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 At the beginning of the 2009 NASCAR Whelen All-American series at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale season Position One Motorsports had some very lofty goals for their sophomore year. Newcomer Mackena Bell joined the team and was looking for a strong freshman season in the Super Late Model series. Teammate Luis Martinez Jr had high goals for his second year in the series including podiums and wins. Martinez, Bell, along with their S2 division teammate Randel King, and newcomer Bobby Kelley showed up this weekend with the hope of finishing the 2009 season off in strong fashion. Unfortunately even best laid plans can't avoid the recklessness of others.
S2 Race
Position One Motorsports entered a car in the S2 division earlier this Summer and after a successful debut with Luis Martinez Jr, team owner Luis Martinez Sr handed the driving duties over to Randel King and the rest has been history. King has won 3 of the 4 races he's entered. This weekend the team once again entered a second entry, this time it was go karting sensation Bobby Kelley who was behind the wheel. Kelley has spent this year successfully racing in Position One Motorsports' karting program. This weekend was his first oval track racing debut. King and Kelley qualified 2nd and 8th respectively. Due to the invert, King would start the race in last and Kelley first, but for King starting position would not matter. As soon as the green flag dropped King shot down to the bottom of the track and began an incredible assault towards the front and by lap #3 had overtaken race leader Kendell Lopez and never looked back. In the closing laps of the race the #56 of Ryan Reed began inching towards King but was never able to make an attempt to pass him. King would go on to win the race by 0.376 seconds. Kelley started the race in first but began falling back. Despite the loss of positions, he regained, and then maintained, a respectable race pace back in the seventh spot. He started to make up some time between him and the sixth place of Robert Tallini. On lap # 21 Kelley spun his car exiting turn # 4 and successfully kept it off the wall. Kelley recovered well and would end up finishing in the eighth spot.
Super Late Model Race #1 Coming to this weekend's race fifth place in the standings and looking to improve on that, Luis Martinez Jr started the weekend's event on a positive note when he qualified fourth. Martinez began race # 1 by battling the # 6 of Dave Beat for third. The fierce pace was interrupted briefly by a caution on lap # 7. The ensuing restart allowed Martinez to challenge Rip Michels for the second spot on lap # 12. Martinez and Michels spent the next laps jockeying for position with Martinez trying on the outside and Michels countering by protecting his position from the inside. The battle reached its height on lap # 17 when both drivers were inches away from each other. Martinez would eventually settle back in the third spot and settled for the podium finish. This was his sixth podium of the season. Mackena Bell, who travels from Carson City, Nevada for every race weekend, struggled in qualifying earlier in the day and qualified in seventeenth place out of the thirty-one car field. Bell has spent this whole season undeterred by the occasional unfortunate circumstance and always has been able to make the best out of the situation and this race was no different. She took the green flag start and, despite initially going back a position to eighteenth, she hustled her #30 entry to the fifteenth spot by lap #7. With the race coming to a close Bell had settled in the fifteenth spot and it looked as though she would end up there but on lap # 39 Bell narrowly missed being collected by a 4-car pile up on the front straight. As the dust and debris cleared Bell took the restart of the race and would go on to finish in the eleventh spot. Super Late Model Race #2 After a solid third place finish earlier in the evening, Martinez began the second race by immediately challenging Michels for the second place. By lap # 2 Martinez had taken the spot and he then set his site on the leader # 5 Travis Thirkettle. Michels continued to harass Martinez for most of the early part of the race but by lap # 25 Martinez had caught up to Thirkettle and started to size him up. The #03 KING TACO entry was in strong form and Thirkettle was now only a half car length away from Martinez. Lap # 31 saw Nick Joanides, who had been quiet up until this point, began to challenge Martinez for his spot. Joanides ducked down the low side of the track and despite an intense struggle from Martinez, he ended up grabbing the second spot from Martinez. The youngster looked to own the third spot but on the last lap the # 95 of Bear Rzesnowiecky dangerously ducked underneath Martinez going into turn # 3 and proceeded to take Martinez out of the race. A dejected Martinez climbed out of his destroyed KING TACO car wondering what could have been and what in the world was Rzesnowiecky thinking racing as recklessly as he did. Rzesnowiecky's lapse in common sense stole Martinez's hard fought third place finish and replaced it with a disappointing seventeenth place finish. Bell entered her last race of the season in the eleventh spot and went down a spot but soon was looking to get her spot back from the # 39 of Ryan Partridge. By lap # 12 things got a bit dicey for Bell as she was caught in a 3-way fight between her, # 20 Derek Thorn, and # 90 Justin Johnson. On the back straight Thorn had checked up on Bell and Johnson ran right into the back of Bell's # 30 causing her to get very loose. Using her talents Bell recovered and continued on without hesitation, however Johnson suffered damage as a result and had to retire. Bell continued her battle for twelfth alongside Partridge and # 25 Scott Dodd. The brakes on Bell's car got progressively worse as the laps continued and she eventually fell back to thirteen where she would end up finishing. Results wise it may not have been what the young Drive for Diversity racer was looking for but she drove smart and avoided some major incidents and overall impressed her crew. Randel King - Driver: “As always the Position One Motorsports crew gave me a fast and reliable car to get the job done. What a bunch of great and talented guys! I would like to thank Luis Martinez and Position One Motorpsorts for trusting me with this responsibility and I hope that I have fulfilled their expectations.” Luis Martinez Jr - Driver: “It was a bittersweet ending to what could have been a very successful weekend. Despite the unfortunate event I owe a very big thank you to my crew, my Crew Chief John Schueltz, my sponsors King Taco, Eibach Springs, Oakley, Molecule for their unending support this year. I learned an enormous amount and I am looking forward to my next step in this journey.” Mackena Bell – Driver: “There were a lot of cars that ran this weekend and I was looking forward to running well. Despite having a bad qualifying session where we ended up in seventeenth I raced hard and worked myself up to the eleventh place finish for race #1. For the second race the car was too tight and we had some other problems, but we ended up in thirteenth. I learned a lot this season. It has been a pleasure to work with a bunch of great guys and I would like to thank Drive for Diversity and Position One Motorsports, along with all of my sponsors, for being there to support me this season. It's been fun.” Bobby Kelley– Driver: “It was a great experience racing in the S2 division. I can't say enough about how much fun I had. I am very grateful to Race Car Factory and Position One Motorsports for allowing me this opportunity and I also would like to acknowledge my parents for their support. I also have to thank my crew for their help as well.” About Position One Motorsports: After competing in the Formula TR series in 2007 and 2006 and finishing 3rd in the Championship both years, Position One Motorsports entered the 2008 racing season looking to continue its success as a participant in the Whelen All American NASCAR Weekly Racing series events at Southern California's Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. At the conclusion of the season the team finished 9th in the points. For 2009 Martinez and newcomer and NASCAR Drive for Diversity participant Mackena Bell, will race the NASCAR Whelen All-American series at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. Housed in a state-of-the-art facility in Southern California, Position One Motorsports continues to support an array of go-kart ventures. For more information on Position One Motorsports and its partners, visit www.position-one.com |
