10/9/2024
CARS Tour West
CARS Tour West Round 8 Recap: All American Speedway at Roseville
CARS Tour West Round 8 Recap: All American Speedway at Roseville
As the sun began to set over All American Speedway in Roseville, the roar of the zMAX CARS Tour West Pro Late Model engines firing filled the air for the start of round 8 of the season.
Rolling to the green near the top of the field was young gun Kenna Mitchell (#7M). With a blistering fast 14.227-second lap time during practice and a third-place qualifying result, the rising star was hunting for a win.
In the second position, Jeffrey Peterson (#51P) was in contention to continue his dominant win streak in the series. Next to Peterson was Parker Malone (#36), who would find himself in the top spot leading to the green. After a season filled with close calls and challenges, his sights were laser-focused on securing the checkers.
When the green flag dropped, the field erupted down the front straightaway to the rising cheer of fans in the grandstands. Racing side by side, Peterson wheeled his way out front of Malone to secure the first position by lap number 1.
Malone would chase Peterson on the outside while battling off Mitchell for second place—who was quickly closing in on the spot. With multiple racing grooves on the surface of All American Speedway, Mitchell would work the inside line to continue her battle with Malone.
Behind the top three, Dylan Zampa (#92) and Jay Juleson (#12) were bumping and banging side by side for the fourth position. As this battle heated up with 93 laps to go, the first caution would be drawn when Colton Nelson (#45) spun into turn 1 and damaged the nose of his car—which ended his race.
At the restart, Peterson would find himself back out front. The battle for second would see Mitchell on the outside this time and Malone on the inside. The two would run side by side before Mitchell would pull her nose out front and secure the second spot.
Behind this pack, Zampa would find himself in front of Juleson for the fourth spot, but the battle was not over—Juleson’s nose was touching the #92’s rear bumper. With 81 to go, the pack up front moved from side by side to bumper to bumper formation, including the battle for sixth between Brenden Ruzbarsky (#51R), Aidan Daneils (#8X), and Linny White (#55W).
Ten laps later, Peterson and Mitchell had driven away from the third position by several seconds and were quickly approaching lap traffic. With 59 laps to go, just as the leaders were moving their way through lap traffic, Kylie Glick (#67) would spin into turn 3 and draw a caution. When the field would come back to the green, Peterson would be on the inside and Mitchell on the outside.
Peterson would pull away while a battle for second between Malone and Mitchell would quickly ramp up. By lap 51, with Mitchell on the inside, Malone tried to pinch off the #7 machine entering turn 3, which resulted in contact and caused the #36 to spin through turn 4 and draw a caution. This would send both drivers to the back of the field.
It wouldn’t be long after the restart when another caution was called, this time between Mitchell and Nash Youngren (#22) who would take a spin after contact with the #7.
At the restart, the front of the field shuffled up with Peterson in the lead, Zampa in the second spot, and White, who had worked his way to the third position. Behind the leaders, the #8 and #12 machine were battling side by side for the fourth position. Also working through the field from the back of the pack was Malone and Mitchell, who would fight elbows out to work toward the front of traffic.
With 34 to go, White who had been driving hard to gain positions made contact with the outside wall exiting turn 2—though this wouldn’t hinder his drive. White would try to work the outside around Zampa who was fighting on the inside with Juleson trailing close behind him.
The next caution would be drawn with 20 to go when Glick would contact Youngren on the outside line entering turn 1. As the field came back to green, it would be Zampa on the outside and Peterson on the inside for the first position. Fighting door to door, the aggression would ramp up with every corner.
With 13 to go, after several laps of side-by-side racing, Zampa would pull back exiting turn 2 and work a crossover move down the back stretch toward the inside line. Just as the racing action was ramping up, there would be a big stack up coming out of turn 4 when the #3 of Trey Daniels would slide up the track, and everyone behind him would make contact—including a big hit for the #9 of Thomas Martin along with damage for Andrew Chapman (#55C), Christian Bazen (#43), Jay Juleson (#12) and Mitchell.
The red flag would be drawn for track cleanup after the incident.
At the restart with 12 laps to go, Peterson would work the inside while Zampa was on the outside for the first position. With 9 to go, Peterson would slide up the track exiting turn 2, which would give Zampa some room to drive forward and try to take the line away from Peterson. At the same time, White made quick work of the shuffle and was toward the inside of Zampa entering turn 3.
White and Zampa would make significant contact exiting turn 4. With Peterson on the inside and Zampa on the outside, the bumping and banging action continued to ramp up.
With 6 to go, entering turn 1, Zampa would take the gloves off and bump Peterson into a spin which would shake up several other drivers trying to avoid the wreck, including Mitchell and Bazen. The move from the 92 would place Zampa and Peterson toward the rear of the field, racking up the leaders to see Kenna Mitchell, Linny White, Parker Malone in first, second and third, respectively.
When the green flag dropped, with Mitchell on the inside line, White charged hard to secure the lead. With the white flag in the air, the three leaders would run three wide down the backstretch and into turn 3. Entering turn 3, White was on the outside, Mitchell in the middle, and Malone on the inside.
The bunch rolled through turn 3 and into 4 before Mitchell and White made contact. Ever the fighter, White managed to charge forward ahead of Mitchell and Malone down the front stretch and take the win, ending a season-long winless streak with the series.
MMI LEGENDS TOUR WEST
The field was buzzing as the MMI Legends Tour West rolled pace laps leading to the green flag of the 35-lap feature. Out front was David Mayhew (#17) in first on the inside line, Brenden Ruzbarsky (#100) in second on the outside, Brandon White (#66) in third on the inside, and Taylor Mayhew (#17M) in fourth on the outside.
Before the first lap was counted, the first caution would fly. As the field made its way into turns 3 and 4, some three-wide racing action would turn into a yellow flag. Tyler Reif (#9R) would make contact and spin Wyatt Sansom (#12S), causing a big bunch up on the field.
Back to green with 34 to go, Mayhew would hold onto the lead as Ruzbarsky gave fight. The next caution fell when Sean Salazar (#17S) would start to spin into turn 3 as traffic bunched up behind him, resulting in a few beat up bumpers and a broken fender.
At the next restart, as the track lights kicked on and the sun was down, the battle for first would continue to be Mayhew in the lead and Ruzbarsky chasing him down.
With 30 laps to go, more contact and another yellow would follow after Cole Brown (#04) would try to fight for the inside line in turn 3 and 4 and end up bumping Taylor Mayhew—and once again the traffic bunched up.
With 29 to go, Mayhew and Ruzbarsky would once again be the race to watch as the two battled it out for the lead, though Reif was quickly closing in. After several green flag laps with 14 to go, Reif would work his way up to the top spot battling it out with Mayhew for first.
The next caution would drop when Zach Sansom (#3) would spin with 11 laps to go. At the restart with 10 to go, after some bumper work from Reif, Mayhew would return the favor and secure the first-place position again. Mayhew would begin to create some distance between Reif with 5 laps to go—and also open the door for Ruzbarsky to get into the mix with White on the outside.
With the white flag in the air, Mayhew managed to pull away from Reif and take the checkers home for the night.
By Greg Toumassian,
CARS Tour West
Submitted By: Greg Toumassian