Jones wins Vintage Modified event at South Sound Speedway.

The events of April 18^th left no less than six cars needing major repairs or new engines before the May 9^th race under the full moon at South Sound Speedway. John Mustered’s engine was not finished in time nor was Jeff Peterson’s. Kevin Rinkel was able make repairs and returned to set the fast time for this event at 15:25 seconds.

New on the track was Paul Field Jr. in his beautifully prepared #21 sedan. Watch for this former Late Model driver to do well in his return his Vintage Modified roots.

Since there were no trophy dashes on this evening all cars lined up for heat race action. The B heat was lead off by Bobby Wheeler Jr. after an unusually slow time in lap. Ike Hoskinson flanked him in President Leonard Schmidt’s car. Behind them were Josh “happy to not time in slowest” Petersen and Paul Field. Hoskinson broke an axle in the second lap allowing Charlie West Jr. and Chuck Peterson to move from the back row to 3^rd and 4^th place behind Wheeler and Field. Wheeler led after the restart with Field on his bumper all the way to the checkers.

The A heat saw rookie contender Henry Weichel on the pole with Mike Clother on the outside. Robert Rux and Jim Jones followed with Dave Trapp and Bob Fulmer in the third row. Fast guy Rinkel brought up the rear. Clother was not able to stay with Weichel on the start and fell quickly to second with Jones right behind. Rinkel worked his way forward but had his progress stopped when Rux failed to slow fast enough to avoid spinning Rinkel in the turn. Words were exchanged after the race but by the end of the night everybody were friends again. Weichel held on to win ahead of Clother and Jones. Dave Trapp finished 4^th.

The line up for the 35 lap main was a bit jumbled because the pole sitter, Hoskinson, was unable to start and Paul Field slated to start on the inside of the second row opted to start in the rear of the pack. That moved Charlie West from the third row to the pole for the start with Josh Petersen on the outside. Rux and Chuck Peterson followed them with Trap and Jones in the third row. Two laps into the event Trapp spun down the front straightaway and into the infield about the same time Chuck Peterson’s motor expired. The race was red flagged for some cleanup. West restarted in the lead with Rux in pursuit and Rinkel and Clother close behind. Jones, working his way around on the outside, made his way past Clother and Rinkel to take over 3^rd place. On lap 11 the red flag was waved once again due to a series of events that began with Weichel driving through Clother in the middle of turns 3 and 4. Clother spun a full 360 and came to rest in the middle of turn 4. Veteran driver Paul Field saw Clother, slowed and moved to the lower side of the turn. Rookie Josh Petersen did not see Clother but did see his chance to pass Field on the right. The resulting collision with Clother’s car tore the right front suspension off Petersen’s car, caused a fuel leak in Field’s car, stopped the race and sent Clother to the pits to have his rear bumper secured. Only Clother was able to return to the race thanks to Crew Chief Doug Fox and the help of many others in the pits. After a long intermission to clean the track the race resumed with Charlie West still in the lead. Two laps later Jones took the point and soon after Rinkel followed him moving West to 3^rd position. Those three drove away from Rux who had a pack of 4 cars trying to get around him. Fulmer was finally able to the make the pass on lap 23 but two laps later pulled to the infield with a blown engine. Wheeler and Clother continued to dog Rux until each finally made their way around him. About lap 27 Rinkel’s car began showing signs of having a fire in the engine compartment. On lap 29 he left the track because of an overheating problem. It was discovered later that a fan belt had broken causing the overheating issue that spewed water from the overflow that put out the small fuel fire that had started in engine area due to a leaking fuel line. Believe it or don’t. Jones led to the end for his first win of the young 2009 season moving him into the point standing lead. West finished 2^nd with Wheeler, Clother and Rux rounding out the top 5.