Albuquerque, NM (7/14/21) – Since 2015, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Spencer Hill has been searching for a break-through behind the wheel of a full-sized Sprint Car. On Saturday night at Sandia Speedway, Hill’s long winless streak was finally snapped as fans would finally see the driver of the SEH Motorsports No. 7D7 capture his first career victory in round nine of the Lucas Oil POWRi NMMRA Sprint Car Series.
As monsoon season is in full swing, precipitation was once again a threat on Saturday with a quick downpour consuming Sandia Speedway as cars wrapped up track packing. The extra moisture would make for a short delay, but the show resumed roughly 40 minutes later with a very wet and soft racing surface for 15 drivers to maneuver.
Unfortunately for one driver, the night would end quite early. Rio Rancho’s James Hatch went for a hard flip during hot laps, flipping end-over-end in his Hal Burns Racing No. 52NM. Hatch would walk away but the car’s damage was too extensive to finish out the night.
Next was three heat races to help determine the starting lineup for the 25-lap A-Main. Drivers were consistently seen biking their vehicles up on two wheels, which made for a couple of tense moments. Heat 1 saw the fearless rookie, Caleb Stelzig, lead all eight laps to capture the win followed by Spencer Hill and Don Grable. Clint Miller would take heat race number two with Josh Grady and Robert Marfia following through to finish 2nd and 3rd. Heat 3 would go to Albuquerque’s Caleb Saiz as he was followed by Travis Oldfield and JR Bonesteel.
Leading the field to green based off of a randomized draw with the top nine in the heat races was Robert Marfia and Clint Miller. After the green flag waved, Marfia jumped to an early lead with Hill working multiple grooves to try and run him down. A good run off the top of turn two allowed for Hill to pull alongside Marfia’s No. 24, but the racing would suspend on lap four for El Paso, Texas’ Don Grable as he took a violet ride after contact with the No. 21 of Stelzig. Grable was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation, and the Lucas Oil POWRi NMMRA Sprint Car Series continues to keep Grable in their thoughts and prayers and wishes him a quick recovery.
When racing resumed, the hot shoe rookie once again found his way to the front of the field after some of the leaders would bobble in turn two. As Stelzig controlled the lead, there was fantastic racing for 2nd through 5th with cars running side-by-side and trading slide jobs back and forth. It appeared that Stelzig was on his way to his second career Lucas Oil POWRi NMMRA victory until mayhem struck for the leader with just five laps to go. Suddenly, Stelzig’s car launched off the end of turn two, narrowly missing the retaining wall. Stelzig was able to keep his car on all four wheels, but a red flag was waved once again and Stelzig’s ride would send him to the hot pit area for repairs, relinquishing the lead to Spencer Hill, who was running 2nd at the time.
Racing resumed with just five laps remaining and it was the SEH Motorsports teammates battling for the feature win. After nearly six years of coming so close, Hill’s time had finally come as he pulled away to capture his first career Sprint Car win, and his first win with the Lucas Oil POWRi NMMRA Sprint Car Series. The win on Saturday also would mark the first win for SEH Motorsports since 2010 and was officially car owner Pat West’s first win as an owner. To put the cherry on top for West, it would be Travis Oldfield placing the No. 11w team car in the runner up position with Grady, Saiz and Amos rounding out the top five while also grabbing the hard charger award.
“I’m still in disbelief,” said a very excited Hill. “I don’t think anybody understands how hard we have worked for this moment, and I truly couldn’t have written it up any better with giving SEH Motorsports a 1-2 finish and their first win in over a decade. First and foremost, I can’t thank Pat West and her family enough for continuing to stick by my side through the ups and downs that Sprint Cars have brought me. I wish so badly that Truman (West) could be here still to celebrate with us, but I know that he is looking down with a gigantic smile on his face.
The list of people to thank is so long but it really wouldn’t be possible without SEH Motorsports, Grammy’s Kitchen, Global Motorsports Report, Clark’s Pet Emporium, ZMAX Race Products, Razers Edge Gear, Lucky Stripes, Outlaw Designs, Hal Burns Racing, Performance Plus Racing, J&J Auto Racing, as well as my amazing friends, family and additional partners that have supported me from the very beginning.”
The Lucas Oil POWRi NMMRA Sprint Car Series hits the road this week for week two of a very busy stint of 7 races in just 6 weeks. You can catch the wingless warriors in action Saturday for Hot City Nights at Vado Speedway Park with racing starting at 7:30PM including USRA Modifieds, Legends, Super Trucks, and Claimers.
Results:
# Name Hometown +/-
- 7D7 Spencer Hill Albuquerque, NM +2
- 11w Travis Oldfield Albuquerque, NM +2
- 12J Josh Grady Farmington, NM +5
- 1HA Caleb Saiz Albuquerque, NM +3
- 41 Devon Amos Rio Rancho, NM +7
- 24 Robert Marfia Rio Rancho, NM -5
- 0 JR Bonesteel Albuquerque, NM -+2
- 58 Clint Miller Los Alamos, NM -6
- 23 Craig Stringfellow Albuquerque, NM +4
- 5* Camron Spangler Dove Creek, CO +1
- 4 David Dykes Los Lunas, NM +4
DNF 21 Caleb Stelzig Albuquerque, NM -7
DNF 45x Don Grable El Paso, TX -7
DNF 2 Michael Fanelli Rio Rancho, NM -4
DNS 52NM James Hatch Rio Rancho, NM -
Heat 1 (Results): 1-Stelzig.C 2-Hill.S 3-Grable.D 4-Fanelli.M 5-Stringfellow.C
Heat 2 (Results): 1-Miller.C 2-Grady.J 3-Marfia.R 4-Spangler.C 5-Hatch.J
Heat 3 (Results): 1-Saiz.C 2-Oldfield.T 3-Bonesteel.JR 4-Amos.D 5-Dykes.D