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| RACING
SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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NMRA-TQ Midgets |
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Victorville, CA, Mar. 22 - NMRA-TQ Midget competitors kicked
off year two of racing Saturday night when they made their first
ever visit to the quarter-mile clay Route 66 Raceway here.
Walt Johnson, of Sun Valley, won the initial 25-lap main event of
the 14-race NMRA schedule at five tracks in California. NMRA resumed racing last season after a 15-year hiatus while the USAC organization sanctioned TQ-Midget racing. NMRA had sanctioned TQ-Midget races from 1957 through 1986 and the California-based group graduated many drivers to other open-wheel racing series. Johnson, a 20-year racing veteran and part-time driver last season, finished 15th in 2002 NMRA final point standings. The 42-year old driver won nine TQ main events in the USAC-TQ series and he was the 2001 USAC-TQ Series champion. His victory Saturday was his first in NMRA and his tenth feature triumph in TQ-racing. Johnson drove Guy Barber's Rick Stewart-built chassis with a Clerc Honda engine. The GB Electric, JC Performance, Walt Johnson Motorsports-backed car was the 2002 NMRA championship car. A pair of drivers--J. J. Ercse and Brian Gard--drove the Barber TQ Midget last season when NMRA raced eight times at three tracks in California and Nevada. Mike Cass, 2002 NMRA Hard Charger trophy winner Ron Ahrendt, Jody Bandfield, Steve Lambert, West Evans, Chris Hedge, Steve Parke, rookie Andy Edenholm and Michael Bliffen completed the top ten finishers. Tabitha Howard, wife of sprint car driver Gary W. Howard, NMRA 2002 rookie-of-the-year Kenny Wiley, and 2002 NMRA champion Chuck West followed in the 14-car field. Hedge led the first 12 laps before Johnson took charge and led the final 13 circuits on the fairgrounds oval. Point leader Johnson has a two-point edge over Cass, with Ahrendt four points in back of Cass. Barber leads Cass by two points in car owner points. Cass and Lambert won the pair of seven-car, eight lap heat races. Time trials were not conducted. The next NMRA-TQ race will be Saturday, April 5 at Ventura Raceway. The Summary: (pick up agate) Heat 1 - Mike Cass, Ron Ahrendt, Chris Hedge, Kenny Wiley, Steve Parke, West Evans, Jim Styer. Heat 2 - Steve Lambert, Walt Johnson, Jody Bandfield, Chuck West, Andy Edenholm, Tabitha Howard, Michael Bliffen. Main - Johnson, Cass, Ahrendt, Bandfield, Lambert, West Evans, Hedge, Parke, Edenholm, Michael Bliffen, Tabitha Howard, Wiley, West, Jim Styer. |
