9/21/2024
CARS Tour West
RACE REPORT: Night of Destruction Saturday, August 31
RACE REPORT: Night of Destruction Saturday, August 31
The grandstands were packed, and the crowd was electric for the start of Night of Destruction at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday, August 31.
Race fans enjoyed a packed schedule of racing action and destruction entertainment, including the seventh round of the zMAX CARS Tour West fueled by El Bandido Yankee Tequila and MMI Legends Tour West presented by Frank’s Radio Service.
The night kicked off with Irwindale Speedway’s Tucker Tire Enduro series—made up of the Sport class and Stock class running together.
The night’s enduro main saw the front-wheel drive machines running on the third-mile kidney bean configuration for an exciting battle.
At the start of the race, the #76 of Rider Gardner took the lead early and ran with it, creating a considerable gap by lap 5.
By then, the main battle to watch—and throughout the race—was between the #18 of Bobby Ozman and #6SP of Mike McIntyre.
As the laps counted down, Ozman had a handful battling off McIntyre, who managed to bump and bang the #18 machine’s rear bumper several times.
In the end, Ozman was able to hold his ground and secure the win for the enduro Sport class.
In the Stock class, Gardner’s early race lead would offer little competition and land him the win for the night.
Following this exciting battle, the MMI Legends Tour West field moved onto the third-mile oval for an electric display of competition for round 7 of the season for the series.
It was pole sitter #1R of Tyler Reif who would take the lead at the start of the race and lead the field into battle.
There was a lot of movement and maneuvering toward the middle of the pack in the opening laps—including some bumping and banging between the #17W of Johnny White while battling it out with the #1C of Charlie Carty.
As Reif continued to dominate with his lead over the field, lap traffic would begin to emerge.
Trailing Reif was the #17M of Taylor Mayhew who was in a ferocious battle for second with the #20 of Ashton Williams. Ultimately Williams would roll in on Mayhew and seal the deal to grab second away.
While it was mostly green flag racing, with 12 laps to go the #38 of Lee Kennedy would spin and draw the first caution for the race.
The energy was palpable as the field racked up and began rolling pace laps.
When the green flag dropped the racing action was intense, with cars running four-wide down the front stretch of the third-mile track.
With 5 laps to go, Williams move before the caution would prove to be the right one, holding onto second place into the closing laps.
But ultimately it was Reif and his dominant run throughout the race that would grab the victory for the seventh round of the MMI Legends Tour West. Williams would grab second place and the #17 of Mayhew secured third.
Following the MMI Legends Tour West race, the Tucker Tire Figure-8 race on Irwindale’s third-mile oval was next.
Similar to the Enduro class just without Sport and Stock divisions, this race series is always a crowd pleaser—especially during Night of Destruction.
As the green flag dropped, the race’s main story line emerged quickly between the #19 of Jason Woolcott and Rider Gardner.
As Gardner fought to keep Woolcott within sights, the #19 machine was on the run—even with lap traffic emerging in the center of the figure-8.
With 8 laps to go and a big near-miss in the intersection, Gardner began closing the gap on Woolcott.
The crowd could be heard reacting as Woolcott continued to keep Gardner at a distance until the checkers dropped and the #19 machine took the win.
After that exciting battle, it was time for the night’s big race—round seven of the zMAX CARS Tour West fueled by El Bandido Yankee Tequila.
A field of 21 pro late models lined the starting grid before rolling onto Irwindale’s storied half-mile oval.
After an absolutely dominant season, the big question of the night was could Jeffrey Peterson land another win with the #51 machine?
When the green flag dropped, the #48 machine of Cody Kiemele would battle up front with Peterson and the #55W of Linny White in the opening laps.
As the laps counted down with 83 to go, there was a strong battle brewing between the #21B of Henry Barton and #50H of Trevor Huddleston for the eighth spot.
A similar battle was unfolding between the #7S of Ryan Schartau and #71 of Dustin Vandermooren.
With 80 laps to go, White would take the lead from Peterson who had been dominant up until that point.
Then with 70 laps to go, Peterson would work the inside line and clear White to secure the first spot again.
Following a competition caution, the racing action immediately ramped up once the green flag dropped for the restart.
An epic display of four-wide racing action played out across the front stretch between the #22 of Nash Youngren, Barton, Vandermooren and #36 of Parker Malone.
Around the track again, this time the bunch was three wide with Barton on the inside, Youngren in the middle, and Vandermooren on the outside.
With 57 laps to go, Kiemele and Malone were dicing it up for the third spot as Peterson and White battled it out for first.
This racing storyline would continue throughout the race. With 33 laps to go, Peterson was in the lead with White front and center of his rear-view mirror.
With 25 laps to go behind the leaders, there were battles brewing between the #45 of Sean Woodside to the inside of #11 of Dylan Cappello, while Youngren and the #7S of Schartau duked it out for position.
With 11 to go, the focus was on Woodside and Malone for the fourth position.
With green flag racing all the way up until 5 laps to go, that streak would be broken when the #62B of Eric Bewley went for a spin into turn 2, causing the #19 of Kylie Ith to spin after attempting to avoid the wreck.
At the other end of the track in turn 4 at the same time, the #4 of Dennis Arena would contact the rear of the #7M machine of Kenna Mitchell, which turned the young driver around into the front stretch infield.
All this lead up to a hard-charging restart for the final run of the race. With Kiemele on Peterson’s bumper and White not far behind, it was an exciting final lap battle for the 100-lap main feature.
In the end, Peterson would answer the question and secure yet another win for the series. Kiemele would secure second place for the night, and White brought home third.
Following the excitement on the half-mile, it was back to the third-mile kidney bean for skid plate racing.
Sparks were trailing behind the field of front-wheel drive cars with rear tire skid plates as the green flag dropped.
The #3 car of Robert Rice would take an early lead, with the #16 of Robbie Salcido chasing for the position.
By the half-way point of the 15-lap race, Salcido was able to make a run for the lead and take it.
With 5 to go, Rice was close to closing the gap, but Salcido’s machine was able to pull away on the banking along the front stretch as the laps counted down.
While Rice put up a hard fight, the #16 machine was able to seal the deal and take home the win.
Following the skid plate race, fans were treated to a jetcar burndown before the trailer destruction race main event of the night.
The event concluded with Irwindale Speedway’s signature fireworks finale.
Catch the next CARS Tour West race on October 5, 2024 at All American Speedway in Roseville, CA.
Story and photo by Greg Toumassian
Submitted By: Greg Toumassian