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(JUNE 18, 2005 - TULARE, CA) For the second time within a two-week
period, Ricci Faria disposed of the wing on his sprint car and conquered the
non-winged competition with a brilliant display of driving as he captured the
40-lap, $2000 prize to win the feature at Thunderbowl Raceway on June 18th. Two
weeks previously, Faria topped the USAC sprint contingent at Hanford.
The local-area resident (Visalia) was mired in fifth place for most of the
hard-fought event until it became crunch time. With 20-laps in the books, Faria
moved into third and set his sights on Aaron Chaney, who lead every lap from his
pole position start, and Jim Richardson, who was stalking Chaney. On lap 31,
Richardson took command, and appeared to be headed to his first main event
victory of the year. However, Richardson had no idea Faria was on-the-move,
cutting into his six-length lead. With the white flag about to be waived, Faria
gunned his #55 Mark Flachman owned car by a surprised Richardson and sped to
victory.
Danny Olmstead battled with Stan Yonkey, Faria, Richardson and Shain Matthews
throughout the evening and came home in the third spot, followed by Andy
Forsberg and a fading Chaney. Yockey, Matthews, Andy Gregg, Tyler Spath and Matt
Day rounded out the top-10.
Forsberg, who was seeking a repeat of last week’s victory, failed to complete
the second-lap of the main event after Chris D’Arcy flipped his #32 racer on
the front straight-away on lap one bringing out the red flag. When the green
flag was unfurled once again, Forsberg spun between turns three and four,
causing the entire field to stack-up and/or take evasive action. Unfortunately,
Richard Harvey, Jonathon Logan and Steven Williams had nowhere to go, crashed
and ended up on the “hook.” Only Spath and Forsberg were able to restart
after making slight repairs.
Starting at the rear of the field, Forsberg was a man-on-a-mission, charging
forward and disposing of car after car until reaching the fourth spot at the
checkers. Had he started the race from the rear, he would have garnered the Hard
Charger Award, but the honor was bestowed upon the winner Faria, who started in
the 10th position.
Heat wins went to Harvey, Williams and Aaron Chaney, who also captured his first
SCRA Dash. The soon-to-be father was all smiles during the awards presentation
wishing all the fathers in attendance a Happy Father’s Day.
Another pleasant surprise of the evening was the fine showing of transplanted
Australian Kiwi Alexander, now residing in Hanford, who made his first
appearance of the season a memorable one. Alexander out-qualified the field and
was an early contender in the main until spinning out while challenging for the
lead with Chaney. He finished in the 12th position.
It was a dismal evening for the top-two point leaders Chad Boespflug and
Williams. While Williams won his heat and transferred directly to the main,
Boespflug ended-up fifth in his heat, failed to transfer and started far back in
the field in 13th. Both were DNF’s, finishing 14th and 17th respectively, and
neither made the Passing Masters Dash. However, they acquired enough points to
remain atop the leader-board with Boespflug leading Williams the narrowest
margin, 438 to 437.
Heat #1 Spin Tech Mufflers, 10 Laps: 1st #59 Richard Harvey Jr., 2nd #11 D Danny
Olmstead, 3rd #67 Shain Matthews, 4th #99 Kiwi Alexander, 5th #16X Andy Gregg,
6th #35 Tyler Spath
Heat #2 Awards & Signs Heat 10 Laps: 1st #92 Andy Forseberg, 2nd #7 Stan
Yockey, 3rd #8 Jim Richardson, 4th #77 Chris D’Arcy, 5th #33 Evan Suggs, 6th
#12 Grand Jones
Heat #3 Shaver Racing Heat 10 Laps: 1st #93 Steven Williams, 2nd #55 Ricci
Faria, 3rd #32 Jonathon Logan, 4th #69 Aaron Chaney, 5th #98 Chad Boespflug, 6th
#97 Matt Day
Forest Transportation Dash 8 Laps: 1st #69 Aaron Chaney, 2nd #11D Danny
Olmstead, 3rd #67 Shain Matthews, 4th #8 Jim Richardson, 5th #99 Kiwi Alexander,
6th #92 Andy Forseberg
Main Event, 40 Laps: 1st #55 Ricci Faria, 2nd #8 Jim Richardson, 3rd #11d Danny
Olmstead, 4th #92 Andy Forsberg, 5th #69 Aaron Chaney, 6th #7 Stan Yockey, 7th
#67 Shain Matthews, 8th #16X Andy Gregg, 9th #35 Tyler Spath, 10th #97 Matt Day,
11th #33 Evan Suggs, 12th #99 Kiwi Alexander, 13th #12 Grant Jones, 14th #93
Steven Williams, 15th #59 Richard Harvey, 16th #98 Chad Boespflug, 17th #32
Jonathon Logan, 18th #77 Chris D’Arcy, 19th #24 Brandon Thompson 18.062
Qualifying:
1st #99 Kiwi Alexander 15.727, 2nd #92 Andy Forsberg 15.753, 3rd #98 Chad
Boespflug 15.858, 4th #67 Shain Matthews 15.874, 5th #8 Jim Richardson 15.892,
6th #69 Aaron Chaney 15.974, 7th #11D Danny Olmstead 15.976, 8th #7 Stan Yockey
16.026, 9th #93 Steven Williams 16.073, 10th #35 Tyler Spath 16.112, 11th #77
Chris D’Arcy 16.168, 12th #55 Ricci Faria 16.171, 13th #59 Richard Harvey Jr.
16.251, 14th #33 Evan Suggs 16.372, 15th #32 Jonathon Logan 16.379, 16th #16X
Andy Gregg 16.536, 17th #12 Grant Jones 16.651, 18th #97 Matt Day 16.658, 18th
#24 Brandon Thompson 18.062
POINT STANDINGS JUNE 18
DRIVER TOTAL
#98 Chad Boespflug 438
#93 Steven Williams 437
#8 Jim Richardson 400
#35 Tyler Spath 347
#11 Danny Olmstead 320
#77 Chris D’Arcy 313
#59 Richard Harvey Jr. 296
#69 Aaron Chaney 276
#32 Jonathon Logan 269
#55 Andy Forsberg 250
#97 Matt Day 179
#3 Davey Pombo 159
#51X Rusty Carlile 159
#35x Albert Pombo 154
#77s Brian Schuler 135
#67 Shain Matthews 120
#12 Grant Jones 119
#21t Howard Smith 97
#2H Steve Thomas 90
#55 Ricci Faria 89
#44 David Hair 77
#7 Stan Yockey 69
#33 Evan Suggs 64
#16X Andy Gregg 58
55 Peter Murphy 57
#99 Kiwi Alexander 55
#21 Jay Ervine 50
#17c Jimmy Crawford 50
#55 Johnny Rodriquez 49
#51 Jeff Gardner 47
#0 Mike Kirby 43
#3g Greg Porte 38
#75 Todd Hunsaker 36
#22 Jeff Fiscus 31
#33 Daniel Hood 29
#64 Darren Slater 23
#21A Roy Guy III 20
#98x Jeremy Ellertson 19
#24 Brandon Thompson 17
#35R Ryan Devitt 11
#19 Terry Foster 10
#21t Chris Smith 4
PASSING MASTER POINTS JUNE 18
NAME TOTAL
#98 Chad Boespflug 21
#11 Danny Olmstead 10
#35 Tyler Spath 9
#55 Johnny Rodriquez 7
#93 Steven Williams 7
#8 Jim Richardson 4
#55 Andy Forsberg 4
#77 Chris D’Arcy 4
#69 Aaron Chaney 4
#32 Jonathon Logan 3
#51 Rusty Carlile 3
#67 Shain Matthews 3
#99 Kiwi Alexander 3
#59 Richard Harvey 2
#3 Davey Pombo 2
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