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Watsonville, CA....May 7......The
first USAC sanctioned race in Watsonville Speedway history saw 2003 champion
Josh Lakatos pass leader Bobby Michnowicz on the bottom of turn 3 on lap 24 to
win the 25 lap USAC Ford Focus Midget main event on Friday night. This race
counted for points in both the California North and California South Series.
Lakatos is the South point leader and North point leader Chris Rahe passed
Michnowicz on the last lap to finish second. Michnowicz ran third ahead of Santa
Maria area racer Eric Pace. The NCMA Spec Sprints were on hand to run race #3 in
their special Select Series. Usual Antioch Speedway racer Darrell Hanestad
grabbed the lead on lap 10 and won their 25 lap feature by 1/3 lap ahead of Ed
Amador. The flying Hanestad started last in the 15 car feature, but lapped all
but the top three finishers. Last week's Fernley winner David Goodwill finished
third. The IMCA Modifieds made it five winners in five races as Bay Area long
tow David Press led from lap 9 to win the time limit shortened 18 lap main
event. Early leader Bill Saltzman, the California State point leader, finished
second ahead of Watsonville Speedway point leader Kenny Nott Jr. 2003 Series
champion John Prentice made it three wins in three starts for the Bay Area Dwarf
Cars at Watsonville by fending off a fierce challenge from last week's
Chowchilla winner Mark Chaves. Ryan Ameln was third in the extra length 25 lap
feature.
The first dirt track events for the USAC Ford Focus Midgets in 2004 put them at
Watsonville tonight and Hanford on Saturday. Eighteen cars appeared at
Watsonville and Rahe established a new track record with his 15.985 qualifying
run on a wet quarter-mile clay oval. Young San Jose racer Bradley Galedrige was
second quick at 16.180 and Lakatos ran a 16.185. Michnowicz ranked fourth ahead
of Jeff Gregory and Cal Smith. Track conditions were quicker for the four lap
dash won by Lakatos in 60.50 seconds as Rahe ran second ahead of Michnowicz.
Recently married and now racing under the name Ashley Swanson, the former Ashley
Walker won heat 1 ahead of Ryan Pace and Lakatos. E Pace outraced Smith and Jody
Bandfield in heat 2. A late heat race incident cost Galedridge a spot in the
feature inversion and Gregory also dropped to the back of the field with the six
car inversion putting Bobby McGowan and Brett Engstrom on the front row ahead of
Smith, Michnowicz, Lakatos and Rahe. The 25 lapper had to restarted after
Bandfield broke on the first lap and former Plaza Park mini sprint champion
Audra Sasselli spun. McGowan led the first 3 laps before Engstrom took over with
Michnowicz settling into third ahead of Rahe and Lakatos. The first of four
yellow flags came on lap 5 as Ryan Pace spun. On the restart, Michnowicz raced
into second and Lakatos was third on lap 8. Lakatos grabbed second from
Michnowicz on lap 10 and J R Williams spun for a lap 11 yellow flag. The yellow
quickly reappeared for a Scott Nogrady spin. When Lakatos tried to take the lead
from Engstrom, he ran up on his wheel and fell back to third behind Michnowicz.
Michnowicz then took the lead from Engstrom on lap 13. A wild lap 16 saw Lakatos
pass Engstrom on the high side and Rahe pass Engstrom on the bottom at the same
time for the 2-3 slots. Swanson broke for the final yellow flag on lap 18. The
fast closing E Pace took fourth from Engstrom on lap 21. On lap 24, Lakatos saw
his opening and he drove underneath Michnowicz in turn 3 for the win. On the
last lap, Rahe passed Michnowicz to finish second. Michnowicz settled for third
place ahead of E Pace, a solid forward move by Galedrige, Engstrom, McGowan, 16
year old Chase Barber, Dick Morago, Smith and Sasselli.
Running on a Friday night in the Bay Area allowed the NCMA Spec Sprint Select
Series event to draw a 16 car field of carbureted, self starting wingless 360
sprint cars including four Antioch regulars and two Sacramento based teams. Tim
Sherman, the winner of the Select Series opening race back in Bakersfield,
flipped wildily in heat 1 and his night was over. Antioch racer Sal Mannina won
heat 1 from the pole ahead of Jim Janssen and Steve Mannina. Hanestad turned an
outside front row start to a 1/3 lap win in heat 2 with Goodwill second ahead of
Keith Shipherd. The cars did lineup quickly enough for their dash to satisfy
track officials and then S Mannina's car suffered a battery fire so the event
was cancelled. The lineup for the 25 lap feature was a complete inversion off
the heat finishes and S Mannina missed the first lap when he pitted on a pace
lap. Rob Hammond suffered a broken front end on the first lap with Jimmy Lavell
pacing the first two laps. A four car tangle in turn 3 involved Shipherd,
Goodwill, Michael Zarevich and Burt Siverling. Bakersfield long tow John Fenton
impressed as he drove around Lavell for the lead on lap 3. Amador raced into
second on lap 5 and Shipherd had to pit for repairs after getting collected in a
tangle between Lavell and Bobby Bankson. After leading through lap 7, Fenton's
tough luck season continued as he blew an engine on a yellow for a Steve Mannina
spin. A flat tire ended Bankson's race. Amador led just 2 laps before Hanestad
drove by him on the outside on lap 10 for the top spot. The final 18 laps ran
without a caution and Hanestad built his lead to 1/3 lap. Amador fended off the
Goodwill challenge for second. The flying Hanestad lapped the remainder of the
field with Lavell running fourth ahead of Darren Thomas and Siverling. Sal
Mannina ran strong after missing lap 1 and he finished 7th ahead of Janssen and
Zarevich.
With both Merced and Hanford not racing IMCA Modifieds this weekend, the
Watsonvile count grew to 22 cars with 7 cars towing over Pacheco Pass to race.
Nott got the first heat win when Saltzman pushed high late in the race. Todd
Souza used a contact pass to take the heat two win from Jim DiGiovanni on the
last lap and the angry DiGiovanni confronted him in the pits afterward. Jeff
Buckner outraced fellow front row starter Press in heat 3. The dash ran 7 laps
and Souza won ahead of Nott and Buckner. Dave Soito's night ended when he blew
up racing second in his heat. Point title contender Andy Obertello pitted before
the green flag in the scheduled 25 lap feature. Mark Sargent led the opening lap
over Saltzman and Press. DiGiovanni broke on the first lap and lap 2 saw
Saltzman the new leader over Sargent and Buckner. Press gained third on lap 3
and Souza climbed to fifth on lap 6. Fourth place duelers Souza and Buckner
crashed on lap 8 and the incident collected Marcus Aue's sharp new Victory
Chassis. Sargent broke on the restart to trigger another tangle that ended the
race for Robert Marsh. Press led lap 9 and was never headed afterward as
Saltzman settled into second. Jeffery Priddy returned to action and raced into
third. Riding a three race winning streak at Hanford and Chowchilla, Paul Stone
gained third on lap 11 as both he and Nott got by Priddy. Nott ran into third on
lap 12 and P Stone spun out of 4th on lap 14. The time limit had expired, but
the officials allowed the pack the opportunity to race until the next yellow
flag. A spin by Scott Wheelock into the muddy infield berm in turn 4 dropped the
early checkered flag after 18 laps with Press the winner ahead of Saltzman, Nott,
Priddy, Souza, Merced point leader Bob Williamson Sr, Troy Stone, Garrett Steitz
and Todd Hermosillo.
The dwarf cars had a 16 car field and Howard Fergerson won heat 1 in a borrowed
car ahead of Chaves. At Chowchilla, Fergerson's car was destroyed in a fierce
flip that found it landing on Chaves. Despite severe roll cage damage, Chaves
went on to win the feature that night. Fergerson borrowed the Ken Hendricks car,
a former Fergerson mount for this night. Prentice won heat 2 ahead of Ameln and
Gilbert Toste. Chaves took dash honors as he fended off Prentice. The main event
lineup was straightup putting Fergerson and Prentice on the front row. Prentice
took a quick lead over Ameln, Fergerson and Toste. Shortly after giving up
4th to Chaves, Toste lost power and pulled off the track. Ty Schmidt broke for a
lap 8 yellow flag. The restart saw top runners Fergerson, Stan Silva Jr and Matt
Sargent tangled. Chaves took second from Ameln on lap 13 and Silva crashed for a
lap 16 yellow flag. Bill Martinez was racing in 4th and Mark Tillinger climbed
to fifth. Tillinger got out of shape on lap 23, leading to a Fergerson spin that
ended Fergerson's race. Lap 24 also saw a caution as Chris Dorto spun. His car
going away, Prentice hated see all the restart opportunites given to Chaves. Two
more laps were raced and Prentice managed to start in front of Chaves and keep
his 2004 Watsonville season perfect. Chaves ran second ahead of Ameln, Tillinger,
Todd Damron, Martinez, Gene Pires Jr and Dan Zuger.
Summary
Dwarf Cars
Dash-Mark Chaves, John Prentice, Howard Fergerson.
Heat 1-Fergerson, Chaves, Matt Sargent, Dan Zuger, Todd Damron.
Heat 2-Prentice, Ryan Ameln, Gilbert Toste, Bill Martinez, Stan Silva Jr.
Main-Prentice, Chaves, Ameln, Mark Tillinger, Damron, Martinez, Gene Pires Jr,
Zuger, Dave Penny, Chris Dorto, Fergerson, Brad Blouvet, Ty Schmidt, Silva,
Toste, Sargent.
IMCA Modifieds
Dash-Todd Souza, Kenny Nott Jr, Jeff Buckner.
Heat 1-Nott, Bill Saltzman, Jeffery Priddy, Marcus Aue, Todd Hermosillo.
Heat 2-Souza, Jim DeGiovanni, Mark Sargent, Scott Wheelock, Robert Marsh.
Heat 3-Buckner, David Press, Garrett Steitz, Paul Stone, Bob Skellen.
Main-Press, Saltzman, Nott, Priddy, Souza, Bob Williamson Sr, Troy Stone, Steitz,
Hermosillo, Skellen, Johnnie Baptista, P Stone, T J Etchison, Wheelock, Kenny
Fredenberg, Sargent, Buckner, Marsh, Aue, Andy Obertello, DiGiovanni.
NCMA Spec Sprints
Heat 1-Sal Mannina, Jim Janssen, Steve Mannina, Ed Amador, John Fenton.
Heat 2-Darrell Hanestad, David Goodwill, Keith Shipherd, Bobby Bankson, Rob
Hammond.
Main-Hanestad, Amador, Goodwill, Jimmy Lavell, Darren Thomas, Burt Siverling, S
Mannina, Janssen, Michael Zarevich, Shipherd, Fenton, Bankson, Steve Mannina,
Scott Merrell, Hammond.
USAC Ford Focus Midgets
Fast Time-Chris Rahe 15.985 NTR
Dash-Josh Lakatos, Rahe, Bobby Michnowicz.
Heat 1-Ashley Swanson, Ryan Pace, Lakatos, Rahe, Bobby McGowan.
Heat 2-Eric Pace, Cal Smith, Jody Bandfield, Michnowicz, Brett Engstrom.
Main-Lakatos, Rahe, Michnowicz, E Pace, Bradley Galedrige, Engstrom, McGowan,
Chase Barber, Dick Morago, Smith, Audra Sasselli, Jet Davison, J R
Williams, Scott Nogrady, Jeff Gregory, Swanson, R Pace, Bandfield.
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