Santa Maria, CA - October 5, 2003...Jimmy Thompson, of Grover Beach,
needed
to finish ahead of Atascadero's Greg Porte and Tulare's Aaron Altaffer, Saturday
night at Santa Maria Speedway, to clinch the J.B. Dewar Sprint Car title and
become the first driver in Speedway history to capture four division titles
in-a-row.
That's exactly what Thompson did. Trailing Fresno's John Burnett for the
first 13 laps of the 30-lap main event, Thompson got by for the lead, and the
win, with Burnett placing second. Porte and Altaffer went into the feature event
tied for the Bandit Series crown. When the run was over, Porte was third and
Altaffer fourth, giving Porte the championship by a mere two points. Aaron
Chaney, of Clovis, rounded out the top-five in the race. Hanford's Richard
Harvey, Jr., Altaffer, and Kingsburg's A.J. Burgin won the 8-lap heat races and
Thompson set fast time of 14.671 seconds.
The winged California Lightning Sprints showed up in force, and it was clear
from the beginning that Sam Corso, of Ripon, was going to be a force to be
reckoned with. Corso set a fast time in the high thirteens and went on to pass
Riverside's David Cardey, in traffic, on the final lap of the 20-lap
"A" main event, to claim the victory. Jonny Bates, of Laguna Niguel,
was third; Donny Gansen, of Rialto, fourth; and Ryan Silva, of Tulare, fifth.
Riverside's Robert Early captured the 12-lap "B" main and 8-lap heat
race wins went to El Cajon's Ernie Bartley, Corso, and Marshall Sexton of Ceres.
BCRA Midgets completed the all open wheel racing program. Tyler Brown, of
Norco, picked up his first feature win in their 30-lap main event. Newark's
Glenn Carson, running second in points, helped his championship hopes with a
second place finish, while point leader Floyd Alvis, of San Carlos, was placing
fifteenth. Greg Nelson, of Citrus Heights, was third, followed by Livermore's
Greg Dennett in his first run in a full midget. John
Serale, of Stockton, was fifth. Lee Yetter, of Aromas; Cameron Beard, of
Turlock; and Travis Barryhill, of American Canyon, snared 8-lap heat race
victories.
The oval season is over, but one more event remains on the Speedway's 2003
schedule. The Perforce Software National Auto Sport Association sanctioned
California Rally Series event will close out the racing season Saturday. Rally
cars from throughout California are expected to show up for the Rally Sprint
portion of the program. The rally cars will run a daylight session from 12 noon
to 3 p.m. and then return for an evening run, using their powerful off road
lighting systems, from 7 to 11 p.m. The rally cars will run on a 1.5 mile dirt
road course made up of the oval, the inside pit area, and the outer pit area. In
between the rally car runs race fans are invited to join in a Rally Cross for
street legal cars from 3 to 7 p.m. The street cars will use the inner portion of
the course and, like the rally cars, will be scored on their combined times from
several runs on the time clock. Entry fee for the Rally Cross is $35.00 and may
be paid on race day. Entry forms will be available from 8 a.m. to the start of
the Rally Cross at 3 p.m.
Spectator gates will open at 11:30 a.m. with the first car expected to take
to the course at 12 noon. Admission prices will be: adults $8.00, seniors (65+)
$6.00, and children 6 to 12 $3.00. Arm bands will be used in place of tickets,
to allow spectators to come and go during the day. Santa Maria Speedway is
located on Hutton Road, 1/4-mile north of the
101/166 interchange. They're on the internet at santamariaspeedway.com.
Race Summaries
J.B. Dewar/Bandit Sprint Cars:
Fast Time - Jimmy Thompson, 14.671.
Heat 1 - Richard Harvey, Jr., Jimmy Thompson, Greg Porte, Steve DeMott, Bobby
Davis, John Iturria, Jeff Wilson, Mike Baker.
Heat 2 - Aaron Altaffer, Gene Manhire, Darren Simas, Rusty Carlile, Davey Pombo,
Dick Stevens, Patrick Frisco, Bobby Elliott (DNS).
Heat 3 - A.J. Burgin, Josh Davis, John Burnett, Aaron Chaney, Scott Holloway,
Jason Montgomery, Thad Bennett.
Main Event - Thompson, Burnett, Porte, Altaffer, Chaney, Manhire, Pombo, Harvey,
DeMott, Burgin, Simas, Carlile, Davis, Frisco, Holloway, Baker, Bennett,
Stevens,
Iturria, Elliott, Davis, Montgomery, Wilson.
California Lightning Sprints:
Heat 1 - Ernie Bartley, Ryan Silva, Donny Gansen, Robert Early, Karl Benefiel,
Kirk Jackson, David Cardey, Joel Williams, Keith Janca.
Heat 2 - Sam Corso, Paul Townsend, Brent Sexton, Pat Hickey, Brad Russell,
Stewart Hielscher, Dale Gamer, Jonny Bates, Gary Sexton (DNS).
Heat 3 - Marshall Sexton, Jesse Dean, Mike Barnette, Danny Hyude, John Moorhouse,
Steve Barnette, Scott Kenney, Josh Williams (DNS).
"B" Main Event - Early, Kenney, Williams, Benefiel, Hielscher,
Jackson, Moorhouse, Gamer, Williams (DNF), Russell (DNF).
"A" Main Event - Corso,
Cardey, Bates, Gansen, Silva, Sexton, Janca, Dean, S. Barnette, Bartley, Hickey,
Hyde, Williams, M. Barnette, Kenney, Hielscher, Benefiel, Townsend, M. Sexton (DNF),
Jackson (DNF).
BCRA Midgets:
Fast Time - Dallen McKenney, 14.722.
Heat 1 - Lee Yetter, John
Haugh, Ken Bonnema, Carly Lawrence, Rob Lindsey, Kirk Kubic (DNS), Ralph
Cortez (DNS).
Heat 2 - Cameron Beard, Shannon McQueen, Floyd Alvis, Gary Dickenson, Greg
Nelson, Adam Young, Thomas Meseraull.
Heat 3 - Travis Barryhill, Glenn Carson, Jimmy Christian, Tyler Brown, John
Serale, Greg
Dennett, McKenney.
Main Event - Brown, Carson, Nelson, Dennett, Serale, Barryhill, Christian,
McQueen, Young, Yetter, Beard, Bonnema, Lawrence, Haugh, Alvis, Meseraull,
Lindsey, Dickenson, McKenney.
Point Standings
CAR# DRIVER - 10/4/03 J.B. Dewar Sprint Cars
POINTS
1 71 Jimmy Thompson, Grover Beach 336
2 3G Greg Porte, Atascadero 314
3 84 Aaron Altaffer, Tulare 297
4 6 Richard Harvey, Jr., Hanford
276
5 22S Bobby Elliott, Fresno 273
6 2/29 A.J. Burgin, Kingburg 261
7 20 Davey Pombo, Kerman 244
8 68 John Burnett, Fresno 240
9 35 Steve DeMott, Santa Maria 232
10 98 Gary Rayburn, Jr., Grover Beach 214
11 3K Jason Montgomery, Templeton
201
12 0 Jeff Fiscus, Los Osos 196
13 69 Aaron Chaney, Clovis 182
14 46 Dick Stevens, Goleta 182
15 29 Mike Baker, Santa Maria 174
16 98D Josh Davis, Atascadero 152
17 8M Jayson May, Taft 128
18 11 John Iturriria, Bakersfield 112
19 19S Josh Wise, Riverside 101
20 28 Davey Knott, Fresno 97
21 91 Darren Simas, Santa Maria 90
22 57 Bobby Davis, Bakersfield 90
23 18 Mike Broome, Bakersfield 73
24 14 Rick Gifford, Bakersfield 69
25 8X Bill Drake 66
26 6X Brett Butler, Los Angeles
65
27 12 John Jewett, Orcutt 65
28 4 Gene Manhire 62
29 10 Patrick Frisco, Paso Robles 60
30 27 Rusty Carlile, Bakersfield 54
31 21 Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria 54
32 57 Ron Di Donato 42
33 36 Larry Brown, Bakersfield 40
34 20 Joey Layman, Atascadero 32
35 4M Gary Ferravanti, Santa Maria
31
36 41 Scott Holloway, Oakley 30
37 72 Josh Ford, Oxnard 30
38 77 Thad Bennett, Santa Maria 28
39 6B Ron Butler, Los Angeles 28
40 6A Brian Elliott 28
41 30 David Addamo, Santa Maria 24
42 33E Evan Suggs, Scotts Valley 24
43 38 Jeff Wilson, Santa Monica 22
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