LMS Winter Heat 1/26/07: Bandoleros Racing Action
By Jason Buckley
OUTLAWS: DANIELS WINS; RODGERS CONTINUES TO USE THE BUMPER AND THROW THE INSULTS
A relatively calm Bandolero Outlaw division has turned into one of the more heated battles on and off the track during the Winter Heat Series as Nathan Rodgers, a regular in the division, has been feuding with Bailey Daniels, a newcomer to the full-time schedule of the series. Both drivers have shown aggression on the track, which has resulted in harsh words in the pit area after the events.
Bailey Daniels (#17) and Kendall Sellers (#42) race close to the #19 of Brian Claus. (LN Photo)
The final round of Winter Heat action continued the feud, bringing the level of tension to an all time high as Daniels went on to victory with Rodgers crossing the line second after contact with a few other drivers on the track.
With the championship locked up, Kendall Sellers stood on the sidelines and watched as the Outlaw division ran their final event of the Winter Heat. In the heat race, Daniels and Rodgers were racing hard on the track, resulting in Rodger’s front bumper hitting the rear of another driver, spinning him around. Rodgers blamed the incident on Daniels.
“In the heat race I had a good car and the #17 car (Daniels) decided to full throttle into the turn and run me right into another car and wrecks both our cars,” said Rodgers. “She is out there trying to hurt people.”
Daniels saw the wreck differently.
“I talked to the guy (that was wrecked) and from what I saw it was the same thing he said happened,” said Daniels. “Nathan spun him out. I followed Nathan around the outside and got back on the track quicker than he did. All of a sudden I saw him turn to the left and t-bone me. I don’t know what that was for.”
The aggression continued in the feature race when Rodgers made contact with yet another newcomer, the #19 of Brian Claus. Rodgers blamed the #19 for the wreck, and didn’t have pleasant things to say about him after the race as Claus and Rodgers tangled again late in the race.
Brian Claus (yellow car) and Nathan Rodgers (black car) had enough of each other after an earlier incident on the track. (LN photo)
“I got over that bump and he tried to cut down in the turn,” said Rodgers. “When I hit the bump he decided to come down and hit me. So he decided to slow down like an idiot, come out on the track and hit me.”
Claus disagreed with what happened, blaming Rodgers’ driving style for the incident.
“The one girl (Daniels) got inside of me so I gave her lane choice and tried to race her side by side,” said Claus. “It was good clean racing. Next thing I know the #42 car (Rodgers) rolls right up and gives me the wheel. That caused me to lose it here in turn three.
“Once I got going he caught up to me. I figured I wasn’t going to just move out of the way for him. Since I was a lap down I should get out of the way for the leader, so I let the leader (Daniels) go by clean but I didn’t let him go by clean. He decided he was going to get close to me again so we started rubbing.”
Daniels, who won the race, was focused on the victory and didn’t see the last incident between Claus and Rodgers.
“I didn’t see it, but I heard Nathan turned him around and he was trying to get back at Nathan is what I heard,” said Daniels. “He (Rodgers) kept pushing me good in the feature too. I about spun out a few times.”
Rodgers came off the track and pulled into the tech line extremely irate, throwing off his gear inside of the car and exiting his vehicle with a scowl on his face, frustrated with Daniels more than anything else.
“Going into the race I was going into it to win the race,” said Rodgers. “I knew it was going to be hard because her intentions are to wreck me and if she is going to be like that I can buy bumpers. Bumpers can be replaced and if she wants to tear up some stuff I am willing to tear her stuff up. There is no way you can race someone like that. I don’t know what the #19’s problem is either.
“She (Daniels) didn’t earn this win.”
Claus, who was shaking down a car as a favor to a friend of his, felt the problem in the Outlaw division was Rodgers, not Daniels.
“Hopefully he (Rodgers) will learn,” said Claus. “He seems to not give many other people respect. You would think with a newcomer he would be nice.”
BANDITS: KYLE BENJAMIN SWEEPS FINAL TWO RACES AFTER SEAL TECH CHECK
Throughout the season, most drivers do not have the opportunity to race in two features in the same day, let alone come away with two victories, but with the weather forcing both Bandit features to take place on the same day, it made Kyle Benjamin thrilled as he crossed the line as the winner of both events.
In the first event, Benjamin struggled trying to get around Tristin Adams, but managed to get to the checkered flag first.
“It was a tough race,” said Benjamin. “The #29 car (Adams) gave me a tough time getting around him, but I got around him. He chopped me going into the corner, but I just held my ground and got around him. It was pretty tough, but I managed to bring home the win. It feels real good.”
The only thing that gave Kyle Benjamin trouble getting into victory lane was the #29 of Tristin Adams.
In the second event, Benjamin had to stay focused as the competition created road blocks throughout the race.
“The key winning the race is to be lucky,” explained Benjamin. “All the cars got squirrelly when I got up to them, so I could pass four cars at a time. It feels good to get both wins today.”
In post-race tech, officials questioned the seal locations on Benjamin’s car as well as two other competitors.
Motor seals have been the talk of the town in the Bandolero nation lately. (LN photo)
“It turns out that the #71 car (Benjamin), the #80 car (Blake Jones) and the #23 car (Layne Clifton) had a seal location on their engines that were in question,” said INEX National Tech Director Scott Reinhardt. “It appears they (the motor department) were installing a seal there at one point in the process, then they switched to installing the seal in another part of the engine inside the shroud, which is also sealed. All the other seals were in their proper location and looked ok, so we got those three numbers off the seals and will check it with the log book at 600 Racing and make sure with the builder that that is the way it was built with the seal in the other location and let that go. If it is wrong, it is a potential year suspension, but I don’t think that will be the case.”
Besides the seal issue, Clifton’s car failed post race tech due to a modified muffler infraction and Jones’ car failed due to a washer added under the A-arm to level it back up after damage from earlier in the day. The Jones’ are appealing the disqualification.
LegendsNation.com did speak to Reinhardt Monday afternoon. The seal numbers on all three Bandolero motors were verified with the log book, resolving the seal issue in question.
By finishing eighth in the first of the two mains, Jones took the Winter Heat championship for the Bandits division. Stay tuned to LN for more on the Winter Heat championships in the coming days.
BEGINNER BANDITS: BERUBE AND KOLB SPLIT VICTORIES
The Beginner Bandits division was created to allow the new younger drivers to come into the sport, learn about the cars and how to race the track and the competition. This year during the Winter Heat, many of the young faces have entered victory lane and moved up to the Bandits division after gaining the victory and experience to run with others that have been in the sport for the last year or two.
Anthony Berube and Brian Kolb both looked to this weekend’s double header as a way to get to the point of being the top driver in their race, and both did as they split the Bandits division feature victories on the last Winter Heat weekend of the season.
In the first event, Berube had to stay up on the wheel to avoid some of the other drivers, who were struggling to stay pointed in the correct direction.
“It was difficult with all the cars spinning out, but I just had to hold my line and stay in my own business,” said Berube, who won the first feature race. “I kept going. I looked back and there was no one behind me. The #2 car (Kolb) came up on me, but he was a lap down so I wasn’t worried about it.”
In the second Beginner Bandits feature, it was a mirror of the first, this time with Kolb trying to avoid the wrecks and the slower cars to get to victory lane.
“In the beginning I didn’t think I was going to get it,” said Kolb. “Everyone was holding me back. I was getting a little scared because everyone started spinning out right in front of me. Once they did it gave me the lead. It was a good race.”
Anthony Berube (top) and Brian Kolb (bottom) both claimed wins on Saturday. (LN Photo)
Kolb, while a rookie on the 1/5th-mile track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, is not a stranger when it comes to oval racing as he has seen his fair share of great runs at OCR Action Sports Park (NC), but this win put a smile on his face.
“It feels real good,” said Kolb. “I haven’t had a win in a while. We got it.”
YOUNG GUNS: GLENSKI TAKES FIRST WIN OF DOUBLE OVER FINCHUM WITH TENSION ESCALATING
One of the most heated battles for the Winter Heat championships resided in the Bandolero Young Guns division. Chad Finchum and Ryan Glenski have been fierce competitors on the track, which has resulted in a close title fight for the Winter Heat championship. How heated it got no one would have predicted.
In the first of the two events, Finchum started on the pole with Glenski behind in third. On a second restart, due to a wreck on the first lap back in the pack, Finchum got on the gas a little too early. That forced another restart where the officials put him to the rear of the field for the early jump.
“I gassed it in the middle of three and four and they came over the RACEceiver and told me I jumped the start,” said Finchum. “They had another caution come out, so they put me in the rear. All I was thinking was that our championship was over, but we took that green flag and I started to work my way back up there.”
Chad Finchum leads the field down to the green flag, but was caught for jumping the start. (LN photo)
Glenski, who went on to win the race, felt Finchum jumped the initial start as well.
“I got real lucky,” said Glenski. “I started third. We had two starts and Finchum jumped both of them so I automatically got to the lead. From there I went and won the race.”
Finchum was patiently aggressive during the event, working his way through the field up to second when the checkered flew.
“It was challenging,” explained Finchum. “I gave the slower drivers a little bump to let them know I was there, but stayed patient. Once I had a hole I just worked my way up through there.”
With the one-two finish, the title came down to the final race of the Winter Heat for the Young Guns division. For Glenski to win the title, he needed to beat Finchum, which would put both drivers in a tie for the top spot in the points, but Glenski would be declared the champion due to having more wins. If Finchum beat Glenski, the title was his outright.
With both drivers starting up front of the final race, everyone knew the final race of the Winter Heat season was going to be the best to watch.
Finchum led Glenski early, but when Finchum pinched Glenski going into turn one, things got ugly. Coming off turn two, Glenski turned right, knocking Finchum off the track and into the wall hard. While the crowd was stunned, they were even more stunned when race officials didn’t penalize Glenski, allowing him to stay in the lead and take the win and the championship.
Meghan Dillner (#51) moved up the track to let the faster Chad Finchum (#19) go to the front. (LN Photo)
In post race, INEX Executive Director Darrel Krentz told LegendsNation.com he felt the incident was not intentional on Glenski’s part and that is why Glenski wasn’t penalized. 600 Racing General Manager Ken Ragan said he saw the incident and blamed the fact that the track isn’t straight, but the majority of the bystanders had a different view of the incident, and Glenski even admitted to LN in his post-race interview his move to push Finchum off track was intentional.
Matt Linker, who finished second to Glenski, protested Glenski’s motor, so the race win and the championship now hangs in the balance of what the officials find when they tear down the motor. LegendsNation.com learned Monday afternoon from INEX National Tech Director Scott Reinhardt that the motor will be torn down on Tuesday with the fathers of Glenski and Linker present.
LegendsNation.com spoke to many people about the incident, and will have a full detailed story and reaction from the second race, Glenski’s intentional move, the officials call on allowing Glenski to stay on the track and the championship for the Young Guns that hangs in the balance.
Stay tuned to LegendsNation.com on Tuesday for the full story.
