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| BALDING EXTENDS POINT LEAD
WITH 11TH WIN, WHITCHURCH STARS by Gary Jacob |
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IMCA Modifieds, Ford Focus Midgets, Wingless Spec Sprints and Dwarf Cars |
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Watsonville, CA..August 5....Leading from lap 6 in his potent Harris
Chassis, Tim Balding extended his IMCA Modified track point lead with his 11th
win of 2005 Friday night at Watsonville Speedway. Six of the wins have come at
this ¼ mile clay oval while he also paces the points at the non-sanctioned
Chowchilla Speedway action. With just two point races left, Balding now holds a
five point lead on feature runnerup Garrett Steitz from Los Banos and a six
point margin over 2004 track champion Kenny Nott Jr. Todd Hermosillo was
disqualified from third for not stopping in the post race claim area, moving
Joey Golz up to third ahead of Raymond Keldsen Jr. An outlaw kart star trying to
duplicate Ryan Kaplan's route to open wheel success, Robbie Whitchurch from
Chico tried a high line that no one else would race and paced the final 15 laps
to win the 20 lap USAC Ford Focus Midget feature. He had also won Wednesday
night at the Ventura County Fair and this was his third win of the season. He is
fifth in the dirt track point standings. Fast timer Chris Veach provided a
strong late race challenge and ran second ahead of point runnerup Alex Harris
and point leader Chase Barber from nearby Gilroy. After he won his heat race,
Wingless Spec Sprint point leader Steve Pemberton was untouchable from his
outside front row start as he scored a $600 win in their 25 lap feature. Dash
winner Scott Merrell was a $300 second and David Press won $150 for third. It
was Pemberton's third straight win and fourth in 2005. Matt Sargent appeared to
have scored his 9th dwarf car feature win of 2005, but he failed to drive to the
tech area after picking up his feature win trophy. He was disqualified and Todd
Damron began the new feature winner in his Triumph powered dwarf car. Fast timer
Al Ghiorso advanced to second ahead of Ryan Ameln. Fourteen IMCA Modifieds were split into a pair of heat races. The Make a Wish night is always important to Joe Antonetti and he won heat 1 from an outside front row start ahead of Nott and Steitz. Steitz was coming off a tough night at the Ventura Fair on Thursday as a broken ignition wire took him out of a heat transfer and he blew a rear end in the B Main. Balding came from sixth to capture heat 2 ahead of Alex Stanford and Jack Stanford. Alex was driving his Kings Speedway while father Jack was in the usual Watsonville car. Coming off a $1000 win in the Tim Post Memorial at Merced, Ramie Stone blew his engine and he was a feature scratch. Nott beat Antonetti in the dash. Antonetti and Keldsen held down the front row for the 25 lap feature with A Stanfor dand Hermosillo in row 2. Antonetti raced into the lead over Keldsen and Hermosillo. A Stanford leaped from 4th to 2nd on lap 2 and Balding was fourth behind Nott on lap 3. Keldsen spun for a lap 4 yellow and Nott's bid to take second from A Stanford found Nott sitting on top of the A Stanford car in the turn 4 infield for a lap 5 yellow. A quick restart left both A Stanford and Nott laps down as they returned after repairs. Balding and Steitz both got around Antonetti on the restart and Antonetti stalled for a lap 7 yellow. Don Breeden joined Antonetti on the sidelines. J Stanford moved into fourth on lap 10 behind Andy Obertello. Obertello broke on a lap 12 restart to end his race. At the midway mark, Balding led Steitz, J Stanford, Tim Clark Jr and Golz. Clark was spun by Golz for a lap 16 yellow. When Clark retaliated on Golz on lap 18, Clark was sent off the track and J Stanford pitted from third. Hermosillo was now third and Keldsen passed T J Etchison for fourth on lap 21. Balding led Steitz over the remaining rounds for his 11th win. Hermosillo's DQ from third moved Golz into third ahead of Keldsen, Etchison and the lapped cars of Nott and A Stanford. The IMCA Modifieds are off until August 26. The USAC Ford Focus Midgets appeared with 11 cars after racing Wednesday night in Ventura. Whitchurch was the Ventura winner ahead of Chris Veach, Barber and Keith Janca. Time trials at Watsonville found Chris Veach the fastest at 15.434 while Whitchurch ran a 15.661. Harris posted a 15.666 and point leader Barber had a 15.723. Also in the 15's were Brett Engstrom and Audra Sasselli. Janca won the opening heat race over Harris and Chris Veach. Whitchurch outraced Cameron Veach and Barber in heat 2. Both Sasselli and Cal Smith missed the heat action, but returned for the 20 lap feature. The feature ran without a caution and Sasselli shared the front row with Engstrom. Whitchurch had studied the track and knew that the high tides would produce a tacky feature surface. Sasselli paced the first five rounds with Harris in second ahead of Barber. Whitchurch started fifth and led Chris Veach around Engstrom for fourth on lap 3. Whitchurch then took third from Barber on lap 4 and second from Harris as Carson City's senior citizen racer J R Williams fell out. Whitchurch was committed to the rougher high line and he grabbed the lead from Sasselli on lap 6. Chris Veach gained third on lap 7 and he took second from Sasselli on lap 10. Harris was third at lap 11. The moist air took it's toll on Whitchurch's face shield and he was busy trying to improve his ability to see when Chris Veach made an inside run at him in turn 2 on lap 16. Chris Veach nosed ahead but Whitchurch charged back in turn 4 and contact left Chris Veach third behind Harris. Chris Veach quickly retook second, but couldn't reel in winner Whitchurch. Whitchurch crossed the finish line ahead of Chris Veach, Harris, Barber, Sasselli, Janca, Engstrom, Cameron Veach, Smith and veteran Jet Davison. Heading into another race at Santa Maria on Saturday night, Barber was 55 tallies ahead of Harris, 58 ahead of Sasselli, 117 in front of Chris Veach and 119 ahead of Whitchurch. A Hanford cancellation will leave the division idle on August 13. Eight wingless spec sprints ran in a single heat race and Pemberton won from the pole over Fredenburg and Merrell. Jack Clark joined the action for the second time with himself driving after Randy Lathrop had driven his car to a win at the track in the previous appearance. Merrell edged out Pemberton in the dash with David Press third. The 25 lap feature went all green after a restart when Fredenburg ran into Pemberton and spun. The feature lineup was just a two car inversion putting Fredenburg on the pole with Pemberton alongside. Fredenburg restarted in the rear and Pemberton was never headed. Merrell settled into second ahead of former dwarf car star John Prentice. Prentice was in the car that he shares with Craig Smith. In ten laps, Pemberton built his lead to ½ straighta nd Steve Mannina took fifth from Rob Hammond on lap 13. Pemberton was better in traffic and he opened his gap over Merrell. Prentice began to suffer handling woes as he fell to fifth behind Press and Mannina. The 25 lap distance took 397.20 seconds for a 15.88 average lap. Hammond ran sixth ahead of Fredenburg and Clark as only three cars finished on the lead lap. The dwarf cars had a 24 car turnout and were given a rare qualifying session. Ghiorso turned quick time at 17.100 and Placerville visitor Doug Martin was second at 17.127. Duane Daniel surprised in third at 17.224 and 15 year old rookie Clay Daly ran a 17.360. Sargent was fifth at 17.364 and Howard Fergerson had a 17.461. The six fastest raced in the dash and Sargent won that ahead of Fergerson and Daly. The 16 fastest times were staggered in two heats and the 8 slowest raced in their own heat. Six cars transferred from each heat and four more came from the B Main. Heat winners were Martin Whittingham, Fergerson and Damron. Stan Silva Jr won the B Main ahead of 10th quick Dave Mosier and Rylan Hanson. The feature lineup was an invert 6 off the heat results and that placed Sargent on the pole with Mark Chaves alongside. Sargent took a quick lead over Damron, Chaves and Whittingham as a tangle between Mosier and Tony Periera produced a lap 1 caution. Damron took the lead from Sargent on lap 6 as Ghiorso worked his way to third. Fergerson was fourth ahead of Chaves at lap 9. Dan Zuger fell out and Chris Dorto spun for a lap 10 yellow. A restart tangle took out John Gorman and Silva. Sargent leaped to the high line on this restart and retook the lead from Damron. The race ran without a caution for the final 10 rounds and Sargent was ahead of Damron, Ghiorso, Ameln, Chaves, Fergerson, Whittingham, Daly, Martin and Dave Penny at the checkered flag. Sargent's 9 nines had been split between Watsonville, Chowchilla and Antioch, but he lost this win when he forgot to check in at tech after he got his trophy, driving instead to his pit. Damron emerged with the win. Summary Dwarf Car Fast Time-Al Ghiorso 17.100 Dash-Matt Sargent, Howard Fergerson, Clay Daly. Heat 1-Martin Whittingham, Chris Dorto, Dave Penny, John Gorman, Tony Periera. Heat 2-Fergerson, Mark Chaves, Ryan Ameln, Doug Martin, Daly. Heat 3-Todd Damron, Sargent, Ghiorso, Bill Martinez, Duane Daniel. B Main-Stan Silva Jr, Dave Mosier, Rylan Hanson, Dan Zuger, Tony Miller, Gene Pires Jr. A Main-Damron, Ghiorso, Ameln, Chaves, Fergerson, Whittingham, Daly, Martin, Dave Penny, Daniel, Mark Tillinger, Hanson, Martinez, Dorto, Chris Weaver, Mosier, Doug Penny, Silva, Gorman, Zuger, Periera. Wingless Spec Sprint Dash-Scott Merrell, Steve Pemberton, David Press. Heat-Pemberton, Kenny Fredenburg, Merrell, Press, John Prentice. Main-Pemberton, Merrell, Press, Steve Mannina, Prentice, Rob Hammond, Fredenburg, Jack Clark. Ford Focus Midget Fast Time-Chris Veach 15.434. Heat 1-Keith Janca, Alex Harris, Chris Veach, Brett Engstrom, J R Williams. Heat 2-Robbie Whitchurch, Cameron Veach, Chase Barber, Jet Davison. Main-Whitchurch, Chris Veach, Harris, Barber, Audra Sasselli, Janca, Engstrom, Cameron Veach, Cal Smith, Davison, Williams. IMCA Modified Dash-Kenny Nott Jr, Joe Antonetti, Alex Stanford. Heat 1-Antonetti, Nott, Garrett Steitz, Don Breeden, T J Etchison. Heat 2-Tim Balding, A Stanford, Jack Stanford, Todd Hermosillo, Raymond Keldsen Jr. Main-Balding, Steitz, Joey Golz, Keldsen, Etchison, Nott, A Stanford, J Stanford, Tim Clark Jr, Andy Obertello, Antonetti, Breeden. |
