FALLON — The weekend’s racing doubleheader brought out the best in racers both at Rattlesnake Raceway in Fallon and at Exit 28, where the third round of the Dealer’s Challenge was run.

Saturday’s wind and cloud cover made for prefect weather in Fallon where fans go to see an evening of hard racing, at least one close finish and some road rage afterwards.

With the Iron Man series starting this week at least two drivers used this race as a tune up. And for one driver, it turned out to be a great night.

“It was fantastic but the track slicked up a lot more than I thought it would. We actually set it up for more and it worked out really good for us,” Jake Holland said after winning the IMCA Modified feature. “My car was a lot better on the short runs and that’s how I got Evenson, from the outside, but the car slowly died off a little bit.”

Holland added he learned a lot that he feels would help him in the Iron Man race. Then he gave special thanks for new sponsor Granite Propane and regular sponsor Tech Equipment.

Five short cautions were needed before the event started the third lap. This had some people looking at the almost full moon and wondering if that superstition about racing under a full moon was true.

Every time the green waved Steve Evenson led the charge from the pole. Behind him Holland had been moving up and was second when things really got rolling.

After a short side-by-side duel, Holland used the high line to get past Evenson as they tore out of Turn 2. Now, Evenson fell into the clutches of Wade Lumsden as they battled for second.

Around lap 13 there was contact that spun a not too happy Evenson out of contention. While Lumsden held second he was given a warning by the flagman.

A little later Jay Sears was hit by another car. The impact sent him, at high speed, onto the pit in road where he retired after getting back under control

Late in the race Mark Skender spun and collected Jim Jurad, who couldn’t avoid him. Both cars had their left side body work torn off and both had to retire with other damage.

For Holland the road was clear and he took off leaving the field to eat his dust. Lumsden managed to hold on to second despite being under attack from a determined Bill Smith.

Apparently after the race Evenson showed his displeasure by giving bumping the car of Lumsden. Then there was a yelling session in the pits that was quickly settled when officials separated Evenenson and Lumsden’s crew chief.

The closest finish of the night came in the Rat/A Mod feature. This up and coming division has been putting on great shows and this night was no exception.

When the green waved Lee Ketten led the charge into Turn 1. About a lap later Duncan Lee was on his tail and took the point six-laps into the race.

Then Lee almost threw it away when he spun in Turn 4 a few laps later.

“I just got a little over anxious, that track had changed a little bit between 3 and 4,” Lee said later. “I had run up there high before and hadn’t had any problem but it had gotten a little bit slick and I just went a little bit hard and spun it out.”

Once the caution period ended Ketten took off while Lee gave chase.

Around this time Hammond decided to make his move and he charged toward the font. However he also clipped the car of Mark Rios, who had to stop with a broken front suspension.

This all happened right when the moon appeared out of the clouds.

At that same time the officials found the tow truck was out of gas. This situation led to a race stopping red flag just as Ketten had to retire with mechanical problems.

Eventually Rios was able to limp his wounded car to the infield while officials pushed the tow truck to a safe spot on the infield.

When the green waved again fans were treated to a five-lap shootout. Hammond had the point while Lee was right behind him. Coming out of the final turn Hammond pushed up slightly, which left enough room for Lee to slide underneath and roar away to the victory.

Back in the pits Lee said, “After we had that red light situation and they gave us the green, coming out of Turn 4 on the white flag lap Hammond was really pushing hard with the wheels turned all the way to the left. And I thought, ‘if he does that on the last lap he might push up enough and I can get under him,’ and that’s exactly what happened.”

Then Lee gave special thanks to Bob Oliver, owner of Competition Carburetion for his help with some issues with this new car.

The Pro Stock race also had a start-and-stop period. It came when the transmission of Fred White’s car locked up and brought him to a sudden stop.

Once this was cleared up racing resumed and Ken Gotchal took the win with Gary Nevers and Robby Grace taking second and third.

Al Bishop came from the back to score another Gen-X victory as he’s on a mission to win this year’s championship. Behind him Shawn Hartzell and Kyle Babb ended up in a close finish for the next two positions.

When the evening began a strong wind dried the track so during intermission it was given a good dose of water. As a result the Hobby Stocks did a good number of laps as they worked the track in.

Then the cars were allowed to exit, hose off their radiators then return for the first feature of the night.

When the green waved Paul Stephens took off with Wes Washburn in hot pursuit. While the leader pulled away there was a four-way duel for second.

Over heating claimed heat winner Mike Olsen and Carl Barlow while Pete Olsen pitted with sparks coming out from under his car. Then a spin by Washburn brought out a caution.

Up front Stephens took off again when the green waved and left the pack to race for second. He reached the checkered flag first followed by Pete Baglin and Aaron Benham.

“The race was pretty good, the car was hooked up so I just kept the pedal to the metal and tried not to be taken out by the other drivers,” Stephens said after his victory. “I used the high line as that’s the best way to go since it was real slippery down low.”

Now the track crew will start preparing the track for Thursday’s start of the Iron Man series.

•Local riders raced Sunday at the Exit 28 Motocross track where they competed in Round 3 of the Dealer’s Challenge. This is where racers compete for individual titles as well as helping the dealers they are teamed with win their own championship.

Ryan Ferris swept both pro divisions but he had to work for a second 250/450 victory. When the gate dropped he took off with Coty Loudenburg in hot pursuit.

After swapping the lead four time Ferris took off and ran way with the race. After that Loudenburg fell in to the clutches of Rich Thorwaldson where they dueled for second place.

At the end Ferris won with Thorwaldson taking second ahead of Loudenburg.

After his victory Ferris said, “That was fun out there, we had a good little battle out there. It makes it more fun for us and the people watching then I caught me second wind and took off.”

Later in the program he completed his sweep of the weekend by running away with the second 125/250F Pro moto.

There were several MRANN desert racers trying their hand at motocross. Among them were Chester Martinmaas, a 58-year-old veteran, Paul Ziegler, VCGP winner Reece Honea and others.

Ryan Toomey, who grew up desert racing, won the first 250/450F moto, had a problem and finished second in the final moto behind Justin McVay. Then, while running in the Big Bike Open, Toomey scored wins in both of those motos.

After taking the checkered flag he said, “It was fun, I haven’t been running much moto lately and it’s fun to get out here and switch it out from the desert a little bit. It’s short, fast and I love moto, just wish I could do a little more.”

The turn out was good and everyone had a pretty good time. While there were some crashes the medics only had to transport one rider to the hospital while a young rider was taken by his parents to be checked.

OTHER RACING NEWS

•Three Nevada racers competed with NASCAR at the Monster Mile in Dover, Del. this weekend. In Saturday’s Nationwide race Kurt Busch, driving brother Kyle’s car, started ninth and finished fourth while T.J. Bell started 32nd and ended up 24th.

In Sunday’s Sprint Cup event both brother brothers had problems with Kyle ending up 29th after starting eighth and Kurt, who started ninth, fell to 24th at the end.

•This week and weekend is a huge one for racing fans.

The Iron Man IMCA series begins its 10-day trek across northern Nevada with its first two rounds, Thursday and Friday, at Rattlesnake Raceway. Northern Nevada Outlaw Karts start the show around 4 p.m. each day while the cars take over at 6 p.m.

The show is part of Octane Fest that brings the NHRA for a Saturday-Sunday show at the Top Gun Raceway. Appearing along with the alcohol dragsters will be the Nevada Rattler driving by Spanish Springs resident Ricky Ruiz.

On tap during the weekend are Monster Trucks, Tuff Trucks and motocross. Further information can be found at www.octanefest.com.

The Lovelock Speedway hosts round three and four of the Iron Man series. The spectator gates open at 5 p.m. with racing starting at either 6 or 7 p.m.

Motocross riders will have two events to choose from as the Honey Lake Motocross Park is hosting Loretta Lynn Regional qualifier races on Saturday with practice slated for Friday.

Closer to home, Exit 28 stages the final round of the Dealer’s Challenge series starting around 9 a.m. on Sunday.

RESULTS

•Rattlesnake Raceway - June 2

Gen-X:

Heat Winner - #1 Al Bishop

Main - 1. Al Bishop, 2. Shawn Hartzell, 3. Kyle Babb, 4. Mark Serchio, 5. Trish Detomasi

Rat Mod:

Heat Winner - Scott Hammond

Main - 1. Duncan Lee, 2. Scott Hammond, 3. Steve Young, 4. Mark Rios, 5. Lee Ketten

Hobby Stocks:

Heat Winners - #1 Mike Olsen, #2 Pete Baglin

Main - 1. Paul Stephen, 2. Pete Baglin, 3. Aaron Benham, 4. Steve Foster, 5. Pete Casey

Pro Stocks:

Heat Winner - Ken Gotchal

Main - 1. Ken Gotchal, 2. Gary Nevers, 3. Robby Grace, 4. Fred White

IMCA Modified:

Heat Winners - #1 Jake Holland, #2 unlisted

Main - 1. Jake Holland, 2. Wade Lumsden, 3. Bill Smith, 4. Malen Gonzalez, 4. Mike White

•Dealer’s Challenge Series - Round 3

Exit 28 - June 3, 2012

50cc:

4-6 - 1. Lux Turner, 2. Chase Cannizzaro, 3. Kade Krautstrunk, 4. Oliver Bonner, 5. Riley Downer

Auto-Clutch - 1. Ciara King, 2. Tyler Beck

7+ - 1. Demetre Proutsos, 2. Wyatt Brixey, 3. Nakana Domingo, 4. Jimmy Travey, 5. Lawson Williams

Open - 1. Casey Carmichael, 2. Lux Turner, 3. Wyatt Brixey, 4. Demetre Proutsos

65cc:

Beg. - 1. Dalton Hoyos, 2. Hayden Carmichael, 3. Kailey McMullen, 4. Jaxon Polomy, 5. Austin Drowner

Jr. - 1. Danny Hillyer, 2. Brock Grashuis, 3. Trever Tellez, 4. Casey Carmichael, 5. Ethan Lewis

Intr. - 1. Mikey Hillyer

Open - 1. Brock Grashuis, 2. Casey Carmichael, 3. Dalton Hoyos, 4. Dylan Thorwaldson, 5. Ethan Lewis

85cc:

Beg. - 1. Danny Hillyer, 2. Dallas Serpa, 3. Trever Tellez, 4. Travis Whitmwam, 5. Cole Harrity

Jr. - 1. Connor Jardine, 2. Alexander Orr, 3. Austin Lewis, 4. Tony Giusti, 5. Mikey Hillyer

Intr. - 1. Callion McHaney, 2. Mason Olson, 3. Garrett Hueftle, 4. Garrett Darby

Open - 1. Callion McHaney, 2. Garrett Hueftle, 3. Tony Giusti, 5. Alexander Orr

Supermini - 1. Callion McHaney, 2. Mason Olson, 3. Tony Giusti, 4. Gage Knecht, 5. Austin Serpa

50+ - 1. Chester Martinmaas

40+:

Jr. - 1. Sam Mosier, 2. Jeff Perrine, 3. Russ Petrosky, 4. Chris Ober, 5. Paul Ziegler

Intr. - 1. Layne Kolbet

Exp. - 1. Chester Martinmaas

30+:

Beg. - 1. Shalie Thorwaldson

Jr. - 1. Jamie Bonner, 2. Paul Ziegler

Intr. - 1. Steve Tichenor

Exp. - 1. Jason Shakespeare, 2. Aaron Bissell

Pro. - 1. Rich Thorwaldson, 2. Pete Cannizzaro

25+:

Open - 1. Greg Thiessen, 2. Wes Gilmore

Club - 1. Jason Shakespeare, 2. Rich Thorwaldson, 3. Layne Kolbet, 4. Shalie Thorwaldson, 5. Chester Martinmaas

Big Bike Open (18+) - 1. Ryan Toomey, 2. Matt Zulim, 3. Jake Osborn

Schoolboy (13-17) - 1. Austin Walton, 2. Robert Tanner, 3. Brett Thompson, 4. Gavin Clouser, 5. Billy Adams

Women - 1. Kaylee Darby, 2. Shalie Thorwaldson, 3. Samantha Monzo

125/250:

Beg. - 1. Brendon Borrego, 2. Jesse Simmons, 3. Jacob Davis, 4. Andrew Williams, 5. Tristin Reid

Jr. - 1. Robert Tanner, 2. Dylan Galliett, 3. Daniel Mills, 4. Ryan Lehr, 5. Deven Force

Intr. - 1. Matt Zulim, 2. Billy Adams

Pro. - 1. Ryan Ferris, 2. Reece Honea, 3. Coty Loudenburg

250/450:

Beg. - 1. Andrew Williams, 2. Brendon Borrego, 3. Jacob Davis, 4. Jeramy Scoggin

Jr. - 1. Daniel Mills, 2. Robert Tanner, 3. Greg Thiessen, 4. Ryan Lehr, 5. Jeffrey Butler

Intr. - 1. Justin McVay, 2. Ryan Toomey, 3. Steve Tichenor, 4. Billy Adams

Pro. - 1. Ryan Ferris, 2. Rich Thorwaldson, 3. Coty Loudenburg, 4. Reece Honea