Rhonda Costa/Nevada Appeal
MADERA, CALIF. " When Troy Regier hit the turn 1 wall at Madera Speedway Saturday night, the collective gasp from the crowd was audible even over the roar of the 800-plus horsepowered engines of the supermodified racecars.
The Supermodified Racing Association opened their season Saturday in Madera with five of its own members along with seven 360 supermodifieds from the Madera racetrack.
The evening began with qualifying with Regier, of Dinuba, Calif., driver for the S&S Motorsports team of Carson City, posting fast time. The series also held a 4-lap trophy dash, won by Jim Birges of Fresno, Calif. with Regier taking second followed by Lonnie Adamson of Salt Lake City, AJ Russell of Clovis, Calif. and George Greenway of Tollhouse, Calif.
The same cars ran a 10-lap heat race with Birges also winning that race, Regier taking second, Adamson third, Russell fourth and Greenway fifth.
The 50-lap main event saw Regier start in the eighth position and racing rival Birges in seventh, sharing the fourth row. After the green flag flew, it took Regier only three laps to pass seven cars and take over the top spot from Lance Jackson.
Regier began using lapped traffic to his advantage to keep distance between himself and Birges, who was slowly picking away at the lead. By lap 36, Birges was within three car lengths.
On lap 42, Regier crossed the start finish line and sparks flew from the undercarriage of the car, which is common at many tracks. However, the front end also dropped to the asphalt and the car was headed for the wall in turn 1.
Regier lost steering and when he hit the brakes it only seemed to pull the car to the right for a direct hit.
Regier quickly released the brake and held on for impact. He was going at least 100 mph, and broke nearly everything on the front end, including radius rods on the right, the radiator and front axle. The crash didn't compromise the chassis.
"We'll get it fixed and race Shasta," said Tom Silsby, co-owner of the racecar. "It's not that bad. But we didn't know until we took it apart."
"Something just broke and the car just sat down," Regier said of the wreck. "I'm OK. My right leg hurts a little, but we had a good night tonight. I'm sorry to see this happen."
The problem was a broken shock eye on the top of the right front shock. When it broke and fell on the spring, it dropped the front end to the asphalt.
It's the first time Regier has crashed this hard in the 98 car.
"Everything needed to fix the car is in the trailer, but you just don't have time to take it apart and replace things during the main vent," said Steve Shaw, co-owner.
"The car's not as bad as it looks," Regier said.
Birges went on to win the main event, with Russell taking second, Adamson third and David Tuey fourth.
Kenny Kinchen was fifth, followed by Kyle Vanderpool, Regier in seventh, Willie Northammer, Larry Hinz, Jackson, Greenway and Lance Tatro.
Birges was happy with the performance of his car and the overall win.
"This is great," he said. "It would have been a very interesting race at the end if Troy had not crashed."
The series next race is on April 25 at Shasta Speedway in Anderson, Calif. For information on the Supermodified Racing Association, visit www.smrasupermods.com