Texas Outlaw Pro Mods at Houston 10/09
Text by Celeste Smith ~ Photo by Toyse Woody
Mother Nature got her way Friday night for the Kennedale race (which is re-scheduled to this Friday night Oct 16th) but decided to let us race in Houston. There was an overcast all day long but nothing falling out of the sky. Eleven Pro Mod teams showed up and after two rounds of qualifying, here's how everything unfolded.
#1 Ken Thomas - 3.961 at 180 mph
#2 Gaylen Smith - 3.968 at 184 mph
#3 Jeff Naiser - 4.049 at 178 mph
#4 Doug Riesterer - 4.209 at 147 mph
#5 Jackie Deaver - 4.377 at 142 mph
#6 Frankie Taylor - 4.450 at 128 mph
#7 Todd Moyer - 4.601 at 141 mph
#8 Rickey Cate - 4.921 at 120 mph
#9 Chuck Poindexter - 5.226 at 111 mph
#10 Chris Smith - 7.275 at 64 mph
#11 Thomas Patterson - NT (Left before tree activated)
During 2nd round of qualifying, Gaylen and Ken took the tree and both cars made a nice run. The chutes were out on Gaylen's car in the shut down and all of a sudden the car made a right hand turn straight into the wall like he was on ice. The Bounty Hunter swiped the rear quarter panel on the Hellair and then in turn the right nose of the car hit the wall as well. Our night was over. The strut and wheel were damaged along with the zoomie. We loaded the car up and headed back to Mansfield to begin the repairs on the car. The next pair of cars right behind Ken and Gaylen was Doug and Frankie. Doug was already qualified from the first round but Frankie hit a cone during round 1 of qualifying so he was not qualified yet.
Frankie takes off and teeter totters all the way down the track and right past the finish line he's sliding around and hits the left retaining wall which sends him spinning over to the right wall (in front of Doug) where he hits the right wall HARD and in turn it looked like Doug hit the back of his car as he was directly in front of him sideways. Doug was okay but there was too much damage to the front end of his car to continue. Frankie was dazed and confused and went to the hospital to get checked out. He left the hospital later that night after he checked out okay. Glad to hear that Gaylen, Frankie and Doug we're all okay but there is a lot of work to be done before next weekend.
First Round:
Chris Smith (W)
Jackie Deaver (RU
Sorry, I don't have ET's because we left the track before the race ended. Chris Smith was one of the alternates that filled in for Doug Riesterer. He had not been able to get down the track during qualifying but managed to get the win over Jackie Deaver as the Underdawg's Revenge got way too much wheel speed at the hit and had to abort the run.
Todd Moyer (W)
Chuck Poindexter (RU)
Chuck Poindexter filled in for Gaylen Smith. Something wasn't right in the tranny and he couldn't back up so he drove it on thru and Todd got the competition bye.
Ken Thomas (W)
Rickey Cate (RU)
Ken is Mr. Consistency tonight. He makes another nice run.
Thomas Patterson (W)
Jeff Naiser (RU)
Thomas was the 3rd alternate filling in for Frankie and he advanced into the semi's.
Semi-Finals:
Ken Thomas (W)
Chris Smith (RU)
Thomas Patterson (W)
Todd Moyer (RU)
Finals:
Ken Thomas (W)
Thomas Patterson (RU)
Congratulations to Ken Thomas and the entire LenMar/Thomas Motorsports team for you victory and to Thomas Patterson for the runner-up.