7/31/2023
Redwood Acres Raceway
Mike Doss Victorious After Crazy Finish
It took until Sunday to determine who the winner was for the Legends Of The Redwoods Shootout on. A wild, crazy and confusing finish capped off a wreck-filled evening. In the end, raceway officials determined that Mike Doss was the winner of the feature event but unfortunately, he was not able to celebrate his victory properly on Saturday night.
The evening’s races were presented by DelReka Distributing in honor of the company’s late founder, Craig Perrone. Prior to the start of the night’s events, a moment of silence was held for Perrone as well as Dan Harper, Martin Towns and Leon Warmuth who all had close connections to Redwood Acres Raceway and had passed away recently.
The Legends Of The Redwoods Shootout featured a stellar 25-car field thanks in part to the NorCal Legends tour visiting the Acres as well as the event being an INEX National qualifying race. Jeremy Doss was fast time with a 17.527. Trophy dash winners were Landen Green and Luke Hall.
The first heat knocked two drivers out of contention for the evening with Tony Miles and Marcus Finney suffering severe damage. Scott Taylor took the win. Kylie Daniels was the winner of the second heat race while Jeremy Doss won the third. Taylor won the B main event to transfer to the feature while Justin Johnson and Mark Burch also made it to the main event.
The 35-lap feature started off with Hall getting spun in turn three which collected Dannie Carpenter. Chris Justice took the initial lead but Cole Brown was able to take over by lap two. Green was the victim of a savage wreck at the pit entrance off turn two after Brandon White got loose and into the side of Green’s car. Thankfully, Green was unharmed.
Brown regained the lead on the restart but Jeremy Doss began to establish himself as he moved to the lead on lap nine. A spin by Burch between turns one and two bunched the field on lap 18. Perhaps the most pivotal moment of the event occurred on the subsequent restart when the front row of Doss and Brown came together going into the first turn resulting in a several car pile-up.
Mike Doss inherited the lead and had his hands full with Henry Barton. Jeremy Doss made an incredible tear through the field in the last 15 laps as he made his way from the tail of the field all the way to third and in contention for the win in the final handful of laps.
What looked to be a thrilling conclusion to the race quickly became a point of confusion as the field was coming to the white flag. As the leaders entered the third and fourth turns, Doss and Burch made contact as Doss came to put Burch a lap down. Chaos ensued with multiple cars spinning and wrecking on the white flag lap. Chris Justice was an innocent victim as he could not slow in time and hit the rear of Aiden Daniels’ car dumping fluid on the track.
Following the race, track officials reviewed three different videos as well as race scoring to determine the official race results. It was determined that Mike Doss was the winner over Barton, Jeremy Doss, White and Daniels. The winners for the individual Legends division driver categories had Jeremy Doss win the Pro division, Mike Doss the Master, Barton the Semi-Pro and Kai Lovell the Young Lions.
Doug Way was fast time for the bombers with an 18.586. Jordan Krupa was the winner of the trophy dash and heat race. Brayden Carnes had a very impressive run in the 30-lap main event but his inexperience gave way to the more experienced drivers in Chris Sarvinski and Krupa. The last lap saw Krupa make a hard charge for the lead on Sarvinski but he did not have the grip in turns three and four. Sarvinski took the win at the line over Krupa, Carnes, Kadence Toland and Tanisha Ratzlaff.
Gary Klinetobe was once again fast time in the mini stocks with an 18.825. Klinetobe won the trophy dash while Cole Peterson took the heat. Klinetobe continued his season-long dominance in the main event, taking the win over Peterson and Allison McCarty.
The 2023 season at Redwood Acres Raceway continues Saturday August 12 with a full slate of local action featuring the late models, Legends, bombers and mini stocks. Stay up to date by visiting RAR at RacinTheAcres.com or by finding the track on Facebook.
Submitted By: Matthew Sullivan