WE HAVE BEEN REINSTATED AS AN IMCA SANCTION WITH THE RACESAVERS!
July 5th saw the California Regional Sprints return to the widely known Santa Maria Speedway for their second race of the season. We saw a dozen cars hit the track and the cool weather conditions made for some great racing conditions as the night progressed on.
The night of racing kicked off as four groups of three hit the track for group qualifying as the #15 of Rino Felicioni, the #2 of Davey Pombo and the #5D of Connor Danell were amongst the first group of cars to hit the track. The quickest of the three was the #2 of Davey Pombo, as he timed in at a very quick 12.677 on his first lap but on his second lap, he went faster with a time of 12.622, which temporarily gave him the top spot during qualifying. And as the next group of cars which included the #31H of Phil Heynen, the #11T of Tylor Henson and the #3 of Anthony Pombo but due to mechanical issues, only Heynen was able to hit the track and was able to lay down a very quick time of 12.720 on his first lap but as he came around for his second lap, he went EVEN FASTER with a time of 12.606, which would give him the “Quick Time Crown” for yet another short period of time. As cars continued to hit the track, nobody was able to go faster than Heynen, UNTIL the very last car to hit the track who was the #23T of George Tristao, as he timed in at a very fast 12.394 on his first lap and on his second lap, went EVEN FASTER with a time of 12.324, which would give him the coveted “King of Qualifying” and establish a new track record for the California Regional Sprints.
Qualifying Rundown:
- George Tristao - #23T (12.324), 2. Phil Heynen - #31H (12.606), 3. Davey Pombo - #2 (12.622), 4. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N (12.757), 5. Lance Jackson - #18 (12.798), 6. Connor Danell - #5D (12.864), 7. Jeremy Alves - #81A (13.041), 8. Joe Delisle - #88J (13.165), 9. Kevin Barnes - #36B (13.196), 10. Rino Felicioni - #15 (13.478), 11. Tylor Henson - #11T (NT), 12. Anthony Pombo - #3 (NT)
CRS heat race action would soon follow as Jeremy Alves and Connor Danell would pick up the heat race wins in their respective heat races.
Racing action kicked off as the lineup for the first heat of the night rolled off with the #81A of Jeremy Alves on the pole with the #18 of Lance Jackson to his outside followed by the #2 of Davey Pombo and the #23T of George Tristao on the second row followed by the #36B of Kevin Barnes and the #3 of Anthony Pombo.
The first heat of the night went without severe incident let alone a single caution but on the opening lap, the #2 of Davey Pombo would inherit the second position from the #18 of Lance Jackson where he would stay for the rest of the race and the #81A of Jeremy Alves would continue to lead the whole way with him picking up the first heat race win of the night.
Heat 1 Rundown:
- Jeremy Alves - #81A (1st), 2. Davey Pombo - #2 (3rd), 3. Lance Jackson - #18 (2nd), 4. George Tristao - #23T (4th), 5. Kevin Barnes - #36B (5th), 6. Anthony Pombo - #3 (DNS)
The final heat race of the night hit the track with the #88J of Joe Delisle on the pole with the #5D of Connor Danell to his outside followed by the #38N and the #31H of Phil Heynen rounding out the second row with the #15 of Rino Felicioni and the #11T of Tylor Henson rounding out the field.
On the initial green flag, we saw a slight jump from the #88J of Joe Delisle which resulted in the start being called back but on the following green flag, the start was much better and the race continued on. The #88J of Delisle would also fall back a couple of positions on the opening lap which allowed Danell to inherit the lead and Rasmussen to inherit the second position and the race would go on without severe incident with Danell picking up the final heat race of the night.
Heat 2 Rundown:
- Connor Danell - #5D (2nd), 2. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N (3rd), 3. Joe Delisle - #88J (1st), 4. Phil Heynen - #31H (4th), 5. Tylor Henson - #11T (6th), 6. Rino Felicioni - #15 (5th)
Feature Lineup:
- Jeremy Alves - #81A, 2. Connor Danell - #5D, 3. Davey Pombo - #2, 4. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N, 5. Lance Jackson - #18, 6. Joe Delisle - #88J, 7. George Tristao - #23T, 8. Phil Heynen - #31H, 9. Kevin Barnes - #36B, 10. Tylor Henson - #11T, 11. Rino Felicioni - #15, 12. Anthony Pombo - #3
As soon as cars fired off for their feature event, the #36B of Kevin Barnes would pull into the “hot pit” due to mechanical issues but do to the too little amount of time, he and his crew were not able to fix the issue which meant he was a scratch for the main event. At the drop of the green, Alves would grab the lead over D. Pombo and Rasmussen as Danell would fall back to fourth on the start and the #15 of Rino Felicioni would spin in turn 3 but was able to keep going. As laps continued on, Alves held the top spot but the #2 of Pombo would turn up the heat on and engage in a battle for the lead on lap 4. And just a couple of circuits later on lap 6, the first caution of the feature would come out as Rino Felicioni would spin in turn 4 and come to a stop. On the restart, Alves would continue to lead the race with Pombo and Rasmussen not far behind and on lap 7, the lead battle would ensue yet again with Alves continuing to reign victorious over Pombo and Rasmussen. As the main continued on, the field was putting down some consistent laps and finally on lap 15, the pace would slow down as the #15 of Rino Felicioni would spin in between turns 3 and 4 and collect the #38N of Kyle Rasmussen in the process and both cars had to come off due to the extent of the damage and because of the two caution rule. After the track was cleaned up, the field would come back to green with Alves continuing to hold strong at the front of the field. Pombo would come close to Alves a few more times in the last 10 laps of the main but his effort was short lived as Alves held the top spot for all 25 laps to pick up his first CRS feature win ever and maybe even his first win in all disciplines that Jeremy has raced in, but nonetheless, congratulations to Jeremy Alves and his crew on their first win of the season.
- Jeremy Alves - #81A (1st), 2. Davey Pombo - #2 (3rd), 3. Connor Danell - #5D (2nd), 4. George Tristao - #23T (7th), 5. Phil Heynen - #31H (8th), 6. Joe Delisle - #88J (6th), 7. Lance Jackson - #18 (5th), 8. Tylor Henson - #11T (10th), 9. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N (4th, DNF), 10. Rino Felicioni - #15 (11th, DNF), 11. Kevin Barnes - #36B (9th, DNS), 12. Anthony Pombo - #3 (DNS)
George Tristao and Phil Heynen both had a +3 run during the main but due to Tristao finishing at a higher position than Heynen, he is awarded the “Blue Collar Hardcharger Award” and an additional $50.
Additional monetary incentives came from the wonderful people over at American Racer Tire Southwest, Blacklake Golf Resort, Mike Mitchell and Randy Wright over at Quick Change Liquid Energy and a huge thanks to Corey Ballard over at CB Design Concepts for stepping up big time for this race as they included a $100 Hard Luck Award that was given to Anthony Pombo, a $100 American Racer Tire Southwest certificate to George Tristao for being Quick Time and a random $50 certificate courtesy of American Racer Tire Southwest was also given out to the #88J driver of Joe Delisle and $100 in tow money to every driver that showed up to Santa Maria to race!!
The race on the 5th was also supposed to feature a bounty to anyone who could beat Kyle Rasmussen but due to some unforeseen circumstances, this bounty is hopefully going to be put into effect in a couple of weeks back at Santa Maria on July 26th as the California Regional Sprints are back yet again for another great night of racing!
- ALICIA GARGES on Jul 06, 2025
- Article Date: 7/6/2025 by Brandon Garges