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| HammerDown Report by Bobby Gerould |
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Rodela Flies at Seaside |
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06/19/04
– Ventura, CA. …Jerome Rodela scored his first career
dirt feature win with a dominant drive in the 30-lap feature event
for the United States Auto Club Western States Midgets at Seaside
Park Saturday evening. The “Once
the first couple of laps went down, I felt I had a car underneath me
that was capable of winning the race”, said the 23 year-old Rodela.
“Andy Bondio, and Van Dyne engineering helped me out a ton. This
was only our second start at Before
the feature started there was drama as scheduled front row starter
Garrett Hansen could not get his #70 to fire off. After repeated
attempts, Hansen was forced to scratch with ignition box issues
which changed the front row to Matt Mitchell, and Rodriguez, the
points leader. Rodriguez jumped into the lead in his own #30
Esslinger. By lap two, Rodela, riding the high groove, was in the
runner-up spot. Ryan
Kaplan of Wally
Pankratz moved into the runner-up position on lap 21 after getting
by Rodriguez low in turn two. The best racing of the evening
occurred in the next three laps as Rodriguez and Pankratz swapped
the runner-up spot three times before Pankratz held it for good.
At the checkered flag, Rodela was a comfortable winner.
Pankratz finished second, followed by Rodriguez, Michael Simpson,
and Kaplan. The feature event ended as the sun set at Dallen
McKenney flipped wildly on his qualifying approach. He did not
register a time but returned to run his heat and the feature. The
two midget heats were won by Flock, and Rick Hendrix. The
20-car, 20-lap Ford Focus feature started with Steve Koster Jr., and
Bradley Galedridge on the front row. However, it was Chase Barber
who led lap one. Bobby McGowan spun to a stop on lap two to bring
out a caution flag. On the restart, Chris Rahe, the Ford Focus South
points leader, blasted by Barber on the low groove to take command.
Rahe opened up a straightaway advantage before a lap 15 yellow flag
slowed the pack. The final four laps were all Rahe. Barber wound up
second, with Koster, Bobby Michnowicz, and Ryan Pace rounding out
the top five. Galedridge was sixth, just ahead of Ashley Swanson.
Jet Davison, Josh Lakatos, and Cal Smith completed the top ten. Focus
heat winners were Rahe, Michnowicz, and
Barber. Josh
Lakatos was a runaway winner in the Focus Semi-main. Summary:
USAC Western States Midgets –
First
Heat: 1. Flock, 2. Pankratz, 3. Graves, 4. Rodela, 5. Mitchell, 6.
Ellis, 7. Simpson, 8. Brown. Second
Heat: 1. Hendrix, 2. McQueen, 3. Rodriguez, 4. Hansen, 5. Kaplan, 6.
Streeter, 7. Paden, 8. McKenney, 9. Miller Jr. Main
Event: 1. Rodela, 2. Pankratz, 3. Rodriguez, 4. Simpson, 5. Kaplan,
6. Brown, 7. McQueen, 8. Hendrix, 9. Graves, 10. Streeter, 11.
Mitchell, 12. Ellis, 13. Miller Jr., 14. Flock, 15. Paden, 16.
McKenney *
Hansen did not start. USAC
First
Heat: 1. Chris Rahe, 2. Steve Davis, 3. Ashley Swanson, 4. Cal
Smith, 5. Bobby McGowan, 6. Kenny White, 7. Eric Pace Second
Heat: 1. Bobby Michnowicz, 2. Steve Koster Jr., 3. Jody Bandfield,
4. J.J. Ercse, 5. Josh Lakatos, 6. Ryan Pace, 7. Scott Nogrady Third
Heat: 1. Chase Barber, 2. Bradley Galedridge, 3. Jet Davison, 4.
Jake Vail, 5. Tom Fish, 6. J.R. Williams, 7. Jon Santibanes Feature:
20 laps: 1. Rahe, 2. Barber, 3. Koster Jr., 4. Michnowicz, 5. R.
Pace, 6. Galedridge, 7. Swanson, 8. Davison, 9. Lakatos, 10. Smith,
11. Bandfield, 12. McGowan, 13. Williams, 14. White, 15. Nogrady,
16. Vail, 17. E. Pace, 18. Santibanes, 19. Ercse, 20. **
#2 Tom Fish – did not start. |
