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| Press Release |
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FACCINTO SWEEPS VETERANS By Dan Fleisher |
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August 25, 2007 --- Event #12 in SCRA’s 360 c.i. non-winged Sprint cars series produced a cornucopia of stories to focus on, starting with rookie Michael Faccinto’s thrilling victory over a host of seasoned veterans. The 16-year-old hometown (Hanford, CA) fan-favorite not only out-dueled Danny Faria Jr. to win the 30-lap feature, he captured his heat event and the Passing Masters Dash, this coming moments after finishing second in the 30-lap BCRA Midget feature. Faccinto showed the patience of a veteran as he dogged pole-sitter Faria for the first 23 laps before barreling around to take the point. Faria, making his first appearance in the 2005 championship winning car formally driven by Chad Boesfplug, (story number two) had the apparent victory in hand as the laps rolled by but he used up his tires while setting a blistering pace, and no longer had the grip necessary to hold off the charging Faccinto. Faria stated in victory circle that the Bob Gatten owned machine is For Sale and that he wanted to impress potential buyers the potential and capability of the car. Story number three was car owner Tom Tarlton’s sixth visit to the winner’s circle in 2007 (Peter Murphy has the other five). Tarlton recognized the natural raw talent and exuberance of youth in Faccinto, grabbed him up and has provided him with a highly-tuned, potent machine. In only six starts this year, Faccinto has recorded three heat wins in addition to last night’s Dash and Feature wins, and has finished in the top-five on four occasions. He has now jumped to 11th in the standings with 354 markers. Davey Pombo (story number four) took the “place” position on the podium after a frustrating, yet rewarding night. He qualified second-quick, but was DQ’d for failing to weigh-in after the run. His chances of transfering to the Dash, guaranteeing a starting position no lower than sixth in the main, went out the window. Relegated to the 12th starting position in the feature, he moved to seventh after ONE lap. From there, the hard-charging Pombo moved to fifth on lap four, fourth the following lap, third on lap nine and finally passed the fading Faria on lap 26. Peter Murphy (story number five) appeared to have a huge chance of stretching his season-long point lead over Pombo after posting quick time of 16.309. He transferred to the Dash where he finished fifth, securing that starting position in the feature. With Pombo starting seven spots further back, things looked promising for the Aussie. However, on the lap five restart after T.J. Hartman and Jerry Wise’s tangle in turn two brought out yellow flag, Murphy inadvertently bumped Richard VanderWeerd in turn two and spun himself out. He joined the back of the pack after replacing his rear tires and rebounded from 14th to finish a respectable fifth. Sandwiched in between Murphy and Faria was Jeff Gardner, who continues to impress everyone with his consistent top-five finishes, this being his sixth. Gardner is running a strong fourth in the point’s battle. John Niggli (story number six) suffered the same fate as Pombo when he failed to take his car to the weigh-station after a strong seventh quick qualifying time. Failing to transfer out of his heat (he finished fifth and only four transfer) the Tulare teenager started “shotgun” on the field (20th) but feverously worked his was through the field to finish a improbable but impressive sixth, his highest finish in several weeks. Rounding out the top-ten were Justyne Hamblin, Jonathan Logan (who was also DQ’d for the time trial violation) Rusty Carlile and John Iturriria. With only four events remaining, Murphy (870) maintains his 80-point lead over Pombo’s 790 (both earned 65) while Carlile (690) dropped 19 points further back in third. Gardner (639) only lost five points on the evening to the two leaders, but gained 14 on Carlile. Logan, last season’s champion, remains in fifth with 577. SCRA returns to action on Saturday September 8th and 15th, and then concludes the season with the two-day Dirt Nationals on September 28/29. All events will be contested at Kings Speedway in Hanford, CA. RESULTS: QUALIFYING: #21 Peter Murphy 16.039, #11 Greg Bragg 16.931, #23 Jerry Wise Jr. 17.033, #17 Myles Bishop 17.081, #14 Adam Frith-Smith 17.092, #10 Richard VanderWeerd 17.263, #21t Michael Faccinto 17.299, #27 John Iturriria 17.321, #98 Danny Faria Jr. 17.371, #2f Jace VanderWeerd 17.441, #51t Jeff Gardner 17.580, #28 Dave Knott 17.684, #51 Rusty Carlile 18.054, #59 Richard Harvey Jr. 18.757, #8 Justyne Hambin 18.807, #19 T.J. Hartman 18.915, #17x Doug Gandy 19.110, #38 Davey Pombo 16.658 DQ’d, #7 John Niggli 17.172 DQ’d, #32 Jonathan Logan 17.216 DQ’d EXTREME MUFFLERS HEAT #1 10-Laps Carlile, Gardner, Pombo, Murphy, Iturriria, Hartman, Frigh-Smith DNF KAEDING PERFORMANCE/KEIZER WHEELS HEAT #2 10-Laps Knott, Bragg, Faria, R. VanderWeerd, Niggli, Gandy SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT #3 10-Laps Faccinto, Hamblin, Bishop, Logan, J. VanderWeerd, Wise RIDDELL ENT. DASH 6-Laps Faccinto, Faria, R. VanderWeerd, Bragg, Murphy, Bishop KEIZER RACING WHEELS, ALTERNATIVE STITCHWEAR, BR MOTORSPORTS, MATT & GLASS, STINGER CHASSIS MAIN 30-Laps Faccinto, Pombo, Faria Jr., Gardner, Murphy, Niggli, Hamblin, Logan, Carlile, Iturriria, R. VanderWeerd, Frith-Smith, Hartman, Gandy, Bishop, Harvey, Bragg, Wise, Knott TOP 20 POINT STANDINGS: Peter Murphy 870, Davey Pombo 790, Rusty Carlile 690, Jeff Gardner 639, Jonathan Logan 577, John Niggli 509, Justyne Hamblin 501, Richard Harvey Jr. 472, Myles Bishop 404, Kiwi Alexander 382, Michael Faccinto 354, John Iturriria 284, Kevin Barnes 254, Greg Bragg, 235, Adam Frith-Smith 231, Albert Pombo 206, Ryan Kaplan 190, Dave Knott 163, Danny Faria Jr. 151, Matt Day 144 |
