The track was prepped and ready to go for the first International Motor Contest Association races of the year at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds Speedway on Friday and Saturday night.
Fans filled the stands to see their favorite stocks and modified racers compete for points in the 2011 IMCA season standings, including 2010 IMCA points national champion Zane Devilbiss of Farmington, N.M. More than 50 IMCA racers competed.
The mini and hobby stock races started off each day. These events werent IMCA sanctioned, but competitive nonetheless. Ross Whipple and William Millard won the mini stock races on Friday and Saturday. Dennis Spencer won both hobby stock races.
In the regular stocks, Rex Higgins of Bloomfield, N.M., continued his dominance of the Montezuma County Fairgrounds Speedway track in his AK47 car. The 2010 IMCA stocks track champion swept both days, winning 15 laps in 7:32.689 on Friday with a top lap time of 17.976, and won Saturdays 20-lap race in 11:45.114 with a lap best of 19.009.
Well, actually everything went really good this weekend. Things kind of fell into place, Higgins said. We have a good car. We put a lot of work in our car during the week. But we got good breaks. The track was real wide a lot of room to pass. I like this track. I had a lot of fun.
Higgins will next race in Saturdays New Mexico Motor Racing Association race in Aztec.
Local Victory Racing member Tony Hill took third in the stock race on Saturday with his 007 car in 11:52.873 and won his heat. It was a big improvement from a sixth-place finish Friday.
Montezuma-Cortez High School senior Dakota Kibel had a strong first day in the sport modifieds, winning his heat and placing fourth overall in 18:22.473 in his No. 89 race car.
However, day two did not go as well for Kibel. He had to leave the track after six laps of heat No. 1 because some debris fell off of his car. But Kibel did rebound to finish sixth in the main 25-lap race in 14:33.596.
Zach Rouse, No. 7x, won both days in the sports mods in 18:17.004 (best lap 17.847) and 14:17.687 (best lap 18.468). He was the 2010 IMCA sport mods track champion.
The final races were the modifieds. Aaron, Brody and Ryan Spangler of Dove Creek raced in the event, as well as Ricky Spangler of Grand Junction.
Aaron Spangler, No. 16, won his heat each day, but finished just 20th and 11th in the main races. On Friday, Aaron Spangler was in third and had a popped tire. On Saturday, he was in second-place and battling Devilbiss for the win, but in the 25th lap (out of 30), Aaron Spangler spun out past the third turn because of an oil spill, and had to go to the back of the line. With just five laps remaining, Aaron Spangler rebounded to finish 11th out of 24 racers.
Somebody broke a motor or something getting into three down there, and I couldnt get out of the water quick enough to get below it. We just ran through a big old slick and ended up backwards, Aaron Spangler said. It just wasnt our weekend. What do you do? Well come back next time and try it again.
Devilbiss, No. 18z, went on to win the yellow flag filled race in 30:31 with a lap best of 19.014. He was fourth on Friday in 13:44.626, while Brandon Carley, the 2010 IMCA modifieds track champion, won at 13:32.700 with a best lap time of 18.062.
We went back to the shop today and did a bunch of adjustments. The track last night was really one lane right around the bottom, tacky, and tonight, it was slick top to bottom, which is more favor of a track for me, Devilbiss said Saturday night. We went and changed a bunch of stuff though, we even changed stuff after the heat race today, and it made the car a lot better. It felt really good today.
Brody Spangler, No. 91, took 12th and 14th in the mods and cousin Ryan Spangler, No. 97R, was 22nd and 23rd in the mod races. Ricky Spangler, No. 18, finished 16th and 19th in the modified races.
The Spanglers and Devilbiss will be in Price, Utah, on Friday and Saturday at Desert Thunder Raceway in the Wild West Modified Tour.
The next races at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds Speedway are on Friday and Saturday, June 17 and 18, with races beginning at sundown. For more information about race scheduling at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds Speedway, log on to www. fairgroundsspeedwaycortez.com.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at [email protected].
