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Chowchilla,
CA.....Nov 20.......Capping a spectacular rim riding effort from
12th starting, Scott Holloway was the $600 winner in the 30 lap
wingless spec sprint feature as Chowchilla Speedway completed it's
4th Annual Open Wheel Roundup after two rainouts on Saturday night.
Holloway led the final 12 laps and CSRA regular Sam Fries pocketed
$350 for his runnerup run. NCMA star David Goodwill came from 15th
starting to a $250 third and CSRA racer Rick Eversult ran a $200
fourth ahead of Kevin Lewis. Holloway is a veteran NCMA racer who
made a successful transition to the full injected wingless Bandit
Sprint Cars in 2004. The Stinger Chassis that he wheeled tonight
started 2004 as his Bandit car, but was converted for pavement just
three races into the season. He broke the track record at Lakeport
and won the NCMA season finale at Altamont in October. His team
headed by father Leon Holloway and friend Fred Wylie spent much of
the day converting the car back to dirt in the speedway parking lot.
Holloway's car carries sponsorship from TBS Couriers and uses a Loyd
Engine. Former sprint car stars Mark Chaves and Howard Fergerson ran
1-2 in the dwarf car regional 30 lapper hosted by the Bay Area Dwarf
Cars. NorCal talented rookie Kevin Bender paced the first 24 laps
from his pole start, but Chaves took over on a lap 25 restart for
the $150 win. Fergerson won $125 for second and Zach Hurst paced the
NorCal contingent with a $100 third. Matt Sargent battled from
15th to 4th ahead of Dan Weger. Again filling in for his track
championship winning son, Jim Myers won the 15 lap mini four feature
after earlier taking dash honors. Visitor Ken Riley finished second
ahead of Jeremy Myers. With the expected cold November weather, the
track ran a rapid fire program starting at 5:30 and ending before 9
PM.
The 17 car wingless spec sprint turnout was a good mix of teams that
race with NCMA, CSRA and Antioch. They were divided into three
heat races with the top three finishers in each moving into a
special qualifying run to set the lineup for the front 9 A Main
spots. Fries won heat 1 from the pole with a best lap of 16.57 as
outside front row starter Charlie Correia ran second over NCMA
veteran Ed Amador. NCMA racer Keith Shipherd inherited the outside
front row for heat 2 when rookie Rich Crumley went to the rear and
the front row was penalized for two false starts. Shipherd won by
1/2 lap with a best lap of 16.52 as Rob Hammond ran second ahead of
2003 CSRA champion Tim Sherman. Antioch Speedway regular Billy
Macedo won heat 3 from 4th starting with a 1/3 lap margin over MoPar
racer Bobby Bankson as recent CSRA winner Rick Eversult ran third.
After running fifth from fifth starting in his heat, Goodwill showed
his strength in the slow dash as he easily won with a fast lap of
15.68 as Lewis ran second over IMCA Modified racer David Press. The
nine qualifiers out of the heat action drew for their starting order
in the special qualifying run. Eversult and Bankson drew the front
row ahead of Shipherd, Correia, Fries and Hammond. Bankson led the
first four laps with Shipherd in second. Bankson slowed and fell out
as Shipherd paced the remainder of the 10 lapper to earn the pole
for the 30 lapper. Eversult ran second ahead of Fries, last starter
Macedo and Hammond.
Holloway switched to the stickier Hoosier tire that the other teams
were using for the feature action and it worked. Shipherd took the
early lead over Macedo, Eversult and Fries. Macedo passed Shipherd
on the inside of the front stretch for the top spot on lap 5, but
Shipherd had retaken the lead when they locked nerf bars in turn 4.
Shipherd spun in the incident and collected Eversult. The officials
penalized Macedo to the rear for his actions and were prepared to
place Shipherd back in the lead, but Shipherd had to pit with a flat
left rear tire. Eversult was placed back in front and he paced the
next five laps. Fries settled into second over Hammond and Sherman.
Goodwill briefly took fifth from Holloway on lap 7, but did some
contact racing with Sherman and fell back as Macedo fell out. The
race was red flagged on lap 10 when Doug Gandy, Scott Pierson and
Bankson made contact on the front stretch and the veteran Oakhurst
racer Gandy flipped in spectacular fashion after making contact with
an infield tractor tire. Gandy emerged unhurt, but joined by Macedo
and Amador on the sidelines. Fries was able to take the lead from
Eversult on this restart as Holloway raced into third on lap 12. An
inside move on the backstretch on lap 14 netted Holloway second and
Goodwill was now fourth ahead of Hammond. Sherman got too high in
turn 1 and fell back in the field on lap 16. The final 20 laps were
run without a caution. Holloway got his break when Fries got
trapped behind the slower car of Rich Crumley on lap 19. Holloway
had the faster route around the slower car and was never headed once
in front. Goodwill took third from Eversult at the same time and
Hammond ended up losing fifth to young Lewis on lap 25. Holloway was
a half-straight in front of Fries at the checkered flag. Goodwill
settled for third ahead of Eversult, Lewis, Shipherd, Hammond, Brian
Gray and Sherman with both Correia and Press one lap down at the
checkered flag.
The 27 car dwarf car turnout was also an interesting mix of Bay Area
and Nor Cal teams. They were divided into four qualifying heats with
the top 2 in each moving to the qualifier race and the top four
advancing to the 30 lap A Main. Outside front row starter Chaves won
heat 1 with a best lap of 19.4. Pole starter Bill Martinez ran
second. Veteran dwarf car builder Frank Munroe impressed with his
drive from 2nd starting to win heat 2 with a best lap of 19.25 on
the 3/8 mile clay oval. Pole starter Bender ran second while Hurst
settled for third. Doing double duty, Correia impressed by winning
heat 3 by 3/4 lap with a 19.09 best lap. Jumping into the Dale
Gregory car, NorCal racer Neil Stinson ran second. Howard Fergerson
dipped into the 18's with an 18.86 best lap as he won heat 4 from
the pole as Scott Dahlgreen ran second. The track continued to get
faster and faster as Mark Tillinger won the slow dash with a 19.06
best lap over Chuck Conover and Joshua Smith. There were four
transfers from the 9 car B Main. The first yellow flag of the night
came in the B Main when Conover and Smith tangled. Dave Penny won
the B Main over Gene Pires Jr, Tillinger and Walt Hotchkiss. Troy
Wagner spun leading on a lap 9 restart. Both Tommy Astone III and
Robert Sanford trailered before the B Main. The top 8 from the heat
action raced in the 10 lap Qualifier to determine their starting
order in the 30 lap A Main. Dahlgreen and Stinson had drawn the
front row. Dahlgreen led two laps before third starter Bender took
command. Dahlgreen spun on lap 5 and Fergerson was now second over
Munroe. They ran in order to the checkered flag. Chaves moved up to
challenge for third but got out of shape and finished fifth behind
Correia.
Bender had the pole for the 30 lapper with his qualifier win, but
the race had a rugged start for three of the top teams. Munroe ran
over Fergerson's wheel and spun, getting clipped by Steve
Alberdi Jr. The race was over for Munroe, Alberdi Jr and Correia.
When the first lap was finally scored, Bender led Fergerson, Chaves
and Martinez. Mike Grenert took over fourth on lap 2, but spun on
the front stretch in his bid to take third from Chaves on lap 4.
Hurst climbed to fourth on lap 5 and Stinson raced into sixth behind
Martinez. Rylan Hansen broke for a lap 9 yellow flag. Sargent broke
into the top five on lap 12 and the next caution came for a Dan
Weger spin on lap 15. Martinez was penalized to the rear for rough
driving and Weger restored to sixth. Stinson stalled for a lap 18
yellow. Young Bender continued to impress with his drive in front of
the pack. Chaves dove underneath Fergerson for second in turn 2 on
lap 23. Grenert had made a great climb through the standings back to
sixth only to spin again in turn 1 for the next yellow flag on lap
24. Chaves dove underneath leader Bender for the top spot in turn 2
on the restart. Bender ended up losing spots back to 9th as he
nearly collected the back wall. A spin by Walt Hotchkiss forced the
final yellow flag on lap 27. Chaves stayed in front of Fergerson and
Hurst for the win with Sargent fourth ahead of D Weger, Josh Hiatt,
Tillinger, Penny, Bender and Grenert.
The mini
fours were a late addition to the show in midweek and only six teams
appeared for the $10 entry fee, winner take all action. Pole starter
Brandi Myers won the heat race ahead of Jim Myers and Robbie Loquaci.
Jim Myers won the dash by a half-lap over Loquaci. The main event
was a complete inversion off the heat results and Jeremy Myers paced
the first 2 laps. Mike Watson fell out on lap 2 and Jim Myers took
second from Loquaci on lap 2. With an inside pass in turn 3 on lap
3, Jim Myers took the lead from Jeremy Myers. Loquaci was providing
a stiff challenge for second from Jeremy Myers when future brother
in law Jeremy Myers forced Loquaci into the front wall. Loquaci
stalled with a flat tire and B Myers also had to pit with a flat.
When the yellow flag fell, Jeremy Myers was penalized back to third
behind Jim Myers and visitor Riley. Everyone returned for the final
five laps and Jim Myers got the $60 win over Riley, Jeremy Myers, B
Myers and Loquaci.
This race
closed the 2004 season at Chowchilla.
Summary
Mini Fours
Dash-Jim Myers, Robbie Loquaci, Brandi Myers.
Heat-B Myers, Jim Myers, Loquaci, Ken Riley, Jeremy Myers.
Main-Jim Myers, Riley, Jeremy Myers, B Myers, Loquaci, Mike
Watson.
Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-Mark Chaves, Bill Martinez, Mike Grenert, Rylan Hansen, Troy
Wagner.
Heat 2-Frank Munroe, Kevin Bender, Zach Hurst, Steve Alberdi Jr,
Dave Penny.
Heat 3-Charlie Correia, Neil Stinson, Dan Zuger, Matt Sargent, Gene
Pires Jr.
Heat 4-Howard Fergerson, Scott Dahlgreen, Dan Weger, Josh Hiatt,
Tommy Astone III.
Slow Dash-Mark Tillinger, Chuck Conover, Joshua Smith.
Qualifier-Bender, Fergerson, Munroe, Correia, Chaves, Stinson,
Martinez, Dahlgreen.
B Main-Penny, Pires, Tillinger, Walt Hotchkiss, Wagner, Brett
Barstow, Conover, Smith, Pat Weger.
A Main-Chaves, Fergerson, Hurst, Sargent, D Weger, Hiatt, Tillinger,
Penny, Bender, Grenert, Martinez, Pires, Stinson, Zuger, Hotchkiss,
Dahlgreen, Hansen, Alberdi Jr, Munroe, Correia.
Wingless Spec Sprints
Heat 1-Sam Fries, Charlie Correia, Ed Amador, Scott Pierson, David
Press.
Heat 2-Keith Shipherd, Rob Hammond, Tim Sherman, Brian Gray, Kevin
Lewis.
Heat 3-Bill Macedo, Bobby Bankson, Rick Eversult, Scott Holloway,
Pat Goodwill.
Slow Dash-Goodwill, Lewis, Press.
Qualifier-Shipherd, Eversult, Fries, Macedo, Hammond, Amador,
Correia, Sherman, Bankson.
Main-Holloway, Fries, Goodwill, Eversult, Lewis, Shipherd, Hammond,
Gray, Sherman, Correia, Press, Rich Crumley, Bankson, Pierce, Doug
Gandy, Macedo, Amador.
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