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Rescino Triumphs Over CASA Field at Altamont by Glenn Hopper |
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5-8-04
- Tracy, CA. San Francisco’s
Nicholas Rescino reined triumphant, posting his first pavement win, as the
California Asphalt Sprintcar Association officially joined the digital age at
Altamont Motorsports Park. Rescino’s Bayshore Racing Engines Special out
powered a potent 14-car field in the fourth round of CASA competition at the
fast, banked half-mile speed plant. CASA
and Altamont debuted the transponder-based timing system during qualifications.
And when time trials were completed in a fan-friendly 12 minutes, to the
surprise of no one and regardless of the methodology, a Rescino sat at the top
of the speed chart. Fast times seem to run in Rescino family bloodlines and Nick
the Younger ran a session best 17.438 at 103.269 MPH to top the field. Rescino
also posted his second trophy dash win to take the lead in the 2004 Coy Concrete
Trophy Dash Challenge. Ivan Worden and Rickey Williams each posted heat race
wins – Worden, wire-to-wire and Williams with an exciting last lap
cross-back-under move that denied Rescino’s clean sweep bid. While
Rescino’s #11x looked to have all the speed needed for victory, a CASA win was
not going to come easily on this cool, breezy evening. The standard field
inversion of the six fastest qualifiers placed fellow CASA stars Ivan Worden and
Matt DeMartini across the front row, Glenn Hopper and 2004 points leader Daniel
Hood occupied row two, and super-fast Mark Monico took his inside row three
assignment next to fast-timer Rescino. At the drop of the green flag Worden
inched ahead of DeMartini, Hood and Hopper as the first lap went into the books.
As the field thundered off turn four to start lap two, Daniel Hood ducked to the
inside and slowed dramatically, his expiring engine, suffering from an oil pump
problem discovered after a heat race collision, was now in flames. Hood guided
his mount out of traffic and to a stop near safety workers where the fire was
suppressed. Hood climbed out unharmed and saluted the concerned fans, but the
red flag had to be displayed momentarily as Altamont safety crews quickly
cleaned the residual mess. Racing
resumed with a single-file restart and the next non-stop 29 laps had everyone on
their feet as the top several cars began swapping spots with one another.
Rescino didn’t really trade spots with anyone as much as he simply took them
away. His march to the front was undeterred, and when the checkers cascaded over
the field, they waved over Rescino first; then Matt DeMartini in Ric Carr’s
#O3, Mark Monico’s Sequoia Institute #21x, OCR’s Rickey Williams, and AFEX
Graphics Ivan Worden in the top five. Glenn Hopper battled his way through a
weeklong flu bug and the field to place sixth ahead of a very impressive Jared
Consani in his maiden sprint car effort. Not yet a month past his 20th birthday,
Consani was smooth, fast, cool and poised in placing a solid seventh ahead of
super-veteran Mike McCreary, Larry Texeria in a fine run aboard the “Bean
Express”, and Earle Stanton who seemed to solve drive train issues which
recently troubled the Stanton-Erickson #8 car. Steering woes as a result of a
heat race incident kept Scott Clough just out of the top ten and Marvin Mitchell
lead newcomer Joe Hauck who debuted his recently purchased #85 car, graduating
from the micro sprint 600 ranks. As
advertised, CASA awarded double main event points to encourage support for the
organization when sanctioning and/or scheduling conflicts cannot be avoided in
California. Double points races have always had a short-term effect on overall
standings and this race was no exception. Unfortunately for point leader Daniel
Hood, his engine damage was compounded by a loss of the points lead to Ric Carr
Racing stable mate Matt DeMartini who now takes over the Championship Points
lead based on his strong second place finish. Though there are 13 races yet to
be run and most of the season lies ahead, Worden, Monico, Rescino and Williams
all advanced in the standings while Clough, McClish, Ede and Rodgers all slipped
some. 5-8-04
CASA Results QUALIFYING COY CONCRETE TROPHY DASH HEAT RACE #1 HEAT RACE #2 MAIN EVENT POINT STANDINGS 5/8/04
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