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Rockin Robert Crisp wins the Richie "Pops" Thorbin Memorial 50 Lap Pure Stock Feature Race at Desoto
By: Tom Blakeley
June 20, 2009, Bradenton, Florida. Hot racing on a Hot night is what occurred at ASA sanctioned Desoto Super Speedway tonight. The temperature in the press box was 104 degrees at 1:30 PM and it didn’t seem to cool down much. The temperature on the track was hotter than that, and the racing action was even hotter than the track temperature. The EMS was summoned to the pits four times during the evening as the hot temperatures took their toll on drivers and crews.
The Thorbin clan was in attendance and sporting their purple t shirts and purple helium inflated balloons. The memorial for Pop’s Thorbin is a very special night at Desoto Super Speedway. Track owner John Sarpparicone spoke of remembering watching Pop’s Thorbin race in the 70’s in Islip NY and how much of an impact he had on the track up until his passing in 2006.
Two of Pop’s grandkids were in cars in the memorial race tonight as well as other relatives in other cars. There were many cars painted in the Purple/white scheme that was a Pop’s Thorbin signature. Before the start of the races there was a salute to Pop’s and the family let the helium filled purple balloons fly into the air. Pop’s would have loved it.
The Pure Stock memorial race was won by Robert Crisp in the #2 car which is owned by Rocket Red Thorbin, Pop’s son. Red was out of town on business but called about half way through the race and wanted to know who was winning. Darren Ellis in the new #71 car took second and Austin Craig in the #10 car won third place.
On lap 2 Robert Yoho in the #75 car lost his steering and went into the wall on a direct hit. It was tense for a moment as Yoho got out of the car and collapsed onto the track. He was able to leave the track on his own power, and a big sigh of relief came from the crowd.
The Pure Stocks also ran two heat races earlier in the evening. The winner of the first heat race was Troy Thiem in the #18 car. The winner of the second heat race was Robert Crisp in the Thorbin #2 car. What a great night for the entire Thorbin family.
Magic 4’s. The magic 4’s had a great night. They raced competitively and aggressively but for the most part did a good job of keeping things under control. Winning the first heat race was Mark Bartimac in the #21 car. Winning the second heat race was Dallas Troyer in the #01 Silver Bullet. The feature race was a 20 lap event that was won by Austin Cavey in the #20 car. After being bumped from 1st place Brittany Barr in the #81 won second place. Dallas Troyer in the #01 car took third place. Troyer had to be talked to by the on track flagman Donald Smith about using his bumper a little too much but it made for exciting racing action from the kids.
Flyin 4’s.
The fastest growing division had a great night to race and race they did. Winning the first heat race was Dalton Baldwin in the #4R car. Winning the second heat race was Alex Patten in the #13 car. The feature race was a 15 lap race that was won by Randy Johnson in the #01 Silver Bullet car. Rob Boos in the #21 car took second place while Dalton Baldwin in the #4R car took third place.
Modified Mini’s.
The Modified Mini class ran a 50 lap race tonight. Robbie Storer in the #9 car jumped into the lead on the first lap and never looked back until he was in Victory Circle with the win. Brian Dorer in the #97 car drove a great race and won a very respectable second place. Taking the third spot was Chris Zimmerman in the #29 car. The hot temperatures seemed to take a toll on the Mod Mini’s as several cars went to the pits early on in the race. However, it was a good night of racing for this group.
Pro Trucks
It was the 2nd leg of the Grand Slam Truck Series. The trucks ran time trials for placement instead of heat races. Winning the fast time was Stephen Darvalics in the #41 truck with a time of 16.094 seconds. The Bryson Racing Team went on to have a great night as Stephen Darvalics also won the 50 lap feature race in the Bryson #41 truck. The twin #12 truck driven by Charlie Montgomery won second place. The first and second place trucks were way ahead of the rest of the field for the entire race. Michael Smith in the #23 truck took third place.
There was a complete restart as on lap one the yellow flag dropped due to Chris Huntoon in the #30 truck and Whitney Pool in the #00 truck getting tangled up and spinning out. The race was delayed several times due to EMS being summoned to the pits to look after people. One guy in the pits got so excited they had to give him a nitro glycerin pill to calm him down…talk about racing action!!
Join us next Saturday as the gates open at 5 PM and racing starts promptly at 7PM. Invading the ASA sanctioned Desoto Super Speedway will be the Racecar Engineering Hoosier Elite Super Late Model series for a 75 lap shoot out feature race. Joining the Super Late Models will be Outlaw Modifieds, Modified Mini’s, Rockem Sockem Bombers, Street Stocks, Flyin 4’s and Magic 4’s.
Check us out at www.desotosuperspeedway.com or give us a call at 941-748-3171. The entire staff of ASA sanctioned Desoto Super Speedway will do everything possible to make your Short Track Racing experience a great one. We are located just nine short miles East of I-75 on SR 64 in Bradenton.
DS TRUCKS - DS TRUCKS 50L Pos Driver Car # 1 STEPHEN DARVALICS 41 2 CHARLIE MONTGOMERY 12 3 MICHAEL SMITH 23 4 TODD BONTRAGER 8 5 KEITH LILLEY 87 6 AUSTIN HOWELL 96 7 DUSTIN CHISHOLM 7 8 JASON HOWELL 1* 9 JASON DEATON 99 10 DANNY ANDERSON 50 11 CHRIS HUNTOON 30 12 BLAIR PONTIOUS 39 13 NICK HERNANDEZ 37 14 WHITNEY POOLE 00 15 ROBERT CRISP 82 16 BRENT HUBER 64 17 WALLY WARRICK 72 18 CODEY BENOIT 63
DS TRUCKS - QUALIFYING Pos Driver Car # 1 STEPHEN DARVALICS 41 2 CHARLIE MONTGOMERY 12 3 MICHAEL SMITH 23 4 KEITH LILLEY 87 5 TODD BONTRAGER 8 6 JASON HOWELL 1* 7 BRENT HUBER 64 8 AUSTIN HOWELL 96 9 NICK HERNANDEZ 37 10 DUSTIN CHISHOLM 7 11 WALLY WARRICK 72 12 JASON DEATON 99 13 ROBERT CRISP 82 14 CHRIS HUNTOON 30 15 DANNY ANDERSON 50 16 BLAIR PONTIOUS 39 17 CODEY BENOIT 63 18 WHITNEY POOLE 00
FLYIN 4s - FEATURE Pos Driver Car # 1 RANDY JOHNSON 01 2 ROB BOOS 21B 3 DALTON BALDWIN 4 4 ARTHUR DANIELSON 38 5 KEVIN UNDERWOOD 14 6 ALEX PATTEN 13 7 MICHAEL GAMACHE 85 8 SHANE YODER 8 9 ANDREW MOON 31 10 CRAIG JACKSON 53
FLYIN 4s - HEAT 1 Pos Driver Car # 1 DALTON BALDWIN 4 2 RANDY JOHNSON 01 3 ARTHUR DANIELSON 38 4 SHANE YODER 8 5 ANDREW MOON 31
FLYIN 4s - HEAT 2 Pos Driver Car # 1 ALEX PATTEN 13 2 KEVIN UNDERWOOD 14 3 MICHAEL GAMACHE 85 4 CRAIG JACKSON 53 5 ROB BOOS 21B
MODIFIED MINIS - MM FIFTY LAP Pos Driver Car # 1 ROBBIE STORER 9 2 BRIAN DORER 97 3 CHRIS ZIMMERMAN 29 4 BRANDON McSWAIN 37 5 MIKE BIRK JR 10 6 MITCHELL WEBB 6 7 MARTY NEIKENS 70 8 CHAD ROSE 0 9 BRANDON STREVELS 15 10 THOMAS ZIMMERMAN 29X 11 DENNIS COLLETTI 22 12 RICHARD NELSON 80
MODIFIED MINIS - QUALIFYING Pos Driver Car # 1 ROBBIE STORER 9 2 BRIAN DORER 97 3 CHRIS ZIMMERMAN 29 4 BRANDON McSWAIN 37 5 DENNIS COLLETTI 22 6 MIKE BIRK JR 10 7 MITCHELL WEBB 6 8 THOMAS ZIMMERMAN 29X 9 CHAD ROSE 0 10 MARTY NEIKENS 70 11 BRANDON STREVELS 15 12 RICHARD NELSON 80
PURE STOCKS - HEAT 1 Pos Driver Car # 1 TROY THIEM 18 2 JOHN BROWN 6X 3 DARRIN ELLIS 71 4 KEN (PAUL) SMITH 11 5 RANDY SPICER 83 6 CHELSEA LAU 13 7 KEVIN SHEPHERD JR 30B 8 WILLIAM WEGER 31
PURE STOCKS - HEAT 2 Pos Driver Car # 1 ROBERT CRISP 2 2 RICHARD SHEPHERD SR. 30A 3 AUSTIN CRAIG 10 4 ROBERT YOHO 75 5 STEVE ELDER 42 6 GEORGE BARTIMAC 21X 7 RICK GERMONY 8
PURE STOCKS - PS 50 SPECIAL Pos Driver Car # 1 ROBERT CRISP 2 2 AUSTIN CRAIG 10 3 RICHARD SHEPHERD SR. 30A 4 JOHN BROWN 6X 5 TROY THIEM 18 6 KEN (PAUL) SMITH 11 7 STEVE ELDER 42 8 RANDY SPICER 83 9 KEVIN SHEPHERD JR 30B 10 RICK GERMONY 8 11 GEORGE BARTIMAC 21X 12 CHELSEA LAU 13 13 WILLIAM WEGER 31 14 ROBERT YOHO 75 15 DARRIN ELLIS 71
