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| Press Release |
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NCMA At
Altamont |
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September 30, 2006...Jimmy Lavell has been the master of the Altamont Half Mile this year and tonight was no exception. The refurbished track has been an exciting venue for the Northern California Modified (sprint car) Association this season and it was very fitting that the last race of 2006 was held there. The format for the evening was a little different than usual. Qualifying was held with Michael Zarevich setting fast time. Jimmy Lavell was second quick. This is very relevant if you have kept up with the NCMA pavement points. Zarevich was six points ahead of Lavell and Lavell was four ahead of Gary Koster going into this evening’s race. There were no heat races. Each class running tonight had Trophy Dashes with the four top qualifiers and then main events. The Dash consisted of Pat Ariaz on the pole. Ariaz who has been the Pavement champion of NCMA for several years has had some rough going this year. Ed Amador who is also an NCMA champion was outside of Ariaz. Lavell and Zarevich made up the second row. Ariaz never missed a beat tonight and just cruised that track like he owned it! He started in the front and ended in the front. In fact nobody switched a spot. It was very close and very competitive. Altamont saved the best for last as a dozen wingless 360 sprints took the green flag for a twenty -five lap main event. Burt Siverling and Steve Amador brought the thundering herd around. S. Amador got on it a little too hard and his horse did not getty-up and go causing Ed Amador and Lavell to catch the brunt of it. Not enough to take them out but enough to cause a few handling problems. On the restart S. Amador again had problems and Siverling shot out to the front and led several laps. No problems and the race was on. After very few laps in the book, Ariaz was leading the way. By midway, Ariaz and Jeff Burrows, Lavell, Zarevich and Siverling were the top five. There were races within races all around the track. The worst happening of the evening was when Burrows brought out the only caution after his engine just let go. It was later attributed to the bad wreck he had on September 10 breaking his rear end and cracking the crank, this caused the failure tonight. He did run up in the front for the 22 laps he raced. The next four laps were spent with Ariaz and Lavell fighting it out. Lavell and Zarevich got stuck on the inside behind a lap car and Ariaz whipped his #XX out and around him. Turn around is fair play and Ariaz got just a little too wide and Lavell dove in to take the lead. Ariaz tried to get the number one spot again but couldn’t quite cut it. Lavell took the win. Ariaz was second, Zarevich finished third. Ed Amador was fourth and Bill Zarevich rounded out the top five. Kudos to Denny Burrell!! He was still working on his race car and finally arrived at the track in time to make the main event and ran well. Very Special thanks go to AlumLine Trailers, Sunny Valley Smoked Meats of Manteca, Stockton Wheel, Stockton, Steves Construction of Escalon, and Mt. Mikes Pizza of Manteca for putting together a fenominal $1000. purse for this evening’s efforts. The winner took home $600 and the rest was disbursed all the way down the line. Thank you! Summary: Dash: Ariaz, Ed Amador, Lavell, M. Zarevich. Main: Lavell, Ariaz, M.Zarevich, ed Amador, B. Zarevich, S. Amador, Gary Koster, Burt Siverling, Rob, Hammond, Jeff Burrows, Dennie Burrell, Mark Amador. |
