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| McClish Breaks Tony
Stewart’s Track Record in Posting CASA Win By Glenn Hopper |
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3-20-04 - Tracy, CA. Santa
Rosa’s Brian McClish kicked off the 2004 California Asphalt Sprintcar
Association season at Altamont Motorsports Park in spectacular fashion, besting
2002 NASCAR Champion Tony Stewart’s qualifying track record of 17.226 and
resetting the mark at 17.208 averaging 104.650 MPH. McClish then won the trophy
dash and finished the evening outdistancing the field in the 25-lap feature.
“Testing really helped us,” said McClish after the race. Many teams participated in preseason testing including second place finisher Daniel Hood aboard Ric Carr’s potent #26 mount, but it appeared that the #04 McClish team had profited most from the preseason sessions. A near capacity crowd enjoyed a great night of racing on a perfect night weather-wise. Warm with a light breeze during the day led to a very comfortable night and all the CASA races, dash, heats, and feature ran flag to flag. Heat wins went to Matt DeMartini and Glenn Hopper. Earle Stanton led the field to the feature event green flag by virtue of his sixth fast qualifying effort, flanked by reigning CASA champion Tony Iacobitti, but by the time the first lap was recorded the fleet McClish had blasted by both to take the lead. The first several laps saw Hood, Iacobitti, Ivan Worden and Stanton engaged in a spirited battle for position. Stanton developed a handling problem and relinquished his position in the top five to Matt DeMartini in the second Ric Carr entry. As the laps counted down it was apparent that this was to be McClish’s night though there was still plenty of action throughout the field. Last place starter Glenn Hopper worked his way through the field to sixth but still fell victim to McClish as the leader lapped his way through the field up to the fifth place car in a convincing victory. The final running order saw McClish, Hood, Worden, Iacobitti and DeMartini on the lead lap followed by Hopper, CASA president Scott Clough, Stanton, Mike McCreary, Sanger’s Chad Ede, hometown driver Larry Texeria of Tracy and 1991 NARC and Golden State Rookie of the Year, Roger Hamilton in his first pavement race and his return to the cockpit after a long sabbatical. A last lap, last turn run at the checkers resulted in a tangle involving Ede, McCreary, Stanton and Hamilton but damage was relatively minor. Fourteen cars took to the half-mile track, as several expected teams were not quite ready for opening night. Nicholas Rescino’s opening night was delayed by an injury suffered in a motorcycle accident however Nick is expected to be okay and should be ready for the next CASA race. Also suffering misfortune were the Bumgarner and Oval Chassis Research teams. Brad Bumgarner’s beautiful #88 had engine gremlins from the outset and he had to park his ride, as did OCR’s Bryan Bullard who alertly noted a loss in oil pressure after posting third fast time and elected to trailer the black #7. CASA’s next event is April 3rd at Altamont Motorsports Park. 3-20-04 CASA Results QUALIFYING HEAT RACE #1 HEAT RACE #2 MAIN EVENT |
