IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 27, 2005 FSCR Cooper Does Double Take at Bronson Motor Speedway By Bronson Media For the first time in three weeks, Mother Nature cooperated with the racing program at the ASA sanctioned Bronson Motor Speedway. The drivers as well as the fans were all very anxious to see a great night of racing and they sure weren’t disappointed!. The entire Bronson racing series was in action along with the Wild and Crazy Figure eights. There was even more excitement as the BMS Summer Kickoff Blast Party included kids and adults in a Hoola Hoop Contest and an Ugliest Hawaiian Shirt Contest! Family fun was had by all in attendance! In Modified action, Rob Cooper debuted his new car earlier in the night. The car unloaded real fast right off the trailer. After winning his heat race, Cooper would start from outside the second row in the feature. There were many fast cars in the feature race on this evening including, Gene and Chip Owen and Kevin Durden as well as Cooper. At the start, Kevin Durden raced away to the early lead in his Larry Martin prepared #07. Unfortunately, Durden would see a pretty sizeable lead evaporate after a caution on lap four. During the caution, Durden had to retire from the event due to an oil leak. Chip Owen then inherited the lead for the restart. Cooper would not be denied on this night. He passed Owen on the restart and cruised to his first Modified victory of the season. This was quite an impressive feat considering the fact Cooper had not raced the car before and the Modified competition at BMS is extremely talented. The Hungry Howie’s Sportsman class followed the Modifieds with a huge field of cars in attendance. Thirteen of the best Sportsman cars in the state took the green flag in their main event. James Stalnaker and Rob Cooper started on the front row when the green flag fell for the first time in the race. Stalnaker took the early lead followed by Cooper and Roger Damron. Around lap five, a spin involving the leader, Stalnaker and Cooper sent both cars to the rear. On the restart, Damron found himself at the point, and was able to lead a few laps. On this night though, Cooper would not be denied. He passed Damron, Matt Blum and Stalnaker on consecutive laps to take home the checkered flag. Up next was the Pure Stock class. Bobby Johnson started on the pole for the race and used this advantage to take the early lead. The action behind the leader was fast and furious with drivers going two and three wide trying to mount a challenge for the leader. Both Jason Holbrook and Donnie Roberts made strong charges at the top car but both were held off by the eventual winner Johnson. An extremely happy Bobby Johnson celebrated his first win of the year in victory lane. Again on Saturday night the man to beat in Figure Eight action was Robbie Powell. Although due to the fact he won the last event he would have to come all the way from the back repeat the feat. At the drop of the green it appeared Charlie Meyer was going to have something to say about the outcome of the race. He led many laps as Powell tried to race through the field. Not to be denied, Powell wrestled the lead away on lap eight. Some very close calls in the X kept the leaders tightly packed all the way to the finish. At the finish it was Powell, Joey Catarelli and Meyer in the top three. Michael Holbrook led the Thunder Car field to the green for the start of their feature event. It looked like Holbrook would have his work cut out for him with most of the “hot dogs” of the class in the two rows right behind him. Once the green flag was waived, Holbrook sped away from the pack. Behind him the racing got pretty ugly as the caution flag waived many times. On every restart, Holbrook would speed away from the mayhem to a safe lead. Teammates Charlie Kennedy and Ken Sheffield followed Holbrook across the line to the finish. Donnie Dobbins charged from dead last to pick up his first win in over a decade. Both Aaron and Don Welter gave Dobbins a run for the win but he was able to hold off both drivers at the finish line. Morris Richardson held off Greg Young in the “dash for cash” in the Mini Stock division. It was Richardson’s first win of the season at BMS. Next week, the racers and employees get the weekend off in celebration of the Fourth of July. The next race will be on July 9th with the Eagle’s Nest Racing State Mini Stock Championship and the rest of the Bronson Racing Series Regulars. Race Fans mark your calendars for Saturday July 23 for the next SCHOOL BUS FIGURE 8! Modifieds: 1. Robbie Cooper 2. Chip Owen 3. Gene Owen Hungry Howies Sportsman 1. Robbie Cooper 2. Roger Damron 3. James Stalnaker Pure Stocks 1. Bobby Johnson 2. Donnie Roberts 3. Jason Holbrook Figure 8 1. Robbie Powell 2. Joey Caterilli 3. Charlie Meyer Thunder Car 1. Michael Holbrook 2. 2. Charlie Kennedy 3. 3. Ken Sheffield Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!