FALLON - A warm summer's night set the stage for a night of hard racing at Rattlesnake Raceway. For the fans there was plenty of passing, one race without one caution and the modified feature ended with a surprise victory for the winner.

"I had no idea where anyone was but I kind of had a feeling when the white flag came out," Robert Miller said after the race. "It was a handful as we had a car with ill handling brakes but it was good enough to win as we had a couple of things go out way."

The weekend there was a new driver in the car usually piloted by Gene Kay as he put Jeff Taylor in the seat. Taylor hails from Arkansas and built the racers for both Gene and Cody Kay.

When the green flag started the IMCA feature Darren Manning led the charge into the first turn. Contact brought everything to a halt as points leader Shawn Natenstedt had to scurry into the pits to have a flat changed.

A restart was ordered and the field got into it proper alignment although Natenstedt had to fall to the back. Once racing resumed Manning once again held the point.

About five laps later Taylor was involved in a Turn 3 spin that collected the car of young Cody Kay, who limped back to the pits with broken steering.

The next caution involved several cars with the racer of Jay Sears getting the worst of it. At this time the officials cut the event to 25-laps rather than the original 30.

By now Miller had worked his way into the lead but Manning was giving chase, as was Natenstedt, who had sliced through the pack on his way to the front.

Right after another caution Taylor actually made up a lap he lost. That incident was the second Sears was involved in but the driver that caused it was black flagged from the race for rough driving.

Despite having to get his car repaired and coming back to the event Sears was scored with a fourth place finish ahead of Dennis Crook.

Behind him actual leader Miller and Natenstedt put on a place-swapping show as they dueled for what was actually the lead.

It was an inside-outside duel until Natenstedt faded to third when Don Childs took second with only a few laps to go. Up front a somewhat surprised Miller took the checkered flag for the victory.

Back in the pits his car owner, Brian Thomas said. "We've known Robert a long time and he drove for us a few years ago. We just wrecked a car just like it a few weeks ago and figured it was time to change drivers so Robert was our first choice."

Miller also wanted to thank Thomas' wife Sherri and their son-in-law Ron for the effort of bringing the car all the way from Vallejo, Calif.

Unlike previous races the Hobby Stock feature had a couple of things missing, multi-car wrecks and cautions.

On the green former sprint car driver Mike White took the point while, in back of him, faster cars at the rear began their charge through the pack.

One battle was between Missy Natenstedt and Dean Clark as they battled for positions while carving their way toward the front. Natenstedt held the initial advantage but would fall to fourth at the end.

Local Richard Italiano used his fast, yet patient style to come from the back to end up fifth while Jeff Wilson's determined drive earned him a third place finish.

Up front Clark just could not close the gap and had to settle for second behind White. At then end the first five cars were pretty much nose-to-tail, which made this event a crowd favorite.

"It was pretty tough to hold them off as I was glad there were no yellows as they really helped," White said back in the pits. "I heard them back there and knew they were going to come but there's pretty much only one groove and I just held onto it."

Then he thanked his wife Amber, Hillside Dairy and Allied-Washoe Petroleum for their support.

After being bottled up in traffic last time, pro stock points leader Jesse Gonzalez was determined that wasn't going to happen this time.

On the green, Chris Coclich led the charge but soon surrendered the point to Josh Ogg. Then an early caution slowed the pace but by now Gonzalez was close to the front after an up-the-middle charge through the pack.

Soon after a caution Gonzalez took the top spot and would never be headed although he was challenged by Ogg a couple of times during restarts.

Two more cautions slowed the race but each time Gonzalez would take off leaving his rivals to eat his dust. In the end he won the race followed by Ken Gotchal, Joe Specchio Jr. and Rob Grace.

After the dust settled Gonzalez said, "I got up front way sooner than I expected as the holes opened up and I just had to go. I couldn't let them get away from me this time so I kept telling myself I needed to smooth out, hit my marks, hold my line and then I was able to pull away."

Jeffrey Macedo pulled off a green-to-checkered victory in the sprint car main. Heat race winner Adam Walters did his best but there was not catching Macedo on this night.

"That was fun and I finished up front," Macedo said. "Just held my line, took off and that was all I was doing. I do need to thank the car owners Murray and Carol Nelson for letting me drive their car."

Anyone that drives in the Bomber division knows the race might hold some surprises for them. This time, as there were only three cars taking the green, the officials had them line up, three abreast and make a standing start.

Alex Pettit used that to his advantage and assumed the lead, which led to his winning the race. The battle was between Bryan Kaster and a determined Annette Rinehart, who had to settle for third after he charge came up just a few feet short to taking second.

John Scherer was the winner in the Rat Modified feature followed by Duncan Lee and David Woods.

Since there were only four Mini Mods on hand the officials combined their race with the GenX division. This meant the faster Mini Mods would have to deal with the slower GenX cars but the race was clean and fast.

When the checkered flew Stephen Crook beat his brother Dennis for the Mini Mod victory. Shawn Hartzell won the GenX part of the event followed by Aaron Benham and Cody Thunder.

Prior to the night's racing the track remembered one veteran racer Wayne Richards. In fact some had special T-shirts remembering his #7 race truck.

He was so dominate in the old mini stock class he once spotted the field a half lap and still won that race.

Prior to the start of racing, all the cars formed on the track and made several parade laps in his honor.

Richards was an older cousin of Missy Natenstedt, who said she thought him more as her uncle. Once the parade laps were over, and the rest of the cars left the track, she did a lap of honor with the checkered flag to remember her fallen relative.

•On Saturday two ovals and a go karts highlight this week's racing. At 6 p.m. the Lovelock Speedway hosts its next points race while at 7 p.m. the oval part of the Reno-Fernley Raceway hosts its first Saturday event since reopening last week.

Closer to home the Northern Nevada Kart Club stages its annual night race with heats beginning at 6 p.m. followed by the main events run under the lights.

OTHER RACING NEWS

•Several members of NNKC were competing in California this weekend. Austin DeMent won his class at the ProKart North/South Challenge held in Santa Maria, Calif.

Over at Atwater, Calif. the duo of Cody McKinney and Gerry Williams scored third and fourth place finishes while young Garrett Dixon was 11th in Junior 1 and seventh in HPV1.

•For motocross riders this coming weekend offers a chance to hone their skills at the Kurt Henricksen MX Training School. The sessions will be held at the Mustang Motor Plex and run from August 21 through August 24.

Those interested can call Henricksen at 951-236-7452 or check his website at: khenricksen15@gmail.com. Another source of information is Kim Siminoe, who can be reached at 775-972-3222 or at her website, ksiminoe622@yahoo.com.

•NASCAR's Nevada Quartet was in action this weekend. T.J. Bell returned to the Camping World Truck series but his time at the legendary track, Darlington Raceway wasn't so good as a wreck dropped him to 26th at the finish.

The other three spent the weekend at Michigan International Speedway where Kyle Busch finished third in Saturday's Nationwide event but Brendan Gaughan's streak of bad luck continued as his engine exploded with less than 10-laps to go and dropping him to 32nd place.

Both Busch brothers suffered misfortune in Sunday's Sprint Cup event. Kurt ended up 40th after his motor exploded early in the race. Kyle had a good run going until he brushed the wall and suffered a long pit stop that dropped him to 18th at the end.

RESULTS

Rattlesnake Raceway - Aug. 14

IMCA Modifieds:

Heat Winners - #1 Darren Manning, #2 Jay Sears

Main (25-Laps) - 1. Robert Miller, 2. Don Childs, 3. Shawn Natenstedt, 4. Jay Sears, 5. Dennis Crook

Pro Stocks:

Heat Winners - #1 Ken Gotchal, #2 Jesse Gonzalez

Main (25-Laps) - 1. Jesse Gonzalez, 2. Ken Gotchal, 3. Joe Specchio Jr., 4. Rob Grace, 5. Josh Ogg

Hobby Stocks:

Heat Winners - #1 Dwight Bolton, #2 Jeff Wilson

Main (30-laps) - 1. Mike White, 2. Dean Clark, 3. Jeff Wilson, 4. Missy Natenstedt, 5. Richard Italiano

360 Sprints:

Heat Winner - Adam Walters

Main (20-Laps) - 1. Jeffrey Macedo, 2. Adam Walters, 3. Arne Martin, 4. Tony Taylor, 5. Bob Cooney

Bombers:

Heat Winner - Chris Jimenez

Main (10-Laps) - 1. Alex Pettit, 2. Bryan Kaster, #3 Annette Rinehart

Rat Mods:

Heat Winner - Duncan Lee

Main - 1. John Scherer, 2. Duncan Lee, 3. David Woods, 4. Barry Napps

Mini Mod:*

Heat Winner - Stephen Crook

Main - 1. Stephen Crook, 2. Dennis Crook, 3. WillRitchey, 4. Zack Barchi

GenX:*

Heat Winner - 17

Main - 1. Cody Thunder, 2. John Schilling, 3. Shawn Hartzell, 4. Justin Schilling, 5. Aaron Benham

* - Both the Mini Mods and GenX were combined into the same main event.