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| Rescino
Clinches CASA Championship With Eleventh Feature Win By Glenn Hopper |
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10-16-04
– Tracy, CA. Second generation driving star, Nick Rescino, Jr., wrapped up
his first California Asphalt Sprintcar Association championship with his
eleventh win of the 2004 CASA season at Altamont Motorsports Park in his usual
dominating style, setting fast time at 17.576, 102.412 MPH, winning heat number
one, the Mike Coy Concrete Construction trophy dash, and the 25 lap CASA feature
event in the CASA season finale. A
pleasant afternoon with light breezes lead to a comfortable, “shirt-sleeve”
evening of racing; a welcome greeting to the four Pacific Northwest visitors,
Brian Geiszler, Ryan McClees, Glen Walker, and Peter Gobal, who made the trek
south to run on the historic half-mile oval. Young Garrett Peterson also made
his CASA debut aboard E.J. Dolner’s mount. Qualifying
produced some pleasant surprises with Geiszler narrowly missing membership in
the CASA 100 Mile-Per-Hour Club, posting second quick time at 18.006 and
improving Earle Stanton and Marvin Mitchell rounding out the four fastest
qualifiers to make trophy dash starts. Gordon Rogers, doing double duty with the
NCMA posted a solid fifth fast time. Heat one went to Rescino over Stanton,
Scott Clough, Gobal and Peterson, while heat two was dominated by the Northwest
duo of Walker and Geiszler over third place Glenn Hopper, Ryan McClees and
Mitchell. The
25-lap main event featured the white #63 of Washington’s Ryan McClees and
Earle Stanton’s beautiful red and white Stanton-Erickson #8 on the front row.
As they powered the field to green, Stanton gained the edge to lead the first
circuit. But Rescino, with his primary engine back under the hood and the
championship determination he has shown all year, quickly powered his way to the
lead in an effort to close the season on a high note, after what he and his
Bayshore Racing Engines/American Storage team felt was three race slump,
finishing only second, eighth, and second in the last three CASA events. Rescino
looked every bit the champion that earlier this summer, clicked of a 10
consecutive feature win streak that started on May 8th and ran
through August 28th, however his dark blue #11 had company at the
front of the field. Oregon’s Brian Geiszler in his equally good looking blue
#44 was within striking distance as the pair tried to put some distance on the
balance of the constantly battling 11 car field.
A
caution flag slowed the field on lap 18 when young Peterson, attempting to
negotiate his way through the turn two pit gate to retire from the event,
clipped the hydro-barrier safety barrels protecting the crashwall abutment and
stalled. After a brief clean up of the water released from the minor incident,
Washington’s Glen Walker retired his racy-looking red #62 to the pits with an
overheating problem, surrendering his strong fifth place position. Rescino
resumed his lead on the restart over Geiszler, McClees, Stanton and now Hopper.
Geiszler gave it his all and thought he might have a shot at Rescino in the
waning laps but Rescino had just too much muscle to be overtaken in the last
seven laps, however the rest of the field was participating in lots of
overtaking. Hopper managed to displace fourth running Stanton and was working on
third place McClees when Stanton returned the favor and dispatched Hopper back
to fifth. While the trio of McClees, Stanton and Hopper mixed it up for third
through fifth, Rogers, Mitchell, and Clough were just behind having quite a
scrap themselves. A wild looking three-wide pass among the these combatants
showed the determination and hard nosed competitive nature of CASA racing at its
best: A close race for the lead, a battle in the top five and a three-way fight
for sixth place. At
the finish, Nick Rescino, Jr. added another jewel to his new CASA crown with his
eleventh feature victory over an excellent second place run by Brian Geiszler, a
solid third place effort of McClees, Earle Stanton’s fourth place, and second
straight top-five finish, and CASA championship runner up Glenn Hopper in fifth.
Gordon Rogers hustled his black #94 2-barrell to sixth over Scott Clough, and
Marvin Mitchell with a well-earned eighth place over Peter Gobal in ninth. Glen
Walker was credited with tenth and Garrett Peterson with eleventh. The
“California Sprint Cars” of CASA will next meet at Altamont Motorsports
Park’s Championship Banquet to officially crown Rescino as champion and
recognize all the achievements of CASA competitors during the second exciting
season of California Asphalt Sprintcar Association racing. 10-16-04
CASA Results QUALIFYING COY
CONCRETE TROPHY DASH 25
LAP MAIN EVENT FINAL
POINT STANDINGS
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