I-76: Record Turn Out For "The Fall Classic"

[Joe Starr]

Toni Zinanti

Ft. Morgan (October 23, 2011) -- Twenty Third Annual??? It is hard for me to imagine twenty three straight years of anything…..BUT… then I got to experience this crazy thing they call the Fall Classic.

After raining out the weekend of October 8th and 9th, track owner Butch Speicher decided to hold out for two weeks, and his instincts paid off. Fans and racers came from Utah, Wyoming Nebraska and Kansas to get a piece of the Colorado sunshine and fight for a piece of the glory. With record temperatures, and a record car count, (144 to be exact) excitement was finally underway.

Saturday nights action was mostly heat races to determine the line-up for Sundays final events. The 270 Microsprints were on the program for Saturday night only. The mighty Corey Mallo, driving 9M came out victorious in the 12 lap main event. Close behind were Austin McLean, who finished second, and fellow Mallo Justin, on his tail to finish in the 3 spot.

As the racing came to an end, the pits came to life with beers, bonfires, BBQ, and yes..BS. Some of the drivers purchased carwash tickets from the “TuTu carwash girls” who were raising ca$h for Kids at Their Best, a nonprofit organization that provides after school activities for children. Sunday morning the girls donned their tutu’s and shined the cars.

Racing was underway at noon on Sunday where the top 6 qualifiers from each heat race were pitted against each other in the “Trophy Dash”. These races were used to determine line up for the main events. Sunday’s fans were also treated with a race involving the Hooligans. What is a Hooligan you ask? Well, the winner #28 racin-Jason Genson rode all the way from Golden with his finger in the carburetor because he broke the accelerator cable on the way. These motorcycle racers MUST ride their scooters to and from the races…other than that, the rules are pretty much non-existent. Jeff Klinkenfus finished second, and Michael Foggia came all the way from Colorado Springs to finish third.

Starting with the Dwarfs main event, a little squirmish and a couple of spinouts changed the lead several times. In the end, #87 Shane Simper from Vernal Utah, captured the checkered flag. Allen Hawking also from Vernal took second and Dave McCray from Parker was third.

The Modified main event was a full field with 23 cars stacked to do battle. Jeremy Frenier and Dominic Ursetta started up front battled and exchanged leads for quite some time. All the while 2W, who started in the number seven position, was biding his time and creeping up on the leaders. Heavy traffic, spinouts and good old aggressive driving, all contributed to the victory for the #2W Casey Delp from Rock Springs, Wyoming. Dominic Ursetta finished second just ahead of Greg Gustus.

The Sport Mod main event had #76 Mike Shaw from Lakewood starting inside second row and fighting his way to the front position where he stayed to beat out Bob Gotschel, Rich Martin and Kyle Cuckow.

Back for the fall classic, the street stock class where only one car out of the top six in the starting lineup finished in the top six. This exciting main event opened with 21 cars, and finished with 13. The #63 car with veteran driver Angel Munoz from Lamar started at the back of the pack and scratched and clawed his way to the win. Casey Wohen from Ogalala, finished second and 7x Mike Jensen from Golden finished third.

Todd Brotemarkle started in the number five spot, but went on to take the win in the Econo division. Kent Stubbe finished the race in the second position but later on was disqualified because of a rule infraction. This left the number two and three positions to Mike Cox and Bubba Willox.

In the hornet division, Mitch Bolton from Grand Junction gave everyone a run for their money and took home the win. Don Callender from Colorado Springs finished second, and the I-76 Summer Series Champ Jacob “Blaze” Hazelett crossed the line in third place.

If you miss the racing action….we will be back at it on November 6th when we crown the Summer Series Champs and Start the first race in the 2011/2012 Winter Series. See you then!