Thorn Gets Hard Fought Win, As White Takes Over Championship Lead


Thorn Gets Hard Fought Win, As White Takes Over Championship Lead

BAKERSFIELD, CA – Derek Thorn won Monday’s SPEARS Southwest Tour Series “Century Motorsports and Marine 125” at Rocky Mountain Raceways in West Valley, Utah. Thorn’s win was hard fought, as he made his way up from his tenth starting position for his third career win at the 3/8-mile oval.

 

Jeff Bischofberger led the field to the green, with fellow front row starter Tracy Bolin.   Bolin jumped to the lead and held the point until Ross Strmiska move passed Bolin to take over the top spot on lap 14.

 

On lap 20, Donny St. Ours powered the Sigma Engineering #54 passed Strmiska and into the lead. St. Ours stretched his lead to two seconds over Jeremy Doss who had followed St. Ours passed Strmiska.

 

At lap 40, St. Ours was still leading, followed by Doss, Thorn, Brandon White, Strmiska in fifth, Jacob Gomes sixth, with Keith Spangler, Cole Loftsgard, Jonathan Mawhinney, and Bolin rounding out the top ten.

 

Within the next 20 laps, White moved ahead of Thorn for third, then passed Doss for second and took over the lead from St. Ours on lap 58.

 

By the half-way point of the 125 lap event, White was out front with a four second lead, Thorn was second, St. Ours third, Doss fourth and Gomes up to fifth.

 

As the laps wound down, White, from Eureka, California looked to be on his way to his second SPEARS Southwest Tour Series win of 2014, before his car started to lose power intermittently, with what was later to be discovered a fuel pressure issue. As White’s car faltered, Thorn started eating away at White’s big lead. As White’s Northcoast Lighting and Electric Ford sputtered off turn two the #43 of Thorn made contact and the lead was exchanged, White battled back five laps later to re-take the lead as the two cars rubbed entering turn 1.

 

White and Thorn ran side-by-side with Greg Voigt, Gomes and Doss right on their bumpers. White’s car hesitated again down the back straightaway on lap 112 and Thorn squeezed into the lead for good to win the Century Motorsports and Marine 125. White held onto second, followed closely by Greg Voigt who rallied from the rear of the field twice, with Gomes in fourth and Doss rounding out the top five. Strmiska was sixth, top rookie Garret Archer seventh, with Spangler, Bolin and Scott Sanchez making up the balance of the top ten.

 

Notes from Rocky Mountain Raceway:

 

  • Monday’s win was Thorn’s 18th in his SPEARS Southwest Tour Series career, which is the most all-time in the series.

 

  • Brandon White led a race high (and career high) of 46 laps.

 

  • Laguna Beach, California’s Ryan Cansdale made his series debut at Rocky Mountain Raceways.   After a solid day on Sunday during open practice, Cansdale gave up his ride in the BP Racing #01 to allow Carlos Vieira to drive the car on Monday due to Vieira’s #51 suffering non-repairable mechanical issues.

 

  • Blaine Rocha of Oakdale, California made his first SPEARS Southwest Tour Series start driving the Strmiska Racing/MASROC Farms/Rocha’s Valley Enterprises #98 to an impressive eleventh place finish.

 

  • Retro Custom Metals (Salt Lake City) sponsored Keith Spangler for the Rocky Mountain Raceways event. Spangler will also carry the Retro colors at the Pikes Peak International Raceway event on September 28th.

 

  • Jeremy Doss and his team will log a lot of miles over the next two weeks as Doss left Rocky Mountain Raceways to travel straight to Montana Raceway Park to compete in the G.E.T. Rich 212, from there they will travel straight to the Century Motorsports & Marine 222 at Magic Valley Speedway (Twin Falls, ID).

 

  • Garret Archer maintained his lead in the Rookie-of-the-Year Challenge, by placing 7th in Monday’s Century Motorsports and Marine 125.

 

  • Next race for the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is at Madera Speedway on Saturday, June 28th, which will also feature the DC’s RV Center – Barbecue, Qualifying Draw and Campout on Friday after open practice.

 

RESULTS: Century Motorsports and Marine 125, Rocky Mountain Raceway – May 26th, 2014

Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 43 Derek Thorn 125 41:26.196 00:15.099 32 89.410
2 19 Brandon White 125 41:27.631 00:01.435 00:15.238 34 88.594
3 29 Greg Voigt 125 41:29.265 00:03.069 00:15.378 12 87.788
4 16 Jacob Gomes 125 41:29.446 00:03.250 00:15.324 35 88.097
5 75 Jeremy Doss 125 41:30.392 00:04.196 00:15.304 30 88.212
6 90 Ross Strmiska 125 41:30.740 00:04.544 00:15.337 8 88.022
7 21 Garrett Archer * 125 41:31.416 00:05.220 00:15.464 11 87.300
8 37 Keith Spangler 125 41:31.886 00:05.690 00:15.433 13 87.475
9 20 Tracy Bolin 125 41:32.900 00:06.704 00:15.320 7 88.120
10 24 Scott Sanchez 125 41:35.170 00:08.974 00:15.421 57 87.543
11 98 Blaine Rocha * 125 41:35.383 00:09.187 00:15.471 45 87.260
12 66 Jeff Bischofberger * 124 41:42.320 1 Lap 00:15.688 11 86.053
13 52 Cole Loftsgard * 123 41:33.421 2 Laps 00:15.339 15 88.011
14 17 Jonathan Mawhinney 101 33:56.716 24 Laps 00:15.445 16 87.407
15 54 Donny St. Ours 100 41:37.488 25 Laps 00:15.274 22 88.385
16 51 Carlos Vieira 75 26:09.862 50 Laps 00:15.688 58 86.053
17 73 Joe Miller 41 13:48.999 84 Laps 00:15.540 16 86.873
Not qualified
DNS 01 Ryan Cansdale * 0 00:00.000 00:00.000 –:–:–.— 0

 

Pos No. Name Total Diff Gap M Total M Total M Total M Total
1 19 Brandon White 675 0 0 180 180 160 160 165 165 170 170
2 75 Jeremy Doss 665 10 10 160 160 180 180 170 170 155 155
3 43 Derek Thorn 657 18 8 127 127 170 170 180 180 180 180
4 16 Jacob Gomes 584 91 73 165 165 150 150 109 109 160 160
5 29 Greg Voigt 583 92 1 146 146 142 142 130 130 165 165
6 90 Ross Strmiska 581 94 2 170 170 127 127 134 134 150 150
7 21 Garrett Archer * 568 107 13 150 150 112 112 160 160 146 146
8 37 Keith Spangler 545 130 23 142 142 134 134 127 127 142 142
9 51 Carlos Vieira 544 131 1 155 155 124 124 150 150 115 115
10 52 Cole Loftsgard * 534 141 10 134 134 138 138 138 138 124 124
11 24 Scott Sanchez 522 153 12 115 115 118 118 155 155 134 134
12 66 Jeff Bischofberger * 505 170 17 124 124 130 130 124 124 127 127
13 20 Tracy Bolin 490 185 15 106 106 100 100 146 146 138 138
14 54 Donny St. Ours 483 192 7 138 138 106 106 121 121 118 118
15 57 David Ross 251 424 232 x x 109 109 142 142 x x
16 17 Jonathan Mawhinney 239 436 12 x x x x 118 118 121 121
17 33 M. K. Kanke 230 445 9 109 109 121 121 x x x x
18 44 Bob Lyon 230 445 0 118 118 x x 112 112 x x
19 18 Jim Pettit II 227 448 3 130 130 97 97 x x x x
20 61 Hannah Newhouse * 215 460 12 112 112 103 103 x x x x
21 17 David Mayhew 165 510 50 x x 165 165 x x x x
22 22 Jonathon Gomez 155 520 10 x x 155 155 x x x x
23 14 Craig Raudman 146 529 9 x x 146 146 x x x x
24 98 Blaine Rocha * 130 545 16 x x x x x x 130 130
25 73 Ken Benhamou 121 554 9 121 121 x x x x x x
26 99 Tim Smith 115 560 6 x x 115 115 x x x x
27 64 Matthew Meech * 115 560 0 x x x x 115 115 x x
28 73 Joe Miller 112 563 3 x x x x x x 112 112
29 12 Colby Potts 103 572 9 103 103 x x x x x x
30 89 Bobby Hodges 100 575 3 100 100 x x x x x x
31 13 Todd Souza 97 578 3 97 97 x x x x x x
32 01 Ryan Cansdale *