Thrills and Spills at Charlotte
The Crane Cams V8 StockCar Series returned to famed Charlotte Motor Speedway for round five of the 2012 season. Last years double winner Zach Monette was again looking to be the class of the field putting his Monette Racing Group Ford Mustang V8 GT-1 on the overall pole Saturday morning with a 1:14.164 on a very slick track. Surprisingly, Ricky Sanders grabbed the second overall and first V8 GTA spot in his PitBoxes.com Monte Carlo with a 1:16.341 effort. Ricky, no stranger to high speed ovals is a former Nascar Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series competitor. The Monette Racing Group grabbed the third spot in the order with Zach’s sister Paige Alexander clocking a 1:16.758 in her Optech Monette Corvette. Paul Arey in his Performance Auto Works Olds Cutlass and Clint Thomas in his Living on the Edge/R12 winged Monte Carlo rounded out the top five overall. Ken Morgan nabbed the top spot in V8 SPO in his Morgan Lumber Monte Carlo with Dan Schlickenmeyer besting the V8 GT2 field in his Griggs Racing/Nitto Tire Mustang.
The group lost CMP V8 GT2 winner Miles Barefoot in qualifying when he got loose in turn 3 and backed his Albion Associates Porsche 911 into the armco during his qualifying run.
Race 9 of the Crane Cams V8 Series lit off at 12:54 with polesitter Zach Monett rocketing away from the field in his Optech Monette Mustang. Only three laps into the event, Ken Morgan got loose in his Monte Carlo and impacted the jersey barrier on the outside of turn 1. Morgan ricocheted off the wall blocking half the entry into one. Ricky Sanders following close behind and with no where to go hit Morgan hard. John Morgan was next giving Sanders a head on shot. Willie Mullins dodged left to avoid the pile up, forcing Bob Monette into the jersey barrier on the left. Monette’s Camaro impacted with the left front sending the left front wheel twenty plus feet into the air according to witnesses. Luckily no one was seriously injured, but the raced was red flagged as the workers began cleaning up the mess. In all, a half dozen cars were damaged sufficiently to retire them from the weekend. As the clean up took more than a half hour, the race was called with the rest of the field sitting on pit row.
The race stewards scored the race by going back to the last lap before the crash. Zach Monette was credited with the overall and V8 GT-1 win, with V8 GTA winner Roger Reuse second and Bob Davis (V8 GTA) third.
Ken Morgan got the V8 SPO win despite taking home a totaled racer. Ray Cocoziello took second in V8 GT-1 in his Corvette with Randy Walker and Butch Kummer next in their V8 GTA rides. Williamsburg, Virginia’s Dan Schlickenmeyer bested the V8 GT2 field with Dainton Brooks and Robert Hasychak rounding out the top three in the class.
The V8 Series race ten started around 8 pm under the lights with Zach Monette again on the pole with a quick 1:13.184 with a fast improving Paul Arey along side him at 1:13.902. Paige Alexander had picked up about 2 seconds from her morning effort in her Corvette, clocking a fine 1:14.552.
When the green flew, Monette, Arey and Alexander left the rest of the field in their wake. All three were running their best laps of the weekend. Arey was never more than a couple car lengths back in the opening laps with Alexander less than a second back of him. Ray Cocoziello (V8 GT-1 Corvette and Tad Segars (V8 SPO Monte Carlo were waging a fine battle for the fourth and fifth overall spots. Butch Kummer was on fire in his number 57 V8 GTA Monte Carlo running stronger than he has in more than a year. Ricky Sanders started shotgun on the field in his back up V8 GTA Monte Carlo and was flying through the field in search of the fleeing Kummer. Brooks and Schlickenmeyer were having a good go in their V8 GT2 entry’s with the duo rarely more than a few feet apart.
About half way through the race, Alexander had a tire go down in the front straight, she appeared to just kiss the outside wall coming to a rest just off the track. Paige’s day was done, but she impressed those in attendance with her speed and tenacity. Up front, Monette was beginning to pull out a couple second lead over Arey when suddenly he suffered the same fate as sister Paige, in nearly the same spot. Arey quickly took the point and was unchallenged to the checker. Ray Cocoziello ran solidly in his first V8 Series race and came home second overall and second in V8 GT-1. In V8 GTA Sanders finally caught up to Kummer who was just beginning to fade just a bit. Sanders got by and held on for the win with Kummer second. Roger Reuse took the final spot on the podium, with Randy Walker fourth and Bobby Reuse fifth.
Tad Segars got the win in V8 SPO in his Kimrey Racing/Smith Living Group Monte Carlo with maybe his strongest performance to date. Doug Sanders came home second with Mickey Wright third. Dan Schlickenmeyer just edged Brooks before the checker to again take the V8 GT2 win with Robert Hasychak third.
The Crane Cams V8 Series wishes to thank the Central Carolina Region and their workers for the great job they did hosting the event.
Next up for the V8 racers is Homestead Miami Speedway on September 15 & 16.
