Clement
Boys Heat-Up the Ukiah Freezer!!!
Ukiah Speedway – April 19th, 2008
Due to the
extensive, or should I say expensive, repairs to our #8 Legends race car we decided to
skip the weekend race at Lakeport. But the
racing bug bit again a week later as both the #8 and #55 Clement Racing teams headed for
Ukiah Speedway. Dave Ball elected to skip
this race, but I expect to see him back in action on the 10th of May at Madera
Speedway.
Ukiah is a ¼ mile
high-banked asphalt track with the novelty of having only one wall down the front
straightaway. If you go off the track
anywhere else it becomes somewhat of an adventure. You
might hit a light pole, a large sand dune, a chain link fence, or perhaps just run over a
bunch of old race car parts left behind by the last poor slob who missed that particular
turn. The only other concrete wall they have
is a ways back from the track over near the pits. You
don’t want to end up over there because either the roll over it causes or the nasty
stop on the end of the pit wall would definetely not be fun.
During the practice
sessions Fred decided there wasn’t enough excitement.
Coming off of turn four he accelerated hard and found what seemed to be the
biggest problem for most of the cars at this track. Just
about zero traction as the car negotiates a nasty little bump. The car seemed to lift up a bit and then piroutted
a full 360 degrees as Fred slammed down the throttle once again to continue on down the
front straightaway as though nothing had even happened.
Pretty cool, eh Fred? We
thought so too!!
After figuring out
that our setups were pretty decent in
practice the boys went out to qualify. Fred
went first and clicked off a fast lap of 15.012. Keith
pulled a rabbit out of his helmet and nearly matched Fred with a 15.185 of his own. These times were just short of the best laps they
had turned so far that day and we were very pleased.
However, you gotta know the fast kids had to go and spoil our party!!! The quick lap of the day was set by the #35 of
Matt Scott, with a new record of 14.343. A
few others including the little gal in the #21 car (Jessica Walker) managed middle to high
14 second laps also.
For the ladies, the
best part of the evening happened during the Legends Trophy Dash. Did I mention the girl in that #21 car? Well she put that little car of hers in the lead
after a hard fought duel with the #56 car of Dylan Albiani. (Yup, the same guy that
wrecked everybody at Madera!) She then
proceeded to hold off several challenges by the #96 car of Micah Parmer. Holding that #21 car right on the bottom of the
track and refusing to be intimidated she took the checkered flag to a roar of approval
from eveyone in the pits and I am sure all of the ladies in the grandstand. Possibly a good omen for things to come on this
night of freezing temperatures and a full moon.
Just as they did in
Madera, the boys ended up side by side on the front row of their heat race. This time though Keith was on the inside position. Making an extremely unusual night even more
strange, Keith grabbed the lead with a nice jump on the start. You don’t often get the best of Freddy on
those deals. Keith seemed to have the upper
hand as they came around turn four looking to complete lap number two. He had taken full advantage of a minor slip by
Freddy off that same turn a lap earlier. But
as luck would have it, Keith slipped in that same spot off of turn four and it was
Freddy’s turn to grab the lead. (Exciting, isn’t it!!!) Droppin’ another spot coming off of turn two
Keith lit his rear tires and began side slipping to his left. Realizing he would undoubtely be T-Boned by the
cars just behind him he performed a manuever right out of the old “Joey
Chitwood” thrill shows. He snapped the
wheel to the right and spun his car away from traffic.
Turning the car a full 360 degrees and coming to a halt just short of a
large sand dune by the pit entrance with no appreciable damage to the car other than a bit
of toe-out in the front wheels. I guess that
was “monkey see, show off monkey do!!”
As it turned out
Fred had lucked out due to Keith’s spin and the resulting yellow flag. The reset of the field allowed him to regain the
lead he had just given up. (Thanks Cuz!!!)
When the race continued Freddy again put his experience to use against these younger
drivers. He hugged the inside groove just
enough to not allow them a good run on him to that side, but also let his car slide up
just enough to intimidate the guy on the outside also.
He went on to win the heat and served notice that he planned to be a
contender during the Main Event.
Keith’s
seventh fast time was only good enough to put him just behind all the fast cars. He will start the Main from the fourth row inside. Fred’s run of luck continued and his sixth
fastest time put him right on the pole position. I
was excited to see if Keith could stay with some of those fast boys and maybe end up
chasing down cousin Fred. Well, for the first
several laps it looked like no one was going to be able to chase down “Cousin
Fred” as he held tight to the lead despite numerous challenges. His run of luck seemed to come to an abrupt end
duriing lap 10 though. As he and the other
fast cars at the front approached the #65 and #5 at the tail end of the lead lap the #5
decided, after being shown the “move over” flag by the starter, to actually “move over” to the outside
groove. The sad part of all that was that
Fred had decided the faster #65 on the outside was the better car to follow past the #5. Just as he got along side the #5 it moved right up
and into him. Their wheels touched and Fred
was launched into the air as he exited turn #2. He
basically flew across the pit entrance road and ended up skidding to a halt just at the
upper edge of the track. His skilled handling
of all this flyin’ stuff ended up saving everyone behind him. If he had gone across the track there would have
been a lot of wrecked race cars. Instead the
yellow flag came out to give him a chance to make a comeback from the back of the pack. As the green flag came out once again the #35 of
Matt Scott and the #21 got together and effectively knocked each other out of the race as
the yellow flag flew once more.
Keith meanwhile had
fallen back a little from the fast cars at the front but when the #35 and #21 got together
he was able to squeeze through and move into 5th place as the yellow flag came
out. He may have actually crossed the line in
4th place but due to the yellow flag the #05 was able to regain that spot.
When the green flag
flew once again we all watched to see just how fast
he would be able to fight his way back to the front of the field. We were not disappointed, as Fred moved to the
high groove where he would meet the least resistance and then began passing cars nearly
every lap. After fighting for a few laps to
get by T.J. in the #18 he finally got past on lap 21.
On lap 23 he came up on Keith’s #8 just as they were exiting turn #4. Yup, that same turn four that plagued Keith
earlier bit him once again. He slipped
sideways just enough to allow Fred an easy pass to the outside. Keith recovered and began chasing Fred for all he
was worth. That chase lasted until lap #28
when the #12 car of Chad Foster (currently in 2nd place) went spinning between
turns 3 and 4. Since the #56 was right behind
him I have my own theory as to why Chad ended up doing the sit and spin manuever. The yellow flag flies once more to bring the field
together for a two lap shootout.
The officials moved
all of the lapped cars to the rear of the field so the lead lap cars can really get after
it. This would all be hunky dorry if it
wasn’t for the fact that the rather “ticked off” #12 will start right
behind Keith. Not good!!! As the field came around turns 3 and 4 Keith was
booted from the rear by the #12. But the push
only served to accelerate Keith away from him and helped the #8 get a stellar restart. Everyone ran hard but clean for the next two laps
with the #96 car of Micah Parmer taking the win. Dillon
(the villain) in the #56 finished second, and
rookie Robby Czub in the #05 ended up in third. Fred
had put on a great comeback to finish 4th and Keith rounded out the top five. (Our best finish in a Main Event ever.)
With the only damage to our car being a broken bolt in the rear bumper, we were very pleased with the results of this “frostbitten evening” in Ukiah. We loaded up and headed for home with big smiles all around. Our next stop will be a return to the Madera Speedway on May 10th. Hopefully we can get some good results there also. In the meantime I will milk a lot of good bench racin’ out of the Ukiah deal.
Pictures by Lance
Congratulations to
Fred and Keith on a job well done!!!!