Hodges Holds On

 Here come the cars and welcome to the El Paso Speedway Park for some wild and reckless racing! The NMRA 360 Non-Wing Sprint cars have graced us with their presence this evening and we are ready to go for four classes of pure adrenaline pumping, gut turning, RACING! X-Mods, Street Stocks, Mini Sprints, and NMRA 360 Non-Wing sprint cars are ready to rumble.

 

A total of 16 X-Mods are set to start our night out right and here they come for 20 laps! The 14 of Sergio Chao Sr will start on the pole and lead lap 1 but caution early as the 36 stalls it very high in turn 4. One more lap around on the restart and the 38 is going to get in the wall hard on the front stretch! 18 to go now and Sergio Chao Sr leads us back to green. The 7C of John Carney Sr drops into turn 1 on the restart and to the lead goes the 7C! Christy Georges-Barnett in 44 bombs it 3 wide into turn 3 for 3rd and it is hers! Christy holds 3rd down the front stretch but unfortunately the next time into turn 2 the 44 goes around all on her own! The 44 collects the 09 of Jimmy Ray and both those cars will go to the rear for this restart. 16 to go now and the 7C still leads the 14 with the 80-year-old “The Sherminator” Sherman Barnett in a hard charging third. ON the restart it’s the 52tx of Paddy Rush starting like a rocket and up to 4th he goes after only 5 laps! To the lead goes Sherman Barnett in 82! 6 in and 14 to go and Sherman is looking to gap out over the 7C now. 10 in with 10 to go and the Sherminator is putting on a show! The 14 and 52 are going nose to tail and door-to-door for third as the 82 and &c pull away. The 612 goes around!! 6 laps to go and Sherman Barnett has to give up that glorious lead of almost a full straight away. Barnett drags it back to green but John Carney Sr is there and pedalin on those restarts! Jammin Jimmy Ray is also into the top 5 after that early crash with the 44. They run one more after the restart and its caution again. 5 Circuits left for this restart and this time at the line the 7C is going to dart off turn 4 and the lead is all his! 3 to go with Sherman slipping back and the 52tx into second! But once again in this X-Mod main event, we have a caution. 5 caution already in this one but lucky for us fans that means we are going to get a GREEN, GREEN, WHITE, CHECKERED!!! Paddy Rush is going to work this restart hard but with only 3 laps remaining on the ticker and a hard charging Jimmy Ray in third, tonight will not be the night for Paddy Rush. The 7C of John Carney Sr will take the win tonight at El Paso Speedway Park!! Paddy Rush will take his 52tx machine all the way back to second and even with some last ditch efforts, Jimmy Ray in 9 will round out our podium.

 

USRA Street Stocks are set to rock and Roll! 11 cars, 20 laps and money on the line! Jason Josselyn will show the way early in the 74J with 13 of Victor Colorbio coming to join him quickly. 4 laps in and the 13 has cut the lead down to a bumper!  He will stay on that bumper and 6 in 14 to go, at the line it is the 13 darting low and leading that lap! Josselyn will fall back but before he falls into the clutches of Cheyenne Arone in the 12 car, the CAUTION comes out for the 17 of Chris Mijares.   Colorbio will hold the lead well on the restart but the 12 is itching to make her move on the 74J! Look back and it is a three-way battle for fourth! The 327, L750, and 44Jt are all nose-to-tail but 15 in with only 5 to go and it’s the 327 winning that battle for now. The 12 will finally clear the 74J but just as they make that lap complete, we have CAUTION. The 74J will go the rear for stopping under the yellow and the 327 of Robert Vega will inherit third place. Back to green and it’s clean! The 12 cant hold off the 327 or the 44JT for long and by her they go. They both get by into turn 3 with the 13 still leading the field like a true champion. BAD Luck strikes!!!! The 13 of Victor Colorbio was looking for win #2 in just 2 weeks but at the line for 3 to go his motor is going to head south for the winter and the white smoke follows! His night is a toasted as his car and the 327 now has the lead with 44JT looking inside turn 1. Into turn 2 the 44JT goes low but he gets a little too whiskey and around he goes with help from Vega. The two leaders of 44Jt and 327 both go to the rear for causing that caution. We now have a GREEN, WHITE, CHECKERED!! The 12 will lead us to the stand but on the jump its Jaime Torres in 44Jt going all the way to third from last!! The 12 will lead that entire lap with 74J of Josselyn back in contention in 2nd! Arone will take the white but into turn 3 the 74J comes in a little hot and both he and the 12 will rise up the track leaving the door wide open on the bottom for 44JT. Not Tonight for Jaime though as the top 2 quickly shoot onto the front straight and it’s a nose-to-nose, photo finish at the line!! Jason Josselyn in 74J will win it by a hair at the line in this one!! Cheyenne Arone in the 12 will finish a well-deserved second and its Jaime Torres in 44JT rounding out our top 3.

 

Mini Sprints are a smaller version of the 360 Non-Wings Sprint Cars and they are up now for 12 laps. The 49 of Tristan Gattis is the man on a mission tonight as he starts on the pole and will lead every single lap of this one. It wasn’t all that easy though as for the first 4 laps he had a handful of Will Gonzalez in the 1 car. ON that 4th lap the 1 would blow a motor and his night would come to a very sudden, and Smokey, end. The 4 of Jett Carney would take over second with AJ Marquez in 25 cruising in third. The 49 is going to absolutely put on a show in this one and dominate the entire field. With two laps to go the 25 will dart to the inside of the 4 and give it a shot for second but it won’t stick! The 49 is going to smoke the field tonight as he takes the win by almost half a track. The 4 Jett Carney holds on for second with AJ Marquez on the box in third.

 

Check your watches because, you guessed it, IT IS TIME!! NMRA 360Non-Wing Sprint Car Time that is!! 17 of these dirt dogs are going to give us 25 laps tonight and you better believe they are all chompin at the bit. 1500$ on the line for the win and no driver doubts he can do it. Get Off your seats and on your feet, this is what you paid for, its #Dynamite!!! Nick Rael in 73 starts on the pole but any of these drivers can win it tonight, including the 56W of Spencer Hill who starts his very first 360 Sprint Car tonight from row 9! Wes Wofford in 19X is also good one to keep an eye on because if that top line comes in he is bound to be fast. Wofford starts inside row 4 and will have to squeeze by drivers like Jesse Baker in the 7 who will lead this first lap! The 50 of Charles Davis is always fast and tonight will be no exception as with 1 down and 24 to go he is already into second. They will run the first 5 laps cleanly with the 7 and 50 just dominating this track and pulling away. The 74x of Josh Hodges is running third and just behind him there is a pack of cars running hard for the top 5. With 7 laps down already in this one, the 7 of Hodges is still putting on a clinic in this race but we have a RED FLAG!! The 2TX of Brandon Schure was in the group of cars battling for that top 5 position and with that much horsepower in one tight ball, it can’t ever end well. Brandon ramped off the tire of what looked like the 20 car and over the berm of 2 went the 21TX. After 2 barrel rolls and 3 cartwheels the 21TX comes to a stop somewhere over the backstretch berm. Brandon Schure is OKAY after that insane wreck from battling hard. We are all glad Schure is ok and hopefully after a good nights sleep to get rid of the dizzy and along day fixing that trashed racecar, the 21Tx will join us tomorrow night to show us that speed again. 18 to go after we clean that mess up and the 7 will lead us to it. Baker will hold the lead but next time by for 16 to go the 50 will make his move and its Davis to the lead! The 50 will pull and with 14 to go the 74 will dart around the 7 for second! Only two laps later and the 74 has caught the leader like a bullet! 15 in and 10 to go Hodges will make his move around the 50 and it sticks to the line!! The 20 runs third, the 4L runs 4th and the 19x into the top 5 now. Only 7 to go and the 74 is gone from the 50 who has gapped the 7 who is demolishing the rest of the field. But it aint that easy in dirt track racing and CAUTION waves. Hodges will lead us to the green for 6 to go but somehow the 20 gets a great jump and to the lead he goes! Wofford also follows along and it looks like he has found his high line because 5th to third in about half a second on that one! The 50 will pass the 19X back at the line but into turn 2 its is Hodges in the 74X like a hot knife and down the backstretch he will regain the lead!!! The 74 is going to make these last laps a school because at the line for the white flag he leads the 20 of Shon Deskins by 10 lengths at least! Josh Hodges in 74X will win this main event by a mile over the 20 of Shon Deskins but it’s the 50 of Charles Davis rallying back to a podium finish. Wes Wofford with a good drive and its 4th place with the 4 of Dylan Harris rounding out top 5.

 

After the race Josh Hodges was as calm as could be but still excited to talk about his win and his summer.

 

How was the track?

 

“Well it has “character” for sure. It was pretty rough but nothing I haven’t driven on before. We just spent the summer in Indiana running the 410 Sprint car and that helped me out a lot. We where running 3 races a week there so it really does help with the conditioning when I get into the 360. I enjoyed tonight and I just had to find the line and roll it and hope it worked for me. It’s a good win for sure and tomorrow night will be fun.”