A spectacular evening of open-wheel racing came to a frightening finish at Madera Speedway on Saturday night.
Fast qualifier Tony Hunt, of Lincoln, had his work cut out for him after an invert of eight was drawn for the 50-lap USAC/CASA Sprint Car feature finale. It took the five-time USAC champion only 18 laps to work his way to the front of the 16-car field.
Due primarily to an abundance of yellow-cautions, Hunt was pressed throughout the remainder of the race by several drivers who traded the second place behind him including Kingsburg’s Tanner Swanson, San Francisco’s Nick Rescino and Rohnert Park’s Jo Jo Helberg.
Following the eighth caution of the night, the field once again took the green flag to start lap 48 when Placerville’s Richard Bailey got into the rear of Helberg going into turn one. Bailey’s car went end over end multiple times, crashed through the turn one cyclone fencing, down the slope of the track’s outer banking and landed on its side in the pit area.
The race was red flagged to a halt as officials, crewmembers and the emergency medical team rushed to the wreckage to tend to the stricken driver. Bailey was bloodied and sore, but conscious and coherent before being transported to a local hospital to be checked over.
Hunt was declared the winner at that point while series points leader Ryan Kaplan, of Chico, was credited with second and Kingsburg’s Tanner Swanson recovered from a solo spin on lap 37 to take third.
"That eight car invert and all those yellows really made us work hard tonight," said Hunt who now has eight career victories at Madera. "I love this track. It is real racy. It takes a lot of discipline to run well here, but you can go fast both high and low if you set the car up right."
Shannon McQueen, of Bakersfield, used her starting position on the pole to full advantage by going wire-to-wire in the 30-lap USAC Midget feature for her first ever career Midget victory.
"We struggled all day, but my crew told me it would be good and it was," said McQueen.
"They told me to drive the wheel off of it and that was exactly what I did."
The win did not come easy for McQueen. She was pressured hard by Hanford’s Michael Faccinto throughout the event which included five restarts following cautions, but McQueen drove flawlessly and Faccinto was forced to settle for second.
"I kept wondering ‘Good lord, how many more restarts are they going to throw at me,’" laughed McQueen. "My mind was going a little crazy, but we were able to hold it together."
Faccinto kept hoping McQueen would make a mistake on the slippery track to give him the opening he needed to get around her, but the opportunity never came.
"Shannon was really good tonight. She kept her line and was really smooth out front,"
said Faccinto, age 17. "I gave it everything I had, but I couldn’t catch her."
USAC Midget points leader Johnny Rodriguez, of Elk Grove, made a late race charge from fifth to take the final podium position.
Long tow Caitlin Shaw, of Albuquerque, NM, started from the pole of the 14 car USAC Ford Focus feature, but she was quickly passed by Corte Madera’s Tom Dyer and Fresno’s Tim Skoglund.
However, Dyer’s time at the front was short lived as Skoglund roared by him on the outside during the second lap.
Once Skoglund was out in front, he never looked back, easily leading for the remaining 28 laps of the race to take the victory. Nick Faas, of Huntington Beach, was able to get past Dyer just past the halfway point of the race and cruised home in second ahead of Dyer who hung on to salvage third.
"We got out front early and from there I just drove as hard as I can," said Skoglund, who now has four wins and six top five finishes in seven starts this season. "This race was short enough to go hard the entire distance without having to worry about wear on the car."
The 30-lap Ford Focus feature, which went caution free, was run in a lightning quick seven minutes and 23 seconds.
It was déjà vu all over again in the NCMA Sprint 30-lap feature, which also went the entire distance
under green in an almost identical time of seven minutes and 31 seconds.
Jimmy Lavell, of Brentwood, bolted from his third row starting spot to take the race lead from Manteca’s Michael Zarevich on the fourth lap and from there cruised unopposed to the checkered flag. Woodland’s Gary Koster ran second and Rob Hammond, of Morgan Hill, completed the NCMA Midget top three.
With his quick time in qualifying and his heat win earlier in the day, Lavell’s victory in the main gave him a clean sweep of the NCMA event.
Several of the winning drivers from the Quarter Midget Nationals, which had taken place earlier in the day at the 1/8-mile oval located right next door, were guests of the speedway in victory lane. The future stars included local drivers such as Visalia’s Derek Galante in the Senior Stock class and hometown ace Tyler Dolacki in Light 160 to drivers from across the nation such as Austin Kochenash of Danielville, PA in Light B and Indiana’s Justin Peck, a double victor in Junior Honda and Junior Stock.
Following a weekend off Madera Speedway will return to action on Saturday, July 21 with an action packed NASCAR Whelen Racing Series program featuring the Western Late Models going at it in the Iron Man 100 Shoot Out. In addition, the American Limited Stock Cars, Modified Super Toyotas, Legends, Toyota/Hornets and Pro 4/Super Trucks will all be racing at the "Fastest 1/3 Mile in the West."
The Madera Speedway is located at the Madera County Fairgrounds just off the west side of Highway 99 at the West Cleveland Avenue exit.
