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| VENTURA
WARMS UP MIDGETS FOR BELLEVILLE by Norm Bogan |
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July 24th was a race in transition for both the Western States Midgets and the Ford Focus Midgets. Both series have raced locally in California, nearly every week, with this show being the launch date for both the Midgets and Focus teams journeying back to the High Banks of Belleville, Kansas, next weekend for the annual Nationals races. Nineteen Midgets and twenty-four Focus cars were on hand for the show at “The Best Little Dirt Track in America”. Pre-racing activities in the pits were at a leisurely pace for most teams, as they prepared new tires, tightened bolts and made the routine checks to ensure that all is well with the racecar. It was also time for relaxing banter among the teams and the most asked question was, “When are you leaving”? For many, this will be the first long tow to mid-America. The Midgets plan to race at Eagle, Nebraska on Wednesday and then shift south to Belleville for the next three days. For the Focus teams, this is an odyssey that a number of them have never made. The Focus Midgets will debut at Belleville on Thursday, their first visit to the High Banks. Many of the teams came from the Central Valley or inland southern California, where thermometers were tickling the century mark and found the sea breezes at Seaside Park to be a welcome respite. I visited with several of the racers in the early afternoon. J.J. Ercse has struggled all year with his Focus Midget, so while he was away on a job assignment for the past couple of weeks, the crew stripped the car down and looked for problems and discovered several of the gremlins. After a private test session earlier in the week, the team assured J.J. that the car was much better than on his last ride. I found Johnny Rodriguez comparing notes with Matt Mitchell on their trips to Belleville. Danny Stratton, winner of last week’s Midget show at Perris, was prepping his car and still working on a deal to take the racer on the road this week. Danny has really advanced this past year with an outstanding performance at Chili Bowl opening a lot of eyes. Steve Paden brought two cars, testing and qualifying a new car, before withdrawing the car and re-qualifying in the old car. Jerome Rodela’s car created some attention prior to hot laps, as Chief Wrench, Andy Bondio, installed a motorcycle wheel and tire on the left front, but the USAC officials made them put a conventional tire and wheel back in place before going on the track. The heat races confirmed that Ercse’s team were right as J.J. came from the back to run second and had a big smile on his return to the pits. Jeff Gregory, Josh Lakatos and Chris Rahe captured the Focus heats. Two Midget heats found veteran driver, Wally Pankratz and defending Champ, Steve Paden collecting the spoils. Chase Barber took the early lead in the Focus feature and held it for four laps, before J.J. Ercse passed to take the point. It appeared that Ercse would finally enjoy his first feature win in some time. On each of several restarts, J.J. would jump out to a comfortable lead once more, but after the last yellow on lap 18, Chris Rahe, who had been lurking in the top five moved in right behind Ercse and dogged him to the last corner and then moved alongside for a drag race to the flag, which found Rahe about a foot ahead at the checkers. Garrett Hansen set fast time at 12.149 in Midget qualifying and started sixth on the grid. Wally Pankratz parlayed his pole position to a race-long lead. Positions two through about eight shuffled nearly every lap with some exciting slide jobs. Twice, second running Danny Stratton got under Wally and appeared to be taking the lead only to have a yellow come out and put Danny back to second. In the meantime, Steve Paden, Thomas Meseraull, Jerome Rodela, Johnny Rodriguez and Garrett Hansen were “dotzy-dowing” with each other. On the next to last lap, Hansen did a bonsai run under Stratton and then Pankratz, completing the pass in turn two, upsetting Wally’s line enough that Danny just tagged him enough to also slip by. At the finish, Garrett had claimed his second victory of the season, Stratton held on for second and Wally settled for third. In the post race interviews, Hansen claimed the other two cars were faster than his, but that he got that one good run, carrying him to the front. Stratton praised the great racing surface, saying he was best on a long run, but struggled on the restarts. Pankratz said they had a good race and he drove hard. Wally mentioned that Danny made him run the top to protect his position. Following the top three were Paden, Meseraull, Rodela and Rodriguez. For the fans, they were treated to some competitive heat races and two outstanding features with exciting finishes in each. Now, the teams are queuing up on the interstate on a mission to the high plains for the next edition of the racing season. Ventura fans wished them a safe journey and much success. |
