Monday, June 16, 1997

Abilene's Craig Mendenhall wins D Sport Racer title

By TED DUNNAM

Assistant Sports Editor

Saturday, Craig Mendenhall never got going. Sunday, he couldn't be stopped.

The Abilenian, solving ignition system problems that plagued him most of Saturday, hooked himself up with a temporary replacement and coasted to the D Sport Racer title Sunday at the Seventh Annual Abilene Sunburn Grand Prix.

The win was all-important for Mendenhall as it came in a national race and closed the gap between him and points leader Paul Shinsky, who saw his racing weekend end Saturday with a crash.

"The ignition system was definitely a concern when we went out there," Mendenhall said. "We knew we could get going, we just weren't sure how long it would hold up.

"But a couple of cars in our class ended their day early and our car ran good. This particular system is more prone to fail in heat like we had today, but it did its job."

Mendenhall seemed to have no problems negotiating the 1.7-mile track at Abilene Regional Airport. As long as he avoided traffic, he figured to get home safely with the win.

"With this two-stroke motor, you still have to run it eight- or nine-tenths of its maximum," Mendenhall said. "It's not real easy to drive off the power band. If you get in traffic, you just let them go.

"We ran a slower type gearing today, and that was the right choice. With this win today, we solidified second in the point standings. We're still a little behind Paul Shinsky, but at least he's in range where he's catchable."

Another Abilene driver, Robert Hoemke, also emerged victorious.

After trailing for the first few laps in the Vintage class, Hoemke overtook Charlie Barns of Dallas, outhandling him and then simply outrunning him. Once Hoemke took the lead, he was never challenged in powering his way to victory.

In other races Sunday, Bob Hahn and Denny Stripling were repeat winners of their races Saturday.

Hahn saw an over-aggressive Ron Kerr pay the price early in the American Sedan Class and Hahn then coasted to victory after his only serious challenger departed the track.

"Ron never gives up and he's an excellent driver," Hahn said. "He'd brake hard coming into the turns, and then try to overtake me on the straightaways."

And early in the race, Kerr secured the lead only to see some of his hard braking result in a collision between the two. The minor scrape kept both competitors in the field, but Kerr's hard racing eventually resulted in a blown engine and Hahn was home free.

"He braked all of a sudden when I didn't expect it. But I guess it was the only thing he could do," Hahn said. "We got side by side and there just wasn't any room there.

"Even if he would have stayed in the race, I felt I could take him because he was using the heck out of his brakes. It was nice to get the big lead and just bring it on around."

Stripling's victory in the Spec Racer class was less eventful but just as convincing. Starting on the pole, the Dallas driver took the lead at the green flag and never relinquished it, gradually pulling away to the victory.

Rick Houston, starting second, drifted back to fourth while David Underwood, starting third, finished second. No one, however, challenged Stripling the entire 27 laps.

"There's no question I had the fastest car out there," Stripling said. "There were several lapped cars out there, and that was my only concern. If I could get through the traffic OK, I knew I could stay in front."

The wins Saturday and Sunday were sweet for Stripling, who is second in the point standings behind Underwood.

"He's had incredibly good luck this year, and I've had incredibly bad luck," Stripling said. "I guess this was my weekend. I like this track. I've always had good luck here. There's a nice mixture of corners, and you have to play set-up here."

Underwood saw a healthy winning streak end this weekend, both times at Stripling's expense.

"Denny just had a better car than all of us," Underwood said. "I had won seven races in a row until yesterday, so I guess I can't complain too much. Today just wasn't our day to shine."

Here are Sunday's results of national races in the Seventh Annual Abilene Sunburn Grand Prix at Abilene Regional Airport:

F5 - 1. Forrest Sanco, Burleson, 83.716; 2. Steve Davison, Kilgore, 82.525; 3. Carl Maier, Grand Prairie, 82.568; 4. Gary Day, San Angelo, 81.937; 5. Jason Fox, Lubbock, 80.801; 6. Larry Svaton, Alvin, 82.924; 7. Richard Graham, Kingwood, 82.687.

FV - 1. Jim Rainey, Ennis, 79.940; 2. Randall Pfluger, Carrolton, 79.681; 3. Michael Robertson, Arlington, 79.726; 4. Dwight Calkins, Dallas, 79.345; 5. Bill Griffith, Duncanville, 79.710; 6. M.D. Rogers, Nederland, 78.889; 7. Dave Trzeciak, Austin, 75.119; 8. Kent Wiseman, Houston, 100.566; 9. Larry Reytburn, CArrollton, 74.421; 10. Gerald Hollis, Crosby, 74.315; 11. Rick Cardenas, Dallas, 67.687; 12. David Dinsmore, Richardson, 76.878; 13. Roger Tienken, Spring, 76.417; 14. Rafael Olmos, Duncanville, 76.639.

AS - 1. Bob Hahn, Nacogdoches, 80.947; 2. Michael Zoch, Duncanville, 79.480; 3. Kevin Mixon, Dallas, 79.823; 4. George Pharis, Sugar Land, 76.863; 5. Matthew Barrows, McKinney, 80.895; 6. Ron Kerr, Kingwood, 81.028.

SSA - 1. James Smith, Alvin, 73.841.

SSB - 1. John Phillips III, Sealy, 75.148; 2. Merv Stauffer, Granbury, 74.408; 3. Carolyn Wright, Houston, 73.466; 4. Rick Kulach, Coppell, 73.506; 5. Tim Evans, Dallas, 71.233.

SSC - 1. John R. Saucier, Midwest City, Ok., 74.500; 2. Larry Ray, Sugar Land, 73.935.

GT1 - 1. Steve Hickham, Corpus Christi, 88.916; 2. David Fershtand, Fort Worth, 87.664.

GT3 - 1. Malcolm Garrett, Lubbock, 81.909; 2. Bob Kyle, Longview, 79.228.

GT4 - 1. D. Reed, Lorena, 78.522; 2. Mark Kulczyk, San Antonio, 75.150.

EP - 1. Joe Stubblefield, Mesa, Ariz., 80.606; 2. Rod Kent, Glendale, Ariz., 79.588; 3. Sidney Arnold, Ingleside, 79.186

FP - 1. Darren Brown, Richardson, 77.715

HP - 1. Doug Doidge, Abilene, 68.654

FC - 1. Craig Spaulding, 92.265; 2. Derrick Park, 91.376; 3. Charlie Swayne, 91.225; 4. Bill Clayborn, 82.787; 5. Al Boenker, 89.648.

S2 - 1. Jay Messenger, 89.335; 2. Randy Aycock, 84.745; 3. Paul Costas, 80.485

FF - 1. Mike Sauce, 89.402; 2. Robbie Ferstl, 88.926; 3. Nick St. Laurent, 88.979; 4. David Cromie, 87.117; 5. Bill Hayter, 86.716

DSR - 1. Craig Mendenhall, Abilene, 87.113; 2. Jim Rawson, 85.745

CSR - 1. Lon McKinstry, 86.012; 2. Keith Young, 87.075

Spec Racer - 1. Denny Stripling, Dallas, 82.256; 2. David Underwood, Houston, 81.605; 3. Michael Hart, Youngsville, La, 80.924; 4. Rick Houston, Houston, 80.979; 5. Kevin Honeycutt, Grand Prairie, 81.160; 6. Tony Khoury, Plano, 81.030; 7. David Schorr, Austin, 80.924; 8. Paul Sonderfan, Houston, 80.194; 9. Rege Brunner, San Antonio, 80.689; 10. Don Raney, Parker, 79.845; 11. Tim Blakeley, Midland, 80.054; 12. Joe Ginn, Johnson City, 81.640; 13. Glenn Edgecomb, Houston, 79.801; 14. Carl Harris, Houston, 80.555; 15. Ron Jessen, Flower Mound, 80.173; 16. Brad Davis, Houston, 80.094; 17. Kirk Lovess, Kennedale, 80.960; 18. Jeff Sweet, Farmers Branch, 79.034; 19. Mark Cohn, Bellaire, 79.268; 20. Jay Heizer, Seguin, 78.145; 21. Blake Hall, Houston, 77.514; 22. Greg Lund, Austin, 80.242; 23. Andrew Simpson, Houston, 77.937.

ITS - 1. Rick Hill, Houston, 79.607; 2. Ed Schairbaum, Fort Worth, 79.168

ITF - 1. Stuart Singer, Allen, 79.262; 2. Christian Briggs, McKinney, 76.925; 3. Aaron White, Dallas, 76.400

ITE - 1. David Frank, Bedford, 75.989

ITA - 1. Chris Maness, Carrollton, 75.216; 2. Romeo Villarreal, Houston, 73.904; 3. Bill Bagby, Houston, 74.240; 4. Joe Lamping, Austin, 73.896; 5. Lynn Lamb, Enid, Ok., 75.209; 6. Bill Thrash, Houston, 71.941; 7. Mike Gorman, Kennedale, 68.928.

LE - 1. Larry Lurendine, Canyon Lake, 73.557

ITB - 1. Conrad Guthrie, Spring, 71.383; 2. Dan Cashman, Irving, 71.153

ITC - 1. Guenter Hohl, Austin, 71.681; 2. Richard Dickey, Grandbury, 69.625

Vintage - 1. Robert Hoemke, Abilene, 81.098; 2. Charlie Barns, Dallas, 81.637; 3. John Fershtand, Fort Worth, 79.685; 4. Mark Hargrave, Dallas, 77.517; 5. Dick Brink, Arlington, 77.285; 6. Bobbie Marshall, Fort Worth, 77.653; 7. Bill Marshall, Fort Worth, 75.726; 8. Jimmy Johnson, Fort Worth, 74.953; 9. Howard DAvies, Plano, 74.244; 10. Richard Crump, Enid, Ok., 73.479; 11. Bill Haga, Grand Prairie, 73.686; 12. DAvid Taylor, Dallas, 74.058; 13. Trevor Bond, Grapevine, 71.473; 14. Arthur Summerville, Irving, 70.621; 15. Richard Hardison, Plano, 70.113; 16. Mike Orlie, Arlington, 67.523; 17. Nick Norman, Arlington, 63.918; 18. Karen Rader, Dallas, 62.941.