IRWINDALE - There are two names synonymous with Toyota Speedway at Irwindale's Super Late Model series: Rip Michels and Greg Pursley.

The way the 2008 season has started, another name could join the pair: Nick Joanides.

Late Saturday, in front of approximately 2,700, the Woodland Hills resident scored back-to-back Twin race sweeps to give him four consecutive victories. Only one other driver - Pursley - has swept back-to-back Twins, in 2004, the year he won NASCAR's national short track title. The trio are the only drivers to score more than two Twin sweeps and the only drivers with three or more consecutive victories.

"I'm surprised," Joanides said. "There are a lot of good guys. But I've been fortunate and others haven't been so fortunate."

In a spectacular high-flying accident that called the first Twin 40 after 36 laps, David Ross destroyed the attenuator in a three-car wreck. No driver was seriously injured.

On a restart with four laps to go, Ross, from Colton, Randel King of Riverside and Brian Fitzgibbons of El Cajon went three-wide down the main straight. Ross was on the outside and was pushed into the attenuator, a Styrofoam ball that protects the entrance to the pit exit. He hit the attenuator, which exploded, and his car went flying.

There was a tire mark halfway up the first catch-fence pole and that pole was bent about six feet.

The race was red-flagged for 10 minutes and finished on yellow, with the cars running on the half- and third-mile. The next race, Legends, did not come on the track until 31 minutes after the red flag stopped action.

Tom Landreth of Alta Loma moved into second place in all-time Irwindale victories with his 37th and led all 30 laps in the Legends main event. It was his first victory since Sept. 29.

"We finally got one this year," the series points leader said. "There have been a lot of issues this year."

Irwindale-based car car fabricator Bryan Harrell won the spin-filled Vista Paint Super Stock series 35-lap main event, It was his second consecutive victory. Eric Sloan of Alta Loma, 12, won the D&D construction Bandoleros series 20-lap race when Aaron Anderson of Lancaster was disqualified for illegal parts after leading for 17 laps. Aubrey Porter of La Verne, 13, was second and Andrew Porter of La Verne, 14, was third.

Joanides was the fastest qualifier of the night. In the first Twin 40, after the invert, he started sixth and passed Andy Allen of Tustin leaving Turn 2 on the 28th lap. Allen finished second and Scott Conaway of Rancho Cucamonga was third.

In the second race, Joanides started fifth and was in the lead by the seventh lap. He had to avoid six caution flags in the final 30 laps of the 40-lap race. Travis Thirkettle of Newhall finished second and Dan Moore of Burbank finished third.

"I was really worried about Travis on the restarts," Joanides said.

"We made a change on the car after the first race to make it better on the bottom."

There were seven caution flags in the Super Stocks main event.

Harrell, who replaced a drive shaft earlier in the day, took the lead on the ninth lap. Christopher Harness of Palmdale finished second.

"The only time we could chase him down was on the restarts," Hanress said.

Rich DeLong III of Santa Clarita survived a trip to the back and a spin to finish in third.

In Legends, Ryan Reed of Bakersfield finished second and Darren Amidon of Santee finished third.

Pre-Race Article (Writer apparently had a vision!)

Another Twin at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

By Keith Lair, Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 05/01/2008 04:36:31 PM PDT

IRWINDALE - The ACDelco Super Late Model series at Toyota Speeday at Irwindale has been all about twos.

Charles Price of Redlands won the first two races. Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills won the last two, which happened to be Twin 50s. And there's another set of twos coming on Saturday: Twin 40-lap races.

For Joanides, they were his first wins in the series and the first time a driver has swept the Twin 50s since Andre Phipps did it in 2005.

"Everybody thinks I've been racing these for a long time here, but I've only run about twenty races in this division prior to this year," Joanides said.

That's because he's raced a lot everywhere. He had raced in the NASCAR Southwest Series at Irwindale and in Late Models at Irwindale. It wasn't until the middle of last season that he secured a permanent full-time ride on the half-mile oval.

If Joanides can sweep Saturday's races, he will become only the second driver to win back-to-back Twins in the division, Greg Pursley did it in 2004. Only Pursley and Rip Michels have more than one Irwindale Twin event sweeps on their resumes.

Price is the series points leader, also scoring second and fourth-place finishes. Dan Moore of Burbank and Scott Conoway of Rancho Cucamonga are tied for second, 24 points back.

by Tim Kennedy

Crashing and bashing was prevalent Saturday night during the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale four division, five main event card on "Family Night" in front of about 2,000 spectators. Nick Joanides, in a Jackson Race-Cars chassis with Ed Hansen-built engine, swept his second consecutive NASCAR AC DELCO Super Late Model twin 40-lap features in Whelen All-American Series action on the banked half-mile. He drove Loyd McGhee's No. 71 J & M Construction/Mr. Crane 2008 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Joanides also won the twin-50-lap mains two weeks ago for his first SLM victories at the track. He became the first driver to win back-to-back SLM twin features since Greg Pursley turned the trick in 2004. Pursley, NASCAR's 2004 National Short Track champion, and Rip Michels, Irwindale's 2007 SLM track champion, are the only other drivers to sweep SLM twins at Irwindale.

SLM: Joanides set fastest qualifying time on both of his qualifying laps during late afternoon single-car SLM qualification runs. He pulled a six for the first race inversion number in a 22-car field. He then pulled a five for the second feature inversion. It made little difference to him because he took the lead on lap 27 in the first race and on lap 7 during the second main. After having problems in the first two SLM events this season, Joanides, from Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley, entered Saturday's twins ranked sixth in points. His twin wins elevated "Slick Nick" to fourth in point standings, only 30-points behind new SLM Series point leader Dan Moore.

1st SLM MAIN: The first SLM 40-lap main had two yellow flags and one red flag. A multi-car crash on lap 37 entering the first turn led to an official 39-lap event because of time-consuming repairs required after the crash. The David Ross 11th place car slammed nose first into the protective attenuator at the pit entrance opening. His No. 57 car got airborne and bent a support pole before landing upright back on the track next to the two cars he was attempting to pass on the outside when his car was bumped. He was not injured, but his new car was unable to start the second SLM 40. The cars of Brian Fitzgibbons and 16-year old Randel King were the other cars involved and both drivers were set back several positions for jumping the lap 37 green flag. After lengthy repairs to the attenuator, race director Lester Boyer had the cars run two laps on the third-mile under the yellow flag before the starter displayed the checkered and yellow flags simultaneously. The 39-lap event time was 24:28.082. Pole starter Andrew Allen led the opening lap over Scott Conaway, Travis Thirkettle, Ross, Moore and Joanides. On lap 3 Ross got into the back of Thirkettle's car, which spun out leaving turn two. Ross was penalized to the back along with spinner Thirkettle. Joanides reached second place on lap 6 and on lap 27 he passed lap 1-26 leader Allen on the inside exiting the second turn. Joanides quickly opened a 20-yard lead and won by 1.440 seconds over Allen. Conaway was third. Moore and Chris Johnson completed the top five finishers. Jason Patison, Brian Wong, Ryan Partridge, Thirkettle and Stephen Peace finished sixth through tenth respectively.

2nd SLM 40 MAIN: Joanides' fourth consecutive and fourth career SLM victory took longer-36:59.874-than his first triumph because of more caution flags. He passed Moore, the first six-laps leader, in the fourth turn and won by 25-yards (0.936) over Thirkettle, who took second from Moore on lap 12. Thirkettle could not keep pace with Joanides despite five of the seven yellow flags coming after he took second place. Moore earned third and his 48-points enabled him to move from second to first in season points by 12 points over former leader Charles Price and Conaway who are tied for second at 246 points. Speed Wong Chevy team driver Ryan Partridge, Peace, Brian Wong, Randel King, rookie Luis Martinez, Jr, Price (sub-driving the 88 team car from David Eshleman's fleet of four SLM cars), and Conaway completed the top ten. Only 20 cars were able to start the second 40; 15 finished, with 13 drivers on the lead lap. On lap 33 sixth place Allen got into the fifth place car of Johnson. Both cars slid up the track to the outer wall near the third turn. They retired to the pits on the back of tow trucks. A two-car crash occurred as drivers entered the first turn on lap 21. The contact sidelined cars of Mark Perry and Jason Patison.

Joanides maintains winning ways

Another Twin at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale