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| HammerDown Report by Bobby Gerould |
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Quick time and feature to Hunt in USAC Western States Madera go |
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August
7, 2004 – Madera, CA. …”Billy Vukovich (III), and
Davey Hamilton taught me a lot about Madera Speedway. The top is
where the track is”, stated winner Tony Hunt. Emerging from his
Western Speed Racing Eagle/Wes-Mar sprinter after a 50-lap victory
in the United States Auto Club Western States main event, Hunt
continued, “Things were not going our way early in the race, and I
had to control my emotions to get this result. Running races like
the Little 500 really helps condition you to think of the race like
a blackjack table. It will be hot and cold. Early, this race was
cold, later it came to us, and became hot. It was a matter of
sticking with it.” Mike Murgoitio started from the pole and led
lap one but a hard charging Tim Barber stepped up and wrestled the
lead away in turn one on lap two. Michael Lewis, the defending
series champion from Noblesville, Indiana, moved from his third row
starting spot into second on lap three. The field slowed on lap nine
due to a caution for the stalled racers of Destiney Hays, and Alan
Kaiser. The next lap, Nick Rescino Jr. ran over a competitor in turn
four and did a 360 but kept going. The caution flag flew after
Rescino stopped to take inventory of his Bayshore Racing Engines
#11. He restarted at the rear. The lap ten reset showed Barber in the lead
followed by Lewis, Greg Taylor, Murgoitio, Rick Hendrix, Michael
Trimble, Robert Beck, Greg Anderson, Hunt, and Brian McClish. Taylor
surprised Lewis by getting around him for the runner up spot on lap
14. Moments later Anthony Simone and “Cowboy” Craig Smith
tangled in turn two to bring out the third yellow flag of the warm
night. The intensity was raised for two laps as Lewis darted to the
front from third on the restart. He edged Barber for the lap 15 lead
but Barber responded driving the Pierson #14 deep into turn one to
reclaim first. Barber and Lewis raced side by side until Lee Brewer
Jr., and Jared Consani had a ‘moment’ in turn four that slowed
the field for a fourth time. The 17th lap was not
completed so Lewis was given the nod as leader for the restart. Lewis opened up a three car-length lead over
Taylor who dispatched of Barber on lap 22. Meanwhile, Tony Hunt and
Brad Bumgarner were moving up through the pack; Hunt lined up fourth
on a lap 28 reset after teammate Brian McClish smacked the back
chute wall. Bumgarner started 16th on the grid but had
moved forward to seventh. However on lap 29, as Bumgarner tried to
get outside of the lapped Brewer in turn one, the two made contact
sending Bumgarner up into the air, and ultimately to a stop.
Bumgarner could not complete repairs to rejoin the race. The lap 29 caution bunched the cars for the
final 21 laps. Lewis lined up with Taylor on his backside. However,
Barber gained an advantage and swooped into second in turn one. Hunt
dropped Taylor to fourth on lap 34. Working the upper groove, Hunt
kept the fans excited, hounding Barber until lap 40 when he made a
sweet crossover move off of turn two to snag the second spot. Anderson had a scare on lap 41 when his #2
flamed up after a spin. The third generation racer from Sacramento
exited his machine hastily with the aid of the Madera track fire
crew. The resulting caution flag set up a nine lap sprint to the
checkered. Lewis now had Hunt on his rear nerf, with Taylor, Barber,
and Trimble next in tow. Leading to the green, Trimble ran out of fuel
and was forced to the pits. Hunt passed Lewis on the inside of the
backchute on lap 43. Taylor then got by Lewis too as it became
apparent Lewis’ #40 was starving for methanol. He faded to fifth
at the finish and admitted, “It was my call to run less fuel. The
last race here we finished with 14 gallons still in the tank.” Hunt easily controlled the final laps beating
Taylor, Barber, and Hendrix to the checkered flag. Hunt also posted
quick-time, turning the 1/3 mile paved oval in 13.49 seconds. Beck,
Trimble, and Anderson won heat races. Audra Saselli did a great job in winning the
California Ford Focus Midget feature. She held back Josh Lakatos,
and Bobby Grewohl to earn the applause of the Madera faithful. Sprint car qualifying:
FIRST
HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Beck, 2. Hendrix, 3. McClish, 4. Smith, 5.
Brewer, 6. Bumgarner, 7. Simone. NT SECOND
HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Trimble, 2. Taylor, 3. Barber, 4. Lewis, 5.
Kaiser, 6. Consani, 7. Hays. NT THIRD
HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Anderson, 2. Rescino, 3. Hunt, 4. Hogg, 5.
Murgoitio, 6. Mitchell. NT FEATURE:
(40 laps) 1. Tony Hunt, 2. Greg Taylor, 3. Tim Barber, 4. Rick
Hendrix, 5. Michael Lewis, 6. Robert Beck, 7. Nick Rescino, 8. Mike
Murgoitio, 9. Anthony Simone, 10. Shauna Hogg, 11. Marvin Mitchell,
12. Michael Trimble, 13. Greg Anderson, 14. Brad Bumgarner, 15. Lee
Brewer, 16. Brian McClish, 17. Jared Consani, 18. Craig Smith, 19.
Alan Kaiser, 20. Destiny Hays. NT FEATURE
LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Barber, Laps 15-42 Lewis, and Laps 43-50
Hunt. NEW
WESTERN SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Lewis-416; 2-Hunt-412; 3-Bumgarner-410;
4-McClish-350; 5-Trimble-332; 6-Hogg-323; 7-Anderson-317;
8-Murgoitio-292; 9-Taylor-278; 10-Beck-266. NEXT
WESTERN SPRINT CAR RACE: August 21 – Madera (CA) Speedway USAC
CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS (North) MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August
7, 2004 – Madera, California – Madera Speedway QUALIFICATIONS:
1. Bradley Galedrige, 19, Galerige-14.84; 2. Chris Rahe, 31,
Rahe-14.94; 3. Bobby Grewohl, 42, Sutton-15.05; 4. Bobby McGowan,
15, McGowan-15.11; 5. Josh Lakatos, 4, Bristing-15.16; 6. Chase
Barber, 91, Barber-15.17; 7. Eric Pace, 28, Pace-15.21; 8. Audra
Sasselli, 17, Sasselli-15.33; 9. Steve Davis, 77, Davis-15.41; 10.
J.R. Williams, 74, Williams-15.56; 11. Ryan Pace, 14, Pace-15.90. HEAT
RACE: (10 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Sasselli, 3. Barber, 4. McGowan, 5.
Grewohl, 6. Williams, 7. Lakatos, 8. R.Pace, 9. Galedrige, 10.
E.Pace, 11. Rahe. NT FEATURE:
(30 laps) 1. Audra Sasselli, 2. Josh Lakatos, 3. Bobby Grewohl, 4.
Bradley Galedrige, 5. Michael Trimble, 6. Chris Rahe, 7. Steve
Davis, 8. Chase Barber, 9. Eric Pace, 10. J.R. Williams, 11. Ryan
Pace. NT -------------------------------------- FEATURE
LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Sasselli. NEW
CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS NORTH MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Galedrige-677;
2-Rahe-604; 3-Lakatos-507; 4-Barber-479; 5-McGowan-456;
6-Sasselli-435; 7-E.Pace-417; 8-Nick Morago-396; 9-Bobby
Michnowicz-362; 10-R.Pace-360. NEXT CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS MIDGET CAR RACE (North): August 13 – Watsonville (CA) Speedwa |
