From Andrew Kunas
Great Falls, MT — (June 21, 2014) — Great Falls, MT — Joe Ramaker’s early dominance of the 2014 ASCS Frontier Region season continued Saturday night as he picked up the checkered flag at Electric City Speedway. Further padding his points lead, it was Ramaker’s third win in four starts to begin the season.
The Boise, Idaho driver, who considers Electric City Speedway his home track as he grew up in nearby Choteau and attended countless races at the track as a child, had luck on his side also. Late in the race Ramaker broke a bleeder on his left rear tire, losing all but two pounds of air pressure in that tire. Ramaker, however, already had a large lead and was able to hold on in the Ramaker Racing No. 98 Ostrich-powered J&J. Despite the tire mishap, Ramaker was pleased with his car.
“I really can’t say it’s me. We did a lot of testing last year that helped a lot. It’s really the car and I’m just along for the ride,” said Ramaker, who has had a long run of success at the track. “I’ve had a lot of laps here also, and that helps too.”
Ramaker won the season opening event at the same track on May 16th, and nearly won if not for a last corner pass the next night.
Outside pole sitter Trever Kirkland of Helena, Mont. took the lead on the initial start and led a number of laps, but for the second straight week brake problems on his car hampered his efforts. Like the previous Saturday’s race at Billings Motorsports Park, Kirkland struggled to work his way through heavy traffic that came as a result of the race going fifteen laps under green to start, and maintain his line at the top of the race track, where he said brakes would’ve been helpful. Just like the week before, Kirkland made a spirited effort to hold off Ramaker before eventually yielding the top spot.
Despite the brake problems, Kirkland took advantage of the intense racing for position behind him and managed to hold on to finish second in the Kirkland Racing No. 37 Ryder-powered XXX, backing up his third place run at Billings.
“It’s frustrating,” Kirkland admitted. “We’ve led every night other than our crash (opening night on May 16th). Everytime we had a good run the brakes had problems. It’s not our program. It’s a brake problem we just can’t find and it’s cost us a win two weeks in a row. We’re fast enough. We just need the breaks to come our way and we can finish (win) one of these. The guys have worked real hard and our sponsors have been so supportive.”
Kirkland briefly lost second place to Lethbridge, Alberta visitor Kelly Miller, but the pass was negated by a yellow flag. After the restart Miller had his hands full, holding back Washington visitor Rick Fauver and former Montana sprint car champions Phil Dietz and Joe Perry. All drivers frequently swapped positions over the latter half of the 25-lap event.
Perry, who started 14th, made a late run and passed both Miller and Fauver on the final lap to finish third in the Chuck Perry No. 28 Santos & Sons-powered Maxim. In the double opener at the same track in May, Perry crashed the first night and did not run the second night. It was a dramatic reversal from May’s events for the Billings driver.
“Fourteenth to third. It was a good run. We could’ve used a caution towards the end maybe,” Perry said. “It felt real good after what happened here last month.”
Fauver crossed the finish line fourth but was disqualified for not reporting to the scales following the race. Miller was credited with fourth place in the KDM Motorsports No. 44k AMS-powered Schnee. The tenth starting Dietz, out of Laurel, Mont. was fifth in the Prevost Racing No. 72 RFast-powerd GF1. T.J. Hartman, polesitter Sean MacDonell, Jerry Brey, Jeremy McCune and Rocky Borys rounded out the Top 10.
For the second straight week, Damon McCune won a B-Feature event, transferring to the A-Feature with Leroy Brush, Cody Masse and Shane Ainscough. Brush’s motor issues forced him to scratch, allowing fifth place finisher Cliff Nelson to transfer also. Heat races were won by Paxton Lambrect, Fauver, Ramaker and Hartman.
The next races for the ASCS Frontier Region are Friday and Saturday, July 11th and 12th, when the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series races at Electric City Speedway on Friday and Billings Motorsports Park on Saturday. The Frontier Region will be running in support both nights. More information on the Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series can be found online at frontier.ascsracing.com
– – –
ASCS Frontier Region
Electric City Speedway
Great Falls, MT
June 21, 2014
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
26 cars
Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 7x Paxton Lambrect, 2. 0J Jeremy McCune, 3. 12 Jerry Brey, 4. 1 Bill Boyce, 5. 81 Darren Smith, 6. 35m Cody Masse, 7. 4n Johnny Nelson.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 23n Rick Fauver, 2. 72 Phil Dietz, 3. 44k Kelly Miller, 4. 28 Joe Perry, 5. 44 Damon McCune, 6. 24 Leroy Brush, 7. 1x Vernon Hill.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 98 Joe Ramaker, 2. 37 Trever Kirkland, 3. 3j Jordan Milne, 4. 65 Allen Michel, 5. 3 Shane Ainscough, 6. 77 Mark Sweet.
Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. 19 T.J. Hartman, 2. 9 Sean MacDonell, 3. 2 Shad Petersen, 4. 7a Rocky Borys, 5. 11 Cliff Nelson, 6. 4 Junior Nelson.
B-Feature (12 laps): 1. 44 Damon McCune, 2. 24 Leroy Brush, 3. 35m Cody Masse, 4. 3 Shane Ainscough, 5. 11 Cliff Nelson, 6. 81 Darren Smith, 7. 4n Johnny Nelson, 8. 4 Junior Nelson. First four finishers transfer to A-Feature. 11 Cliff Nelson also transfers after 24 Leroy Brush scratches.
A-Feature (25 laps): 1. 98 Joe Ramaker, 2. 37 Trever Kirkland, 3. 28 Joe Perry, 4. 44k Kelly Miller, 5. 72 Phil Dietz, 6. 19 T.J. Hartman, 7. 9 Sean MacDonell, 8. 12 Jerry Brey, 9. 0J Jeremy McCune, 10. 7a Rocky Borys, 11. 7x Paxton Lambrect, 12. 44 Damon McCune, 13. 11 Cliff Nelson, 14. 2 Shad Petersen, 15. 35m Cody Masse, 16. 3j Jordan Milne, 17. 3 Shane Ainscough, 18. 65 Allen Michel, 19. 1 Bill Boyce. DQ’d – 23n Rick Fauver (finished fourth but did not report to scales). DNS – 24 Leroy Brush.