Young Carson City racer Zachary Heinz took his dominance of the Box Stock Outlaw Kart division to a new level Saturday night at Thunder Bowl Speedway, carving his way through traffic to lap almost the entire field in the 20 lap main event.
He took off at the green flag and led wire-to-wire.
"We put a new gear in his kart tonight, and it really worked," said Heinz' father and crew chief, Marlowe Heinz. The taller gear allowed Heinz to achieve higher speeds, but he had to keep his momentum up, a formidable task when negotiating lapped traffic.
Behind Heinz, Adam Walters and Kellcy Bell had a terrific battle going for second place, and drivers were racing for position throughout the field. Bell took advantage of lapped traffic and took over second from Walters, holding the position almost to the finish line, while Walters faded back into the pack. The race went green all the way until the last lap.
On the last lap, a multi-kart tangle in turn four scrambled the running order, as a number of the front-runners were involved and others had to take evasive action. The accident caused Bell to slow slightly to miss it, and allowed Jay Primm to take second by inches at the checker, relegating Bell to third. When the dust settled and the scoring sheets were reviewed, Tanner Thorsen was shown in fourth, Cameron Millard fifth, Walters sixth, Gage Beckstrand seventh, Willie Tankersley eighth, Georgie Tankersley ninth, and Zach Kisman tenth. Jennifer Purcell and Jeremy Froland finished 11th and 12th respectively. Heat race wins were evenly divided among Heinz, Walters, Bell, and Millard. Heinz added more hardware to his overflowing trophy shelf by winning the trophy dash.
The Open Outlaw division suffered from attrition even before the green flag flew for the main. Dan Lind scratched prior to the heat races, Mark Dempsey ran one heat before mechanical problems put him on the trailer and Ricky Shimanke never made it past the hot lap sessions.
In the heat races, Josh Ostler had his exhaust pipe come adrift, and Mackena Bell fell victim to a seized engine in the second heat. Ostler made repairs and made the main, while Bell elected to run the main with her 125cc kart, as Christian Steele has been doing through most of the season.
Steele started his quick 125 from the pole and led the early laps until teammate Ostler muscled his way by. Steele then hooked up with teammate T.J. Dobson to keep California hot shoe Beau Perkins away from leader Ostler.
Bell quickly advanced from the rear of the field to fifth in her 125. Steele was having electrical problems, and coasted to a halt on the back straight, bringing out the caution.
Ostler sprinted away on the restart, obviously the class of the field with his exhaust pipe firmly attached. The best battle of the night was for second, with Perkins trying every weapon in his considerable arsenal to try and get by Dobson, who was driving a loose kart and saving his life in every corner.
Bell advanced to fourth with Steele playing catch-up, trying to drive with one hand while holding the coil wire in place with the other. Ostler cruised to the win, with Dobson hanging on by his toenails to second. Perkins was third, Bell fourth, Hair Maienschein fifth, Jason Conant sixth, Chris Rytting seventh, and Steele eighth. Heat victories went to Steele, Ostler, Perkins, and Dobson, while Steele won the trophy dash.
The usual four suspects took to the track in the 125cc division. Mackena Bell served notice early that this was her race, as she sprinted away at the fall of the green flag. Christian Steele ran all alone in second, while Colin Dargert and Daniel Thorsen were mixing it up pretty good for third. They ran nose to tail and side by side until lap 14 when they collided in turn four.
Thorsen caught some serious air, but landed on all four wheels. This, coupled with an earlier spin, sent him to the pits on the two-spin rule. Bell easily pulled away on the restart and had an uneventful run to the checker, well ahead of Steel and Dargert, who finished second and third respectively. Steele and Dargert each won a heat race and Bell captured the trophy dash victory.
The Beginner Box field was a bit short, with one driver moving up to Box Stock and several other no-shows. Keith Combs got the jump at the start of the main, and put his kart right on the bottom of the track, taking away the inside groove.
Matthew Roberts followed him for two-thirds of the race before finally getting a run off turn four to pull alongside and then ahead. The pass was academic, as Combs coasted to a halt on the backstretch three laps later and retired. This left Roberts to cruise home, followed to the checker by Mason Millard. Combs and Roberts split the heat race wins, and Roberts took home another trophy dash victory.
The next scheduled Outlaw Kart points race at Thunder Bowl is scheduled for July 31. Gates open at 3 pm, practice begins at 5 pm. Call Jet Force Racing at (775) 358-9091 for further information.
Contact Roger Diez at editor@nevadaappeal.com.
