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Hanford, CA....July 19.......Having raced his way into the season point lead for the Bandit unwinged 360 sprint cars despite not winning a feature race, Tulare’s Aaron Altaffer got that elusive main event victory by edging out Riverside’s Josh Wise in a thrilling late race duel Saturday night at Kings Speedway. Altaffer had taken the lead from pole starter Davey Pombo Jr on the first lap, but fast timer Wise raced into second on lap 20. On the final lap, Wise got by Altaffer, but Altaffer stormed back in turn 3 to retake the top spot. It was only the third Bandit appearance for former midget star Wise and he had won the previous Bandit race. Wise finished second ahead of Rick Williams, a usual Rebel Cup winged competitor making his first wingless start of 2003. The Bandit action ran in support of the second day of the annual Pombo-Sargent Classic for the Golden State Challenge winged 410 sprint cars.
Wise outtimed a 24 car turnout with his 17.147 run on the 3/8 mile clay oval. Car builder Richard Harvey Jr won the first heat in front of Bobby Elliott and A J Burgin. Heat 2 saw Jerome Warmerdam on top of Aaron Chaney and Williams. Bobby Davis Jr from Bakersfield returned to action with a win in heat 3 over Greg Porte and Altaffer. A big 10 car inversion for the main event put Pombo Jr and Chaney in the front row with Altaffer starting 3rd, Williams 6th and Wise 10th. Altaffer passed the front row starters on the opening round to take a quick lead. Williams raced his way into second and Wise climbed to third. On lap 20, Wise drove by Williams for second. At the white flag, Wise nosed ahead of leader Altaffer in turn 1, but Altaffer was able to storm back and retake the lead in turn 3 to score the exciting win. Wise ran second ahead of Williams, A J Burgin, Chaney, Harvey, 17th starter Jason Montgomery, Jason May, Gene Manhire and 22nd starter Brad Evett. The main event had 23 starters as Daniel Hood scratched.
The Bandit sprint cars race in Santa Maria on July 26 and August 9 before returning to Hanford on August 16. Altaffer’s point lead is now 41 points over Greg Porte and 50 ahead of Harvey. Burgin is 54 points behind the point leader and 22 ahead of Pombo Jr.
Summary
Fast Time-Josh Wise 17.147.
Heat 1-Richard Harvey Jr, Bobby Elliott, A J Burgin, Wise, Jason May.
Heat 2-Jerome Warmerdam, Aaron Chaney, Rick Williams, John Burnett, Dave Knott.
Heat 3-Bobby Davis Jr, Greg Porte, Aaron Altaffer, Davey Pombo Jr, Gene Manhire.
Main-Altaffer, Wise, Williams, Burgin, Chaney, Harvey, Jason Montgomery, May, Manhire, Brad Evett, Warmerdam, Elliott, Dick Stevens, Porte, Knott, Matt Day, Terry Shank, Jeff Fiscus, Jonathan Logan, Burnett, Josh Davis, Pombo, Davis Jr.
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