| Race: Points Race #06 Date: 6-20-2004 Location: Richmond, Va. Track: 360 West Shopping Center Temperature: 80°F & Sunny |
| VORRA's sixth point race of the year was the most beautiful so far. The high reached only 81and the skys were mostly clear. Track setup was modified again to a unconventional layout as seen in the diagram below. ![]() John Laster continued his year long dominance of qualifying by TQing in two classes this time. 1st he blistered the track in 1/8th Scale then cruised to the pole in Electric Touring. In Nitro Touring Pro, Mike Bowman led the way with a quick 18 laps in 5:05.96. The Sport division of Touring saw Chris Booberg set the fast laps finishing with a 15 lap effort on a 5:04.07 to take the top spot. Taking the track first were the drivers of the 1/8th Scale class. Two drivers, Lorenzo Allen & Phil Langhorne, were unable to make the start but the other seven cars roared to life and put on a good show. Mark "Sparky" Poore quickly moved into the lead and pulled away to half track cushion. At about 4 minutes in, John Laster started to reduce the deficit lap by lap coming within just two turns of Sparky by the first fuel stop. Quick pit work by Ricky Simons lengthened Sparkys lead back to about five seconds but once again John hunkerd down and started to run Sparky down again. Around the 8 minute mark, John had pulled up on Sparkys race car and patiently waited for the right moment to make his pass. He didn't have to wait long but bobbled on the pass and again lost ground to the leader. The last fuel stop came and went without change in position but John soon made his move and solidly took the lead pulling away from Poore by some 4 seconds as the spectators oooh'd and ahh'd. Sparky made one last effort to close the gap quickly, thus exciting the crowd by cutting some corners very close and seemingly defying the shape of the turns making them appear straight while pulling up on Johns back bumper. Looking to make a pass with just 40 seconds left he cut the corner too close and spit a dogbone ending his drive back and securing Johns well deserved victory. Great Drive John. The rest finished like this, 2nd Mark Poore, 3rd Ken Harris, 4th Louis Pollard (great job!), 5th Mike Bowman who also had a good run going early but fell out due to mechanical gremlins, 6th Terrance Brown, & 7th Stan Medlin. John Laster was a busy man. Just minutes after finishing his romp in 1/8th scale he took to the track in his Electric Touring car. John didn't have to work as hard for this victory but did have a few close calls. Showing his qualifying form he secured the victory and put another notch on his belt for the weekend. Two in a row! The rest of the field finished like this 2nd Mac Scott, 3rd Angie Ingram, 4th Tommy Ingram, 5th & 6th went to Wayne Goodwin and Corrine Medlin respectively as neither driver was able to start. When Nitro Truck took the track, Earl Ingram flat out left the rest of the field earning a well deserved victory on Fathers day. Son, Tommy was his closest challenger but finished some two laps back. Spencer Atkinson put on a valiant effort but was some two laps behind Tommy at races end. Stan Medlin and David Basl rounded out the field finishing 4th and 5th. Nitro Touring Sport burnt the track up next with some awesome driving. Ricky Simons took the lead early and held that spot for several minutes before making a misjudgment and turning up short thus handing the lead to Ashley Stringer who in turn had his hand full of David Basl. Basl & Stringer soon had the company Chris Booberg and a hard charging Simons. At one time all 4 drivers swapped the lead & continued up to just short of the second fuel stop when Simons racer ran into something unmovable and was forced the retire. Booberg also would have some problems that caused hefty delays in the pits leaving the race to be decided between Ashley and David. As the race progressed, David's setup proved to be the difference as he started to pull away from Ashley by touring very clean and consist ant laps. When the dust settled David would take the win with Ashley, Chris, & Ricky in that order. Josh Wallace and Phil Langhorne would not start. Nitro Touring Pro saw John Laster's chance for a hat trick realized. This was the third event he would start. After winning both 1/8th and electric touring, John had as good a chance as anyone to secure the victory. Someone should have told pole sitter Mike Bowman. From the starting tone Mike showed why he was the TQ. He steadily pulled away from the field and had a comfortable lead after the first round of fuel stops. Then that pesky John would start to make his run. Just as in 1/8th scale John started to even the distance between Mike and himself. And after the last fuel stops were complete John was reeling in Mike at a rather quick pace. Mikes car had gotten very loose and would in the closing laps show why. Mike went down the straight, turned right and promptly lost his rear wheel ending his chance to upset Laster's run for three. When the laps were counted, John would secure his third victory of the day, Mike would come in second, Terrance Brown third with a good solid run. Fourth would belong to Sean Tabor who despite fighting engine tuning all day finished the event. Fifth belonged to Kevin Randolph (points leader), sixth to Josh Lancaster, seventh to Jamie Danoti, & eighth to DNS Stan Medlin. Last but not least on the track were those crazy Nitro Monster Trucks. These guys were bad. They wouldn't just touch a corner....they'd run over it and never lose a position. Pole sitter Jamie Donati was unable to start and therefore relegated to last place finishing. However Lorenzo Allen, up from the beach area, put on a great show as he out cornered and out accelerated Victor Boger and Wayne Goodwin to the finish line. When the big trucks crossed under the bridge, Lorenzo would be leading Victor by 6 laps, and Wayne by 8.
Don't forget the next points race (#7) will be on July 11. Make plans to be there. ---Mark Poore |