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Watsonville, CA..Oct
15...Over 110 cars pulled through the pit gates for Watsonville
Speedway's first ever Indian Summer Series post season special
Friday night. Qualifying heat races, fast and slow dashes and a
single preliminary feature race for the limited late models were on
the racing card on a very fast ¼ mile clay oval.
Running for $2000 to win
on Saturday night, the wingless spec sprints still attracted just a
ten car turnout that was split into a pair of heat races. Antioch
Speedway track champion Bob Newberry beat pole starter Billy Macedo
on the start and led all ten laps to win the first heat with Macedo
second ahead of Sal Mannina. Joey Santos had problems and fell out.
NCMA star David Goodwill won heat 2 from the favored outside front
row starting slot and Jim Perry Jr passed Steve Mannina late in the
race to finish second. Newberry also won the fast dash ahead of
Macedo with Goodwill falling out at the green flag. Long tow Steve
Stein from Dixon won the slow dash ahead of Sal Mannina and Steve
Mannina.
The
dirt modifieds had the biggest turnout with 35 cars in action. There
were divided into four heats and the top four from each heat moved
into Saturday night's 30 lap, $1800 to win feature race. The heat
lineups were based on the order that the entries were received. Dave
Byrd had to come from the back row, but he won heat 1 with a late
race pass under Brian Cass when Cass pushed high. Cass had led from
the start, but settled for second ahead of Bobby Scott Jr, who was
making his first dirt modified start of 2004. Bill Wesenberg also
transferred from 8th starting. The winner in Santa Maria and
runnerup last weekend in Bakersfield, Jimmy Reeves had a flat racing
2nd and finished sixth. Ed Davies turned that favored outside front
row assignment into a win in heat 2 ahead of Bobby Hogge IV and pole
starter Steve Noack. Petaluma champion Michael Paul Sr got the
fourth transfer slot. Track regular David Press from the Bay Area
won heat 3 from 2nd starting with Susanville long tow Will Zinn
fending off challenges from Antioch Indian Summer Series winner
Randy McDaniel and Nick Caughman Jr to finish second. Randy McDaniel
ran third and Caughman was fourth ahead of Tommy Bottini. Heat four
saw a tight duel for the win with Antioch point runnerup J D Willis
leading wire to wire from an outside front row start. Keith Brown Sr
ran second until a late race flat tire dropped him back to third
behind Bert Elworthy. In just his second appearance in a former John
Logue Harris from Iowa, Ryan McDaniel broke while running in 4th.
Tennessee's Brad Pounds also had problems. Davies was again able to
turn that outside front row starting slot into a fast dash win over
Willis and Press as Byrd had problems. Rick Crisafulli won the slow
dash over Pounds and Don Breeden.
There were just 9 limited late models, but they raced for $125 to
win on Friday night and get a $1000 to win 30 lapper on Saturday
night. Rich Barbaccia won heat 1 from the pole with 4th starting
Mike Meazell second. Track champion Ken Gregg turned an outside
front row start into an easy win in heat 2 over John Harville.
Gregg, who also was champion of the Steitz All Star Tour traveling
series, then won the fast dash oer Meazell and Barbaccia. Jeff Mead
took the B Dash over Jeremy Petrell. Meazell was excited to have his
car running correctly after a couple months of problems. Gregg was
running his new engine out of the North Carolina shops of the
Hendren family for just the second time. The 20 lap preliminary
night feature was lined up straight up off the heat race results and
Gregg took a quick lead over Barbaccia and Meazell. On lap 2,
Harville spun and got hit by John Kriebel to end Kriebel's night.
Ben Lewis had broken in hot laps. Mead stalled for a lap 3 yellow
flag and Barbaccia was able to pull off an inside pass on this
restart to take the lead from Gregg. Harville was back to fourth and
Fallon NV long tow Gilbert Dixon pulled off as Petrell moved into
fifth. Some contact from Gregg put leader Barbaccia into the turn 4
infield on lap 13 and Gregg retook the lead. Meazell spun for a lap
14 yellow and the officials ruled that an out of shape Barbaccia had
triggered the Meazell spin sending Barbaccia to join him in the rear
of the field. Gregg led the final 8 laps for the win. Harville
crossed the line second, but failed to report to post race tech and
was disqualified. That moved Meazell into the $75 second place and
Barbaccia was paid $60 for third. Petrell ran fourth. Both
Mead and Dixon lost laps in the pits, but were running at the
checkered flag.
The super street
stocks split 28 cars into four heat races with the top four
finishers in each moving into the $1400 to win, 30 lap feature on
Saturday night. Again, the lineups were based on the order that
entries were received and the track regulars had front row slots.
Chowchilla champion Chris Messmer won heat 1 from the pole. In the
final turn, Jason Rood made an aggressive inside pass for second on
Denise McCown but was penalized back to 4th place. McCown gained
second ahead of Chester Kniss. Wasonville champion Dennis Pelphrey
had pole for heat 2, but Danny Scott had the favored outside
position. Scott took a quick lead, but was fighting a sticking
throttle and was turning the engine off and on to make the corners.
He managed to lead 9 laps, but had to pass Mark Acosta on the last
lap as Acosta was losing an engine. Scott ended up spinning off the
top of the track in turn 3 and Pelphrey drove by for the win. Steve
Peyla ended up second ahead of Chowchilla regular Syd Finn and
Antioch's Michael Newman. Petaluma star Woody Woodward was fifth.
Bill Hyland had the pole for heat 3, but was a no show and Antioch
titlest Bob Motts Jr led all ten laps from his outside front row
start. Watsonville point runnerup Mark Cooper came from sixth to
finish a tight second and Todd Gomez ran third over Merced's Red
Williams. Tim Ragsdale just missed in fifth. Outside front row
starter Doug Hagio won heat 4 by a half-lap. Darrell Hughes spun out
of third late in the race and David Hill ran second over Jamie
Reynolds and Eric VanHooser. Pelphrey beat Hagio and Messmer in the
fast dash and Scott easily won the slow dash over brian Zachary and
Joe Carter.
The hobby stock portion was full of controversy as Sam Kennedy,
winner of his fifth track championship in six years, was
disqualified from wins in both his heat and the fast dash when he
left the track without being checked when the officials announced
that they were checking the entire class for locked rear ends. The
officials also announced that S Kennedy would not be allowed to
return on Saturday and start over from the rear of the B Main.
Antioch Indian Summer Series winner Steven Montgomery again was the
first entry and won heat 1 from the pole with Jennifer Rood a race
long second. Terry DeCarlo Jr and Paul Duncan gained the other two
transfers. Ray Ash turned his outside front row start in heat 2 into
a win with Kevin Fitzgerald suffering a flat tire racing in second.
Chowchilla champion Shane Hausmann finished second ahead of Phil
Indihar and Rich Altamirano. Indihar was driving the same car that
he wheeled to victory in the Oct 2nd Enduro race at the track. S
Kennedy had won heat 3 from the pole with an average lap time of
18.78, but was stripped of that win with Tom Reily getting the win
over Merced's Marshall Weaver, George Fernandez Jr and Steve Bisordi
Sr. Bill Sorg was a wire to wire winner in heat 4 from 2nd starting
and pole starter John Dawson Jr ran second over Wally Kennedy and
Eli Mendoza Jr. Ronnie Jones had late race problems in third in heat
4, but rebounded to win the slow dash over Fitzgerald. Sorg gained
the fast dash win with the S Kennedy DQ and Ash moved up to 2nd as
Montgomery did not appear for that race. The hobby stocks race for
$500 to win on Saturday night.
Summary
Hobby Stocks
Heat 1-Steven Montgomery, Jennifer Rood, Terry DeCarlo Jr, Paul
Duncan, Paul Champion, Gary Baker.
Heat 2-Ray Ash, Shane Hausmann, Phil Indihar, Rich Altamirano, Dan
Stephens, Audra Petrell.
Heat 3-Tom Reily, Marshall Weaver, George Fernandez Jr, Steve
Bisordi Sr, Ron Altamirano.
Heat 4-Bill Sorg, John Dawson Jr, Wally Kennedy, Eli Mendoza Jr, Bob
Ackerman, Tim Clark Jr. Fast Dash-Sorg, Ash.
Slow Dash-Ronnie Jones, Kevin Fitzgerald, Ron Altamirano, Jeremiah
Roma.
Super Street Stocks
Heat 1-Chris Messmer, Denise McCown, Chester Kniss, Jason Rood, Eric
Berendsen, Raymond Benkowski.
Heat 2-Dennis Pelphrey, Steve Peyla, Syd Finn, Michael Newman, Woody
Woodward. Heat 3-Bob Motts Jr, Mark Cooper, Todd Gomez, Red
Williams, Tim Ragsdale, Joe Carter.
Heat 4-Doug Hagio, David Hill, Jamie Reynolds, Eric VanHooser,
Anthony Guiliani, D J Petrell. Fast Dash-Pelphrey, Hagio, Messmer,
Motts.
Slow Dash-Danny Scott, Brian Zachary, Carter, Petrell.
Limited Late Models
Heat 1-Rich Barbaccia, Mike Meazell, John Kriebel, Gilbert Dixon.
Heat 2-Ken Gregg, John Harville, Jeff Mead, Jeremy Petrell. Fast
Dash-Gregg, Meazell, Barbaccia, Harville. Slow Dash-Mead, Petrell.
Preliminary Feature-Gregg, Meazell, Barbaccia, Petrell, Mead, Dixon,
Kriebel.
Dirt Modifieds
Heat 1-Dave Byrd, Brian Cass, Bobby Scott Jr, Bill Wesenberg, Tim
Yaeger Jr, Jimmy Reeves.
Heat 2-Ed Davies, Bobby Hogge IV, Steve Noack, Michael Paul Sr,
Michael Paul Jr, Ken Fredenberg.
Heat 3-David Press, Will Zinn, Randy McDaniel, Nick Caughman Jr,
Tommy Bottini, Raymond Keldsen Jr.
Heat 4-J D Willis, Bert Elworthy, Keith Brown, Mike Salazar, Scott
Foreman, Jim DiGiovanni.
Fast Dash-Davies, Willis, Press, Byrd. Slow Dash-Rick Crisafulli,
Brad Pounds, Don Breeden.
Wingless Spec
Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Bob Newberry, Billy Macedo, Sal Mannina, Bobby Nichols, Joey
Santos.
Heat 2-David Goodwill, Jim Perry Jr, Steve Mannina, Scott Merrell,
Steve Stein.
Fast Dash-Newberry, Macedo, Goodwill.
Slow Dash-Stein, Sal Mannina, Merrell.
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