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Better Late than Never

May 31st saw the California Racesaver Sprints make their FIRST EVER appearance at the widely famed Antioch Speedway. We saw 10 entries hit the track but despite the low car count and scorching hot temperatures, the night definitely did not disappoint.

The night kicked off as the four wheeled beasts of Anthony Pombo behind the wheel of the #3 car and Andy Smith aboard the #7 machine hit the track for qualifying and A. Pombo would hold quicktime for a very short period of time as he timed in with a time of 14.025 but the next pair of cars to come out for qualifying was the #11T of Tylor Henson and brother Davey Pombo wheeling the #2 car who would take the top spot during qualifying with a time of 13.082. And with the third pair of cars who were the #36B of Kevin Barnes and the #23T of George Tristao who would be the king of qualifying with a time of 12.912 and is now the unofficial track record holder at Antioch.

Qualifying Rundown:

1. George Tristao - #23T (12.912), 2. Davey Pombo - #2 (13.082), 3. Tylor Henson - #11T (13.195), 4. Kevin Barnes - #36B (13.352), 5. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N (13.378), 6. Phil Heynen - #31H (13.601) 7. Rino Felicioni - #15 (13.744), 8. Lance Jackson - #18 (13.999), 9. Anthony Pombo - #3 (14.025, 10. Andy Smith - #7 (14.805)

CRS heat races would soon follow with Kyle Rasmussen and Phil Heynen grabbing the wins in their respective heat races.

Racing action kicked off with the first heat of the night as Rino Felicioni and the #15 on the pole with the #38N of Kyle Rasmussen to his outside, Tylor Henson in the #11T starting in third with the #23T in fourth and the #3 of Anthony Pombo rounding out the field for the first heat of the night

The first heat of the night was nothing short of entertaining. On the initial green flag, Felicioni and Rasmussen get together down the backstretch, causing Rasmussen to spin and bring out the first caution of the night. On the restart, Tristao would grab the lead but red would soon come over the track as the #11T of Tylor Henson would hit the outside fence coming out of turn one and flip but would land back on all fours and would roll into the infield, take a turn left back onto the track and come to rest entering turn one. And yes he was okay. After the cleanup, racing got back underway with Tristao also leading the second lap but on lap 3, confusion would come across the track, causing the drivers to slow down despite the track still being green. Rasmussen would capitalize on this confusion and take the lead in which he would hold for the rest of the race and pick up the first heat race of the night.

Heat 1 Rundown:

1. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N (2nd), 2. George Tristao - #23T (4th), 3. Anthony Pombo - #3 (5th), 4. Rino Felicioni - #15 (1st), 5. Tylor Henson - #11T (3rd)
   The second and final heat race of the night kicked off with Lance Jackson aboard the #18 machine starting in first with the #31H of Phil Heynen to his outside with the #36B of Kevin Barnes starting in third, the #2 of Davey Pombo starting in the fourth position and the #7 of Andy Smith rounding out the field for the final heat race of the night

Action kicked off with Phil Heynen and the #31H machine taking the first position from the #18 of Lance Jackson and the rest of the race went without incident with Phil Heynen leading all eight laps to pick up the final heat race win of the night

Heat 2 Rundown:

1. Phil Heynen - #31H (2nd), 2. Davey Pombo - #2 (4th), 3. Lance Jackson - #18 (1st), 4. Kevin Barnes - #36B (3rd), 5. Andy Smith - #7 (5th)

Feature Lineup:

1. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N, 2. Phil Heynen - #31H, 3. George Tristao - #23T, 4. Davey Pombo - #2, 5. Anthony Pombo - #3, 6. Lance Jackson - #18, 7. Rino Felicioni - #15, 8. Kevin Barnes - #36B, 9. Tylor Henson - #11T, 10. Andy Smith - #7

Feature action kicked off with Kyle Rasmussen leading on the opening circuit in which he would hold for the rest of the race. But the action behind him would start to get a little dicey as the feature went on. On lap 3, Phil Heynen and Davey Pombo would start their battle for second and this battle would go on until lap 15 of the main. When lap 5 came around, the first yellow of the feature would come out when the #15 of Rino Felicioni would spin in turn 2, causing yellow to come over the track. On the restart, Rasmussen would continue to lead by a very large margin and on lap 9, another caution would come out as Rino Felicioni would spin yet again in turn 3 which would force him into the infield due to him causing two cautions during the race. From lap 10 and on was without incident with Davey Pombo coming out victorious over Phil Heynen for the second position and later on lap 20, Tristao would land possession of the fourth spot over Anthony Pombo where he would stay for the rest of the race and Kyle Rasmussen would pick up his third main event win of the season with Davey Pombo in second and Phil Heynen rounding out the top three

Feature Rundown:

1. Kyle Rasmussen - #38N (1st), 2. Davey Pombo - #2 (4th), 3. Phil Heynen - #31H (2nd), 4. George Tristao - #23T (3rd), 5. Anthony Pombo - #3 (5th), 6. Lance Jackson - #18 (6th), 7. Kevin Barnes - #36B (8th), 8. Andy Smith - #7 (10th), 9. Rino Felicioni - #15 (7th), 10. Tylor Henson - #11T (DNS)

Catch the California Racesaver Sprints next week on June 7th at the amazing Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway for the “Salute to Bob Vermeer & Narcie Ferreira Memorial”, paying a season high $1,200 to the feature winner!!

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