Vintage Modifieds had a rough night at South Sound Speedway

Rain was falling everywhere around Puget Sound on Memorial Day weekend. Still the racing faithful migrated towards South Sound Speedway Saturday afternoon with the hopes of at least getting in some hot laps. Surprise of all surprises, the racing gods were smiling and the sun forecasted for Sunday morning showed up Saturday evening.

Defending champion Jim Jones was the first casualty of the evening suffering an expired engine in the first practice session. Jones struck a deal to drive Chuck Peterson’s car keeping alive Jim’s hopes for a third consecutive championship. Also suffering engine failure during practice sessions was Leonard Schmidt’s car being driven by Josh Peterson. Kevin Rinkel and Jim Fisher both had clutch problems that would haunt them the rest of the night. Paul Field discovered a broken axle that kept him well off he pace for this event.

Seeking to try something different for qualifications track officials decided to open a 20-minute qualification period during which drivers could make pit stops as needed for adjustments. At the end of the session each car’s best lap time was used for qualifying purposes. Bob Fulmer took advantage of this opportunity to set a new track record of 14:84 seconds. Fulmer also won the trophy dash and looked like he might be the driver to watch out for on this night.

Ken Wolf filled the seat normally occupied by Bob Wheeler and started on the pole in the only heat race. He was flanked by Robert Rux and followed by first time asphalt racer Jim Guenther. Jim has a beautifully prepared new car and many years on dirt track experience. He is a welcome addition to the club. Look for him to do well in the near future. Charlie West, Jr. started to Jim’s right and John Mustered and Mike Clother followed those two. Wolf got a good start and led flag to flag. Fulmer’s dominance ended with a blown engine. Not to be outdone Jim Fisher had an engine failure of his own, the fourth of the event. West took second place followed by Clother and Guenther.

The Feature main started with the same line up as the heat with the exception that Clother and West were relegated to start in the rear as a condition of their first and second place finishes at the Port Angeles race. At the green flag the pack stayed side by side for several laps. Clother and Rinkel hung around the back waiting to see what would evolve. Jones began working his way forward from his third row starting position while Wolf remained in the lead. Around lap ten Rinkel decided it was time to go and moved to the high groove passing Guenther and West. His efforts were rewarded by his being spun out as result of a traffic jam in turn 1 bringing out the caution flag and sending him to start in the rear of the field again. Mustered, Rux and Wolf diced it up with Jones stuck in fourth for several more laps. Eventually Mustered got the best of the other two taking over the lead. Jones followed suit and moved into second position as Wolf faded to fourth behind Rux in the final laps. Recently Mustered was cheated out the win at Port Angeles by a failed radiator cap after he led 35 laps. He held on this time to take the his first win of the young 2010 season. Jones settled for second in his “loaner” car followed by Rux, Wolf, West, Clother, Rinkel and Guenther.