Photo:Steve Lombardo

Kinchen Wins the Battle, and Tatro Wins the War

     At 6:30 Sunday morning, as the sun just started to peek above the trees, you could find Lance Tatro walking the rows of oranges looking for broken water lines, and non-working sprinklers. This Sunday looked like most weekends at Tatro’s ranch. However, what was different about this particular Sunday, is it was the day after all Hell broke loose at Madera Speedway. Although everything was calm on this day, the day before represented the culmination of Super Saturdays with an event that was off the chart. If you were a fan of speed, it was there. If you wanted wrecks, it was there. If you wanted close competition, it too was there.  If you wanted to wonder amongst the best of the best, you could find that as well.  For the last Super Saturday event Troy brought with him a quest for yet another championship. Birges, however, was trying to hold his slim margin over Regier, Tatro, Tuey and Kinchen. All who were within striking distance of the Super Saturday title.  

     In the 360 Super Modified class, Bakersfield’s Dave Tuey held his slimmest lead all year over Tatro and Kinchen coming into the final event. However, Kinchen and Tatro have been on the hottest of terrors over the last several events trying to catch the 360 legend.

     After the first two hot laps were in the books, Tatro and Kinchen appeared to be the two to beat. “My first hot laps are usually just a give-a-way” Kinchen said. He just sets his sights on preparing for the ones that count.  Tatro was the fastest car in both sessions, but Kinchen was so close that the margin was negligible. When qualifying came out it was Kinchen that proved he came to play on this final event of the year. “I just screwed up on the first lap so bad, that I wanted to make sure we got a good lap in on the second” Tatro said. On the first lap, Tatro drove in as if the throttle was stuck… Kinchen however, delivered one of the fastest times of the year, so even if Tatro was at his “A” game, Kinchen was just a step ahead. Qualifying went Kinchen, Tatro, Team-Mate Jackson, and Vanderpool.

The next event up was the dash…Tatro struck back with an impressive second place finish, but the real story for that event belonged to Lance Jackson. “That was cool Jackson said, “but I know I gave up ground by trying to protect the bottom of the track… I knew Tatro was coming!”  That recorded Jackson’s first dash win this year. The dash went as such, Jackson, Tatro, Kinchen, and Vanderpool.

In the heat, Tatro moved quickly to gather in the hunt with poll-sitter Tuey. Within a few laps, Tatro was along Tuey trying to make the pass, but after brake troubles Tatro fell in pursuit and finished second with Jackson, Vanderpool and Kinchen all finished behind Tuey and Tatro. 

     The Main was “Chaos” Tatro said, I kept trying to race with the 360s, but there were so many yellows that the flow of the race was never good. We always set the car up for long runs, and when we don’t have those, it is dangerous. With Burgess making suicidal passes and Regier trying to hunt him down, Tatro somehow kept getting caught in the middle of the other battles.  Spotter Kevin Tatro said that he just kept telling his father “You are fast, just stay patient and reel them in” and that is exactly what they started to do. First Tatro passed Vanderpool, then Tuey and only had Kyle Vanderpool and Kinchen left. “The car felt great, we made some real positive changes and they worked” Tatro said, and the lap times proved that. With the first clearing, Tatro moved along side Vanderpool, and set his sights on the leader Kinchen. Tatro’s car was fast, but with some returning brake issues, second was the best we could do, but that was good enough to assure the 2009 Madera Speedway Track Championship for Tatro Racing. “Kinchen was fast, I kept making runs and closing, but within five or so car lengths was the best I had to offer him. So what started out in hot laps proved to be the case, Kinchen and Tatro set the pace. What a closing for Kinchen, at one point of the season they were frustrated trying to find their zone…I think they found it at the Harvest Classic. Team mate Jackson was running fast, but removed himself from a good main event finish when he cut a rear tire. Carl Johnson, team mate and forefront of Fucarl Racing, left the race with a stripped rear hub. “Things worked out for us, after wrecking so badly the first race, we never thought we would be competing for the Championship at the end of the year”. For Tatro Racing this is the Third Madera Title, 1993 in the Open Class, and 2007, 2009 in the 360 Super Class with two titles in the Thorpe-Kent-Tatro Chassis and one in the Tuey owned car.

     As well, Tatro’s second place finish, combined with Regier’s win placed Tatro Racing as second in the Super Saturday Title, with Regier winning and Kinchen a tight third. “We have three 360s in the top five, and thats how we represent” Kinchen said. “Not bad! Not bad!” 

On this Sunday at Tatro Ranch, a little more hardware exist, another Championship has come home to Madera, and the dust has settle on the last Super Modified race of the year. But if you know Tatro, the work takes precedence over play, even for Champions. 

     Tatro Racing would like to thank all those that helped the team in their 2009 Championship quest.  Cap’s Coatings, Dutcher Racing Engines, Jackson Racing, Johnson Racing, Kent Performance, Prickett’s Distributing and Durango Polishing.

     Owners Lance and Christine would like to congratulate Crew Chief Dewayne Hill, Motor-Builder Pat Dutcher, Spotter Kevin Tatro, Fuel, Wings and Chassis Man Greg Bellew, Tire-Guy Eddie Rodriquez, Super Model Chloe, Detailer Danny Durango, Donnie Hays, Jeremiah Bearden, Lance Jackson, Todd and the Steph-a-maniacs, Model Stephanie Bellew and our hero, our son, and our friend Jason Tatro, on making our dreams a reality.

It’s a Girl! We are taking suggestions on names…okay maybe not. But we found out that our newest Tatro addition will be a girl.