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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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HARVEST CLASSIC, 9.20.08 by Norm Bogan |
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As the first day of fall nears, its
Harvest Classic time at Madera Speedway.
The program included the SMRA 410 cubic inch Supermodifieds
and the Madera 360 cubic inch Supermodifieds.
Also on the program were the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA)
Midgets, the Legends of the Pacific cars and the Western Late
Models. On hand to entertain the fans were
eight 410 Supers and seven 360 Supers, eighteen BCRA Midgets,
twenty-five Legends cars and ten Western Late Models.
Fast time for the 410 Supers went to Troy Regier at 12.531
and 360 Supers was David Tuey at 13.346, with Bobby Greywohl setting
the standard for BCRA Midgets at 14.115. Trophy Dash honors went to McKenna Bell
in the Legends, Dallen McKinney in the BCRA Midgets, David Tuey in
the 360 Supers and Jeff Russell in the 410 Supers and Rick Thompson
in the Western Late Models. Ralph
Cortez and Daniel Bedford captured the Midget heats.
The Supers ran two heat races with combined fields, with the
victories going to David Tuey and Brian Warf.
The warm, but pleasant afternoon turned
to a cool evening with a prevailing breeze, prodding most fans to
put on a sweat shirt or jacket to shield them from a chill.
The Legends led off with a 35 lap feature captured by Pat
Scott. The fifty lap
Late Model feature found Jeff Belletto claiming the spoils followed
closely by Dave Byrd and dad, Harry Belletto.
Thirty laps of the Midget feature saw Chad Nichols jump to an
early lead, with Dallen McKinney chasing him down and dicing with
each other for several laps until Dallen attempted to dive under
Chad, but got over a wheel and flipped hard into the turn one wall,
then spun several times on his cage down the track. Nichols ended up in the turn one wall and out of the car
unhurt, but McKinney was taken out of the car by fire rescue and
transported to the hospital for observation.
He was reported to be communicating with the rescue crews. On the restart, the race progressed to completion with Bobby
Greywohl victorious over his fifteen year old team mate Kyle
Dickerson, both wrenched by former series champ, Marc DeBeaumont
with Shannon McQueen coming home in the show position.
The Super feature consisted of a
combined field of 410 and 360 Supermodifieds.
Thirteen cars answered the call for the fifty-lap finale. Lance Jackson jumped in front, but experienced a mechanical
failure on lap 2. Kenny
Kinchen made his move for the front, but also suffered a malady on
lap 5. For the next ten
laps or so, the inverted field of 410 Supers made their moves toward
the front overtaking many of the early 360 pacemakers.
By about lap 20, two familiar cars were at the front, the
yellow #85 of Jeff Russell and the blue #98 of Troy Regier. On lap 34, Regier took the lead and
kept it to the checkers, with his nemesis, Russell at his tail tank.
It was a great event with no collisions and very clean racing lap
after lap. Regier
captured the Super Saturday title for combined points over a six
race chase. Russell
holds a slight lead for the SMRA title with one race left at Las
Vegas in November. For over twenty years, I’ve been able
to occasionally witness the powerful Supermodifieds on the Madera
oval. The announcer
described the action as akin to fighter jets in a gymnasium.
That is aptly put as these hand-built rocket ships are fun to
watch. This track is
also a good venue for the Midgets, providing a number of outstanding
races here. The Late
Models feature impressive, clean side-by-side action, although
sometimes, Rubbin’ is Racin’.
Legends Cars are fan favorites and many old timers recall
watching similar appearing vehicles racing as jalopies and hardtops
about a half-century ago. Speaking with the promoter, Kenny
Shepherd after the event, he noted that next year, a number of the
track events will be taped by the Outdoor Channel for selected
viewing. The management
and officials at Madera work hard to keep the show moving on and
maintain action on the racetrack for the fans. Madera Speedway is readily accessible from the
north and south Central Valley as well as the Bay area.
The fans return often to enjoy this venue, where they
genuinely feel appreciated.
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