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6-12-2000
The Ripper on a tear at Irwindale with four wins in a row
Rip Michels dominates once again this past weekend at Irwindale
Speedway, the west's fasted half mile! Rip has been on a mission and to sum it up in one
word, unstoppable! Rip continued his quest this past weekend toward the prestigious Grand
American Modified championship by capturing his fourth consecutive main event win in
convincing fashion. Not only did Rip win the main event, but also set a new track record
in the process with the Cardservice International/Ladco Racing Modified.
Powered by a CMC Racing Engine Rip broke the long standing 18.15 mark
with an ever so impressive 18.10 second lap time in the classes qualifying session. In
fact, Rip's qualifying time was faster than any other time of the day including the tracks
premiere race division, Super Late Models. Starting 6th in the trophy he took a second
place finish and that would be the only time during the evening that he finished other
than first!
Coming into the main event with only a couple points lead on the other
championship contenders, Rip had the fortunate position of starting in the pole position.
At the start of the 30 lap main event, Roger Carufel took the early lead followed by
Michels. Rip patiently followed Roger for the first half of the event looking for a
opening or slight mistake to capitalize from. On lap 14 Roger experience some mechanical
problems heading down the back straight. Roger ended up spinning as Rip continued around
the track taking over the lead. Once racing resumed, Rip never looked back and went on to
lead the final laps and took the win extending his points lead to 12 points. Rips win not
only marked his fourth straight victory, but also proved to the competition that he is the
man to beat in 2000!
Source: Jimmy Babcock
6/12/00 |
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