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Motorsports News
April 19, 2004 Mike "Soco" Socorro was the winner of the Kalamazoo Speedway's first Pure Stocks heat race of 2004 and finished a career-best third in the April 17th main event. The Fallbrook driver won the eight-lap heat race with a time of 2:48.41 and led the 20-lap main event for the first nine laps. Kalamazoo's own, James Wheaton, overtook Socorro in the 14th lap and finished second. "Respectable finish. We're getting better," Soco remarked. "Didn't do too good qualifying but had a good car and ran great." The Monte Carlo driven and owned by Socorro had upper engine problems during qualifying. Socorro's qualifying lap of 21.678 seconds placed him 14th among the 16 Pure Stock drivers. Socorro, Jenson and the rest of the 11 crew tore down the engine to assess and fix the problem. "It seems to run even better than it did before," said Soco, who had participated in practice sessions at the track earlier this year. Randy Ewing had a qualifying lap of 20.482 seconds to place fifth. Chad Wycoff opted to start in the back of the Pure Stocks heat race, which put Socorro on the outside of the front row alongside polesitter Ben Raber. During the first lap of the heat race Socorro took the lead over Raber. "He wasn't running too good," Soco noted. "Just held my line and kept on going." By the end of the first lap Chad Wycoff, was in second behind Socorro, but Soco stayed in front. "The crew got my car running right," Socorro said. James Wheaton started the heat race on the outside of the second row but had little room to advance in the early laps. He moved into third in the fourth lap but lost ground trying to pass Brad Shellenbarger for second, and Ben Raber beat Wheaton in a dash to the finish line for third. Socorro began the main event on the pole, alongside Raber, while Wheaton started the main on the outside of the fifth row. Socorro got the jump on Raber, who held second until he was passed by James Wheaton in the eighth lap. Wheaton pulled along side Socorrro in the ninth lap, and the two raced side-by-side until Wheaton took a clear lead in the 12th lap. "He just finally got by me," Soco noted of James Wheaton. Ben Raber, who would take the lead in the 14th lap, passed Socorro in the 13th lap. "He just came up in between us," Socorro said of Raber. Chad Wycoff, who had passed Randy Ewing in the 11th lap for fourth place, overtook Socorro three circuits later. "Mike held his own pretty good," noted Ewing. Although Socorro's early lead gave the inside line the advantage, Randy Ewing took advantage of Wheaton being ahead of him. "Randy did a good job, and I stuck with him most of the way. I saw he was working through, so I hung on and followed him," Wheaton explained. Ewing moved alongside Brad Shellenbarger in the 15th lap, but when Ewing's tires started heating up he dropped back behind Shellenbarger rather than risk losing a spot as he did in the heat race. "I just backed out and got back behind him," Ewing noted of Shellenbarger regaining control of second in the 17th lap. Socorro held off Chad Wycoff, for his best-ever finish. "It was a good, clean race, we had the car to beat but we broke a shock on lap 16" Socorro remarked. Mike Socorro is sponsored by Mike's Hard Lemonade, Hooters, Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, and MSN Inc. Socorro finished the first night third in the point standings. Raber is now seventh, his best position ever. "It was great and we had a blast out there. All the time spent paid off," Socorro said.