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Oildale, CA..Oct 23...Taking
just 7 laps to get the lead from pole starter Greg Bragg, national
sprint car star Cory Kruseman drove the Mark Alexander car to his
fourth USAC/CRA unwinged 410 sprint car win of 2004 Saturday night
at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Kruseman paced the final 23 laps and
his teammate Jordan Hermansader briefly ran second before losing
that spot to Bud Kaeding on lap 17. Kaeding challenged Kruseman over
those final 14 laps, but ran second with series point runnerup
Damion Gardner making a last lap pass of Hermansader to place third.
Series point leader Rip Williams stalled midway through the race and
finished 8th. He holds a 61 point lead over Gardner and a 99 point
lead on Mike Kirby going into two straight three night shows at
Perris and Manzanita. Calling the 1/3 mile clay oval his favorite
track, Bobby Michnowicz led all 25 laps from the pole to win the
USAC Ford Focus Midget main event. After some wild heat action, a
six car inversion had placed 10th quick Michnowicz on the pole and
he was never headed. Josh Lakatos had to come from 13th, but passed
female star Ashley Swanson on the last lap to finish second. Point
runnerup Chris Rahe finished fourth and North Division point leader
Bradley Galedrige was fifth. The CDCRA Pro Dwarf Car 20 lap feature
had a couple visiting drivers from Northern California finish 1st
and 2nd. Coming off a big win at Chowchilla Speedway, San Jose's Al
Ghiorso outdueled Mike Grenert for the victory in his first ever
look at the track. Grenert had beaten Ghiorso in the heat action.
Angel Figueroa ran third ahead of heat winner Jason Tomlinson. In
the Senior Dwarf Car division 20 lapper, Bill VanPraag paced all 20
laps from his outside front row start for the win with 4th starter
Ed Niedzwiecki second. Gary Ebeling was third.
Even with a few additions of VRA 360's after Ventura rained out, the
unwinged sprint car action only drew 20 entries with several teams
opting to sit out in preparation for the two high dollars weekends.
Williams was quick time with the Jory entry at 12.571 and Bobby Cody
ran a 12.669. Gardner ranked third at 12.709 and Kaeding ran a
12.750. New Mexico's Rick Ziehl was fifth at 12.818 and
Bakersfield's own young Alan Ballard ranked 6th at 12.843. Also
breaking into the 12's were Hermansader and Mike Spencer with
Kruseman's 13.023 9th quick. The cars were divided into three heat
races and you had to finish top 4 to keep your chance to be in the
inversion alive. Kaeding came from fifth to win heat 1 over Ronnie
Case and Bragg. After timing in only 14th quick, Mike Kirby easily
won heat 2 over VRA champion Tom Stansberry, also a Bakersfield
resident. Spencer was third ahead of Cody. Mike English won heat 3
over Indiana's Bill Rose, who was racing a team car to Nadine
Keller. Ballard and Kruseman were 3-4 in this heat. With Williams,
Gardner and Ziehl all finishing out of the top four, the 8 car
inversion put 13th quick Bragg and 12th quick English on the front
row. Bragg led English for the opening two laps and Cody flipped for
a red flag. Rose had to restart in the rear after pitting with a
flat tire. The race was again red flagged on lap 4 when Rose got
into the fence and he also flipped. When racing resumed, Bragg led
Kruseman, Hermansader, English and Spencer. Kruseman went underneath
Bragg for the lead on lap 7 and Kaeding broke into the top five on
lap 9. Kaeding took fourth when he led Spencer around English on lap
11. The next caution came on lap 15 with Williams stalled and
Ballard pitting with a broken front end. Hermansader and Kaeding had
both moved around Bragg for the 2-3 slots. Clark Templeman III had
to pit with a flat tire and restart in the rear. Kaeding took second
from Hermansader on lap 17 and Gardner drove around Spencer for
fourth on lap 19. Contact from Case sent Bragg spinning for a lap 22
yellow flag with Steve Conrad also collected up in the incident.
Rodney Argo pitted. When Conrad spun for a lap 25 yellow, he was
sent off the track for being involved in two cautions. Kruseman
stayed out front of Kaeding for the win with Gradner third over
Hermansader, Spencer, 14th starter Kirby, Ziehl, Williams, English
and Templeman.
The Ford Focus Midgets fielded 14 entries and Bobby McGowan was
quickest at 14.125. Alex Harris had a 14.234 and Ryan Pace a 14.245.
Rahe clicked off a 14.293 and Lakatos ranked fifth at 14.296.
Galedrige was sixth over Eric Pace and Nevada's J R Williams.
Gaining the pole when Jet Davison elected to go to the rear, former
Plaza Park star Audra Sasselli won heat 1 over Jeff Gregory and E
Pace. Newcomer Jake Vail turned an outside front row start into a
win in heat 2 over Michnowicz and Galedrige. The night ended for
Harris when he clipped a rut in his heat and made heavy contact with
the fence. The six car inversion for the 25 lapper put Michnowicz
and Swanson on the front row ahead of E Pace, Galedrige, Rahe and R
Pace. Michnowicz raced into the lead with 4th starter Galedrige into
second ahead of Swanson. Rahe grabbed fourth from E Pace on lap 3
and R Pace was an early dropout. Rahe was trying another high line
pass when Gregory stalled for a lap 10 yellow flag. Lakatos broke
into the top five and Swanson was able to go by Galedrige on the
inside fro second on lap 14. Laketos passed Rahe and then took
Galedrige for third on lap 17. Davison pitted with engine woes as
Rahe shuffled Galedrige back to fifth place. The final 15 laps ran
without a caution and Michnowicz was the wire to wire winner in his
Michnowicz/Zoriki entry. Lakatos got underneath Swanson on that
final round for second and Rahe ran fourth. The photo for fifth put
Galedrige in the spot ahead of Chase Barber. McGowan, usual VRA
sprint car racer Chris Tramel, E Pace and Sasselli rounded out the
top ten. The next USAC Ford Focus Midget race is Oct 30th in
Ventura.
The CDCRA Pro Dwarf Cars had 16 entries, but Roger Ganzer's night
was over before the heat action. Tomlinson won heat 1 from the pole
over visitor Scott Dahlgren and Brian Saxton. NorCal star Grenert
took heat 2 from the pole with third starter Ghiorso chasing him.
The feature grid had three visitors in the front two rows as Ghiorso
and Dahlgren shared row 1 ahead of Tomlinson and Ghiorso. Ghiorso
led the opening lap over Dahlgren, Grenert, Tomlinson and Saxton
before Ryan Blade spun. Grenert took second from Dahlgren on this
restart and Rob Anderson spun for a lap 4 yellow. Saxton was now
third over Dahlgren and Tomlinson. Tomlinson raced into fourth on
lap 5 and took third when Saxton's souring engine dropped him to
fifth behind Tomlinson and Figueroa. Randy Throne raced into fifth
on lap 12 and Grenert began to pressure leader Ghiorso. They
finished lap 16 even and Ghiorso nosed back in front for those final
four rounds. Grenert settled for second ahead of Figueroa, who
passed Tomlinson on lap 19. Tomlinson was fourth over Throne, Josh
Hiatt, Anderson, Doug Martin, Saxton and Brent Stevens. Dahlgren was
the final lead lap finisher. CDCRA returns to Bakersfield to close
their season on Nov 6.
There were 12 senior dwarf cars, but Jim Soltis also broke before
the heat action. Mike VanAcker won heat 1 from 2nd with pole starter
David Quigley second. Walt Boyd also turned that favored outside
front row assignment into a win in heat 2 over pole starter Glen
Monk. Gary Barber was also a feature scratch. The feature race had
an 8 car inversion with ten starters. VanPraag started outside front
row and raced to a quick lead over Niedzwiecki and Gary Ebeling as
Rick Denny pitted. Gordon Brand was able to take fourth from Quigley
on lap 6. Quigley had to pit after getting hit hard by Brand with
Boyd taking over fifth. Boyd got into the fence for a lap 9 yellow
flag. VanAcker was now fifth and the final incident on lap 12 saw
Brand spin Ebeling and then get hit by VanAcker. All continued
except for Brand, but it was VanPraag out front for the entire 20
rounds ahead of Niedzwiecki. Ebelinger ran third over Monk, VanAcker
and newcomer Tom Bellinger. Only those six cars finished.
The final race on Bakersfield's 2004 schedule is now a wing and
sideboard show for the hobby stocks on Nov 6 along with the American
Stocks, mini stocks, CDCRA dwarf cars and a destruction derby.
Summary
Senior Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-Mike VanAcker, David Quigley, Gary Ebeling, Bill VanPraag,
Gordon Brand.
Heat 2-Walt Boyd, Glen Monk, Ed Niedzwiecki, Rick Denny, Tom
Bellinger.
Main-VanPraag, Neidzwiecki, Ebeling, Monk, VanAcker, Bellinger,
Brand, Boyd, Quigley, Denny.
Pro Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-Jason Tomlinson, Scott Dahlgren, Brian Saxton, Josh Hiatt,
Doug Martin.
Heat 2-Mike Grenert, Al Ghiorso, Angel Figueroa, Ryan Blade, Carl
Behmer.
Main-Ghiorso, Grenert, Figueroa, Tomlinson, Randy Throne, Hiatt, Rob
Anderson, Martin, Sexton, Brent Stevens, Dahlgren, Behmer, Chad
Kincaid, Blade, Rob Brown.
USAC Ford Focus Midgets
Fast Time-Bobby McGowan 14.125
Heat 1-Audra Sasselli, Jeff Gregory, Eric Pace, Ryan Pace, Ashley
Swanson.
Heat 2-Jake Vail, Bobby Michnowicz, Bradley Galedrige, Chris Rahe,
Chris Tramel.
Main-Michnowicz, Josh Lakatos, Swanson, Rahe, Galedrige, Chase
Barber, McGowan, Tramel, E Pace, Sasselli, Vail, J R Williams,
Gregory, Jet Davison, R Pace.
USAC/CRA Unwinged 410 Sprint Cars
Fast Time-Rip Williams 12.571
Heat 1-Bud Kaeding, Ronnie Case, Greg Bragg, Jordan Hermansader,
Williams.
Heat 2-Mike Kirby, Tom Stansberry, Mike Spencer, Bobby Cody, Rick
Ziehl.
Heat 3-Mike English, Bill Rose, Alan Ballard, Cory Kruseman, Damion
Gardner.
Main-Kruseman, Kaeding, Gardner, Hermansader, Spencer, Kirby, Ziehl,
Williams, English, Clark Templeman III, Case, Stansberry, Nadine
Keller, Dennis Rodriguez, Steve Conrad, Rodney Argo, Bragg, Ballard,
Rose, Cody.
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