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Barona, CA....May 17.......The
2003 season opener at Barona Speedway also was the first ever wingless race for
the traveling California Lightning Sprint class. Ontario's Keith Janca drove
Otto Janca's mount to fast time honors and a feature win to move into the season
point lead. CLS reporter Josh Williams enjoyed the wingless action as he rode a
high line into a second place feature finish ahead of Jonny Bates and B Main
winner David Cardey. Brian Drake from Ramona continued his domination of the
dwarf car action at the track by winning their feature race ahead of Marc
Teixeira and Kevin Drake. Corey Ballard from Orange beat Tommy Gerow and Jan
Ballard in the Mini Sprint 600 main event. Escondido's Gary Todd was the
Speedway Midget winner ahead of Dean Baier and J D Baier. Santee drivers
finished 1-2 in the street stock feature as Greg Domain won ahead of Dale Smith
and Billie Baldwin. Gary Schuerell beat Marty Swineheart, Dave Doll and Bob
Graham III in the Legend Car feature. The Drake clan picked off another win with
Blake Drake on top of the mini dwarf main event ahead of Josh Corbett and Mike
Hall.
After racing a wingless
exhibition event at Barona in 2002, CLS has made a portion of the 2003 schedule
wingless and the group will also run without their wings when they return to
Barona on May 31. Janca paced the 29 car turnout through time trials with a
16.452 lap on the 1/4 mile clay oval. Jesse Dean was just a tick back at 16.463
and Gary Sexton ran a 16.464. Brent Sexton posted a 16.543 and Donny Gansen a
16.557. The 15 fastest were all in the 16 second bracket. Seth Kramer had
flipped in practice and the track turned dry slick before the timed runs.
Bakersfield's Wink Schweitzer outdueled Gansen to win heat 1. Kip McCleary was a
heat two flip victim and Dan Lancaster set the pace until he spun and collected
Brent Sexton. Ernie Bartley won ahead of S Kramer. Lancaster charged back to a
third. Jonny Bates ran away from the heat 3 field with Dylan Morris second ahead
of rookie Robert Early. Dean won heat 4 with Pat Hickey in second. Track prep
work before the B Main allowed for several lanes of action and several top cars
started deep in the 13 car lineup. B Sexton was first to get to the front, but
he was chased down by Perris dominator Cardey. Cardey won with B Sexton and G
Sexton following. James Squire made a great last lap move on the outside of turn
4 to take the final transfer spot from Karl Benefeil. Mike Barnette and Jon
Squire also just missed moving up.
Janca and Dean were on the front row
for the feature action. Janca took a quick lead over Gansen. Janca's quick pace
put him in lapped traffic in just six laps. Early spun into the infield and
Bates got around Williams for fourth on lap 9. Bates took third from Dean on lap
10. The yellow fell on lap 15. On the restart, Williams found a high line as he
raced into second only to have Gansen get tangled up with a lapped car to
nullify the lap. Williams did take third from Bates on the next restart attempt.
Paul Townsend had climbed into fifth. The red flag dropped on lap 22 as Kramer
flipped for the second time on the night. Williams then tried an inside run on
leaders Janca and Dean with 17th starter Cardey joining the lead duel. Janca
withstood the challenge from all sides and pulled away for the win. Williams
fought off the pressure of Bates to place second and Cardey made a last lap move
around Dean to garner fourth. Dean was fifth ahead of G Sexton, Townsend,
Hickey, Gansen and Steve Barnette. Both Cardey and G Sexton improved their
starting positions by 13 spots in the rundown.
The dwarf car main event had 20
starters and Ramona drivers finished 1-2-3 with B Drake on top of M Teixeira and
K Drake. Jarrett Kramer finished fourth ahead of Kevin Frantum, Steve Nordberg,
Paul Dyke, Brian Truax, Ron Dunlap and Bruce Elliott. The Southern
California Mini Sprint 600 group fielded 15 teams. Gerow beat Gary Winter in
heat 1 and Jan Ballard won heat 2 ahead of Corey Ballard. In the feature race,
it was C Ballard out front of San Diego's Gerow. J Ballard picked off third
ahead of John Sparlund, Christine Root, quarter midget star Scott Dodd, Cory
Carlson, Clint Newman and Jeff Thompson. Todd won the Speedway Midget feature
ahead of Dean Baier, J D Baier, Norman Reynolds, Phillip Ward and Dave Addington.
The top six in the street stock main were Domain, Smith, Baldwin, Ron LaVarnway,
Ron Moser and Frankie Malone. The mini dwarfs fielded 8 cars and B Drake won
ahead of Corbett, Hall, A J Bender, Nicole Frantum, Trevor Baugh, Karri Frantum
and Brianna Frantum.
Barona races every other Saturday night and
the May 31 show will feature the season debut for the IMCA Modifieds. The
Lightning Sprints again race wingless and the Mini Sprint 600's, dwarf cars,
street stocks and mini dwarfs will also race.
Summary
Mini Dwarf Cars
Main-Blake Drake, Josh Corbett, Mike Hall, A J Bender, Nicle Frantum, Trevor
Baugh, Karri Frantum, Brianna Frantum.
Legend Cars
Main-Gary Schuerell, Marty Swinehart, Dave Doll, Bob Graham III. Street Stock
Main-Greg Domain, Dale Smith, Billie Baldwin, Ron LaVarnway, Ron Moser, Frankie
Malone.
Speedway Midgets
Main-Gary Todd, Dean Baier, J D Baier, Norman Reynolds, Phillip Ward, David
Addington, #33, Buster Tubbs, Doug Stonehouse, Scott Davis.
Mini Sprint 600
Heat 1-Tommy Gerow, Gary Winter, Ben Gagnon, John Sparlund, Clint Newman.
Heat 2-Jan Ballard, Corey Ballard, Christine Root, Scott Dodd, Cory
Carlson.
Main-C Ballard, Gerow, J Ballard, Sparlund, Root, Dodd, Carlson, C Newman, Jeff
Thompson, Bobby Bender, Winter, Gagnon, Jim Barthol, Winston Williams, Kelsey
Newman.
Dwarf Cars
Main-Brian Drake, Marc Teixeira, Kevin Drake, Jarrett Kramer, Kevin Frantum,
Steve Nordberg, Paul Dyke, Brian Truax, Ron Dunlap, Bruce Elliott, Jeff Teixeira,
Ralph Kintz, Bob Lee, #81, Layton Kramer, Barto Bartolacci, Mike Gibis, Jen
Nelson, Frank Damron, Jeff Thompson.
Unwinged Lightning Sprints
Fast Time-Keith Janca 16.452
Heat 1-Wink Schweitzer, Donny Gansen, Josh Williams, Janca, Mike Barnette.
Heat 2-Ernie Bartley, Seth Kramer, Dan Lancaster, Dale Gamer, Steve
Nelson.
Heat 3-Jonny Bates, Dylan Morris, Robert Early, Bruce Haserot, John Moorehouse.
Heat 4-Jesse Dean, Pat Hickey, Steve Barnette, Paul Townsend, Karl Von
Yokes.
B Main-David Cardey, Brent Sexton, Gary Sexton, James Squire, Karl Benefeil, M
Barnette, Jon Squire, Steve Nelson, VonYokes, Stuart Heilscher.
A Main-Janca, Williams, Bates, Cardey, Dean, G Sexton, Townsend, Hickey,
Gansen, S Barnette, Morris, Schweitzer, Benefeil, B Sexton, Kramer, Bartley,
Early, Haserot, Gamer.
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