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April 29, 2006. Madera, CA.…Kody Swanson – the defending USAC Western Sprint Car Champion, blasted from the sixth starting position to win the 50-lap feature event at Madera Speedway Saturday night. Driving the TK MotorSports #75, Swanson tracked down early Nick Rescino Jr. and drove away to a victory margin of 2.35 seconds.
Rescino out dragged pole sitter Tim Barber to lead the opening lap. Swanson meanwhile was flying on the high side of the track, gaining third spot on lap six from rookie Bradley Galedrige. One lap later – Swanson passed Barber on the back chute to earn second position. By lap ten Swanson was visibly gaining on the leader Rescino.
The two front runners were nose-to-tail in traffic by lap 17. Swanson nosed into the lead as the two cars crossed the stripe to complete lap 18. The Kingsburg, CA. 18-year-old then closed the deal on the high groove in the south turn, relegating Rescino to second.
“That kid can wheel a race car”, said Rescino immediately following the event. “I wasn’t going to give up easy but to come here and take a ‘second’ at a USAC race; I’m Happy.”
Swanson said after the race that he learned from his experience at Irwindale Speedway in November of last year. Leading the majority of the race on Thanksgiving – Swanson had little left to withhold a charge by Dave Steele in the closing laps. Steele won the Turkey Night sprint car race as Swanson faded to third.
“I just wanted to hang out up top at the beginning”, said Swanson. “Rescino was way away from us but I started catching him. I knew from Turkey Night that the only part of the race that mattered was the last couple laps. I had a lot of time and I kept thinking that.”
The race was halted on lap 25 after a three car pile up in turn one eliminated Darren Rusconi, Michael Trimble, and Ivan Worden. A 15 minute delay to remove cars served as an unexpected ‘half-time’.
As the race resumed Swanson sped off with Rescino in second. Tony Hunt methodically was picking off cars for position. He passed Mike Murgoitio on the restart to take third place. USAC rookie Nick Green made his presence known as he too passed Murgoitio. Rescino closed in on Swanson in deep traffic on lap 33 but just as soon as it looked like a lead battle might develop – Swanson stretched his advantage to four car-lengths on lap 36.
The best battle on the track became the fight for fifth between Murgoitio and Brian McClish. The pair swapped the position on laps 47 and 48 with McClish ultimately winning that battle.
Shauna Hogg, Matt DeMartini, and Cody Veenstra won heat races. Murgoitio paced the field in time trials with a quick lap of 13.788 seconds on the paved 1/3-mile track. Veenstra earn the feature event ‘hard-charger award’ by advancing six positions to 13th from 19th starting.
NOTES
Among those walking the pits was driving star and 2004 USAC Western Sprint Car champion Michael Lewis. The Noblesville, Indiana driver has recently parted company with the Western Speed Racing midget team. “It is too early to say where I will end up”, said Lewis.
USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: April 29, 2005 – Madera, California – Madera Speedway (Co-Sanctioned by CASA)
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Mike Murgoitio, 20, Hamilton-13.788; 2. Tony Hunt, 4, Kaiser-13.837; 3. Kody Swanson, 75, KT-13.852; 4. Brian McClish, 04, McClish-13.928; 5. Bradley Galedrige, 21, Hamilton-13.961; 6. Nick Green, 114, Green-13.982; 7. Nick Rescino Jr., 11, Rescino-14.076; 8. Tim Barber, 14, Pierson-14.080; 9. Michael Trimble, 15, CTR-14.096; 10. Brian Geiszler, 44, Geiszler-14.127; 11. Jeff Gardner, 51, Gardner-14.180; 12. Matt DeMartini, 6, Carr-14.252; 13. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-14.283; 14. Greg Anderson, 2, Anderson-14.332; 15. Joe Helberg, 7x, Helberg-14.333; 16. Jimmy Pelk, 7s, Scott-14.372; 17. Jessica Helberg, 4x, Helberg-14.493; 18. Ryan Baumgartner, 24, Baumgartner-14.537; 19. Anthony Simone, 10, Simone-14.604; 20. Jim Kaiser, 94, Kaiser-14.604; 21. Scott Clough, 5x, Clough-14.636; 22. Glenn Hopper, 8, Hopper-14.696; 23. Darren Rusconi, 66, Sullivan-14.735; 24. Cody Veenstra, 07, Veenstra-14.768; 25. Ivan Worden, 63, Worden-15.019; 26. Tony Iacobitti, 71, Oval Chassis-15.113; 27. Marvin Mitchell, 68, Mitchell-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hogg, 2. Swanson, 3. Rescino, 4. Joe Helberg, 5. Murgoitio, 6. Galedrige, 7. Trimble, 8. Jessica Helberg, 9. Gardner. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. DeMartini, 2. Anderson, 3. Barber, 4. Green, 5. McClish, 6. Hunt, 7. Pelk, 8. Geiszler, 9. Baumgartner. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Veenstra, 2. Hopper, 3. Kaiser, 4. Worden, 5. Clough, 6. Simone, 7. Iacobitti, 8.
Rusconi. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Nick Rescino Jr., 3. Tony Hunt, 4. Nick Green, 5. Brian McClish, 6. Mike Murgoitio, 7. Bradley Galedrige, 8. Jeff Gardner, 9. Shauna Hogg, 10. Matt DeMartini, 11. Joe Helberg, 12. Jimmy Pelk, 13. Cody Veenstra, 14. Tim Barber, 15. Greg Anderson, 16. Jim Kaiser, 17. Jessica Helberg, 18. Anthony Simone, 19. Glen Hopper, 20. Ryan Baumgartner, 21. Brian Geiszler, 22. Scott Clough, 23. Tony Iacobitti, 24. Michael Trimble, 25. Ivan Worden, 26. Darren Rusconi. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Rescino, Laps 18-50 Swanson.
NEW WESTERN SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Hunt-130; 2-Rescino-127; 3-Murgoitio-118; 4-Swanson-114; 5-Green-105; 6-Galedrige-95; 7-McClish-92; 8-Pelk-78; 9-Geiszler-54; 10-Kaiser-46.
NEXT WESTERN SPRINT CAR RACE: May 13 – Altamont Raceway Park & Arena – Tracy, CA.
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