FALLON, Nev. -- A hard tangle with a lapped car cost track champion Gene Kay $900 in purse money, but he rebounded to dominate Sunday night’s 30 lap IMCA Modified finale to the two day Nevada State Dirt Track Championships at Rattlesnake Speedway. Yerington’s G Kay had lapped all but second and third place with less than a half dozen laps to run when a lapped car cut down on him and ripped the right front suspension off of his BMS mount. G Kay pieced together a suspension package for Sunday and drove to wins in both his heat and the 30 lap feature. He got $600 for the Sunday win and $100 for finishing third overall on the weekend, but could have had $1200 for the two wins and $400 for the weekend championship. G Kay won 14 of his 21 starts during the IMCA point window, gaining championships at both Fallon and Winnemucca. The Saturday night track was full of large holes, but Galen Reese raced around them for the $600 win, his first in a dirt modified. Bill Pearson’s weekend plans changed when his son’s baseball games were cancelled and he jumped into the former pavement car that his family purchased for senior citizen racer uncle Buster Pearson and raced to $300 seconds in both shows to gain the $400 weekend title. Reese finished second overall ahead of Kay and Sunday third place finisher Malen Gonzalez. Seven of Reno Fernley Raceway’s modified minis appeared for the weekend. Winnemucca champion Shawn Natenstedt was the Saturday night feature winner and carried a two point lead into Sunday’s action. There was contact as he attempted to take the lead from Fernley open winner Stephen Crook on lap 20 and Natenstedt was blackflagged off the track. S Crook changed his tire and returned to finish third behind Fernley’s Richard Scott and Tracy CA long tow Matt Borges to gain the overall weekend title and $300. Scott was second overall ahead of Borges and Natenstedt. The Open Wheel 318 class appeared in force with 11 cars, but it was Yerington veteran Frank Kay, father of Gene, making his 2005 season debut with clean sweeps on both Saturday and Sunday for a $400 weekend payoff. Both nights, the heat win placed F Kay on the front row and he charged to 30 lap wins. On Sunday, another senior citizen racer Wally Looney ran second ahead of Larry Silas. W Looney was second in the weekend points ahead of Saturday night runnerup Keith Walsh and Silas.

There were 11 IMCA Modifieds and Reese started the Sunday action with a two point lead on Pearson, 3 ahead of Jeffery Macedo and 5 in front of Russell Rosario. Kay was 8 points out of the lead and Gonzalez 9 behind Reese. Gonzalez started third in heat 1 and won with a best lap of 16.24. Pole starter John Hill ran second ahead of Reese. G Kay charged from fourth and won heat 2 with a last lap pass around Pearson. G Kay ran a 16.40 on that final round. Byron Hutchinson ran third. Macedo got into the back fence in the heat, but made repairs to run the 30 lap feature. Heat winners Gonzalez and G Kay shared the front row for the 30 lapper and Gonzalez got underneath G Kay in turn 2 to retake the lead on lap 1 and he paced two rounds before G Kay took command of the race. The track volunteers had worked until 6 AM after the Saturday night show to try and get a better racing surface and another track rework after the heat action allowed the track to have much smaller ruts on Sunday. Pearson settled into third over Reese and Rosario. Macedo and Dow Lazenby crashed with each other on lap 4 and Hutchinson fell out. Chris Lumsden Sr spun on lap 7 and Sue Eckert got into the front fence for a lap 10 caution. Rosario grabbed fourth from Reese on this restart and the final yellow came on lap 12 when Hill crashed. G Kay built his lead to ¼ lap as the race finished with 18 straight green flag laps. He ran in the 16.5 second range and usual dirt late model racer Pearson was able to duck underneath Gonzalez in turn 4 on lap 24 to gain second. G Kay won the race ahead of Pearson, Gonzalez, Rosario, Reese, Lumsden, Lazenby, Macedo and Hill. Each night paid the top 6 positions and the top six overall also carried purse awards. Pearson won the weekend overall title ahead of Reese, G Kay, Gonzalez, Rosario and Hill.

Natenstedt was two points ahead of both S Crook and Borges starting the Sunday action for the modified minis. Scott was five points behind the leader with Bob Neese six points back. S Crook had the pole for the heat race and won with a best lap of 17.41. Natenstedt spun out of second and Scott finished second ahead of him. The heat win put S Crook on the pole for the 30 lap feature and S Crook raced to a quick lead over Scott and Natenstedt. Scott spun in turn 4 on lap 3 and Natenstedt gained second ahead of Borges and Neese. Scott climbed back to fifth despite not drawing a caution for his spin. At the midway point, S Crook and Natenstedt were ½ lap ahead of the third place duel between Borges, Scott and Neese and racing in the 17.5 second range. Natenstedt pulled alongside S Crook as they finished lap 19. There was contact between the two and S Crook was left with a flat left front tire as Natenstedt raced into the lead. The yellow flag and black flag greeted Natenstedt together as he finished lap 20 as the officials ruled against him for rough driving. Natenstedt left the track and S Crook restarted in the rear after changing his tire. Scott was the new leader and he clicked off a 17.44 best as he paced the final 10 rounds for the Sunday win ahead of Borges, S Crook, Neese and Cary Hilton. The purse money was paid on combined points for the two days of racing and S Crook got the weekend title ahead of Scott, Borges and Natenstedt.

In the Open Wheel 318 class, F Kay started Sunday with a 3 point lead over Walsh, 4 in front of both W Looney and Rick Thuemler and 8 ahead of Richard Rabe. The heat action took it’s toll on this class. In heat one, Rabe climbed the back fence and flipped. He was taken to the hospital to be checked out, but returned to the track to watch the racing action with a lot of bumps and bruises. W Looney won from third over Silas and Thuemler with a a best lap of 18.05. F Kay started outside front row in heat 2 and ripped off a best lap of 17.90 as he won over Walsh. Duncan Lee spun and was hit hard by Jeanette Strong, ending the weekend for both. Earlier, Fernley champion Rick Looney and Walsh had crashed hard. R Looney was able to make repairs and start the 30 lap feature. Eight cars were left to race in the 30 lapper and F Kay raced into the lead over Walsh and W Looney. Walsh was putting pressure on leader F Kay and R Looney raced into fifth when Thuemler got too high on lap 4. Harold Leith spun for a lap 5 yellow. W Looney took second from Walsh on this restart with Walsh crashing hard into the front wall on lap 8 for the final caution. Thuemler’s race also ended as he crashed into the idled Walsh car. R Looney parked his car during the caution to leave just five cars in action. The final 22 laps nearly went without a caution, but debris slowed the action on lap 26. W Looney tried a bottom line pass for the lead on lap 19, but couldn’t complete the move and F Kay pulled away in the closing rounds. F Kay won ahead of W Looney, Silas and the lapped cars of Vern Shipton and Leith. Overall standings for the weekend found F Kay the champion ahead of W Looney, Walsh, Silas, Thuemler, Shipton, R Looney and Leith.

The annual Kris Kringle race for charity will run at the track on November 12.

RESULTS

318 Open Wheel

Heat 1: Wally Looney, Larry Silas, Rick Thuemler, Vern Shipton, Harold Leith.

Heat 2: Frank Kay, Keith Walsh, Duncan Lee, Jeanette Strong, Rick Looney.

Main: F Kay, W Looney, Silas, Shipton, Leith, R Looney, Walsh, Thuemler.

Modified Mini

Heat: Stephen Crook, Richard Scott, Shawn Natenstedt, Matt Borges, Bob Neese.

Main: Scott, Borges, S Crook, Neese, Cary Hilton, Natenstedt.

IMCA Modified

Heat 1: Malen Gonzalez, John Hill, Galen Reese, Dow Lazenby, Russell Rosario.

Heat 2: Gene Kay, Bill Pearson, Byron Hutchinson, Chris Lumsden Sr, Jeffrey Macedo.

Main: G Kay, Pearson, Gonzalez, Rosario, Reese, Lumsden, Lazenby, Macedo, Hill, Sue Eckert, Hutchinson.