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LAST LAP MOVE NETS THOMPSON WIN
by Gary Jacob
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Santa Maria, CA -August 25, 2001--On a restart with just a single lap remaining, defending track champion Jim Thompson drove underneath leader Gary Rayburn Jr in turn 2 and he won the 30 lap feature for the J B Dewar/VanBuerden Insurance sponsored Bandit unwinged 360 sprint car series Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway. Rayburn led from lap 2 to lap 29, but a flip by Kings Speedway ace Jerome Warmerdam forced the one lap restart and Thompson collected the $900 win ahead of Rayburn, who settled for a $700 second. Previous week Hanford winner Greg Porte ran third ahead of fast improving Jason Montgomery from Atascadero. Interestingly, Thompson's motor was running so poorly that he considered parking the car on a lap 17 yellow flag. Winner Thompson leads the Santa Maria Speedway point standings while Warmerdam continues to hold a solid lead in the two-track combined standings.
Warmerdam was the fastest of the 18 cars in time trials at 14.015 seconds on the 1/3 mile clay oval. That nipped the 14.113 that had been posted by New Zealand transplant Greg Keegan from Clovis. The final car to run, Porte, turned in a 14.212 and Jeff Fiscus was fourth fast at 14.341. Rick Gifford continues to improve in the unwinged sprint cars after a long late model career and he ranked fifth at 14.353. Thompson was sixth fast at 14.437. Warmerdam won the first heat race over Dave Knott and Rayburn. Newcomer Aaron Altaffer hit the wall leading in heat 2 and Darin Simas won that race over Keegan and Montgomery. Veteran Mike Knopf won heat 3 over Thompson and Porte.
The 30 lap feature race had a big 12 car inversion that put Knopf and Montgomery on the front row for the start. Knopf led the opening lap, but pushed high on lap 2 and Rayburn was the new leader over Montgomery and Knopf. Rayburn built a big lead as Thompson passed Knopf for third on lap 4. An outside pass in turn 2 on lap 7 netted second place for Thompson and Warmerdam lost ground with a turn 1 infield excursion. Rayburn had built a 1/3 lap lead when the red flag fell on lap 8 as Gifford got into turn 3 too hard, hit the wall and flipped. He was unhurt and Knopf pitted. On the restart, Rayburn led Thompson, Montgomery, Porte and Simas. Fiscus made heavy contact with the back wall and stalled for a lap 12 yellow flag. Porte passed Montgomery for third on lap 15 and Simas was fourth on lap 17. Keegan hit the wall coming out of turn 4 for a lap 17 yellow flag and Simas broke on the restart for another quick caution. Montgomery was back into fourth with Ventura Raceway regular Josh Ford advancing to fifth. With Rayburn and Thompson commanding the race, Warmerdam made a late charge as he took fifth from Ford on lap 26 and he passed Montgomery for fourth a lap later. David Addamo hit the wall in turn 1 for a lap 27 caution flag. Again, Rayburn was able to fend off Thompson on the restart. Warmerdam tried to take advantage of a bobble by Porte to take over third only to flip in turn 1 to force a lap 29 red flag. Rayburn was forced to try and win the race again, but he pushed high in turn 2 on that final round and Thompson got underneath him for the winning move. Rayburn ran second over Porte, Montgomery, Ford, Sherman May, Knott and Altaffer.
Summary
Fast Time-Jerome Warmerdam 14.015
Heat 1-Warmerdam, Dave Knott, Gary Rayburn Jr, Jeff Fiscus, David Addamo.
Heat 2-Darin Simas, Greg Keegan, Jason Montgomery, Rick Gifford, Josh Ford.
Heat 3-Mike Knopf, Jim Thompson, Greg Porte, Joey Layman, Dick Stevens.
Main-Thompson, Rayburn, Porte, Montgomery, Ford, Sherman May, Knott, Aaron Altaffer, Stevens, Layman, Warmerdam, Addamo, Simas, Knopf, Keegan, Fiscus, Gifford.
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