Tulare checkers are Pombo’s Western RaceSaver first

Results

Michael Pombo became a first-time Western RaceSaver Sprint Car feature winner on May 4 at Thunderbowl Raceway. (Photo by Paul Trevino)

TULARE, Calif. (May 4) – Michael Pombo didn’t lead the most laps, just the one that mattered the most Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway. 

Pombo passed older brother Albert on the final circuit of a caution-free 25-lap contest to win his career-first Western RaceSaver Sprint Series feature.

He’d run third most of the way, catching Mauro Simone for second on the 18th lap; Pombo made his move to the front coming out of turn two on the white flag lap and took the checkers by a margin of just over three tenth’s of a second.

“It was like a dream come true. Ever since I was a kid, it’s always been one of my dreams to win a Sprint Car race,” said Pombo, promptly congratulated by his brother. “The first thing I thought when the race was over was ‘Holy cow, did this really happen?’ Especially at Tulare. That made it even better. 

Simone, Kyle Rasmussen and Brooklyn Holland completed the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car top five.

Pombo had been runner-up to Holland when she raced to her Western RaceSaver Sprint Car career-first victory on April 20 at Keller Auto Speedway. 

Feature results – 1. Michael Pombo; 2. Albert Pombo; 3. Mauro Simone; 4. Kyle Rasmussen; 5. Brooklyn Holland; 6. Ryan Delisle; 7. Phil Heynen; 8. Grant Champlin; 9. Mike Schott; 10. Brandon Burd; 11. Brandon Emmett; Rod Bane.

Related Articles

Results

Rasmussen rules opener for Western RaceSaver Sprint Series

HANFORD, Calif. (Feb. 23) – Opening night checkers flew for Kyle Rasmussen in the Friday night lidlifter for the Western RaceSaver Sprint Series at Keller Auto Speedway. Rasmussen led the last 10 circuits of the 25-lapper for IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars after starting sixth. The winner in his first IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season outing of 2019, Rasmussen was chased across the stripe by Mike Schott and Brooklyn Holland. “I had a really good handling car. I could put it wherever I wanted and it worked,” he said. “The engine my grandfather (Ron) built in-house was a monster.” Rasmussen made the top line work in the first set of turns and ran the middle to bottom on the other end of the track. He’d won a couple series events last year, during his first full season in the division. Feature results – 1, Kyle Rasmussen; 2. Mike Schott; 3. Brooklyn Holland; 4. Grant Champlin; 5. Brendan Warmerdam; 6. Connor Danell; 7. Ryan Delisle; 8. Phil Heynen; 9. Lance Jackson; 10. Michael Pombo; 11. Brandon [Read More]

Results

Tristao, DeArmond collect Tulare triumphs

By Ben Deatherage  TULARE, Calif. (April 8, 2022) – Racing returned to Thunderbowl Raceway Friday night as the Tulare County Fairgrounds 1/3-mile clay oval hosted the Van De Pol IMCA Western RaceSaver Sprint Series and the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars.   The main event of the Vande Pol Western RaceSaver Sprint Series began with hometown driver George Tristao Jr. getting the lead on the opening lap. He had a brief battle with Kyle Rasmussen. Rasmussen kept Tristao company but the leader kept him in check on every occasion.  Tristao developed a fantastic run as the race went incident-free and allowed him to construct a significant lead. Tristao went on to win the race to collect his first victory of the season with Rasmussen second and third going to Brandon Emmett.  Loren DeArmond had the car to beat in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main event. He seized control of the front place position and remained there the entire distance. It is the first time DeArmond has won in 2022.  Michael Shearer was the runner-up, while Steven Johnson [Read More]

Results

Blanchard bests Western RaceSaver foes at Hanford

HANFORD, Calif. (March 29) – Zane Blanchard’s home track was the Friday night site of his first Western RaceSaver Sprint Series feature win of the season.  Blanchard made the most of the top side of the Keller Auto Speedway oval in leading all 20 laps of the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car main event at Hanford.  After running much of the way in lapped traffic, Blanchard was able to put some distance on the rest of the field following a restart with three circuits to go.  “Hanford is my home track. I live about five minutes away,” he said. “We had a lot of family and a lot of friends there. It’s cool to be out there and win in front of that many people.” A three-time series winner in 2017, Blanchard took the checkers ahead of defending tour cham­pion Grant Duinkerken and Grant Champlin. Champlin had started 11th. Monty Ferriera was fourth and 14th starting Mike Schott rounded out the top five. Feature results – 1. Zane Blanchard; 2. Grant Duinkerken; 3. Grant Champlin; 4. Monty Ferriera; [Read More]