FALLON - As usual the annual 4th of July races was a marathon that included a 45-minute fireworks show. With 101 racecars in the pits, the stands full of fans there it was a long night of hard, fast and action packed racing.

For one Reno driver the night was a dream come true as he won his first feature race.

"The track was amazing here and I've never been here before in my life," Mark Tabor Jr. said after saluting the fans. "This is my absolute first sprint car win. The track stuck all night, took rubber at the end but I had a good tire choice and the car was perfect."

Tabor, who won his heat race, started on the front row. After an aborted start, due to a spin, he took the point from Shawn Ternora shortly after the green waved in earnest.

There was one more caution to slow the race. The result was one driver being sent to the pits while the other, Galen Reese, had his night end with suspension damage.

Once racing resumed Tabor Jr. took off followed by the pack, which included his father, Mark Sr. In the final laps young Tabor had another new experience, picking his way past lap traffic.

"Never been in that situation as I'm usually lap traffic so it was a little difficult," he said.

In the end Tabor crossed the line ahead of locals Mike Monahan and Mark Sr. making it a local sweep of the top three positions.

After the dust settled it was revealed there had been a bet in the team. If Mark Jr. won his father would dye his hair blond and Uncle Ron Tabor, who wears his hair long, would get a crew cut then donate the clippings to Locks for Love, a program helping cancer patients.

Al Goss scored a green-to-checkered victory in the Pro Stock main while Sean Renfro, once he got into the lead, ran away with the Gen-X main.

The Hobby Stock main was a wild affair with enough action to satisfy any fan. First on point was Royce Goetz with Chris Van Roekel on his back bumper.

For many laps they dueled for the lead. However things came to a sudden halt on lap-6 when contact spun a car that hit the wall and collected three others.

Once the resulting carnage was cleaned up racing resumed with Goetz in the lead. Not far behind him, Carl Barlow and Richard Italiano, driving a new car, were making their way through the pack.

With 14-to go Barlow, who had caught the leader, used an inside pass to get the lead and stormed away to claim the victory. Goetz and Van Roekel took the next two places.

"It was tough and Royce had the line," Barlow said. "I figured I'd just have to go the bottom with gusto and it worked just fine."

Asked about the many times he was sideways, Barlow said, "That was probably the slickest track I've ever driven on."

For Goetz it's his final race at Rattlesnake Raceway. Later this month he'll compete in the two-day show at Lovelock Speedway then head for North Carolina and NASCAR Tech where he hope to chase his dream of being in stock car's big leagues.

The Bomber class is where new drivers can get their feet wet. Most of the cars are decorated to resemble those in a Disney film but they are all piloted by drivers that want to win.

Their feature race was one of the very best that night despite one racing stopping incident when a pickup racer went into the backstretch wall hard.

Fortunately only the truck suffered any injuries.

After working his way forward, Chris Jimenez took the point and was chased all the way to the checkered flag by a determined Kelly Thompson, who had to settle for the runner-up spot.

The night's final race, which began after midnight, was the IMCA Modified feature and 21-cars took the green flag. Rusty Holland only needed six laps to take the point and show everyone his heels.

Two cautions slowed the pace but soon after racing resumed for good, Shawn Natenstedt caught Holland and took the lead. Now the chase was on as they tore around the track.

Following Natenstedt gave Holland the clue he needed to get past the leader.

"He showed me where the track was good as I was going down low," Holland said. "Then Shawn went up high and I saw how much grip was up there."

He added they didn't have many problems with lap traffic as most of the field stayed low where traction wasn't the best. Another problem everyone had was the amount of dust the cars were kicking up.

Finally, in the late stages of the race Holland made the winning pass.

"When I went up high, caught him and knew I had to wait for Shawn to make a mistake," Holland said. "He was flawless for along time then made a mistake and I finally got by on the outside."

After his victory lap, Holland headed for his pits where Natenstedt was waiting to offer his congratulations.

Then the delighted Holland said, "I couldn't have raced a better race with Shawn right there," Holland said. "He started right behind me and I knew I had to go."

• Next week racing slows a bit, as only two tracks will be in action Saturday. At 6 p.m. the Lovelock stages another of its points races with the IMCA Modifieds headlining their racing card.

Down in Quincy, Calif. the American Valley Speedway begins its show at 7 p.m. On the racing card are the DART Dwarf Cars as well be a field of Mini and Pro Stocks and Modifieds.

OTHER RACING NEWS

• Three of NASCAR's Nevada Quartet were in Daytona this weekend. In Friday's Nationwide race Kyle Busch came from 19th to finish second while Brendan Gaughan ended up 17th after starting 41st.

In Saturday's Sprint Cup race Kyle Busch was leading the final lap but wound up in the wall after he unsuccessfully tried to block winner Tony Stewart. Further back older brother Kurt Busch finished fifth.

• Prior to the start of Saturday's Sprint Cup event at Daytona International Speedway a group of young Florida drivers got to meet two competitors that are part of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. One of them was Mackena Bell from Carson City, who races in the Camping World West series.

RESULTS

Rattlesnake Raceway - July 4

Sprint Cars:

Heat Winners - #1 Shawn Ternora, #2 Mark Tabor Jr.

Main (20-Laps) - 1. Mark Tabor Jr., 2. Mike Monahan, 3. Mark Tabor Sr., 4. Jim Richardson, 5. Mike White

IMCA Modifieds:

Heat Winners - #1, Bill Pearson, #2 Rusty Holland, #3 Malen Gonzalez

Main (30-Laps) - 1. Rusty Holland, 2. Shawn Natenstedt, 3. David Ellsworth, 4. Rich Hill, 5. Bill Pearson

Pro Stocks:

Heat Winners - #1 Josh Ogg, #2 Michael Prein

Main (20-Laps) - 1. Al Goss, 2. Kenny Schmidt, 3. Jack Randall, 4. Gary Nevers, 5. Chris Coclich

Hobby Stocks:

Heat Winners - #1 Dean Clark, #2. Bill Holloway, #3 Carl Barlow

Main (25-Laps) - 1. Carl Barlow, 2. Royce Goetz, 3. Shane Ramthun, 4. Dean Clark, 5. Richard Italiano

Rat Mods:

Heat Winners - #1 Duncan Lee, #2 Luis Miranda

Main (15-Laps) - 1. Sean Renfro, 2. Rich Evans, 3. Duncan Lee, 4. unlisted, 5. Loren Bianchi

Bombers:

Heat Winner - Hazel Halbert

Main (15-Laps) - 1. Chris Jimenez, 2. Kelly Thompson, 3. Bryan Kaster, 4. Annette Rinehart, 5. Luis Miranda

Gen-X:

Heat Winners - #1 Cody Thunder, #2 Skeeter Donaldson

Main (15-Laps) - 1. John Schilling, 2. Cody Thunder, 3. Yolanda Kaster, 4. Tom Molloy, 5. Steve Foster