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Ramaker still using the broom, sweeps BSST at Gallatin
Andrew Kunas
BELGRADE, Mont. - Joe Ramaker is living up to his name “Smokin’ Joe” these days. As of Friday night, Ramaker is using the metaphorical broom and is on a hot streak.
Before a near-full house of spectators at Gallatin Speedway, the Boise, Idaho driver scored his second consecutive Big Sky Sprint Tour victory and his third straight overall. Friday’s victory was Ramaker’s fourth BSST triumph of the season and like his first three, including last Saturday at Billings Motorsports Park, this one capped off a clean sweep.
His three-race winning streak actually started in a non-BSST event. On Friday, August 22 Ramaker won the ASCS Rocky Mountain Region event at Casper Speedway in Wyoming, one day before his BSST sweep at Billings.
Ramaker, driving the Ramaker Racing No. 98 Ostrich-powered J&J, started the main event on the pole, but made a rare mistake when the initial green flag was thrown and drove into turn one of the 3/10-mile, high-banked clay oval too hard. Several starters at the first three rows were scrambling on the start and fifth starting Joe Perry of Billings surprised everyone by getting under Ramaker and jumping out to the lead on the first lap.
Perry’s time up front last only four laps. On a lap five restart, Ramaker motored around Perry using the inside of the track exiting turn two. From the there, Ramaker never looked back and further added to the 130-point lead he had over defending series champion Phil Dietz going into the evening. Ramaker now hopes it is a sign of things to come on Saturday and Sunday at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls.
“We had defective parts at the beginning of the season, and it took us until Knoxville (early August) to find out,” Ramaker was explaining. “We changed that and the next week we won the dash (at Billings), but screwed up and finished second. Then we won at Casper and swept Billings.
“It’s so great that everything is coming together now with what we’ve been trying this season. The new J&J we have is just awesome.”
Behind Ramaker, the other 20 cars on the track were slugging it out for the right to finish second in a chaotic race that saw several front runners have problems. In the end it was Le Duc, Alberta driver Casey Adams who finished second in his first ever appearance at Gallatin Speedway aboard the Adams Racing Inc. No. 12 Bel-powered Maxim.
“It was just awesome to do so well. I like running new tracks, and to do well in your first visit makes it that much better,” Adams said.
Adams started seventh after suffering a flat right rear tire in the cash dash race. As the first few rows diced for position on the initial start, Adams found himself four positions ahead of where he was only one lap into the race. Behind him was David Hoiness, the third place points man out of Billings. Hoiness, piloting the Dave Hoiness No. 27dd Gillette-powered Eagle, briefly lost the spot to Washington visitor Seth Bergman on a lap five restart, only to regain it on the next lap.
After battling Hoiness, Bergman was challenged by fellow Washington visitor Danielle Huson. On lap 12, the same lap Adams got Perry for second, Huson got Bergman for fifth. Huson, driving the Huson Bros. Racing No. 73 Shark-powered Rocket, inherited fourth on lap 13 when Perry tangled with the slower car of Wyoming driver Mark Sweet. Bergman, who inherited fifth because of the same incident, had a slower car between himself and Huson on the restart and tried to pass on the high side of the track, only to slip into the cushion and lose a few positions.
Lap 16 saw Huson, herself racing at Gallatin Speedway for the first time Friday, get around Hoiness for third as they exited turn four. On lap 18, the yellow flag was brought out for Bergman, who slid off the track in turn two and came to a stop. Bergman would continue and eventually was scored 10th at the finish in the M&S Motorsports No. 18 Shark-powered Eagle.
Because of the arriving curfew time, the feature race was cut to 20 laps, setting up a three lap shootout for the front runners Ramaker, Adams and Huson. Huson had a lapped car between herself and Adams, and struggled to get around that car on the restart. That allowed Hoiness and former BSST champion Paxton Lambrect to up and challenge Huson for fourth. Hoiness did get by and then Huson and Lambrect battled for position down the back stretch. The two collided, sending both cars spinning into turn three. Huson was able to continue and tag the back of the field while Lambrect was done for the night.
Adams, sitting right behind Ramaker on the prior restart, had another shot at Ramaker on the final restart, but couldn’t give the veteran driver anything. Adams tried to gain momentum sailing around the top of the track in turns one and two, but Ramaker was too good and too strong coming off turn two using the bottom of the track.
“Just trying to use the top, and Joe wasn’t making any mistakes. We never got enough traffic because of all the yellows,” Adams said about his first main event at the central Montana clay oval. Despite missing out on a big win, the 19-year-old Canadian expressed satisfaction with his first visit to Gallatin Speedway.
“I love it. It’s fast. It’s racy,” Adams said. “If the top hadn’t gone away, it’d be even faster.”
Dietz, driving the Ken & Robin Dietz No. 72 RFast-powered Wolfweld, found himself suddenly in fourth place after Huson’s and Lambrect’s misfortunes for the green-white checkered finish. A spin by Alberta’s Kyle Bates while he was running sixth set up one more attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. On the final lap, Hoiness got loose and two more cars tangled as the checkered flag was waving for Ramaker, and in the chaos Dietz got by Hoiness to finish third.
At the same time Trevor Kirkland also got the struggling Hoiness to finish fourth in the Boisvert Motorsports No. 37 Shark-powered Eagle, and Huson managed to run by more cars and just beat Hoiness to the line for fifth. However, Huson was docked one position after not weighing in following the race, giving fifth place back to Hoiness in the unofficial rundown.
Meridian, Idaho’s Randy Pierce, himself one of eight drivers who were seeing Gallatin Speedway for the first time, finished a solid seventh in his own No. 12p Schwanke-powered Eagle. Lee Miller, another new comer from Alberta, impressed with an eighth place finish in his own No. 91 Gambler, which was carrying a less powerful sportsman motor under the hood. Helena’s Shane Moore, driving the John D. Moore No. 3 CMC, finished ninth and Bergman rounded out the top ten.
Ramaker’s victory in the Roe Construction Cash Dash came over Hoiness, Kirkland, Bergman, Perry, Huson and Adams. The finish determined the first seven starting positions for the scheduled 25-lap main event, which was sponsored by Kasey Kahne Motorsports.
Ramaker took the win the evening’s first heat race, winning from the fifth position and holding off Perry and Huson. Adams easily won the second heat race from the pole, but Bergman put on the show in that race by driving from his seventh starting position to a second place finish over Lambrect. Hoiness won the third and final heat over Kirkland and Dennis MacEachern.
In addition to Adams, Huson, Bergman, Pierce, Bates, Miller, and MacEachern, the other driving making a debut at Gallatin Speedway was long-time sprint car veteran Jay Barnes of Washington. The group of eight made the drivers list a little more geographically diverse. Four states and one Canadian province were represented on Friday night.
The Big Sky Sprint Tour continues its busiest week of the season Saturday with the first of two nights of racing Electric City Speedway, resuming a Can-Am battle with the Alberta Sprint Tour, which will have a number of its teams in Great Falls chasing points in their own series both Saturday and Sunday nights. After 21 cars were on hand at Gallatin Speedway, several more are expected at Electric City Speedway this week.
In just one week, the Big Sky Sprint Tour closes out its third season of competition on Saturday, September 6 back at Gallatin Speedway with the annual Big Sky Super Nationals. More information on the Big Sky Sprint Tour can be found online at http://www.bsstracing.com.
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Big Sky Sprint Tour
Gallatin Speedway
Belgrade, MT
August 29, 2008
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
21 cars
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 98 Joe Ramaker, 2. 28 Joe Perry, 3. 73 Danielle Huson, 4. 32 Tyler Gabel, 5. 3 Shane Moore, 6. 397 Kyle Bates, 7. 38 Jerry Brown Jr.
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 12 Casey Adams, 2. 18 Seth Bergman, 3. 7x Paxton Lambrect, 4. 12p Randy Pierce, 5. 69r Dave Wise, 6. 91 Lee Miller, 7. 77 Mark Sweet.
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 27dd David Hoiness, 2. 37 Trevor Kirkland, 3. 19 Dennis MacEachern, 4. 72 Phil Dietz, 5. 17j Jerry Brey, 6. 35 Chip Roe, 7. 99e Jay Barnes.
Roe Construction Cash Dash (6 laps): 1. 98 Joe Ramaker, 2. 27dd David Hoiness, 3. 37 Trevor Kirkland, 4. 18 Seth Bergman, 5. 28 Joe Perry, 6. 73 Danielle Huson, 7. 12 Casey Adams.
Kasey Kahne Motorsports Feature (20 laps, time): 1. 98 Joe Ramaker, 2. 12 Casey Adams, 3. 72 Phil Dietz, 4. 37 Trevor Kirkland, 5. 27dd David Hoiness, 6. 73 Danielle Huson, 7. 12p Randy Pierce, 8. 91 Lee Miller, 9. 3 Shane Moore, 10. 18 Seth Bergman, 11. 397 Kyle Bates, 12. 35 Chip Roe, 13. 69r Dave Wise, 14. 99e Jay Barnes, 15. 7x Paxton Lambrect, 16. 17j Jerry Brey, 17. 38 Jerry Brown Jr. 18. 28 Joe Perry, 19. 77 Mark Sweet, 20. 32 Tyler Gabel, 21. 19 Dennis MacEachern. Note: 73 Danielle Huson originally crossed the finish line fifth but was penalized one position for not weighing in following the race.
Lap leaders: Joe Perry 1-4, Joe Ramaker 5-20
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Also on the web…
Gallatin Speedway - Belgrade, MT: http://www.gallatinspeedway.com
Electric City Speedway - Great Falls, MT: http://www.electriccityspeedway.com
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BSST: Big Sky Sprint Tour
http://www.bsstracing.com
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