Lathrop Taps Into Late Model Victory

Riverside’s Johnny Lathrop pulled off an upset to take the 50-lap Southern California Auto Club Late Model Series feature race Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway in front of 4,250 fans.

Todd Burns finished second, 0.127 of a second behind Lathrop. Dave Hessing, the defending series champion, was third.

Lathrop led for most of the race, but lost the lead to Burns on Lap 40. However, Lathrop tapped Burns on the final lap, for the victory. Despite the contact, Burns was not upset with the result and called it “tight racing.”

Said Lathrop: “I knew I had to keep the car going hard and I didn’t mean to tap him. We started the day off a little tight and we stayed with it.”

In the 40-lap Vista Paint Super Stock feature, Darren Cheek needed 34 laps to catch Andrew Phipps and held him off to capture his second consecutive race. Greg Benner was third.

Terry Limeropoulus earned his first victory this season as he caught and spun out Guy Tripp with seven laps to go, winning the 35-lap main event in the Modified 4s feature. Steve Rodgers was second, Greg Tucker was third and Tripp finished fourth.

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Tony Solorzano