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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| STIDHAM ADDS TO POINT LEAD
WITH FOURTH WIN by Gary Jacob |
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Winged 360 Sprints, Unwinged 360 Sprints and IMCA Modifieds |
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Hanford, CA -August 11, 2001--Fresno's Craig Stidham
added to his season point lead for the Rebel Winged 360 Sprint Cars by
winning his fourth 30 lap feature Saturday night at Kings Speedway.
After the first dozen races on the schedule, Stidham holds a 38 point
advantage over Ricci Faria, who finished second Saturday night in
front of Kurt Nelson from Gilroy. Dale Cross came out of retirement to
beat the Bandit unwinged 360 sprint car division dominator Jerome
Warmerdam in their 25 lap feature. Cross pocketed $900 for the win
with Warmerdam a $700 second. IMCA Modified rookie Bryan Burnes, a
graduate of the Hot Stock action, won his first 20 lap IMCA Modified
main event with Visalia's Chad Patterson second ahead of another
division rookie Jason Selvidge. Burnes climbed to 9th in track points
with the win.
The 17 winged 360 sprint cars were split into three qualifying heat races. R Faria won the first over TimWorth and Danny Faria Jr. Stidham won heat 2 with Lawrence Edlund second over Scott Coffman. Previous week feature winner Luke Bebereia won heat 3 over Matt DeMartini. In the 30 lap feature, Stidham started inside row 3 and chased early race leader Tammy Wright from Fremont for the first ten laps. Stidham took over on lap 11 and was never headed as R Faria ran second over Nelson, Worth, defending series champion Monte Faccinto, Davey Key, D Faria Jr, Stan Greenberg and Matt Morello. Bebereia and modified midget graduate Coffman tangled on lap 17 and Coffman's car ended up on it's side. Bebereia was unhurt, but Coffman had to be transported to the hospital for observation. Stidham's point lead is 36 over R Faria, 46 over the tied duo of Edlund and Worth and 53 over D Faria Jr. The unwinged Bandit 360 Sprint Cars had a 21 car turnout and they were also split into three heat races. Cross captured heat 1 over Matt Day and Richard Harvey Jr, who was driving the car normally wheeled by Gene Manhire. While Manhire is making a rapid recovery from his serious burns suffered at the last Santa Maria race, Harvey will be filling in as driver for several races. Josh Davis won heat 2 over Warmerdam and Joey Layman. Darren Simas came out on top of heat 3 with Ventura's Jimmy May second over New Zealand's Greg Keegan. Cross was able to outduel favorite Warmerdam for the 25 lap win as May ran third over Harvey, Day, recent modified midget graduate Aaron Altaffer, Josh Ford, Jeff Fiscus, Simas and former dirt late model ace Rick Gifford. Warmerdam had dominated the Hanford portion of the series that combines events at Hanford and Santa Maria. He has three wins in the five Hanford legs with Cross now joining Greg Porte at the one win level. The IMCA Modified count was down to 15 cars, so they used a two heat format. Defending track champion Jimmy Reeves won the first heat over Tom Stidham and Selvidge. Burnes had a perfect night as he also scored a heat win in heat 2 over Jeff Heusdens and Chad Patterson. Burnes then charged to the feature win ahead of Patterson, Selvidge, Tom Bowser, Stidham, Chowchilla point leader Paul Stone, point leader Rodney Freitas and Joe Chapman. Freitas ended the night with a 7 point lead on Chapman with Bowser now 20 points back and tied with Reeves for third in points. Reeves' repeat title hopes were cast a blow when he could only manage a 14th place run. Unheralded Dana Garvin continues to stick in the point duel as he is just 26 points out of the point lead in his first full season of Hanford competition. Summary IMCA Modified Heat 1-Jimmy Reeves, Tom Stidham, Jason Selvidge, Ed Nichols, A J Wright. Heat 2-Bryan Burnes, Jeff Heusdens, Chad Patterson, Tom Bowser, Rod Freitas. Main-Burnes, Patterson, Selvidge, Bowser, Stidham, Paul Stone, Freitas, Joe Chapman, Dana Garvin, Wright, Jim Phelan, Heusdens, Edward Slocum, Reeves, Nichols. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Dale Cross, Matt Day, Richard Harvey Jr, Scott Nail, Jeff Fiscus. Heat 2-Josh Davis, Jerome Warmerdam, Joey Layman, John Burnett, Wade Griest. Heat 3-Darren Simas, Jimmy May, Greg Keegan, Aaron Altaffer, Jason Montgomery. Main-Cross, Warmerdam, J May, Harvey, Day, Altaffer, Josh Ford, Fiscus, Simas, Rick Gifford, Nail, Burnett, Jimmy Terra, Layman, Dave Knott, Montgomery, Dick Stevens, Griest, Sherman May, Keegan, Davis. Winged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Ricci Faria, Tim Worth, Danny Faria JR, Matt Morello, Stan Greenberg. Heat 2-Craig Stidham, Lawrence Edlund, Scott Coffman, Davey Key, Monte Ferriera. Heat 3-Luke Bebereia, Matt DeMartini, Kurt Nelson, Tammy Wright, Monte Faccinto. Main-Stidham, R Faria, Nelson, Worth, Faccinto, Key, D Faria Jr, Greenberg, Morello, Wright, DeMartini, Ferriera, Edlund, Bebereia, Coffman, Mark Barroso, Mike Shriver. |
