Tracy, Ca. March 20.... Ed Amador of Modesto won the 25 lap
feature, trophy dash, and the six lap heat race in the NCMA's first
season appearance at Altamont's 1/2 mile paved track on Saturday,
March 20. Amador started on the front row next to son Steve Amador
in the feature, and had his J& J Dairy's car dialed in to win
tonight, leading every lap. Early on Manteca's Pat Ariaz was close
on his tail, but fell back with brake problems.
Patterson's Steve Amador ran a strong third until Contra Costa Auto
Parts' Keith Shipherd passed him on lap 22. At the checkers it was
Amador, Ariaz, and Keith Shipherd of Pleasant Hill in the top three.
With a full schedule at the new Altamont Motorsports Park, the pits,
parking lots, and stands were overflowing. The sprints took the
field very late after the SRL cars ran a 100 lap main. The sprint
feature ran all 25 laps clean and fast with only one yellow for a
spun car. The two six lap heat races were won by J& J Dairy's
Amador and Alum-Line's Pat
Ariaz, and Amador made it a sweep by powering his Stinger sprint to
win the trophy dash as well. This was his first NCMA asphalt feature
win at Altamont, and he was thrilled. Another small victory in this
evening's races was Homeowner's Electric Steve Amador's first trophy
dash race at Altamont where he finished 2nd behind his father.
In an afternoon practice session veteran driver Don Hicks hit the
wall and was all right, but very sore and unable to race. In another
practice session, rookie John Silva from Tracy hit the wall as he
was exiting the track, but with a lot of help from other teams his
car was repaired and he finished his first NCMA feature in 5th
place. CL Bryant generously
donated fuel awards to 5th place finisher Silva, fast qualifier
Ariaz, and to the last place finisher.
After two races in a full 24 race schedule, Ed Amador leads the
point race in asphalt, dirt, and combined points. Since many of the
traveling club's teams run on both asphalt and dirt tracks, they
will be busy changing car set ups for the next race at Chowchilla
Speedway on
Saturday, March 27. The next pavement race will be the following
week, April 3, at Altamont. Drive safe, have fun and take care.
Summary:
Fast time: Pat Ariaz 18.865
Heat 1: Pat Ariaz, Burt Siverling, Steve Amador, Michael Zarevich
Heat 2: Ed Amador, Keith Shipherd, John Silva, Sam Davies
Trophy Dash: Ed Amador, Steve Amador, Pat Ariaz, Keith Shipherd
Main: Ed Amador, Pat Ariaz, Keith Shipherd, Steve Amador, John
Silva,
Burt Siverling, Michael Zarevich, Sam Davies, Don Hicks (DNS)
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