NorthWest Super Shoe 2008

 

American Speed Association Northwest Sprint Car Series makes its 10^th stop of the  2008 Championship season at StateLine Stadium Speedway for the Northwest Super Shoe Show August 23rd, 2008 

Experience brings home the win, youth follows close behind 

Post Falls, Idaho August 23^rd.  For the first time in twenty years the American Speed Association/Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association (ASA/NSRA) teams returned to StateLine Stadium Speedway for the running of the inaugural Northwest Super Shoe Show.  The quarter-mile high banked facility has great attention to detail everywhere one looks.  Clean, well manicured, with landscaped areas on both the spectator and racer sides including beautiful sponsor/VIP hospitality areas the ASA/NSRA teams were excited to get on the racing surface.  The track owner Joe Doellefeld had the track power washed to provide the best racing surface possible for the ASA/NSRA teams.  Practices for the ASA/NSRA drivers indicated the existing track record was in serious danger of falling. First practice had all twenty-one cars lined up in the pits to go out in groups of seven to get their first crack at the track.  Many of the ASA/NSRA drivers had never been on this track before so drivers were looking to both get a feel for the track itself and an initial feel of their cars on the track.  With each practice session a half-hour in length there was ample time for each team to make a run and come back into the pits for quick adjustments and return during each practice session.  Of note in the first practice session the #66 of Mark Jones had two oil line fittings not tight resulting in heavy smoke coming off the right side of the car.  Black flagged for the oil smoke the team quickly corrected their problem to be ready for second practice.  Andy Alberding in the #76 had rear tire growth issues from the tire bleeders not being installed. Alberding brought the car in to both get the excess air removed from the rear tires and bleeders installed and made it out again for first practice only to have the right rear bleeder fail losing air in the tire.  His first practice was severely shortened but the issues corrected for second and third practice.  The #99d of Rick Brown had right rear tire vibration issues curtailing his time on the track.  The Jim Diemert owned team replaced the tire to be ready for the following practices without further issues. During second practice the #33j of Jeff Montgomery had an upper shock mount bolt come out resulting in a shower of sparks from the chassis dragging on the track.  In the pits the problem was corrected with Montgomery returning to the track to finish up his practice time. Third practice revealed no issues with the twenty-one teams on hand.  Practice times provided a hint that the existing track record of 11.893 would fall during qualifying for the Northwest Super Shoe Show. Qualifying did indeed shatter the track record with Rick Brown driving the #99d breaking his own track record of 11.893 at this track set May 27^th, 2007.  His record breaking 11.796 second lap was only good enough for tenth though.  Quick time was set my Matt Hein in the #98h at 11.436 obliterating the existing record!  Hein was closely followed by the #01 of Kenny Hamilton with an 11.470 lap.  Twelve ASA/NSRA drivers eclipsed the track record this day.  On the second lap of Tony Berry’s #53 qualifying attempt the right rear gave up chunking off pieces of rubber causing Berry to spin in turn four.  His first lap of 12.429 would have to suffice for Berry. 

With qualifying completed the two Trophy Dashes would be the first racing of the Northwest Super Shoe Show.  The B Trophy Dash was served up first with the # 23 of Wes Helgeson on the pole, Justin Popple in the #19 outside pole, Kevin Burck in the #65 inside second row, and Sierra Jackson in the #25j outside second row. At the drop of the green Helgeson took the lead for the first lap.  On lap two Helgeson went high in turn two allowing Popple to slide underneath for the lead.  Jackson had started fourth but by lap three and moved pass Burke and Helgeson to take over second.  With only four laps Jackson could not get close enough to challenge Popple for the lead.  At the finish the #19 of Justin Popple took the checkers followed by Sierra Jackson wheeling the #25j in second, the #23 of Wes Helgeson third and Kevin Burck in the #65 fourth leaving the track on lap three.

The A Trophy Dash brought out the quickest qualifiers of Jake Mann in the #51 on the pole, outside pole to R. J. Fronsman in the #25z, inside second row the #01 of Kenny Hamilton, and outside second row to the #98h of Matt Hein.  At the green Fronsman tried driving around Mann on the outside in turn one.  Fronsman’s attempt failed with Mann taking the lead down the backstretch.  Over the course of the next three laps Mann stretched out his lead to three car lengths over Fronsman.  On the last lap Fronsman got very loose in turn four almost giving up second to Hamilton.  At the checkered flag Jake Mann in the #51 finished first with R. J. Fronsman in the #25z narrowly holding on to second, the #01 of Kenny Hamilton in third and the #98h of Matt Hein fourth.

After the Trophy Dashes came the eight lap Heat races. Three heat races were scheduled with the top four finishers of each heat holding their qualifying times for the main event invert for the night.  Heat One brought out the #1 of Eddie Isackson on the pole, Wes Helgeson in the #23 outside pole, the #17 of Justin Mack inside second row, Adam Roduner in the #82 outside second row, third row inside Andy Alberding in the #76, outside third row the #25z of R. J. Fronsman, and inside fourth row the #5 of Jerry Proper in a unique winged rear engine car.   At the drop of the green in turn one Adam Roduner went off track on the outside rolling the car once landing on its wheels.  The red flag came out immediately with the emergency vehicles responding as quickly as the cars on track came to a stop.  Roduner was found to be conscious though in some pain.  He was removed from his sprint car and checked out by the ambulance crew.  After a thorough checkout Roduner was transported to an area hospital for further examination.  As of this report Adam Roduner’s injuries are unknown.  After the #82 car was removed from the track the remaining sprint cars were refired and reformed for a two wide restart as no laps had been completed.  The re-drop of the green had Isackson leading into turn one.  Helgeson powered around on the outside of turns one and two to come away with the lead down the backstretch.  By the completion of lap one Fronsman, Mack, and Alberding had gotten around Isackson moving him back to fourth.  At the start of lap two the #5 of Proper had moved around Isackson as well putting the #1 back to sixth.  Helgeson had accumulated a comfortable lead over the rest of the field.  By lap five Mack started working on Fronsman to take away second from him.  Over the course of the last three laps Mack tried repeatedly to get around Fronsman being unsuccessful in his attempts.  On lap six Proper pulled off the track into the pits.  The finishing order showed Wes Helgeson taking the checkered in his #23, second to the #25z of R. J. Fronsman, third to Justin Mack in the #17, fourth to the #76 of Andy Alberding, fifth to Eddie Isackson in the #1 and sixth to the #5 of Jerry Proper.

Heat Two featured the #53 of Tony Berry on the pole, outside pole to the #19 of Justin Popple, second row inside Sierra Jackson in the #25j, outside the #99r of Cory Lockwood, third row inside Jeff Montgomery in the #33j, outside the #01 of Kenny Hamilton, fourth row inside Ricky Nelson in the #43.  At the green Berry took the lead into turn one.  Lockwood used the outside groove to move around Jackson and Popple to take over second by the completion of lap one.  On lap two Jackson moved around Popple as well to take over third.  Lockwood then went to work on the leader Berry for first.  On lap three Lockwood passed Berry to assume first place.  Jackson followed Lockwood to get around Berry for second.  Hamilton had been making his way towards the front from his sixth starting position taking over fourth then third by lap six.  On the seventh lap Hamilton got around Jackson taking over second, Jackson falling off the pace.  Montgomery had lost a position during the heat dropping back to sixth from his fifth starting position.  The finish had the #99r of Cory Lockwood in first, followed by the #01 of Kenny Hamilton, third to Sierra Jackson in the #25j, fourth to the #53 of Tony Berry, fifth to Justin Popple in the #19, sixth to the #33j of Jeff Montgomery and seventh to Ricky Nelson in the #43.  Post race inquiry with Sierra Jackson found a front Panhard bar bolt had dislodged rendering the Panhard bar useless and providing an unstable front end for her.

Heat Three starting grid showed Mark Jones in the #66 on the pole, outside pole to the #65x of Don Kudrna, inside second row Kevin Burck in the #65, outside Rick Brown in the #99d, inside third row the #4 of Greg Middendorf, outside Jake Mann in the #51, inside fourth row the #98h of Matt Hein.  The tightly bunched field came down to the green with Kudrna taking away the lead from Jones through turns one and two.  Brown, Mann, and Hein had started their march forward over the first three laps with Middendorf sliding backwards a spot.  After the completion of lap four a caution was thrown for debris on the track.  After the safety crew had cleared the debris the drivers were reformed in their order from lap four showing Kudrna in first followed by Jones, Brown, Mann, Hein, Middendorf, and Burck.  At the drop of the green Brown quickly dispensed with Jones to take over second.   Hein dove down inside Mann but couldn’t take away the spot in turn one.  On the backstretch Hein makes the pass to take third and starts to look at Brown for second. During lap six while Mann was attempting to pass Jones on the outside exiting turn two the two cars touched wheels with Mann going into the backstretch wall and Burck in the #65 spinning down into the infield to avoid hitting Mann.  The yellow came out over the field to allow safety crews to clean up the track and remove the two cars involved.  Mann’s car required a tow truck to remove; it having substantial damage.  The #65 needed only a push truck to get off the track.  The #51 of Mann could not return to the racing surface due to its extensive damage of suspension while the #65 of Burck chose not to return in order to assess if any damage was done to the car in his spin to the infield.  With the substantial time used to clear the #51 one crewmember asked about refueling the cars since they don’t carry a full load of fuel for a heat race.  The race director made the decision to run the cars to the finish since only three laps remained.  The cars were once again lined up single file for the green showing Kudrna, Brown, Hein, Middendorf, and Jones.  At the green Brown took the lead down the backstretch.  Kudrna slowed in turns three and four allowing Hein and Middendorf to drive under him for second and third.  Kudrna left the track on lap six a victim of running out of fuel.  The last two laps were completed with no change in positions resulting in Rick Brown in the #99d taking the checkered, the #98h of Matt Hein second, Greg Middendorf third in the #4, fourth to Mark Jones in the #66, fifth to Don Kudrna in the #65x, Jake Mann in the #51 sixth, and the #65 of Kevin Burck seventh.  The last three cars did not finish the race.

With the heats completed the lineup was determined for the forty lap A Main for the night to determine just who would be the Northwest Super Shoe at StateLine Stadium Speedway for 2008.  In an interesting twist of fate the owners of the #1 Eddie Isackson and Kenny Waller of the #51 talked with Isackson offering his car for the A Main for Jake Mann to drive since Mann is involved in the 2008 Championship points battle and Isackson is not.  An agreement was quickly reached and both teams descended on the #1 car to fit the driver, and to make changes to hopefully help the car turn.  Isackson had been having substantial pushing problems with the car all night.  Mann was given several checkout laps to get a feel for the car as well as get an idea of how to correct the push in the car.  Back in the #1 pit stall the crews decided to change the front tires to fresher ones and change the air pressure on the right front.  A hurried frenzy of both crews got the work done to the #1 including a tape number five in front of the 1 on the car to reflect the #51 for Mann.  The “new” #51 made it to the staging area for the cars as the very last car to be pushed off for the main event.  The starting grid for the A Main with an eight car invert had Sierra Jackson in the #25j on the pole, outside pole to the #99d of Rick Brown, second row inside Cory Lockwood in the #99r, outside the #4 of Greg Middendorf, third row inside Andy Alberding in the #76, outside the #25z of R. J. Fronsman, inside fourth row,  Kenny Hamilton in the #01, outside the #98h of Matt Hein, fifth row inside Justin Mack in the #17, outside the #23 of Wes Helgeson, sixth row inside Tony Berry in the #53, outside Mark Jones in the #66, seventh row inside the #33j of Jeff Montgomery, outside Kevin Burck in the #65, eighth row inside the #19 of Justin Popple, outside Don Kudrna in the #65x, ninth row inside the #43 of Ricky Nelson, outside Jake Mann in the #51, and Jerry Proper in the #5.  At the drop of the green Brown drove deep into turn one on the outside taking the lead coming off turn two.  Alberding and Hein bumped wheels in turns one and two without any damage or loss of spots.  Brown led lap one with Mann working on the back of field moving up to seventeenth by lap two.  The top four were unchanged with Brown leading, Jackson second, Lockwood third, and Middendorf fourth.  Mann had taken away two more spots by lap four moving to fifteenth.  During the seventh lap the #33j of Montgomery spun in turn four bringing out the caution.  During the caution the #5 of Proper left the track not to return.  The #33j was pushed off and refired to join the field at the tail end.  On lap fourteen the #65x of Don Kudrna left the track while the leaders were starting to lap traffic.  Mann was continuing his march forward keeping him on the lead lap.  At the half way point there was no change at the front Brown continuing to lead over Jackson and Lockwood.  On lap thirty the #43 of Ricky Nelson spun in turn four bringing out the caution.  During the caution the #01 of Hamilton left the track showering sparks.  The #01 had a flat tire allowing the chassis to drag on the track.  The pit crew quickly changed the tire in their pit stall and pushed Hamilton back out.  A push truck was at the ready to push off Hamilton but he simply fired the car while being pushed out to the track with the team’s quad!  A hot engine makes it possible to do that.  Hamilton rejoined the field the last car on the lead lap.  On the restart for lap thirty Brown led followed by Jackson, Lockwood, Middendorf, Alberding, Fronsman, Hein, and Mack.  On lap thirty-one Alberding drove around Middendorf taking away fourth.  Hein moved around Fronsman a few laps later to take over the sixth spot.  Middendorf started experiencing handling issues with his car losing another spot to Hein.  Middendorf spun down to the infield but kept the car going losing spots to Fronsman, Mack and Mann.  Jake Mann now found himself in eighth place in the race!  By lap thirty-eight Jackson had moved up to the back of Brown and had started to mount a challenge to take the top spot.  Over the next two laps Jackson tried her best but traffic and a wily veteran kept her in second giving the win and the title of Northwest Super Shoe to Rick Brown in the #99d.  Sierra Jackson finished second in her #25j, followed by Cory Lockwood in the #99r.  Fourth went to the #76 of Andy Alberding, fifth to Matt Hein’s #98h, sixth R. J. Fronsman in the #25z, seventh to the #17 of Justin Mack, eighth Jake Mann in the borrowed #51, ninth the #4 of Greg Middendorf, tenth Kenny Hamilton in the #01, eleventh Wes Helgeson in the #23, twelfth, and last car on the lead lap the #65 of Kevin Burck, thirteenth Jeff Montgomery in the #33j, fourteenth to the #19 of Justin Popple, fifteenth Ricky Nelson in the #43, sixteenth the #53 of Tony Berry, seventeenth Mark Jones in the #66, eighteenth Don Kudrna in the #65x, and nineteenth the #5 of Jerry Proper.

Rick Brown was crowned the first ever Northwest Super Shoe for 2008 at StateLine Stadium Speedway!