|
Mike Price enjoyed a priceless night at
Irwindale Speedway Saturday in the track's premier and fastest
division-the NASCAR Lucas Oil Super Late Model Series. The
veteran of three IS racing series and 1999 Super Stock
champion started fifth and led the 25-car, 75-lap main event
for the final 60 laps. Price, aboard his AMI Metals, Inc./Brek
Mfg. 2004 Ford Taurus, inherited the lead and logged his first
career SLM victory.
The 2004 SLM rookie of the year from Harbor City topped his
second place
earlier this season. He moved from third to second in current
points and did
so without the presence of his father/sponsor and his crew
chief, Greg Pursley,
the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing 2004 National Champion and 2005
Elite Division
Southwest Series driver. "We were all here Friday night (for
the four hour
open practice) and we found something that helped us go faster
tonight," Price
revealed.
The SLM main had a straight-up start with quickest qualifier
Russell
White and point leader Todd Southwell, the NASCAR Dodge Weekly
Racing Series
Division IV point leader alongside. They battled evenly with
White outside and Southwell inside. White led the initial 14
laps. The two leaders made contact on lap 15 in the second
turn and continued non-stop. However, officials displayed
the caution flag to remove debris from the White car.
Officials sent both
drivers to the back of the 25-car field per track rules
because they were involved
in the caution-producing incident.
Southwell was unhappy but charged forward from the back for the
second
consecutive race and finished third in his Monte Carlo. Rod
Johnson, IS 1999 SLM
champion, finished second, 0.550 seconds behind Price.
Southwell's third
position, 0.827 seconds back, kept his track point lead at 18
over Price. SLM
rookie Doug McComb was fourth and Brandon Loverock fifth.
Sixteen drivers finished
and 14 ran all 75 circuits. White charged back to seventh
place.
SLM rookie Andrew Phipps, the last feature winner, set fast
time in the
Bruncati Ford Taurus, but had his time disallowed because his
team worked on
the car following time trials. He started last (25th) and was
in 15th position
on lap 18 when he spun in the second turn. His car quickly
collected the cars
of Ed Hoffman, Jobe Spyres and Tony Jackson. No injuries
resulted, but tow
trucks removed all four badly damaged cars. Three other
cautions slowed the
52-minute event.
Source:
Irwindale Speedway Race Report |
