|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Western
States Sprint Car Notes by Kerry Fasig |
|
|
|
April 28, 2004...
Madera Speedway
kicked off the 2004 USAC Western States Sprint Car Series
Saturday night April 24th with 27 cars timing in. This number was
down from last
years opener when 30 cars qualified. The track record looked to be
in danger as
2 or 3 cars flirted below the record in practice.But when
qualifing was over Tony Hunt
in the Western Speed #60 was fastest but didn't break the track
record, his time of
13.52 strangely enough was the same exact time he turned last
September19th when
he was second quick to Rick Hendrix's 13.46. This allowed Tony to
take an early lead
in the Earl's fast qualifier championship points leading Chad
Nichols, Brian McClish,
Michael Lewis, Chad Ede and Brad Bumgarner.
Heat race action saw Shauna Hogg take the win in heat 1 over Nick Rescino Jr, Michael Lewis, Michael Trimble and Tony Hunt all transfering to the main. Rookie Greg Anderson looked good picking up the win in heat #2 over Destiny Hays then came Chad Nichols, Anthony Simone and Mark Monico. Heat #2 was also a tough one as Chad Ede, Tim Barber and Randy Dubois all left on the hook. Heat race #3 was great as 9th starting Brian McClish put on the show using the outside groove that no one else was willing to use and passed everyone including early leader Michael Newman on the last lap. Mike McCreary was third followed by Chuck Maddox and Jeff Gardner. The semi main was won by Brad Bumgarner over Bryan Bullard, Tim Barber, Mike Murgoitio Greg Taylor and Randy Dubois. For the main event 8th quick Mark Monico and 7th fast Bryan Bullard were both in the " I hope someone has a problem and can't make the transfer department" so with Chad Nichols having a brake rotor situation on the Zarounian #67 and having to scratch and Chad Ede not making it out of the semi, Monico and Bullard shared the front row for the main event. On lap one McClish made incidental contact (climbed someone's right rear) and got airborne, the landing was not smooth at all and not only was the car hurt but so was Brian, the paramedics wanted to take him to the hospital right away, but Brian said he would go after the races. So on the restart Lewis wasted no time taking the lead, it took Hunt just a few more laps to pass Bullard and then Monico for second. The yellow flags then flew, 1 for a spin by Tim Barber in the Pierson #14 and another for a spinning Destiny Hays that collected Randy Dubois, that finished Randy's first outing in the Scott #7 when his car would'nt refire. Lewis and Hunt pulled away from field on restarts, but Hunt didn't have enough to get by. Anthony Simone spun and made contact with the wall in turn 3 bringing out another caution. With laps waning down Tony made a couple of runs at Lewis, at one point almost getting along side but he just didn't have enough racetrack and couldn't complete the pass.Back in the pack there was some really good racing going on, 12th starting Greg Anderson moved up to finish 6th and Tim Barber came from the back of the pack to finish 8th. So when the checkered flag dropped Michael Lewis grabbed the win over Tony Hunt. Bryan Bullard finished 3rd matching the best finish of a Mike McCreary owned car with Travis Johnson who finished 3rd at Carson City in August of 2001. Brad Bumgarner and Jeff Gardner completed the first five. Greg Anderson, Michael Trimble, Tim Barber, Mark Monico and Mike Murgoitio finished 6th thru 10th. 11th thru 15th were Shauna Hogg, Chuck Maddox Destiny Hays and Michael Newman. Nick Rescino Jr, Greg Taylor, Randy Dubois, Mike McCreary Anthony Simone and Brian McClish rounded out the field. Point's after race1 show Michael Lewis -69 Tony Hunt-67 Bryan Bullard-56 Brad Bumgarner-56 Greg Anderson-53 Gardner-52 Trimble-47 Barber-41 Monico-40 and Shauna Hogg with 39. With race #1 in the books this season really looks to be exciting, with the large number of rookie contenders - Anderson-Ede-Dubois- Hays- Murgoitio all running good, it should add to the excitment that the 2nd and 3rd year driver's bring McClish- Bumgarner- Taylor- Maddox- Trimble- Barnes, mixed in with the winner's and champions Hogg- Nichols- Gardner- Hunt and Lewis this season is really looking to be one of the best yet. The next race is May 1st at Madera and I'll fill you in after that. |
