OneDirt

With the racing season at Perris Auto Speedway barely underway, major events have already shaped this season’s street stock class.  In the opening night event for PASCAR Stock cars, fan favorite driver Ronnie Everhart experienced a stuck throttle and collided with the wall in turn one.  The spectacular crash broke the racer’s shoulder and sidelined her for at least one race.  Two time PAS Street Stock Champion and last year’s Victorville Auto Raceway Champion in the street stocks has begun the season on a hot streak winning the opening day events at both tracks.  The economic recession has impacted several local race teams which has dropped the car count in every division.  Adding to the mix was the inaugural race of the North/South Challenge which pits drivers from Victorville Auto Raceway against drivers from Perris Auto Speedway for bragging rights in the Inland Empire dirt track racing scene.  All of these factors played into Saturday night’s race at the PAS.

Street Stocks took center stage with the North/South Challenge.

The night’s festivities revolved around the North/South Challenge in the Street Stock class.  Working in the offseason, Promoters Mike Gibson and Don Kazarian worked together to standardize the Street Stock class rules so that drivers could travel easily between the two tracks without making major changes between races.  In addition to unifying the rules, Kazarian and Gibson also worked together on scheduling. There are no conflicts on the schedules between the two tracks which helps drivers and fans to follow the street stock events at both tracks.  That should be especially pleasing to the fans that want to follow their favorite driver.

Street Stocks mix it up in the heat race.

While the two promoters were working out the details on the class rules, the idea of competing in a North Vs. South competition between the two tracks entered the discussion as a way to encourage the racers and fans to travel between the two tracks.  When the North vs South Street Stock Challenge was announced in the off season, the basics of the events were explained as “The Series will consist of four races, two at each track. The high point driver at the end of the series will receive $1,000.00 and the winning team will receive a perpetual trophy that will stay in the winning track’s office for the year”.  This announcement had race fans salivating at the prospect of seeing racers battle for track pride.  After waiting for several weeks, fans were rewarded with the first North/South Challenge Race of the season, which turned out to be the feature event of the evening.

Jesse Gordon held off Johnny Latrop in the Sport Mod Heat race.

The PAS’s evening program also consisted of the fan favorite PASCAR Modifieds, the new Sport Modified division and the entry level Factory Stock class.  Each class was set to run heat races and feature races, but with only four entries in the Sport Modified division, track officials decided to combine the Modifieds and Sport Mod classes for their main event with the Sport Mods running at the back of the Modifieds.

The #12L of David Lord battled with Alan Updyke in the Modifieds in their main event.

Heat races opened up with the 4 car entry Sport Mods class, where last year’s VAR track champion Johnny Lathrop and young racer Jesse Gordon battling for the front lap after lap, distancing themselves by a half lap over the third and fourth place cars.  Gordon took the lead on the first lap and held off Lathrop, who continued to mount charge after charge attempting to take the lead.  Gordon held off these challenges managing to scamper under the checkered flag slightly ahead of the veteran racer.

With Ronnie Everhart injured, Stephanie Herbage was the only female racer this evening.

Next up was the Factory Stock racers with some young and not so young racers running against each other in a pure stock car division.  7 cars competed in this entry level class on the quarter mile inside track with the #62 car of Brian Bacher leading from start to finish.  This class has several interesting racers to watch which includes the Gillum team cars and 17 year old Stephanie Herbage.  With Ronnie Everhart sitting out the evening’s events, Harbage was the only female racer in the night’s racing program.

Jake Everhart bypassed the North/South Challenge but remained a force in the event.

The Street Stocks finished off the round of heat races with three heat races, each with seven entries.  Jake Everhart’s #12 Nightmare Racing car lead from start to finish in heat one with #16 car taking heat two after a battle with the hard running #25 of Curtis Dietzsch.  The North’s #15 of Mark Nustad took the final Street Stock heat race.

Mark Nustad lead the North team with a win in his heat race.

The Factory Stock main event started eight cars in a 20 lap battle that saw a very fast Brian Bacher in the #62 drop out with mechanical problems and the 17 year old Stephanie Herbage loose control and crash into the infield wall in what was only her second race ever.  Herbage was shaken up but seemed more upset about damaging the car than actually hurt.  The #5 of Tim Pyle took advantage of his starting position and car attrition to win the feature over the #55 second place car of Mike Burks Sr.

Stephanie Herbage's evening ended prematurely after hitting the infield wall near turn 1.

The Modified and Sport Modified combined main event had the #4 car of Alan Updyke and #12L of David Lord engaged in a battle from start to finish with Updyke leading the first third of the race.  Lord took the lead and held it for the second third of the race until a yellow flag came out causing a side by side restart in which Updyke took the lead in turn one and held it to the checkered flag.  The Sport Mods had Champion Johnny Lathrop drop out with car damage which opened the door for Jesse Gordon to battle his way through the Modified field and easily win the Sport Mod class event.

#25 Curtis Dietzsch loses a tire and gets sent to the back midway through the main event.

Closing out the evening was the much anticipated Street Stock Event which featured a race within a race.  The North/South Challenge points would be awarded to those Street Stock drivers that declared entry into the event and chose a side to represent.  A field of 21 cars lined up for a 25 lap feature race with Jake Everhart’s #12 and the #16 of Stefan Davies in the front row.  Davies and Everhart raced in the first two positions with the North’s #15 of Mark Nustad holding third and looking for any mistake by the front two drivers.  Nustad fell victim to a broken right side ball joint which brought out the yellow and a dual file restart with Everhart and Davies.  The number 16 of Davies again took control of the lead position with Everhart waxing the rear bumper of the first place car.  Race favorite Curtis Dietzsch in the #25 Chevy Nova found himself in an unfamiliar spot when he popped a tire halfway through the race.  Under yellow, Dietzsch’s crew was able to get his tire changed and back on the track without losing a lap but at the tail end of the field.

Dietzsch worked his way back through the field, making up 18 positions in the final 15 laps.

Another yellow at lap 14 saw the field with some changes in the top five with Davies and Everhart continuing to hold the first two spots as they were joined by the #43 Anthony Merritt in third and the #61 of Hap Vertich in fourth.  The #25 of Dietzsch had already begun working his way back to the front and was taking advantage of the yellow flag laps that kept the field closed up.  The front four held these position through lap 20 which is the normal feature length race for this class.

Tim Salch into the wall in turn four with only two laps left in the main event.

Hap Vertich seemed to be on his way to a podium finish as he worked on the third place car of Merritt.  Behind them the #25 of Dietzsch continued to work his way through the field, finding his way to the fifth position by lap 22.  Another yellow flag came out on lap 23 when the #76 of Tim Salch ended up with his car against the wall on the front straightaway coming out of turn 4.  At the time that the yellow waved, the #25 of Dietzsch had broken into the top five by taking fourth place from Vertich, moving the #61 into fifth.

A hapless Hap Vertich popped a tire on the next to last lap of the main event.

The green flag waved for the final time in the race as the remaining racers hurried to get the last two laps in.  In a heartbreaking moment, Hap Vertich, who had been running in the top five all race long, had a tire go down at the start of lap 24 putting him in the pits for the end of the race.  As Vertich pulled in the pit area, Stefan Davies, Jake Everhart, Anthony Merritt, Curtis Dietzsch and Alan Grubel passed under the checkered flag for the evening’s top five in the street stocks.

We are awaiting the points standings for the North/South Challenge at the time of this writing.