Rhonda Costa/Nevada AppealS&S Motorsports of Carson City won the Super Saturday Challenge series Saturday at Madera Speedway, Madera, Calif. Team members from left, Ed Silsby, Tom Silsby, Rick Barba, driver Troy Regier, Steve Shaw and Sandy Galpin. Not pictured, John Stewart.
By Rhonda Costa
Appeal Staff Writer
The Carson City supermodified racing team of S&;S Motorsports has won the Super Saturday Championship at Madera Speedway in Madera, Calif.
Driver Troy Regier, 42, of Dinuba, Calif., entered Saturday's race with just a 3-point lead over Jeff Russell of Boise, Idaho. With Regier posting fast time, finishing ahead of Russell in the heat race, and winning the 50-lap feature race, he finished the Madera series 12 points ahead of David Tuey of Bakersfield, and 16 points ahead of Russell. Kenny White, driving for C&M Motorsports of Reno, finished 10th in points; Whitey Janssen of Dayton finished 13th, and Dale Lamborn on Carson City, 23rd.
"It feels good to be their champion," Regier said. "I want to thank Kenny Shepherd (president of Madera Speedway) for sticking with us and racing us this year.
"And he's fully committed to us for next year with TV time."
Regier said even with the breakdowns suffered this year, to win the championship is cool.
"It says a lot for this team," he added. "I want to thank our sponsors - Donn Simons and Artistic Fence, Ron Burdg and Sierra Racing Products, Regier Farms, Paughco and Capital City Auto Parts (NAPA)."
After some confusion on the final points, Shepherd confirmed Monday Regier is the champion.
"Troy definitely, absolutely is the Madera champion," Shepherd said. "There was some confusion when papers with various scenarios of point finishes got out of the scoring tower and were looked at in the pits - like 'what if' Jeff finished here and Troy finished there."
Steve Shaw, co-owner of S&S Motorsports, said the team did struggle with part failures, but they did their best to give Regier a good race car.
"The failures were very uncommon things," he said. "But Troy was fast-qualifier at every race even with those issues.
"We're happy to win the championship. It's good to win overall and good for our sponsors.
"We'll go into Vegas with a real positive attitude, and into next year. We're not totally happy with the car, we can still make improvements."
"To win this championship even with those two DNFs (did not finish), wow," added Tom Silsby, co-owner.
S&S Motorsports wins $2,000 for the Super Saturday Championship. The final race of the Supermodifed Racing Association is Nov. 1 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring. Regier goes into the final race with a 38-point deficit to Russell.
For information on S&S Motorsports, visit www.ssmotorsportsracing.com, or on the SMRA go to www.smraracing.com.
Contact Rhonda Costa at rcosta@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1223.