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 LAKEVILLE,
IN -- While three of the five NASCAR Touring divisions employing a
Hoosier tire-rule have completed their 2004 campaigns, both NASCAR
Southwest Series and the NASCAR Modified Series were in action over
the weekend. In the NASCAR Southwest Series, David Gilliland captured
his second win of the season at Mesa Marin Raceway in California on
Saturday as the series heads for the final two events of the year.
Gilliland led just once in the 167-lap race. The Riverside, CA driver
took the lead from Craig Raudman with 11 laps to go en route to the
win. While in the NASCAR Modified Series, the 2004 championship all
came down to the final event at Thompson International Speedway. Tony
Hirschman entered the race with a 30 point lead over Eddie Flemke. The
exciting race was ultimately won by 25th starting Mike Stefanik--his
first win of the season. Hirschman, however, captured the series title
with a third place finish. It was the Northhampton, PA driver's fourth
series crown (1995, 1996, 1999, 2004).
NASCAR SOUTHWEST SERIES
BAKERSFIELD, CA (October 16) -- Thirty cars started Saturday night's
Ford Motorcraft Parts 150 at Mesa Marin Speedway. M.K. Kanke won the
Bud Pole Award as the event's fastest qualifier at 18.324 seconds
(98.232mph) around the 1/2-mile oval. The inversion had Kanke starting
tenth with Burney Lamar and Eddy McKean on the front row.
The 167-lap race had five leaders among four drivers
including; Burney Lamar (1-47, 53-112), Eddy McKean (48-52), Craig
Raudman (113-156), David Gilliland (157-167). The race was decided
when then-leader Craig Raudman and Jim Pettit II made contact enabling
David Gilliland to take advantage of the mishap for the race win.
Gilliland pocketed $2,700 for his second win of the season.
Finishing in second place behind Gilliland was Eddy
McKean followed by M.K. Kanke, Dan Holtz and Eric Schmidt. Schmidt
started 16th en route to the top five finish. Jim Pettit II finished
in sixth followed by Rip Michels, Todd Souza, Nick Joanides and Matt
Hall in seventh through tenth, respectively, as eight drivers finished
on the lead lap. The race had five cautions for a total of 34 laps and
took just over 53 minutes to complete.
All 30 starters competed on Hoosier 27.0/11.0-15 2220
left side and 26.5/11.0-15 2240 right side bias-ply tires.
Jim Pettit II (1876) increased his lead in the driver
standings from 10 points to 39 points over Craig Raudman (1837) after
Raudman's 14th place finish. Burney Lamar is in third place with 1695
points after finishing in 24th place in Saturday's race. Eddy McKean
and Eric Holmes round out the top five in the rankings.
Two races now remain on the NASCAR Southwest Series
schedule with a stop at Tucson Raceway Park up next (October 16th)
before the season-ending race at Phoenix International Raceway on
November 4th.
NASCAR FEATHERLITE MODIFIED SERIES
THOMPSON, CT (October 17) -- A huge 50-car field jammed the pits at
Thompson International Speedway attempting to gain entry into Sunday's
season-ending race. For the fifth consecutive year, the series
champion was not decided until the final race of the year. Tony
Hirschman entered Sunday's race with a slim 30 point lead over Eddie
Flemke with 125 laps of racing to determine this year's
champion.
Thirty-two cars took the green flag with Mike Andrews,
Jr. the surprise Bud Pole Award winner. The inversion had Andrews
starting fifth, while points leader Tony Hirschman and last year's
series champion Todd Szegedy were on the front row.
The race had six leaders among four different drivers
including Tony Hirschman (1-34), Ted Christopher (35-62), Todd Szegedy
(63-91, 94-96), Mike Stefanik (92-93, 97-125). The race was slowed by
seven caution flags for a total of 44 laps.
Mike Stefanik, after starting 25th, took the win by
.39 seconds over seventh starting Chuck Hossfeld. Stefanik collected
$5,200 for his 66th career win. Tony Hirschman finished in third
place--which was more than enough to claim his fourth career NASCAR
Featherlite Modified Series championship (1995, 1996, 1999, 2004).
Zach Sylvester finished in fourth place after starting back in 31st.
Ken Barry finished in fifth place followed by Bobby Santos III, Doug
Coby, Jeff Malave, Rick Fuller and Justin Gaydosh in sixth through
tenth, respectively.
Hoosier NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series Product
Manager Irish Saunders attended the series' final event along with
engineer's Rick Tostevin and Ken Kolter. The trio also stayed for tire
testing conducted at the facility on Monday.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. extends its congratulations
to Tony Hirschman on winning his 4th NASCAR Modified Series
championship and also wishes to thank all the competitors in the
series for using Hoosier tires throughout the season.
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