Saturday night April 25th proofed to be the best night of racing at the reopened Three Palms Speedway. The Southern Pro Am Truck Series (SPAT) opened their series with a $1000 going to the first place truck. The event pulled in 15 top notch trucks to the facility.
Steven King took home the winners share but it was without its challenges. The race was slowed several times for spins and wrecked race trucks. The first was the 36 truck driven by Stuart VanDevender spun in turn four battling for the lead.
Mark Petty brought out the next caution spinning and backing into the wall in turns one and two.
As they say cautions breed cautions, Stuart VanDevnder spun again trying to battle from the back to the front bringing out another caution.
James Dellea III was next when he slowed for a flat tire. He made a quick change to come back out to battle.
Lap 19 saw the Cadillac, yes Cadillac truck of Bill VanDevender pass Steven King for the lead. As the race settled down the battles back through the field continued as trucks were going two and three wide in the corners at the tight 3/8 mile Three Palms Speedway. Trucks were actually doing sliding through the corners like they were on dirt. Brake rotors were glowing on several trucks, even the back brake rotors.
Bill VanDevender continued to lead till with 5 laps to go his “Caddy” spins in turn four. The spin handed the lead back to the 16k of Steven King. As he held on for the  $1000 victory.
Cody Bigley was second after staying in the top five all night. Cody Martell and 14 year old Derek Pugh were third and fourth respectively. West Palm Beach’s Taylor Moxley had a good run going. She was in the top five all night till an altercation in turn two when several trucks were going three wide. She ended up nursing her truck home for a fifth place finish with a sway bar dragging.
Rich Cordis, Bill VanDevender, Richard Griffis, James Dellea III and Stuart VanDevender rounded out the top 10.
In other action for the evening, saw Steve Greenwell from Ocala Florida, dive into turn one and take the lead. He held off Jarrett Snowden in Pro Challenge action.  Sean Quinn and Peter Briggs rounded out the top four.
TQ Midget action saw Mike Belusar take both features. Rob Kohler was second. “Hollywood” Mike Nelson was third. Ernie Teed Jr was fourth. Sam Mancuso took home fifth. The finishing order was the same for both features.
Rookie Trucks saw James Dellea III of Port Charlotte Florida  go three wide into turn one and take the lead. Mark Petty was second. Daniel Lautner grabbed the third spot.
Stuart VanDevender pulling double duty battled with Lance Sober in Thunder Truck action. The two drivers battled back and forth with Stuart finally taking the lead and the checkers. Lance Sober ended up second. James Wright came home third.
Outlaw 4’s also had one of their biggest fields of the young season. A restart with four laps to go bunched up the field. The restart saw Johnny Marra and Jason Shulko start side by side. Jason led most of the feature but Johnny worked on him. Marra grabbed the lead and held on. Jason Shulko crossed the line second. Third went to Josh Calvert. Jarrett Reynolds and Jerry Groves were the top five.
Notes from the evening:
Mark Petty subbed for the evening as his daughter who usually drives the 43 truck was celebrating her 16th birthday in Orlando.
Bill VanDevender when asked about his Cadillac truck said, “Everybody runs a Ford or a Chevy. I liked to be different.”
Richard Griffis dropped out before the end of the feature with over heating problems. He did not want to hurt the motor. He said “Jack Roush is not going to call me in the morning so I am going to save the motor to race another day.”
Three Palms Speedway will be back in action this Saturday night with Dwarfs, Sportsmen, Pure Stocks and Outlaw 4’s. Racing action gets under way at 5 P.M..