Nevada Days 100 wraps up Silver State season

Silver State Raceway closed its season with the annual Nevada Days 100 Saturday night.

With 30 late model race cars vying for 24 starting spots, driving was at its best and that was very, very fast.

Three heat races of 10 cars each were held to determine transfer spots to the A-main. The top six finishers of each 15-lap heat automatically transferred, with the remaining four going to the B-main. The drivers did not qualify for the heats by time, but rather through a draw for position while in the pits. The top two finishers of each heat also made it to the trophy dash.

Al Vogel (5u) of Ukiah, Calif., picked up the win and a transfer spot in the first heat, as did Phil Perry (22r) from Rocklin, Calif., Henry Hodges (89), Brian Colodny (14), Sal Lopez (02) and Stuart Moon (00).

Robby Shelton (25) won the second heat and transferred along with Melissa Davis (71) of Roseville, Calif., Chet Danburg (3x), Craig Paulsen (65), Rich Lawlor (35) and Scott Bohemier (8).

Rob Halstead (24) won the third heat and transferred, as did Jerry Allec Jr. (22), Jim Courage (33) of Roseville, Junior Roddy (41) of Gualala, Calif., Jake McKalich (21) and Rich Crowell.

The eight-lap trophy dash was won by Shelton over Perry, Halstead, Davis, Vogel and Millard.

Transferring from the 25-lap B-main were Spencer Emerson (66), Ron Clauss (15), Steve Oh (74), Chris Baker (11), Keith Hopkinson (22x) and Martin. Not making the field were Mel Wilson (62), Jerry Crawford (0), Doyle Moen (30), Jamie McLaren (43), Billy Man (88) and Steve Planka (11x).

Starting positions for the main event were determined by luck of the draw of 24 numbers placed in a box, making it anybody's race. Though there were several cautions for cars getting together and spin-outs, when the green flag dropped, these drivers went racing in a lightning fast sort of way.

There were six Silver State Raceway track champions in the line-up.

The cars of Shelton, Perry, Paulsen, Roddy and Danburg appeared to be the fastest on the track. Roddy started on the pole and held the lead more than halfway through the 100-lap race. Perry, Danburg, Paulsen and Shelton slowly picked their way through and around the other cars.

Perry, who turned mid-13-second laps when not slowed by the lapped cars, finally caught up to Roddy, made a fast pass on the inside and garnered a huge lead in just a few more laps.

By lap 76, there were only six cars on the lead lap. When the checkered flag waved, it was Perry, a former Silver State champion from the mid-1980s), taking the win. Paulsen finished second and Roddy third. At lap 100, those were the only cars on the lead lap.

Rounding out the field were Danburg, Bohemier, Davis, Courage, Colodny, Emerson, McKalich, Hopkinson, Oh, Martin, Moon, Lopez, Halstead, Allec, Shelton, Lawlor, Clauss, Hodges, Crowell and Vogel.

The mavericks also raced and put on a good show. Drivers in this division also drew for starting spots in the 10-lap heats and 25-lap main event. The top two finishers of each heat then raced in the trophy dash.

Winning the first heat was Rafael Gomez (3x) over Don Hill (81) and Marco Glush (30). Gary Chandler (96) cruised to the win in the second heat over Alec McCool (54) and Mike Fuller. Gomez then took the win in the trophy dash over Chandler, Hill and McCool.

There were only two cautions in the main event, the first for Russ Ferrante (86) and Fuller who got together in turn two on lap 14, and on the restart, when Corey Cojolo pushed Chandler high out of turn 4 and into the wall. Chandler was able to continue.

The race was won by Gomez, who had to pass Hill to take the lead and the win. Hill went on to finish second and Glush third. Rounding out the field were Chandler, Alan Hunter (15), McCool, Ferrante, Frank Crandell (27) - who returned after running head-on into the tires on the back stretch in his heat race - Kurt Thomas (25), Fuller, Mike McMordie (77) and Thom Eldridge (68).

Silver State Raceway's 1999 awards banquet will be held on Nov. 6, starting at 6 p.m., at the Ormsby House Hotel/Casino. Tickets are $20 each and must be purchased in advance. Tickets will not be available at the door. For information, call 885-2079.