Gary Waldron Grabs Bristol Gold

Goshen, IN 1/5/05… Gary Waldron has followed Supermodified racing his whole life, but Waldron made a point of making sure everyone else was following him in the 38 lap SUPRS feature at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

“I’m still mopping myself up,” exclaimed the Wyoming, MI driver as he received the accolades of his fellow drivers. “I just tried to be smooth, run my line and be patient because I’m still learning all of this.

Waldron was making his first appearance in SUPRS competition in the beautiful black and red Michigan Hill Gang sponsored #10 but he looked like a veteran as he ran third in his heat, set fast time of 14.104 seconds and led the feature green to checker against the largest field assembled yet for a SUPRS contest. “This seems so real that I start shaking when I do it. I think after that race, even Chris Perley would be proud!” said Waldron who is a big fan of 2 time International Supermodified Champion Chris “The Rowley Rocket” Perley. Waldron’s win marked the third time this season that a driver has led the feature start to finish, but also noticeable was the fact that he was the 5th different driver to post a feature victory in 7 races. Rounding out the top five were Kevin Marine, Bob Gangwer, John Davidson, and Chris Nicastro.

Joining Waldron in the rookie ranks for Bristol were Russ Goldthwait of Fulton, NY and Kevin Marine of St. Paul, MN. Marine is one of the few members of the SUPRS league that has never seen real supermodifieds in action but was immediately drawn to the spirited friendly competition of the league. A veteran online sim racer, Marine fared very well in his first outing posting second quick time of 14.192, and running second in his heat as well as the feature, “I tried my darndest to catch the #10 and as soon as I’d pick up a tenth he’d open it back up again,” commented the driver of the Shaker Designs #7,  “I had a blast though, everything ran good on my end and although there was a little bit of rubbing out there, that’s part of racing.”

Russ Goldthwait didn’t run as well as Marine, but had fun nonetheless, stating, “It was a lot different racing all these guys than practicing with the computer cars, I just tried to stay out of everyone’s way and have fun.” Goldthwait brought the BurnBoys.com #12 home in a respectable 7th place for the feature after moving up one spot from his starting position.

Chris Meyers also made his SUPRS debut and had his hands full racing with keyboard controls. “I did my best to stay out of everyone’s way and just finish the race using a keyboard,” said Meyer’s who hails from Amherst, OH and is the pilot of the Supermodified Central.com #23. “I’m looking forward to getting a steering wheel and being more competitive next week,” he concluded.

Conspicuously absent from the night’s festivities was second place point man Chris Lucas. Lucas who is an over the road truck driver and had mechanical problems with his truck and was unable to make the call to green. “I hate that I couldn’t race with you guys tonight, I know John, (Davidson) is getting closer in points and I really thought I had a shot at winning at Bristol tonight,” stated Lucas once he made it home. 

The Supermodified Ultimate Paved Racing Series travels to west to visit the extremely fast Mesa Marin Speedway located in Bakersfield, CA for the SupermodifiedScorecard.com 50 on 1/12/05.  Come out and join the fun of simulated Supermodified racing with the “Ultimate Online Short Track Race Car!”

Results-SUPRS Regular 38 at Bristol Motor Speedway-1/5/05

TIME TRIALS-

1. #10-Gary Waldron, Wyoming, MI-14.104 
2. #7-Kevin Marine, St. Paul, MN-14.192
3. #91-Chris Nicastro, Cleveland, OH-14.192
4. #25-Bob Gangwer, Goshen, IN-14.248
5. #5-John Davidson, San Diego, CA-14.382
6. #22-Jim Davidson, Elyria, OH-14.700
7. #72-AJ Truax, Hannibal, NY-14.866
8. #23-Chris Meyers, Amherst, OH-14.869
9. #12-Russ Goldthwait, Fulton, NY-15.022
10.  #69 Tanya Matthews, Hannibal, NY-15.090

13 Lap Heat Race Random Start-Top Three Finishers Receive Points

1. #5-John Davidson, San Diego, CA
2. #7-Kevin Marine, St. Paul, MN
3. #10-Gary Waldron, Wyoming, MI
4. #25-Bob Gangwer, Goshen, IN
5. #91-Chris Nicastro, Cleveland, OH
6. #72-AJ Truax, Hannibal, NY
7. #23-Chris Meyers, Amherst, OH
8. #69 Tanya Matthews, Hannibal, NY
9. #12-Russ Goldthwait, Fulton, NY
10.  #22-Jim Davidson, Elyria, OH-DNF

38 Lap Feature Finish

1. #10-Gary Waldron, Wyoming, MI
2. #7-Kevin Marine, St. Paul, MN
3. #25-Bob Gangwer, Goshen, IN
4. #5-John Davidson, San Diego, CA
5. #91-Chris Nicastro, Cleveland, OH
6. #22-Jim Davidson, Elyria, OH
7. #12-Russ Goldthwait, Fulton, NY
8. #72-AJ Truax, Hannibal, NY
9. #23-Chris Meyers, Amherst, OH
10.  #69 Tanya Matthews, Hannibal, NY