STOCK CAR SYNDICATE STAGES AN IMPRESSIVE DEBUT AT WILLOW SPRINGS SPEEDWAY

Source: Dave Grayson
Date: 10/07/2008

When Nick Jennings and Jon Christensen, dba Stock Car Syndicate, unlocked the gates of the Willow Springs Speedway on the morning of October 5th they likely weren't sure what to expect. Their scheduled Sunday afternoon of stock car racing was their official debut as the new promoters of the quarter mile paved oval located within the mammoth Willow Springs International Motor Sports Park complex located in Rosamond-California. What they received was the gratification of an impressive debut that included approximately 46 cars, good racing, beautiful weather and fans who were clearly delighted to see stock car racing's return to California's Antelope Valley.

In late model action Anthony Mainella won the feature flag to flag while holding off a repeated challenge from Tehachapi's Gene Fife who is a former Mesa Marin Raceway champion.The only incident in this race was a red flag needed to clean up oil on the track from Rich Schuette's blown engine. Other than that, this feature event was all about competition. Broc Murphy, making his second start in a late model, finished third while John Penning, who won the trophy dash, and Randy Wilkins completed the top five.

In victory lane a happy Mainella said "this is tremendous. Hot lapping the car earlier today felt great and Richard Hooper did a great job getting the car ready for the race. Ray Cran along with my sons Logan and Vincent worked really hard to get this car running really good. I knew that if I just kept my head together and drove this car to its potential we wouldn't have much of a problem." The Mainella racing family are proud members of a late model racing group known as "Hooper's Herd" led by famed driver and car builder Richard Hooper who had a huge smile on his face when his car passed under the checkers. Commenting further Mainella said "I'm very honored to be able to drive this car. I thank Richard Hooper for letting me drive it, it's a tremendous honor."

One of the better races on this Sunday afternoon was presented by the Pro 4 Division featuring some of the same drivers who light up the fans at the Orange Show Speedway. "Fast" Eddie Secord led the starters under the initial green flag and was quickly challenged by Don Minut. The pair of drivers ran literally side by side for two laps before Minut pulled off a beautiful low line pass while diving into turn three to take command of the race. It appeared that Minut had the race in his pocket until Keith Blomgren's turn one spin brought the field back together. Under green again Secord pulled off an amazing restart and slid up in front of Minut in turn one. It turned out to be the winning move of the race. Minut had to setle for second with David Glidewell Jr taking third. Trophy dash winner Bryan Glidewell was fourth while Blomgren recovered to close out the top five.

In Super Stock action Irwindale Speedway driver Gerrit Cromsigh was just simply formidable. Not only did he win the division's feature flag to flag but he nearly lapped the entire field during the process. Jeff "Hibachi" Grill, Justin Good, Tom "Wild Child" Wilson and Jay Slaughter completed the top five.

The Street Stock Division saw the return of San Bernardino's Jimmy Rouse Sr to victory lane and also featured one of the hardest crashes during the afternoon. Justin Good, also driving in this division in addition to Super Stocks, grabbed the lead but right from the very beginning he had a rear view mirror filled with Jimmy Rouse Jr. After five laps of very hard racing, the two cars got together going into turn three and both of them slid up the track and crashed hard into the wall. Good was finished for the day. Rouse Jr, during the course of the yellow flag track clean up, was able to get in and out of the pits to change a flat right front tire. He was able to return to the race but later experienced an overheating problem. Rouse Sr was now the new leader when the race restarted and make quick work of running out the laps. Ron Davis,Gary Keaster and Jimmy Rouse Jr followed him under the checkers. After the race Rouse Sr said "it's about time I finally won one out here. Between the young boy, (Jimmy Jr), and my wife, (Michelle), winning all of these races I finally snuck one of my own in there." With a big smile on his face, Rouse made it clear that he couldn't wait to show his winner's trophy to Jeff Murphy just to tease him with it.

In mini stock action Marty Timm won the feature with Ryan Bragdon and Tory Christopher right behind him. Art Neville was the only Legend Car driver to make the show due to schedule conflicts with other Legends tracks the night before. Neville ran with the mini stockers and won the trophy dash and then sat out the main to allow the regular division drivers to race on their own. In the Bandolero Division Aaron Anderson passed Al Simpson on the third lap to take the feature while Mikey Lovas finished third. In Pure Stock Figure Eight action Ron Davis, Gary Keaster and Jay Slaughter finished first through third in that feature.

The Speedway Mini Sprints were also at the Willow Springs Speedway to have some Sunday fun and to promote their upcoming dirt track race, October 17th, at the Desert Empire Fairgrounds in nearby Ridgecrest. Jeff Patton won both the trophy dash and the feature. In the feature Owen Hartley, Norm Reynolds, Ralph Morgan and Don Steele completed the top five.

After the Sunday afternoon at the Willow Springs Speedway was over the general consensus from the drivers, crews and especially the fans was overwhelmingly positive with many of them saying there was a definite future for Stock Car Syndicate's show at this track. Promoters Jennings and Christensen will not get busy to line up their winter season schedule which is expected to include another race this month, two next month, a holiday break in December with more races scheduled in January and February. They are also laying the ground work for a Saturday night summer series next year.

The Stock Car Syndicate's racing debut at the Willow Springs Speedway was also presented by PCM-Paul Copenhaver Motor Sports along with Tire Xpress, Quartz Hill Auto Parts, Welding Unlimited, Ron's Rear Ends, Hardy's Liquor Quartz Hill, CMJ Racing, D&D Muffler, "The Plumber," Industrial Metal Supply, California Stripes, Canyon Auto/RV Wash and Uncle Andy's Joint Quartz Hill.

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