Post by jkelly57 on Jun 2, 2008 14:17:57 GMT -6
Operation Interdependence 75, Texas Super Racing Series @ Thunderhill Raceway, 5/31/08
By J M Hallas
Kyle, Tx.,(May 31st, 2008) Thunderhill Raceway hosted the 4th annual Operation Interdependence at the tricky 3/8 mile D-shaped track just south of Austin. Operation Interdependence was formed as a way to help the community give back to our troops overseas. The group helps by sending care packages, with snacks, goodies and everyday essentials that are needed to survive, these same items we take for granted in our everyday life.
Also on the night's racing schedule were the Texas Super Racing Series Late Models, ASA A-Line Auto Parts Super Stocks, Thunder Stocks, Grand Stocks, Texas Pro Sedan Series, Allison Legacy Series and NASKarts.
With the TSRS points chase as close as it is, even qualifying points could turn out to be crucial at season's end. Coming into he night's action, Brian Moczygemba holds a slim 4 point lead over Heath Stewart, while former THR Super Stock track champ, Bobby Teer jr. is only 6 markers behind.
After the 21 entrants took times, Heath Stewart, a past USRA Super Late Model Champion, in the Southside Wrecker Service, Gen-Tech Generators, Lozano Brothers Race Engines, Lefthander Chassis put up another fastest lap with a 15.344, former TSRS champ, Chris Schild was second and young Jake Kruger third.
"After practice I didn't think anyone would run anything better than a .5," replied Stewart. Then my crew told me that (Robert) Barker ran a .49 and I thought that would be tough to beat. The car felt real good, we practiced on old tires so we weren't sure what we had. We've got a car tonight for the feature."
"I'm going to trying to stick with the first and third place car and stay on the bottom. We'll see what happens from there."
With his fast time Stewart overtook Moczygemba in points. "I'm here to win. It's too early to do points racing. We had bad luck in Houston and finished 17th. We're just going to gout here and win the race."
"It's basically the same car, with J R Croomer as the crew chief. We've got a pretty good system going on right now. He's learning what I like and I'm learning how to work with him. He and I have learned to have trust in each other. It took him a few races to understand what I was feeling. I've worked with Bobby(New) and J R before. I've tested the car for them too."
After the draw for invert, Robert Barker found himself on the pole flanked by Adam Haugh. Row two would be Brian Moczygemba and Schild, with Stewart and Jesse Salazar in row three. After the draw, Kruger elected to pull out of impound and start at the tail.
" I'm just going try to race hard and keep it up front," replied Barker. "I'm sure the 50 and 1 car are going to race me hard. I just hope I can hold them off. This was an impound race so we can't change anything. We're stuck with what we've got. If I'm able to keep it on the bottom we should be in good shape. We're here to finis races and have fun without tearing a bunch of stuff up.
Texas Super Racing Series qualifying
1 Heath Stewart 15.344
7 Chris Schild 15.439
14 Jake Kruger 15.457
17 Robert Barker 15.492
12 Adam Haugh 15.572
18 Jesse Salazar 15.595
50 Brian Moczygemba 15.649
2 Bobby Teer jr. 15.719
51 Chad Menard 15.767
6 Jason Hollander 15.791
01/43 Lloyd Alexander 15.807
28 Leland Waddell 15.818
55 Michael Cullen 15.850
81 Dillon Spreen 15.853
00 Beau Bukowski 15.934
02 Ugo Bevione 15.996
92 Jason Stanley 16.050
84 Mike Reininger 16.053
61 Cory Lovell 16.094
15 Brad Burke 16.776
7a Heather Ables 17.358
Barker's Motor Bobbles, Stewart Steals Win
Boerne's Robert Barker looked to be a runaway winner after leading 65 of the 75 laps and pulling away from Del Valle's Heath Stewart by over a second. A late caution and restart changed the entire outcome of the event. As green waved for the final ten lap shootout, Barker's motor stumbled. To avoid stacking up the entire field, Barker moved over, out of the groove. Stewart got the nose inside just as Barker's motor cleared itself. By then the damage was done as Stewart had the preferred inside line sneaking by Barker, then holding off the efforts of Barker for the win.
Twenty one TSRS Late Models took the green at the start of the Operation Interdependence 75 with Barker getting out front in turn 1. Yellow waved just as quickly when Jason Hollander spun collecting Leland Waddell and Brad Burke. The second start saw Barker again squirt out to the lead, with Brian Moczygemba and Adam Haugh side by side for second as were Chris Schild and Stewart battling for fourth.
Moczygemba took second with Stewart third and quickly challenging for second. Stewart got under and by Moczygemba on lap 2. Moczygemba then got hung out by Haugh, then Schild and Bobby Teer jr. dropping him to sixth. Jake Kruger and Jason Stanley made contact on lap 6 sending Stanley around in turn 3. On the restart go Bevione spun to bring the yellow right back out. Finally back to green with Barker and Stewart away clean, as Haugh slipped a little high giving Schild an opening. The two traded some paint in turns 3-4, with Teer sneaking under both for third.
By lap 20, Barker and Stewart were checking out from Teer and Schild. Michael Cullen did a nice 360% spin and kept going on lap 25. The lead duo caught lapped traffic on lap 32, with a three second advantage over Schild, Teer, Moczygemba and Jesse Salazar running nose to tail as they came to halfway. Moczygemba took fourth back for Teer while Dillon Spreen caught that quartet. Barker then started to shake Stewart getting away by five car lengths on lap 45 and inching away farther by lap 50.
The battle for third between Schild, Moczygemba and Teer reheated with Moczygemba and Schild making contact, with he an Teer able able to get past for position. Bevione spun in turn 2 on lap 57 to bring out the caution that Barker didn't want to see erasing his 1.7 second lead on Stewart. During the yellow, Spreen had problems stopping on the back stretch giving up sixth.
When green waved on the final ten laps, Barker's car stumbled and Stewart got inside. Once Barker's car got back to speed, he valiantly tried to stay up top and hold the lead. Stewart finally secured the top spot, with Barker falling in line second. Barker kept the pressure on Stewart for the final laps giving him a few taps on the bumper. As the checkers waved it was Stewart scoring his second Thunderhill Raceway win for 2008 holding off Barker by a mere car length.
“Well we won,” explained Stewart. “That's about all I can say. Robert(Barker) was better than we were tonight. The first half of the race I think we had something for him. I think I might have burned the right rear off. I really thought I was getting a flat the last half. He was driving away from me. I couldn't get off the corner with him. If he hadn't had problems I probably couldn't have kept up with him. He had a fast car tonight.”
“I don't think it was so much that track changed. It was just that track was hot and I over-drove the car a little bit. I think that's what burned the rear tire off. I was trying to push the car too hard to get underneath him.”
“We're not really points racing right now. We're out here to win.”
“It's was just one of those night's that wasn't meant to be,” lamented runner-up Barker. “We had the lead there and on th restart the car sputtered. I don't know if something got in the carburetor or it loaded up. I thought something was going wrong, so I moved out of the way. I came off of turn 2 and it was back to normal. I raced him hard and tried to get back to the front, but didn't have enough time.”
“The car was really good. I think I would have been able to keep the lead. Maybe I should have ridden it out an stayed on the bottom, but I don't want to cause any wrecks. So I did the right thing and moved out of the way. I'm if we didn't have that problem we would have won the race.”
TSRS Late Models
1. 1 Heath Stewart, Del Valle
2. 17 Robert Barker, Boerne
3. 50 Brian Moczygemba, San Antonio
4. 2 Bobby Teer jr., Comfort
5. 7 Chris Schild, Leander
6. 18 Jesse Salazar, San Antonio
7. 00 Beau Bukowski, San Antonio
8. 51 Chad Menard, Castroville
9. 61 Cory Lovell, Lockhart
10. 92 Jason Stanley, San Antonio
11. 02 Ugo Bevione, Austin
12. 55 Michael Cullen, Buda
13. 14 Jake Kruger, Bastrop
14. 7a Heather Ables, Whitney
15. 81 Dillon Spreen, Boerne
16. 01/43 Lloyd Alexander, San Antonio
17. 12 Adam Haugh, Round Rock
18. 84 Mike Reininger, San Antonio
19. 15 Brad Burke, Johnson City
20. 6 Jason Hollander, Cedar Park
21. 28 Leland Waddell, Austin
By J M Hallas
Kyle, Tx.,(May 31st, 2008) Thunderhill Raceway hosted the 4th annual Operation Interdependence at the tricky 3/8 mile D-shaped track just south of Austin. Operation Interdependence was formed as a way to help the community give back to our troops overseas. The group helps by sending care packages, with snacks, goodies and everyday essentials that are needed to survive, these same items we take for granted in our everyday life.
Also on the night's racing schedule were the Texas Super Racing Series Late Models, ASA A-Line Auto Parts Super Stocks, Thunder Stocks, Grand Stocks, Texas Pro Sedan Series, Allison Legacy Series and NASKarts.
With the TSRS points chase as close as it is, even qualifying points could turn out to be crucial at season's end. Coming into he night's action, Brian Moczygemba holds a slim 4 point lead over Heath Stewart, while former THR Super Stock track champ, Bobby Teer jr. is only 6 markers behind.
After the 21 entrants took times, Heath Stewart, a past USRA Super Late Model Champion, in the Southside Wrecker Service, Gen-Tech Generators, Lozano Brothers Race Engines, Lefthander Chassis put up another fastest lap with a 15.344, former TSRS champ, Chris Schild was second and young Jake Kruger third.
"After practice I didn't think anyone would run anything better than a .5," replied Stewart. Then my crew told me that (Robert) Barker ran a .49 and I thought that would be tough to beat. The car felt real good, we practiced on old tires so we weren't sure what we had. We've got a car tonight for the feature."
"I'm going to trying to stick with the first and third place car and stay on the bottom. We'll see what happens from there."
With his fast time Stewart overtook Moczygemba in points. "I'm here to win. It's too early to do points racing. We had bad luck in Houston and finished 17th. We're just going to gout here and win the race."
"It's basically the same car, with J R Croomer as the crew chief. We've got a pretty good system going on right now. He's learning what I like and I'm learning how to work with him. He and I have learned to have trust in each other. It took him a few races to understand what I was feeling. I've worked with Bobby(New) and J R before. I've tested the car for them too."
After the draw for invert, Robert Barker found himself on the pole flanked by Adam Haugh. Row two would be Brian Moczygemba and Schild, with Stewart and Jesse Salazar in row three. After the draw, Kruger elected to pull out of impound and start at the tail.
" I'm just going try to race hard and keep it up front," replied Barker. "I'm sure the 50 and 1 car are going to race me hard. I just hope I can hold them off. This was an impound race so we can't change anything. We're stuck with what we've got. If I'm able to keep it on the bottom we should be in good shape. We're here to finis races and have fun without tearing a bunch of stuff up.
Texas Super Racing Series qualifying
1 Heath Stewart 15.344
7 Chris Schild 15.439
14 Jake Kruger 15.457
17 Robert Barker 15.492
12 Adam Haugh 15.572
18 Jesse Salazar 15.595
50 Brian Moczygemba 15.649
2 Bobby Teer jr. 15.719
51 Chad Menard 15.767
6 Jason Hollander 15.791
01/43 Lloyd Alexander 15.807
28 Leland Waddell 15.818
55 Michael Cullen 15.850
81 Dillon Spreen 15.853
00 Beau Bukowski 15.934
02 Ugo Bevione 15.996
92 Jason Stanley 16.050
84 Mike Reininger 16.053
61 Cory Lovell 16.094
15 Brad Burke 16.776
7a Heather Ables 17.358
Barker's Motor Bobbles, Stewart Steals Win
Boerne's Robert Barker looked to be a runaway winner after leading 65 of the 75 laps and pulling away from Del Valle's Heath Stewart by over a second. A late caution and restart changed the entire outcome of the event. As green waved for the final ten lap shootout, Barker's motor stumbled. To avoid stacking up the entire field, Barker moved over, out of the groove. Stewart got the nose inside just as Barker's motor cleared itself. By then the damage was done as Stewart had the preferred inside line sneaking by Barker, then holding off the efforts of Barker for the win.
Twenty one TSRS Late Models took the green at the start of the Operation Interdependence 75 with Barker getting out front in turn 1. Yellow waved just as quickly when Jason Hollander spun collecting Leland Waddell and Brad Burke. The second start saw Barker again squirt out to the lead, with Brian Moczygemba and Adam Haugh side by side for second as were Chris Schild and Stewart battling for fourth.
Moczygemba took second with Stewart third and quickly challenging for second. Stewart got under and by Moczygemba on lap 2. Moczygemba then got hung out by Haugh, then Schild and Bobby Teer jr. dropping him to sixth. Jake Kruger and Jason Stanley made contact on lap 6 sending Stanley around in turn 3. On the restart go Bevione spun to bring the yellow right back out. Finally back to green with Barker and Stewart away clean, as Haugh slipped a little high giving Schild an opening. The two traded some paint in turns 3-4, with Teer sneaking under both for third.
By lap 20, Barker and Stewart were checking out from Teer and Schild. Michael Cullen did a nice 360% spin and kept going on lap 25. The lead duo caught lapped traffic on lap 32, with a three second advantage over Schild, Teer, Moczygemba and Jesse Salazar running nose to tail as they came to halfway. Moczygemba took fourth back for Teer while Dillon Spreen caught that quartet. Barker then started to shake Stewart getting away by five car lengths on lap 45 and inching away farther by lap 50.
The battle for third between Schild, Moczygemba and Teer reheated with Moczygemba and Schild making contact, with he an Teer able able to get past for position. Bevione spun in turn 2 on lap 57 to bring out the caution that Barker didn't want to see erasing his 1.7 second lead on Stewart. During the yellow, Spreen had problems stopping on the back stretch giving up sixth.
When green waved on the final ten laps, Barker's car stumbled and Stewart got inside. Once Barker's car got back to speed, he valiantly tried to stay up top and hold the lead. Stewart finally secured the top spot, with Barker falling in line second. Barker kept the pressure on Stewart for the final laps giving him a few taps on the bumper. As the checkers waved it was Stewart scoring his second Thunderhill Raceway win for 2008 holding off Barker by a mere car length.
“Well we won,” explained Stewart. “That's about all I can say. Robert(Barker) was better than we were tonight. The first half of the race I think we had something for him. I think I might have burned the right rear off. I really thought I was getting a flat the last half. He was driving away from me. I couldn't get off the corner with him. If he hadn't had problems I probably couldn't have kept up with him. He had a fast car tonight.”
“I don't think it was so much that track changed. It was just that track was hot and I over-drove the car a little bit. I think that's what burned the rear tire off. I was trying to push the car too hard to get underneath him.”
“We're not really points racing right now. We're out here to win.”
“It's was just one of those night's that wasn't meant to be,” lamented runner-up Barker. “We had the lead there and on th restart the car sputtered. I don't know if something got in the carburetor or it loaded up. I thought something was going wrong, so I moved out of the way. I came off of turn 2 and it was back to normal. I raced him hard and tried to get back to the front, but didn't have enough time.”
“The car was really good. I think I would have been able to keep the lead. Maybe I should have ridden it out an stayed on the bottom, but I don't want to cause any wrecks. So I did the right thing and moved out of the way. I'm if we didn't have that problem we would have won the race.”
TSRS Late Models
1. 1 Heath Stewart, Del Valle
2. 17 Robert Barker, Boerne
3. 50 Brian Moczygemba, San Antonio
4. 2 Bobby Teer jr., Comfort
5. 7 Chris Schild, Leander
6. 18 Jesse Salazar, San Antonio
7. 00 Beau Bukowski, San Antonio
8. 51 Chad Menard, Castroville
9. 61 Cory Lovell, Lockhart
10. 92 Jason Stanley, San Antonio
11. 02 Ugo Bevione, Austin
12. 55 Michael Cullen, Buda
13. 14 Jake Kruger, Bastrop
14. 7a Heather Ables, Whitney
15. 81 Dillon Spreen, Boerne
16. 01/43 Lloyd Alexander, San Antonio
17. 12 Adam Haugh, Round Rock
18. 84 Mike Reininger, San Antonio
19. 15 Brad Burke, Johnson City
20. 6 Jason Hollander, Cedar Park
21. 28 Leland Waddell, Austin