by Gary Jacob

EL PASO, Tex. (May 17, 2002) - The early season point leader on the Barnett’s Harley Davidson Series, Curt Barnett made it three straight modified feature wins at the El Paso Speedway Park Friday night. C Barnett came from 10th starting and won ahead of Scott Logston and a strong effort by Greg Pratt Jr. The winged sprint cars were in action for the first time in 2002 and Mike Wells bounced back from a roll over early in the evening to win the feature over Bob Miller and Jay Jonas. Miller had won the street stock feature at the first 4 races on the schedule, but raced only in the sprint car class this night. Roger Owens beat Jerry Cline in the street stock feature and their heat race after Cline had beaten him in the dash. Defending track champion David Hernandez posted another mini stock feature win ahead of dash winner Ozzie Noder.

To award full points on the Barnett Series, a race has to attract a 20 car field and the fact that just 18 modifieds were in the pits on this night saw C Barnett awarded just 38 points for the win instead of the usual 40 points. Jimmy Ray beat Christy Georges in heat 1, Pat Carney beat Bumper Jones in heat 2 and Mike Martin came out on top of Alvie Williams in heat 3. C Barnett came from 10th starting and led the race by the midway mark. Logston ran second over Pratt, Royal Jones, P Carney, Ray, B Jones and Sherman Barnett. Julian Lopez was disqualified from his feature spot.

Brian Bowden was the winged sprint car dash winner. Dan Sanders won heat 1 over double division racer Joe Alvarado. Wells and Jonas ran 1-2 in the second heat. Wells then won the main event ahead of Miller, Jonas, John Carney Jr, Sanders, Alvarado, Bowden and Ricky Ziehl. Bowden and Carney had a wild front stretch tangle.

Cline beat Owens in the street stock dash. Roger Burch beat Tim Munn in heat 1 with Owens edging Cline in heat 2. Owens then won the main event over Cline and a career best run by Holly Jones. Jones was graduating from high school on the following day and is the daughter of modified star Royal Jones. Jimmy Conn was fourth over Steve Flack and Munn. After a fourth place heat finish, Ozzie Noder won the mini stock dash. Hernandez had won the heat race over Ralph Fountain. In the feature, it was Hernandez again winning with O Noder second over Fountain, Robert Noder, Joe Acosta and Fernie Luna.

RESULTS

MINI STOCK

Dash-Ozzie Noder.

Heat-David Hernandez, Ralph Fountain, Robert Noder, O Noder.

Main-Hernandez, O Noder, Fountain, R Noder, Joe Acosta, Fernie Luna.

STREET STOCK

Dash-Jerry Cline.

Heat 1-Roger Burch, Tim Munn, Lorenzo Hidalgo.

Heat 2-Roger Owens, Jerry Cline, Jimmy Conn, Steve Miner.

Main-Owens, Cline, Holly Jones, Conn, Steve Flack, Munn, Garry Blackwell, Hidalgo, Josh Sortman.

WINGED SPRINT CAR

Dash-Brian Bowden.

Heat 1-Dan Sanders, Joe Alvarado, Bowden, John Carney Jr.

Heat 2-Mike Wells, Jay Jonas, Bob Miller.

Main-Wells, Miller, Jonas, Carney, Sanders, Alvarado, Bowden, Ricky Ziehl.

DIRT MODIFIED

Heat 1-Jimmy Ray, Christy Georges, John Carney, Scott Logston.

Heat 2-Pat Carney, Bumper Jones, Dave Chenoweth, Royal Jones.

Heat 3-Mike Martin, Alvie Williams, Curt Barnett, Paddy Rush.

Main-C Barnett, Logston, Greg Pratt Jr, R Jones, P Carney, Ray, B Jones, Sherman Barnett, Chenoweth, Rush, Joe Alvarado, Georges, Martin, Williams, J Carney, Vince LePasti Jr, Steve Jones.