh, Eberhardt, Anderson, Culver, Douglass (DNS).
"A" Main Event -  Murphy, Porte, A. Pombo, Sheridan, Alexander, Conway, D. Pombo, Carlile, May, R. VanderWeerd, Ennis, J. VanderWeerd, Shaw, Little, Hamblin, Gutierrez, Layman, Howell, Jones, Nichols, Knopf, Smith.

IMCA Modifieds:
Heat 1 - Bob Diaz, Nick Sylvester, Chad Weber, Daylan Coffey, Josh Vogt, Jared Domingos, Austin Burke, Jacob Pombo, Mike Highland.
Heat 2 - Doug Thornton, Tony Toste, Cody Burke, Aaron Barnell, Shawn Calderwood, Greg Tucker, Bryan Clark, Ken Kehs, Ricky Childress, Jr.
Heat 3 - Danny Lauer, Joey Claborn, Kenny Kirkpatrick, Jason Papich, Robby Sawyer, Paul Terrones, Robert Marsh, Jay Bowman, Gary Curtis.
"B" Main Event - A. Burke, Clark, Marsh, Bowman, Curtis, Childress, Kehs, Highland, Pombo.
"A" Main Event - Sylvester, Papich, Sawyer, Coffey, Vogt, Lauer, Weber, Thornton, Clark, Tucker, Marsh, C. Burke, Toste, Diaz, Domingos, Kirkpatrick, Calderwood, Terrones, Barnell, Bowman, Claborn, A. Burke.

Mini Stocks:
Heat 1 - Korban Ensign, Robby Cervantes, Taelor Janes, Kurt Larsen, Phillip Sewell, Lorinda Kearns, Adrian Guzman.
Heat 2 - Ben Caswell, Jeremy Heroux, Robert Dye, Kevin Dye, Jammy Earnest, Hardy Ensign, Dakote Rivera.
Heat 3 - Tom Grzincic, Pat Fausel, Dustin Ensign, Jeff Dye, Ed Rains, Rich Stevens.
Main Event - Heroux, Grzincic, D. Ensign, K. Ensign, Cervantes, Larsen, Fausel, Janes, Caswell, J. Dye, Stevens, Rains, R. Dye, K. Dye, Sewell, Kearns, Mike Weigel, Guzman, Earnest, H. Ensign.

TQ Midgets:
Heat 1 - Jimmy Dodson, Richard Ortega, Jr., Anthony Lopiccolo, Scott Dobson, Dave Lambert.
Heat 2 - Bruce Hiroshima, Kenny Wiley, Scott Niven, West Evans, Amanda Thomas, Ron Wiley.
Main Event - Ortega, Dobson, Hiroshima, K. Wiley, Evans, Niven, Dodson, R. Wiley, Lopiccolo, Lambert, Thomas.

POINT STANDINGS:
IMCA Modifieds:
1. Chad Weber, 381; 2. Tony Toste/Doug Thornton, 339; 4. Danny Lauer, 336; 5. Daylan Coffey, 309.

Mini Stocks:
1. Tom Grzincic, 596; 2. Jeremy Heroux, 532; 3. Kurt Larsen, 469; 4. Dustin Ensign, 443; 5. Robby Cervantes, 418.