Manke finally gets Super Late Model win
in Orange Show Speedway main event
SAN BERNARDINO (June 17, 2007) –
John Manke, the leading winner in the Hype Manufacturing Super Late
Model class over the past two years, got his first win of the 2007 season
Saturday night (June 16) at Orange Show Speedway.
Manke, 43, a landscaper from Ramona, had won three
times in 2005, when he captured the class championship, and a division-best
five times in 2006. But in the first six races of the current season,
Manke’s best finish had been a fourth.
Saturday night, on the ASA-sanctioned quarter-mile
oval at the National Orange Show Events Center , Manke shook off the
early season doldrums by leading 43 of the 50 laps in his Litehouse
Dressings Chevrolet Monte Carlo and finishing about three car lengths
ahead of fast qualifier Frankie Gould.
Rex Lockwood in Pro 4, Jim Edmiston in Stock Pony,
Spencer Samaro in Factory Fours and Mark Whitson in Stock Cars USA were
the night’s other main event winners although Lockwood won by
default when first-place finisher Bryan Glidewell was disqualified in
a post-race inspection because of an unapproved carburetor.
“We’d really, really struggled,”
Manke told the crowd of 1,200. “When you’ve had the success
we’ve had here, it was really hard not to have a good race. We
had a couple of races where we were in the lead and got taken out, but
that’s racing at Orange Show Speedway.
“We were having a tough day today. We
had old tires, we had distributor problems and I had had the flu all
week. But I’m sure glad we came out.”
Manke started on the outside of the front row, alongside
Riverside ’s Mark Shackleford, and led the first lap. Shackleford
led the next seven. Then Manke took over again on lap nine and never
trailed again.
Gould started sixth and raced strongly throughout,
moving into second with eight laps remaining and holding off Brett Edwards
of Yucaipa . Points leader Rick Chavez recovered from an early spin
to finish fourth and Shackleford was fifth.
Edmiston, the 2005 Stock Pony champion, strengthened
his bid for another title by holding off defending champion Jim Mardis
in a 25-lap main event that saw them run nose-to-tail virtually the
entire distance. Mardis’s Ford Pinto was quicker through the middle
of the turns, but Edmiston’s Pole Position Kart Track Pinto was
better able to accelerate off the turns and repeatedly foil Mardis’s
attempts to pass.
Samaro, 17, of San Bernardino got his second win
and his seventh straight top three finish to pad his Factory Fours points
lead; Whitson went wire-to-wire in the 25-lap Stock Cars USA main for
his fourth win in five races; and Pro 4 leader Lockwood, of Victorville,
inherited his second win of the season.
ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY
Saturday, June 16, 2007
RACE RESULTS
SUPER LATE MODELS
Main event (50 laps) – 1. John Manke, Ramona,
Chevrolet Monte Carlo ; 2. Frankie Gould, Woodland Hills, Chevrolet
Monte Carlo ; 3. Brett Edwards, Yucaipa , Chevrolet Monte Carlo ; 4.
Rick Chavez, Santee , Ford Fusion/Chevrolet engine; 5. Mark Shackleford,
Riverside , Chevrolet Monte Carlo .
Heat race winners -- Ryan Becker, San Jacinto , Chevrolet
Monte Carlo; Manke. Trophy dash winner – Barry Karr, Redlands
, Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Fast qualifier – Gould.
PRO 4
Main event (30 laps) – 1.Rex Lockwood, Victorville,
Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Ford; 2. Chuck Becker II, Cabazon, Chevrolet Monte
Carlo/Ford; 3. Randy Becker Jr., Highland , Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Ford;
4. Keith Blomgren, La Quinta, Dodge Intrepid/Ford; 5. Chris Jackson,
Hesperia, Chevrolet Monte Carlo/Ford.
Heat race winner – Lockwood. Trophy dash winner
– Lockwood. Fast qualifier – Eddie Secord, Oak Hills, Pontiac
Grand Prix/Ford.
STOCK PONY
Main event (25 laps) 1. Jim Edmiston, Highland ,
Ford Pinto; 2. Jim Mardis, Riverside , Ford Pinto; 3. Matt Goodwin,
Wildomar, Ford Pinto; 4. Richard Boker, Phelan, Ford Pinto; 5. Ryan
Bragdon, Beaumont , Ford Pinto.
Heat race winners – Bragdon; Goodwin. Trophy
dash winner – Goodwin. Fast qualifier – Edmiston.
FACTORY FOURS
Main event (30 laps) – Spencer Samaro, San
Bernardino , Toyota pickup; 2. Gerrit Hodge, Moreno Valley , Honda CRX;
3. Art Ramirez, Walnut, Toyota Celica; 4. Ed Hill, Santa Ana , Mercedes
Benz sedan; 5. Martin Huizenga, Hemet , Nissan pickup.
Heat race winners – Brandon Huizenga, Hemet
, Izusu pickup; Martin Huizenga. Trophy dash winner – Samaro.
Fast qualifier – Tony Dumont, Irvine , Mercedes Benz sedan.
STOCK CARS USA
Main event (25 laps) – 1. Mark Whitson, Riverside
, Chevrolet Chevelle; 2. Jimmy Rouse Jr., San Bernardino , Chevrolet
Nova; 3. Juston Good, San Fernando , Chevrolet Nova; 4. Peter Bryk,
Chevrolet Nova; 5. Michele Rouse, San Bernardino , Chevrolet Chevelle.
Heat race winners – Bryk; Jeff Elder, Redlands
, Chevrolet Nova. Trophy dash winner – Good. Fast qualifier –
Whitson.
For further information, contact Jim Short at 951-203-2649
or jimshort65@sbcglobal.net, call Orange Show Speedway at 909-888-6788,
X438, or visit the web site at www.nosevents.com.
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