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QUALIFYING NIGHT AT WATSONVILLE SPEEDWAY
by Gary Jacob

Wingless Spec Sprints, Dirt Modifieds, Limited Late Models, 
Super Street Stocks and Hobby Stocks

Watsonville, CA..Oct 15...Over 110 cars pulled through the pit gates for Watsonville Speedway's first ever Indian Summer Series post season special Friday night. Qualifying heat races, fast and slow dashes and a single preliminary feature race for the limited late models were on the racing card on a very fast ¼ mile clay oval.

        Running for $2000 to win on Saturday night, the wingless spec sprints still attracted just a ten car turnout that was split into a pair of heat races. Antioch Speedway track champion Bob Newberry beat pole starter Billy Macedo on the start and led all ten laps to win the first heat with Macedo second ahead of Sal Mannina. Joey Santos had problems and fell out. NCMA star David Goodwill won heat 2 from the favored outside front row starting slot and Jim Perry Jr passed Steve Mannina late in the race to finish second. Newberry also won the fast dash ahead of Macedo with Goodwill falling out at the green flag. Long tow Steve Stein from Dixon won the slow dash ahead of Sal Mannina and Steve Mannina.

           The dirt modifieds had the biggest turnout with 35 cars in action. There were divided into four heats and the top four from each heat moved into Saturday night's 30 lap, $1800 to win feature race. The heat lineups were based on the order that the entries were received. Dave Byrd had to come from the back row, but he won heat 1 with a late race pass under Brian Cass when Cass pushed high. Cass had led from the start, but settled for second ahead of Bobby Scott Jr, who was making his first dirt modified start of 2004. Bill Wesenberg also transferred from 8th starting. The winner in Santa Maria and runnerup last weekend in Bakersfield, Jimmy Reeves had a flat racing 2nd and finished sixth. Ed Davies turned that favored outside front row assignment into a win in heat 2 ahead of Bobby Hogge IV and pole starter Steve Noack. Petaluma champion Michael Paul Sr got the fourth transfer slot. Track regular David Press from the Bay Area won heat 3 from 2nd starting with Susanville long tow Will Zinn fending off challenges from Antioch Indian Summer Series winner Randy McDaniel and Nick Caughman Jr to finish second. Randy McDaniel ran third and Caughman was fourth ahead of Tommy Bottini. Heat four saw a tight duel for the win with Antioch point runnerup J D Willis leading wire to wire from an outside front row start. Keith Brown Sr ran second until a late race flat tire dropped him back to third behind Bert Elworthy. In just his second appearance in a former John Logue Harris from Iowa, Ryan McDaniel broke while running in 4th. Tennessee's Brad Pounds also had problems. Davies was again able to turn that outside front row starting slot into a fast dash win over Willis and Press as Byrd had problems. Rick Crisafulli won the slow dash over Pounds and Don Breeden.

            There were just 9 limited late models, but they raced for $125 to win on Friday night and get a $1000 to win 30 lapper on Saturday night. Rich Barbaccia won heat 1 from the pole with 4th starting Mike Meazell second. Track champion Ken Gregg turned an outside front row start into an easy win in heat 2 over John Harville. Gregg, who also was champion of the Steitz All Star Tour traveling series, then won the fast dash oer Meazell and Barbaccia. Jeff Mead took the B Dash over Jeremy Petrell. Meazell was excited to have his car running correctly after a couple months of problems. Gregg was running his new engine out of the North Carolina shops of the Hendren family for just the second time. The 20 lap preliminary night feature was lined up straight up off the heat race results and Gregg took a quick lead over Barbaccia and Meazell. On lap 2, Harville spun and got hit by John Kriebel to end Kriebel's night. Ben Lewis had broken in hot laps. Mead stalled for a lap 3 yellow flag and Barbaccia was able to pull off an inside pass on this restart to take the lead from Gregg. Harville was back to fourth and Fallon NV long tow Gilbert Dixon pulled off as Petrell moved into fifth. Some contact from Gregg put leader Barbaccia into the turn 4 infield on lap 13 and Gregg retook the lead. Meazell spun for a lap 14 yellow and the officials ruled that an out of shape Barbaccia had triggered the Meazell spin sending Barbaccia to join him in the rear of the field. Gregg led the final 8 laps for the win. Harville crossed the line second, but failed to report to post race tech and was disqualified. That moved Meazell into the $75 second place and Barbaccia was paid $60 for third. Petrell ran fourth.  Both Mead and Dixon lost laps in the pits, but were running at the checkered flag.

         The super street stocks split 28 cars into four heat races with the top four finishers in each moving into the $1400 to win, 30 lap feature on Saturday night. Again, the lineups were based on the order that entries were received and the track regulars had front row slots. Chowchilla champion Chris Messmer won heat 1 from the pole. In the final turn, Jason Rood made an aggressive inside pass for second on Denise McCown but was penalized back to 4th place. McCown gained second ahead of Chester Kniss. Wasonville champion Dennis Pelphrey had pole for heat 2, but Danny Scott had the favored outside position. Scott took a quick lead, but was fighting a sticking throttle and was turning the engine off and on to make the corners. He managed to lead 9 laps, but had to pass Mark Acosta on the last lap as Acosta was losing an engine. Scott ended up spinning off the top of the track in turn 3 and Pelphrey drove by for the win. Steve Peyla ended up second ahead of Chowchilla regular Syd Finn and Antioch's Michael Newman. Petaluma star Woody Woodward was fifth. Bill Hyland had the pole for heat 3, but was a no show and Antioch titlest Bob Motts Jr led all ten laps from his outside front row start. Watsonville point runnerup Mark Cooper came from sixth to finish a tight second and Todd Gomez ran third over Merced's Red Williams. Tim Ragsdale just missed in fifth. Outside front row starter Doug Hagio won heat 4 by a half-lap. Darrell Hughes spun out of third late in the race and David Hill ran second over Jamie Reynolds and Eric VanHooser. Pelphrey beat Hagio and Messmer in the fast dash and Scott easily won the slow dash over brian Zachary and Joe Carter.

              The hobby stock portion was full of controversy as Sam Kennedy, winner of his fifth track championship in six years, was disqualified from wins in both his heat and the fast dash when he left the track without being checked when the officials announced that they were checking the entire class for locked rear ends. The officials also announced that S Kennedy would not be allowed to return on Saturday and start over from the rear of the B Main. Antioch Indian Summer Series winner Steven Montgomery again was the first entry and won heat 1 from the pole with Jennifer Rood a race long second. Terry DeCarlo Jr and Paul Duncan gained the other two transfers. Ray Ash turned his outside front row start in heat 2 into a win with Kevin Fitzgerald suffering a flat tire racing in second. Chowchilla champion Shane Hausmann finished second ahead of Phil Indihar and Rich Altamirano. Indihar was driving the same car that he wheeled to victory in the Oct 2nd Enduro race at the track. S Kennedy had won heat 3 from the pole with an average lap time of 18.78, but was stripped of that win with Tom Reily getting the win over Merced's Marshall Weaver, George Fernandez Jr and Steve Bisordi Sr. Bill Sorg was a wire to wire winner in heat 4 from 2nd starting and pole starter John Dawson Jr ran second over Wally Kennedy and Eli Mendoza Jr. Ronnie Jones had late race problems in third in heat 4, but rebounded to win the slow dash over Fitzgerald. Sorg gained the fast dash win with the S Kennedy DQ and Ash moved up to 2nd as Montgomery did not appear for that race. The hobby stocks race for $500 to win on Saturday night.

Summary 

Hobby Stocks 
Heat 1-Steven Montgomery, Jennifer Rood, Terry DeCarlo Jr, Paul Duncan, Paul Champion, Gary Baker. 
Heat 2-Ray Ash, Shane Hausmann, Phil Indihar, Rich Altamirano, Dan Stephens, Audra Petrell. 
Heat 3-Tom Reily, Marshall Weaver, George Fernandez Jr, Steve Bisordi Sr, Ron Altamirano. 
Heat 4-Bill Sorg, John Dawson Jr, Wally Kennedy, Eli Mendoza Jr, Bob Ackerman, Tim Clark Jr. Fast Dash-Sorg, Ash. 
Slow Dash-Ronnie Jones, Kevin Fitzgerald, Ron Altamirano, Jeremiah Roma. 

Super Street Stocks
Heat 1-Chris Messmer, Denise McCown, Chester Kniss, Jason Rood, Eric Berendsen, Raymond Benkowski. 
Heat 2-Dennis Pelphrey, Steve Peyla, Syd Finn, Michael Newman, Woody Woodward. Heat 3-Bob Motts Jr, Mark Cooper, Todd Gomez, Red Williams, Tim Ragsdale, Joe Carter. 
Heat 4-Doug Hagio, David Hill, Jamie Reynolds, Eric VanHooser, Anthony Guiliani, D J Petrell. Fast Dash-Pelphrey, Hagio, Messmer, Motts. 
Slow Dash-Danny Scott, Brian Zachary, Carter, Petrell. 

Limited Late Models
Heat 1-Rich Barbaccia, Mike Meazell, John Kriebel, Gilbert Dixon. Heat 2-Ken Gregg, John Harville, Jeff Mead, Jeremy Petrell. Fast Dash-Gregg, Meazell, Barbaccia, Harville. Slow Dash-Mead, Petrell. 
Preliminary Feature-Gregg, Meazell, Barbaccia, Petrell, Mead, Dixon, Kriebel. 

Dirt Modifieds
Heat 1-Dave Byrd, Brian Cass, Bobby Scott Jr, Bill Wesenberg, Tim Yaeger Jr, Jimmy Reeves. 
Heat 2-Ed Davies, Bobby Hogge IV, Steve Noack, Michael Paul Sr, Michael Paul Jr, Ken Fredenberg. 
Heat 3-David Press, Will Zinn, Randy McDaniel, Nick Caughman Jr, Tommy Bottini, Raymond Keldsen Jr. 
Heat 4-J D Willis, Bert Elworthy, Keith Brown, Mike Salazar, Scott Foreman, Jim DiGiovanni. 
Fast Dash-Davies, Willis, Press, Byrd. Slow Dash-Rick Crisafulli, Brad Pounds, Don Breeden.

 Wingless Spec Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Bob Newberry, Billy Macedo, Sal Mannina, Bobby Nichols, Joey Santos. 
Heat 2-David Goodwill, Jim Perry Jr, Steve Mannina, Scott Merrell, Steve Stein. 
Fast Dash-Newberry, Macedo, Goodwill. 
Slow Dash-Stein, Sal Mannina, Merrell.

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