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Rescino
Claims 100 Lap CASA Feature at Champion Speedway |
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7-30-05
– Carson City, NV....The
California Asphalt Sprintcar Association returned to the eastern side of the
Sierras and Carson City’s Champion Speedway for round three of the four race
Nevada State Sprint Car Championships where defending CASA and Nevada State
Champ Nick Rescino, Jr. guided his dark blue #11 to victory lane in the 100 lap
feature event. After
a torrential downpour on Friday, Saturday greeted a 15-car CASA contingent with
clear skies and very comfortable temperatures allowing all to enjoy a nice
“short sleeve weather” evening after a spectacular desert sunset closed out
the qualifying session. In qualifying, Michael Trimble posted his first CASA
fast time with a quick lap of 12.40 seconds. Frequent fast-timer Rescino had to
go to his back up car after encountering problems with his primary car in
hotlaps. He was granted a few extra warm up laps because the car had not yet
been fired and he managed a fifth fast lap but Rescino played it careful with a
cold engine and wasn’t able to make a try for fast time honors. The
$100 Dash For Cash had the top six qualifiers draw playing cards for starting
positions and sixth ranked Ryan Baumgartner pulled the ace from the deck to
start from the pole. After leading for a good portion of the first lap, front
row starter and third fast qualifier Matt DeMartini took command of the six
lapper and won over second quick Nick Green, fast timer Trimble, Baumgartner,
fourth quick Tony Iacobitti and Rescino. The
100-lap CASA feature was to allow for a fuel stop at the midway point to
alleviate any fuel concerns since yellow flag laps do not count and CASA’s
last visit ran some teams too close for comfort on fuel usage. With a full field
inversion, veteran campaigner Marvin Mitchell in his bright yellow #68 and Scott
Clough in his white and red #5 paced the field under the green flag and as the
CASA field thundered past the flag stand, Clough inched his way into the lead
down the back straight. With the fastest cars starting at the rear of the pack,
the action started immediately with the drop of the flag and the jockeying for
positions began to heat up. Lap
six found DeMartini up quickly to second, but lap six also found contact
resulting in local driver Tom Haxall spinning into the turn three infield and
rookie driver Nick Green sailing over the banking of turn three as well. Unsure
of Green’s predicament over the edge of the turn, the red flag was thrown
stopping action and allowing safety crew quick access to Green’s #14 car.
Green’s damage turned out to be relatively minimal and he returned to action
after some quick repairs but Haxall was not as fortunate and his car was towed
to the pits and retired for the evening. On
the restart, Clough’s lead lasted but another couple laps before DeMartini’s
#6 assumed the point. With green flag racing prevailing over the next 35 laps,
Rescino worked his way forward to challenge DeMartini and after a dozen laps of
stalking the fleet leader and entering lapped traffic, found an opening to his
liking and swiped the lead away. Battles raged throughout the field until Allen
Beck’s solo spin off of turn four brought out the caution flag in lap 41. CASA
Race Director Ronnie LaManna determined this caution opportunity close enough to
the mid point fuel stop and the red flag was displayed to allow teams to check
or add fuel as they saw fit. After the brief recess the field was reassembled
for the restart. Rescino
maintained his lead over DeMartini, Trimble was up to third from starting
“shot gun” on the field, and Green had charged his way back to run fourth.
2002 track champion Glenn Hopper worked his way to fifth but the field was again
under caution on lap 44 as rookie driver Jessica Helberg clipped Clough on the
front straightaway resulting in her spinning to a stop in turn one and a front
end damaged Clough coasting to a stop in turn two. Unfortunately, Baumgartner
was trapped to the inside of Clough’s unsteerable car and stalled in the
infield next to Clough. Officials again waved the red flag anticipating a
difficult clean up with three cars blocking the south turn and little room to
maneuver the field past. Helberg was able to continue but would eventually
retire on lap 86, and Baumgartner was restarted without any visible damage,
however Clough’s mount was done for the night. When
the racing action resumed, Rescino held fast but the battle for second through
fourth seemed to intensify with each passing lap. DeMartini, had both Trimble
then Green breathing down his neck as he attempted to reel in Rescino, never
loosing his desire to take the lead back. Lap 87 saw pole sitter Mitchell retire
to the pits and a lap later Green plowed into and climbed up onto DeMartini’s
rear bumper, shredding the #6 tail shell. Although DeMartini was able to
continue, Green was stalled in turn one for a caution. Green was able to re-fire
his mount but retired soon after the drop of the restart flag, completing 89
laps. Trimble had wrested second during the intense battle and was hoping to use
his ample speed to overcome Rescino but a lap 96 bump from behind caused him to
spin in turn one setting up a four lap dash to the finish. Rescino,
as he had in previous restarts, brought the field very slowly through turn
three, then quickly accelerated off turn four to resume his lead margin.
DeMartini, shreds of his damaged tail section flapping in the wind, tried his
best to retake the point over the scant few laps remaining but Rescino was the
first CASA sprinter to flash under the checkered flag, notching his 15th
career CASA win. DeMartini took second over Hopper, Baumgartner with a well
deserved fourth place effort, Trimble, with designs on a possible win, had to
settle for fifth and was the last car to complete the 100 lap distance. Local
star Amy Barnes placed sixth recording 99 laps in a solid run despite an
inordinate amount of exhaust fire belching from her #12 machine, Iacobitti
recovered to salvage seventh in his #71, Allen Beck ran eighth with 97 laps
completed and Joe Hauck completed 96 laps to net ninth. Green
was classified in 10th, Mitchell in 11th, Helberg 12th.
Eric Silsby struggled with the second Barnes entry and ran 60 laps to record 13th
place, Clough and Haxall rounded out the field in 14th and 15th
place respectively. After
five consecutive race weekends, CASA teams will enjoy a two week break in the
busy summer schedule, and reunite at Ukiah Speedway on August 20 to make up for
an earlier rainout in the spring. Make sure to check the new CASA schedule
reflecting this change by visiting www.casaracing.com
for more information on all CASA activities. 7-30-05 CASA Results QUALIFYING TROPHY
DASH 100
LAP MAIN EVENT POINT STANDINGS 7-30-05
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