Cleveland, Richey, Whitebird Win
Diamond Mountain Speedway Opener
Susanville, CA...The 2016 season finally kicked off at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville with a three division show that entertained the fans. It was the first race of a ten race season. When the checkered flag flew, it was Duane Cleveland winning the IMCA Modified Main Event, Victor Richey grabbing a checkered flag in Strickly Stocks and Larry Whitebird winning the Mini Stock feature.
The recent decision to drop IMCA Modifieds from the schedule at Chico Silver Dollar Speedway has left a few drivers scrambling for another place to race. One of those drivers is Duane Cleveland, who is a past champion at his home track. Cleveland has won features at many of the tracks at which he has visited, and he added to that last Saturday night. Cleveland held off Riley Simmons for a well earned victory. One of the top Stock Car competitors in the Northern California area, Jeff Olschowka grabbed the final podium position in third. Two of the top competitors at Quincy, Chris Nieman and Chase Nieman, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Past champion Jeff Chew was there to represent the local contingent and finished sixth ahead of 2015 point runner up Matt Murphy, Scott Foreman and Larry McCracken.
In the Strickly Stock feature, 2015 champion Richard Longacre was hoping to kick things off with a victory, but one driver stood in his way. It was Victor Richey driving a great race to pick up the win. Longacre settled for second ahead of his 2015 point rival, Nathan Howard. Jason Emmot was fourth as James Erie, Chris Dahlen, Fred Kresge, Dennis Johnson, Michael Nichols and Shayna Robertson completed the Top 10.
Larry Whitebird has been a star of Mini Stock racing at Susanville for several years. A past champion in the division, Whitebird served notice to the competition that he's not about to slow down as he scored the Main Event victory. The Talavera Racing Team was back, and it was Ray Talavera Sr. collecting a respectable second place finish with Ethan Kosub completing the Top 3. Megan Wilson impressed with her fourth place finish ahead of Billy Gibson as Larry Foster, George Bumb Branden Bumb, Ray Talavera Jr. and Joe Marlow rounded out the Top 10. Defending champion Kyle Belli had problems and was out of the Main Event early.
The IMCA Modifieds, Strictly Stocks and Mini Stocks return to action at the Lassen County Fairgrounds race track on May 7th. For futher information, check out the official website at https://lassencountyfair.org/interim-events/diamond-mountain-speedway/.
Diamond Mountain Speedway 4/23/16
IMCA Modifieds
1 2C Duane Cleveland
2 21R Riley Simmons
3 121 Jeff Olschowlea
4 3 Chris Nieman
5 1 Chase Nieman
6 8X Jeff Chew
7 6M Matt Murphy
8 4F Scott Foreman
9 6 Larry McCracken
10 7M Mitch Murphy
11 9 Tyler Patzke
12 11G Galen Hainline
13 17 Wade Deberg
14 5s Dustin Sell
Strictly Stocks
1 8 Victor Richey
2 7 Richard Longacre
3 81 Nathan Howard
4 157 Jason Emmot
5 22 James Erie
6 16 Chris Dahlen
7 3 Fred Kresge
8 72 Dennis Johnson
9 55 Michael Nichols
10 7N Shayna Robertson
11 77 Ian Upton
12 11 Steve Goss
13 52B Francis Bailey
Mini Stocks
1 97 Larry Whitebird
2 69R Ray Talavera Sr.
3 25 Ethan Kosub
4 27w Megan Wilson
5 121 Billy Gibson
6 33F Larry Foster
7 420 George Bumb
8 69B Branden Bumb
9 23R Ray Talavera Jr.
10 7J Joe Marlow
11 23 Gabriel Lewis
12 56 Kyle Belli
