Woodside Rides Early Break to His 1st Sportsman Main Win at Saugus

For three consecutive weeks at Saugus Speedway, the driver who started the Sportsman Division main event in the pole position had led all the way.

That pattern changed Saturday night in front of 3,528.

This time the pole-sitter, Tom Eurton of Valencia, couldn’t finish the first lap, pulling into the infield.

Larry Woodside of Saugus, starting in the same row as Eurton on the outside, led the rest of the way for his first Sportsman main-event win at Saugus. Woodside, who entered the night 11th in the points standings, held off repeated charges from Dave Phipps of Simi Valley, who is third in points.

So, all it takes to win is having a choice starting position?

“Yeah, and experience,” said Woodside, competing in his first full year at Saugus at the Sportsman level. “Plus Dave Phipps is a good enough driver that he wasn’t going to push me out of the way. He could have several times.”

Phipps finished second, followed by Keith Spangler of Northridge and John Cran of Reseda. Brian Kelly of Arleta, who is not among the points leaders, passed Arnold Fagan of Palmdale on Lap 10 and held on to win the 25-lap Street Stock main event.

Eurton won the 15-lap, figure-eight main event.

Dave Blankenship of Reseda, who had the fastest qualifying time, put in a solid performance, starting in the 14th position and finishing second. John Kirby of Ventura finished third.

Garrett Yamada of North Hollywood won the 12-lap Mini Stock event, taking the lead on Lap 2. Rudo Sandoval of Van Nuys finished second, followed by Rock Ake of Moorpark.

Tim Staubs of Littlerock won the 15-lap Street Stock semi-main event, passing Jeff Harris of Thousand Oaks on the second lap. Also advancing to the main event were Rick Winakur of San Gabriel, Craig Jensen of Sunland and Brian Polzin of Canyon Country.

Trophy-dash winners included John Covan of Simi Valley (Sportsman), Blankenship (Street Stock), Sandoval (Mini Stock) and Craig Rayburn of Simi Valley (figure eight).

Mitch Thompson of Sylmar won two Street Stock heat races. Other heat-race winners included: Phipps and Herb Hill of Simi Valley, and Steve Burdett of Canyon Country (Sportsman); Greg Benner of Whittier, Ray Mood of Granada Hills and John Lindley Jr. of Sylmar (Street Stock); Larry Durm of Northridge (figure-eight).