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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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| NCMA Mid Season Review by Debbie Shipherd |
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Pleasant Hill, Ca...June 16...With 11 of 24 races completed
in the '04 season schedule, the NCMA racing action has been awesome.
The addition of new faces, new places, and new races has added to everyone's enjoyment. There have been 8 separate feature winners so far this season, and every driver has experienced a season first or best in something, whether it be a new track record, a feature win, or a heat race. Enjoying a very successful season is J & J Dairy's hard charging Ed Amador. Amador is looking well on his way to the championship as he is leading in all of the point divisions: Asphalt, Dirt, Combined, and the West Coast Select Series. He has consistently finished in the top 5 in all 11 feature races, and enjoyed a total sweep at Altamont in March. A strong competitor on the track, his outgoing nature and generosity continues to impact the overall positive outlook in the NCMA. In the dirt and asphalt combined points championship, OCR's Burt Siverling is running 2nd, with 8 top 6 finishes and one of his best nights at Lakeport Speedway, where he won both a heat race and the trophy dash. Burt's unassuming and quiet nature is deceiving, as he is a tough competitor and also the first volunteer to appear when someone needs help in the pits. Close behind in 3rd place in combined points, 420 Garage's Keith Shipherd has 6 top 5 finishes and enjoyed his 1st season feature win at Lakeport. As NCMA club president, Shipherd has been tireless in his daily efforts to support and promote the best interests of the club at every opportunity. In his 2nd season of racing, Z & Z's Michael Zarevich is also supporting the NCMA by racing on both dirt and pavement tracks, and his consistent top 10 finishes have him currently sitting in 4th place in combined points. Steve's Construction Pat Ariaz, who races strictly asphalt sits in 2nd place behind Ed Amador in pavement points, and has enjoyed 2 feature wins at Altamont's fast 1/2 mile track this season. The feature win leader to date is Kaeding Performance's David Goodwill, who is in 2nd place in dirt points. Goodwill has 2 main event victories at Chowchilla Speedway and 1 at Reno-Fernley. New to the club this season, Goodwill is enjoying the wide variety of dirt tracks, and his professional team has produced top 5 finishes at every one. Another new driver this year is Ramos Oil's Jimmy Lavell. Lavell is in 3rd place in dirt points, and has quickly made his presence known both on and off the track. Lavell's 1st feather in his cap was racing in his 1st trophy dash at Reno-Fernley, and has had several top 5 finishes as well. Lavell has taken the time to display his car to promote racing and the NCMA and has contributed t-shirts and hats for fan giveaways. The NCMA has 2 rookie drivers this season. John Silva is concentrating his efforts on pavement racing, and after a rough first night at Altamont, has had several top 5 finishes. Rob Hammond has been steadily improving on dirt tracks and experienced his first asphalt race at Lakeport. Even though he blew his motor that night, he has demonstrated patience and generosity. The Hammond team donated club hats and t-shirts to Lakeport fans and even put up additional sponsorship for two of the races. The NCMA teams continue to promote racing and the club at every opportunity. In February, Don Hicks, Pat Ariaz, and Keith Shipherd displayed their freshly painted and polished Spec Sprints at the Sacramento Autorama. Cars have been displayed in Chowchilla prior to the Saturday night action, drivers have purchased t-shirts and hats to give to fans, sponsors have contributed items to give away, and weekly driver autograph sheets have been a kid's favorite. The club also joined on with a fun game called Virtual Thunder, where anyone can play along on the computer to make race finish predictions on the web site at www.vitualthunder.com. NCMA's own web site, www.ncmaracing.com, is updated regularly with race results, current point standings, driver profiles, weekly race photos, club news, the schedule, and a for sale section. The addition of the new West Coast Select Series has taken teams to new tracks as well as helped to add to the steadily increasing driver roster, with many joining in to enjoy the variety of tracks. The series has also allowed part time racers to participate without taxing their budgets, and still run for a championship. Drivers Russ Wullenwaber and John Fenton have both limited their racing schedules while awaiting the birth of babies, and both have made major contributions of time and energy to support their fellow racers. The early Bakersfield opener was the 1st series race, where teams received a warm reception, everyone enjoyed the challenge of racing on the 1/3 mile track, and Tim Sherman took the 1st series win. The 1st NCMA visit to Watsonville in 5 years had teams from Marysville, CSRA, and Antioch racing along with us, with the win going to Darrell Hanestad on the 1/4 mile, hooked up track. At Chowchilla Speedway's fast 1/3 mile track where the hospitality is top notch, Doug Gandy took the feature win in the latest series race. With 5 Spec Sprint divisions now running in N.California, everyone is welcome to run the series races without having to become NCMA members. Come and join us at the remaining series races at Reno-Fernley on Saturday, July 10, Watsonville on Friday, August 13, and the final series race at Chowchilla on Saturday, September11. At the start of the '04 season, the goals for new NCMA president were twofold: " 1. to keep racing fun, clean, and fair for all competitors, and 2. to help increase the car counts". At the halway point, the NCMA has seen some exciting racing, and since having fun racing is the common goal, the next half of the season should be even better. The NCMA would like to thank our club sponsors: CL Bryant, Mc Coy Tires, and Santamauro Racing, as well as the individual sponsors that help each of our racers, track promoters for giving us some great tracks, our hard working crews, and all of the teams that have raced with us so far this season: Bobby Bankson, Darren Thomas, Russ Wullenwaber, Charlie Correia, Dale Mehalas, Don Hicks, John Fenton, Scott Holloway, Doug Gandy, Gordon Rodgers, Gary Koster, Rob Hammond, Sam Davies, Jim Janssen, George Terry, Steve Amador, John Silva, Jimmy Lavell, David Goodwill, Pat Ariaz, Michael Zarevich, Keith Shipherd, Burt Siverling, Ed Amador, Bill Zarevich, Darrell Hanestad, Sal Mannina, Scott Merrell, Tim Sherman, Steve Mannina. Drive safe, have fun, and take care. |
