EL PASO, Texas -- It was time for the USRA Modifieds at El Paso Speedway Park for their season debut Friday. With a rubbered-down track and a full house it was Royal Jones that started and ended the race in the #1 spot.

In the first of three heats for the USRA Stock Cars it was Julian Garcia taking the checkered. In what appeared to be a re-run of last week’s heat race domination it was Steve Jones going almost unchallenged for the win in heat #2. And then it was a consistently strong and fierce Miles Widmer taking heat #3. However, in a main event that looked more like an enduro race, it would only be 11 of the 20 starting cars to finish the race. After a disqualification of the top finishing car, it was Sean Bowman taking home the win. But the real story was in the back of the field where they were beating and banging for every spot. It appears that even this early in the season we may have some rivalries forming and some tough racing ahead of us EPSP fans.

Generally, we would start with heat 1 of 3 for the USRA Modifieds, but possibly the best heat race action was to be found in heat #3. It was crowd favorite Holly Jones taking home the win after catching and passing Jimmy Ray on the last two laps with a motor that sounded like the 4th of July had visited El Paso a little early. Heat 1 would go to the father-son duo of Fito and Jacob Gallardo. Fito was able to hold on the win, with Jacob following a short distance behind and right on their tails was El Paso’s own Christy Georges. Heat #2 went to Royal Jones, with a great race and showing by Mercedes Harris coming in second after being challenged by Nick O’Neil. Coming out of turn 4 as Jeremy Pipes was waving the checkered, Harris held her ground and blocked the last-ditch effort of O’Neil to steal second.

With the track taking rubber, the pole was definitely where you wanted to started the USRA Modifid main event. And it was, in fact, where the winner started. Within the first 15 laps, it was not clear if Jones would be able to hold of the Gallardos as they were creeping around second and third, and then third and fourth. And it would be O’Neil riding the rear bumper of Jones late in the race. It appeared that possibly he would pull off a sneak attack for the win, but it was the patient veteran taking the checkered flag, followed by O’Neil, Jake Gallardo and Georges, who was right there mixing it up with those boys all night.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
American Racer USRA Weekly Racing Series
El Paso Speedway Park, El Paso, Texas
Friday, May 4, 2012

USRA MODIFIEDS
1. (1) 131 Royal Jones, Las Cruces, N.M.
2. (3) 88N Nick O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
3. (4) 44 Christy Georges, El Paso
4. (17) 28 Tom Georges, El Paso
5. (2) 9 Jimmy Ray, Las Cruces, N.M.
6. (7) G17 Fito Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
7. (14) 85 Austin Adams, El Paso
8. (6) 29 Mercedes Harris, Deming, N.M.
9. (15) 22 Jonathan Barcena, El Paso
10. (10) 10 Roger Owens, El Paso
11. (13) 555 Chad Falco, El Paso
12. (5) 121 Holly Jones, Las Cruces, N.M.
13. (12) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
14. (16) 19 Donavon Ooley, El Paso
15. (11) 49 Duane Murphy
16. (9) 187 Lee Heiligenthal, Las Cruces, N.M.
17. (18) 77 Jerry Slawson, El Paso
18. (8) J17 Jacob Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.

USRA STOCK CARS
1. (9) 15X Sean Bowman, El Paso
2. (12) 202 Bryan Wells, El Paso
3. (1) 77G Julian Garcia, El Paso
4. (10) 35 Miles Widmer, Las Cruces, N.M.
5. (16) 12C Cheyenne Arone, Alamogordo, N.M.
6. (6) 83 Troy Wells, El Paso
7. (3) 17M Chris Mijares, El Paso
8. (14) 21 Colby Ellis, El Paso
9. (20) 12I Iris Neri, El Paso
10. (13) 88 Ozzie Noder, El Paso
11. (17) 3 Jennifer Munn, El Paso
12. (4) 7 Jerrad Warhurst, El Paso
13. (7) 33H Mark Kimpel, El Paso
14. (15) 08 Mike Medina, El Paso
15. (5) 13 David Fountain, El Paso
16. (19) 00ET Ed Engle, El Paso
17. (11) A21 Danny Rodriguez, El Paso
18. (8) 711 Mike Wells, El Paso
19. (18) 99 Gil Almanza, El Paso
20. (2) 41 Steve Jones, El Paso