Northern California Racing Association closed the 20th century with a very strong 34th season at Lakeport Speedway. The quarter mile paved oval, located at the Lake County Fairgrounds, hosted the largest auto racing event in Lake County during the 10th Annual KXBX October Classic. A record number of 175 cars and drivers filled the pits with eight divisions of race cars competing in the three-day event. Oregon's Willie Thompson led all 60 laps to gain the $1500 win in the modified feature and also captured the Tri-Western Challenge championship which was a three-race series between Lakeport, Shasta Speedway and Redwood Acres Raceway. Thompson held off Chuck Pruett the entire distance for the win, and three-time October Classic winner Bob Strauss set the fast time for the event with a 13.062 second lap and worked his way through traffic to a third place finish.
The late model segment of the October Classic saw Mike Doss of Ukiah in a near clean sweep as he set fast time, won his heat race and led all 50 laps to capture the Danny Rose Memorial. Mike Rose finished second and three-time event winner Tony Perdue ran third. Steve Peirce and Robert Loucks, both of Ukiah, were also winners in the bomber and mini stock division, and 15 year old Julie Sylva of Kelselyville set fast time and held off all competitors to capture the I-4 modified feature.
Other winners in the October Classic included Tracy's Dennis Alegre with a clean sweep in the mini-cup action, and future star Jeremy Wood, also from Tracy, who paced all 20 rounds to win that main event. Legends Cars star Mark Bailey set fast time and held off Joey Zampa the entire 40 laps to lay claim to the Legends Car portion of the October Classic.
The NCRA points season began in April with 112 drivers in four divisions running for points throughout the course of the 20-race season.. Rick Rose led the way in modified feature wins, but it was Bryan Denton who captured his first modified championship. Denton set fast time 14 times and won four feature events. Rose was credited with nine modified wins including the Deake Lyndall Memorial and the NCRA Founder's Cup Race. Two-time feature winners included David Sullivan and Chuck Pruett. Single wins went to Steve DeKeyser, Terry McIntire, Mike Smithhart and 17 year old rookie driver Jamie Piccolotti.
The street stock division converted to late models in 1999 and a shortage of cars resulted. Three teenage drivers finished in the top three in points with Kevin Estep, 16, winning the championship. Rookie driver Jeremy Hopkins, 19, finished second and 16 year old Freedom Hawthorne ended up in third place.
Lakeport joined Ukiah Speedway in the Lakeport-Ukiah Late Model Challenge and the overall winner in that series was Junior Roddy. Mike Doss finished fourth in NCRA points and second in the two-track series.
Doss enjoyed three season wins with Estep and Hopkins both claiming two. Chris Straka, Rob Halstead and Gary Lowblad also claimed two victories each, and single wins went to Jim Stillman, Jr. and Bon Barnes.
Bomber graduate Dale Preston was the man on top of the mini stock division with six feature wins taking him to his first championship. Defending champion Pat Hinclciff ran a limited schedule in 1999 but still managed to set fast time six times and bag five main events. 1997 mini stock champ Kevin Ostern won three features and Rookie of the Year Kelly Gray paced the field for two wins. Dusty Barton and Dan Turner collected one victory each.
The two-man bomber division continues to grow with 30+ drivers competing in regular season action. Veteran driver Todd Coburn collected his first bomber championship but it was defending bomber champ Kevin Schafer who won six features to Coburn's four. The team of Jeremy Nowlin and Mark Marek also collected four wins and Mark Maines was a two-time victor. Winning one feature each were Virgil Cokeley, Mike Sullivan, Rookie of the Year Kevin Minassian, and Don Baker. Street Stock driver Tim Bedford put a second seat in his car and a clean sweep in the 4th annual "Bomber Bash."
The season was spiced up with several special events that included the Legends Cars, NCI-4 Modifieds, mini cup cars, future stars, and the B.C.R.A. Midgets
The 2nd Annual Pepsi-INEX Spring Nationals for Legends Cars saw Mark Bailey set fast time over the 40 car field, and feature wins went to Pacifica's Jim Laughlin III in the Semi Pros division and Washington's J.R. Ray in the Pros class. Other winners during the season in the Legends Cars ranks were Gary Hockman, Bailey and Joey Zampa.
NCI-4 modified racing was dominated this year by Lakeport's Darly LeVier of Lakeport who won five of the seven regular races held at Lakeport. The other two feature winners were Julie Sylva and Mike Wilke.
With the Mini Cup Cars splitting into two groups, adults and future stars, more interest seems to be building in this division and there were different feature winners with each visit. Jim Pestana, Dennie Alegre and Jason Jess earned main event wins in the adult group, and Future Stars winners included Nicholas Boxwell, Jeremy Wood and Gerald Crawford.
It's always a pleasure to host the Bay Cities Racing Association midgets at Lakeport, and this year was no exception. The small, powerful cars brought good competition to the quarter-mile and Sterling Pratz set the new track record for non-winged midgets at 12.064 seconds. But it was Thomas Meseraull of Mill Valley won collected both feature wins in 1999 with spectacular late-race charges for the lead.
The Midgets, along with the Mini Cup Cars, Legends Cars, and NCI-4 Modifieds are scheduled to compete again in 2000. NCRA has released its Late Model division to special events coordinator Blair Aiken and it will be running at Lakeport under the banner of Airport Auto Brokers Late Model Series. NCRA modifieds, mini stocks and bombers will run every Saturday night April 15th through Agust 26th.
