After a major incident on lap 18 that took out leaders David Furia and Rick Rose, Bob Strauss of Lucerne inherited the lead and drove to victory for the second consecutive time in the modified feature event at the Lakeport Speedway Saturday night. Rose protested the Strauss win, and pending an appeal to the Northern California Racing Association board of directors, Lakeport's Terry McIntire inherited the trophy in the 9th annual NCRA Founder's Cup Race.
In other action, Dale Preston of Kelseyville made an outside pass on Rod Gard on the 22nd lap and went on to collect his second straight season win in the mini stock ranks, Chuck Egger of Middletown held off the challenges of Ruben Serrano and Jeremy Nowlin to bag his first career win in the bomber division, and 16 year old Julie Sylva of Kelseyville set a new track record and posted a clean sweep in the NCI-4 modified sector.
Twenty modifieds clocked in with 19 taking the green flag in the main event. Pole Setter Danny Bishop led the way the first six laps but got caught behind slow traffic allowing Shawn Bertram, Rick Rose, Aaron Hicks and Jim Whaley to slip by. Bertram drifted high and hit the wall on lap nine handing the lead to Rose. Rose and Hicks drove side-by-side the next four rounds, but Hicks faded allowing Thomas Wright and David Furia to gain position.
Lap 16 saw the action slowed when Gary Lowblad hit the wall, and on the restart, Hicks tagged Wright and Wright slapped the front stretch wall. Two laps later Furia pulled ahead of Rose, and in an effort to regain the lead, Rose drove into turn three too hard, making contact with Furia and both shot hard into the wall. With no where to go, Pat Hinchcliff drove over the top of the Rose car and all three cars were towed to the pits. This left Strauss and Terry McIntire in the front row on the restart, and Strauss lead the way to the checkered flag. McIntire finished second ahead of Chuck Smithhart, Danny Bishop and Mark Marek.
Once again seven modifieds clocked in under the new track record with Thomas Wright the fastest at 12.628 seconds. McIntire turned a 12.668, Strauss and Rose turned identical times of 12.688, Furia's time was 12.750, Aaron Hicks set a 12.786 and Pruett clocked in at 12.807. This time all cars were deemed legal and Wright was awarded the new record. Rose won the trophy dash and heat wins went to Don Miller, Bertram, and Pruett.
Fifteen mini stocks started their 30 lap feature with Ron KeKeyser III and Glenn Koeppel running side-by-side the first 9 laps. Keoppel lost ground on the outside, allowing Rod Gard to take over second and Kelly Gray to slip into third. A confrontation between Andrew Snider the Kevin Barba slowed the action, and when racing resumed Gard took control. Kelly Gray made an outside run and passed Gard for the lead on lap 15 with Robert Schmidt following him to the front.
Gray's car pushed high on lap 16 and he slapped the wall, giving the lead to Schmidt. Gard rebounded and stole the number one spot back on the 19th round, but Preston was on the prowl and drove around the leader for the win on lap 22. Dean Reep got around Gard on 28, and at the checkered it was Preston, Reep, Gard, Snider and Peter Unruh.
Heat wins went to Ericka Scatena and Peter Unruh, Snider captured the dash, and Dale Preston's new track record of 13.793 was disallowed due to rule infractions on his car.
The bomber division continues to grow and the action continues to be hot and heavy. The main event was slowed on the first lap when outside pole setter Kenny Grinols spun in front of on-coming traffic and was clipped by Sean Sweeney and Mark Maines. John Hadley took control when racing began again, but two laps later Hadley and second place runner Eddie Robinson tangled with Robinson hitting the wall in turn two. This left Ruben Serrano in the lead with Egger second and Pete Stillman third.
Serrano and Egger ran side-by-side the next nine laps and Egger inched ahead of Serrano at the line just before the race was red-flagged when Kevin Waycik's car hit the wall and burst into flames. Waycik and passenger escaped without injuries but the car was out for the night.
Egger led the way the next seven laps with Jeremy Nowlin driving under Serrano for second on 20. Two laps later Serrano and Bernie Simpson made contact and spun with Robinson joining the melee. The race was stopped with the win going to Egger. Nowlin finished second, Mark Maines was third, Pete Stillman fourth and Chuck Pruett fifth. Nowlin and Stillman were disqualified for failing to stop in the claim area.
Arlene Pruett captured the semi main event over Michael Bishop and Nick Kirby. Maines set fast time of 14.942, Nowlin won the dash and heat wins went to Kirby, Serrano and Sean Sweeney.
In special events action the ladies reigned over the gentlemen with another track record being set by Julie Sylva and then taken away due to rules infractions. Sylva went on the win the dash, the fast heat and the main event. Janice Buschiazzo won the other heat race and the top three main event finished were female.
The race began with Tiger Fernandez and Robert Snow battling for position until the first yellow on lap four. The restart saw Fernandez fade on the outside with Mike Wilke moving into second and Sylva third. Sylva picked off Wilke on the ninth go-round and stole the lead from Snow on lap 12. Janice Buschiazzo worked her way into the fourth spot and inherited third when Wilke's car slowed.
With only one lap to go, Snow lost control and spun in turn four and the finish order was Julie Sylva, Janice Buschiazzo, Gina Buschiazzo, John Barker and Fernandez. The NCI-4 modifieds return to Lakeport Speedway on June 3.
Junior trophy presenters were Ashley Gavazza, 4, of Clearlake, Evan Smith, 10, of Sacramento, Tyler Wilds, 4, of Lakeport and Rodney Gard, 6, of Lakeport.
Racing resumes at the Lakeport Speedway next Saturday night, May 6, with the BCRA non-winged midgets joining the NCRA modifieds, mini stocks and bombers.
MODIFIEDS
NEW TRACK RECORD: Thomas Wright, 12.628 NTR
Trophy Dash: Rick Rose, Terry McIntire, Bob Strauss, Wright
Heat 1: Don Miller, Billy Stillman, Jerald Christensen, Freedom Hawthorne, Chuck Smithhart, Gary Gossner
Heat 2: Shawn Bertram, Jim Whaley, Danny Bishop, Pat Hinchcliff, Gary Lowblad, Doug Denton, Mark Marek
Heat 3: Chuck Pruett, David Furia, Wright, Strauss, McIntire, Rose, Aaron Hicks
Main Event: Strauss (pending appeal), McIntire, Smithhart, Bishop, Marek, Stillman, Whaley, Christensen, Hawthorne, Hicks, Gossner, Bertram, Rose, Furia, Hinchcliff, Wright, Miller, Pruett, Lowblad
MINI STOCKS
Fast Time: Dale Preston, 13.793
Trophy Dash: Andrew Snider, Kevin Barba, Preston, Dean Reep
Heat 1: Ericka Scatena, Doug Turner, Glen Koeppel, Justin Offenbach, Shawna Bouscal, Rod Gard, Ron DeKeyser III
Heat 2: Peter Unruh, Snider, Preston, Barba, Reep, Kelly Gray, John Gregory
Main Event: Preston, Reep, Gard, Snider, Unruh, Barba, Robert Schmidt, DeKeyser, Koeppel, Offenbach, Gregory, Gray, Scatena, Turner
BOMBERS
Fast Time: Mark Maines, 14.942
Trophy Dash: Jeremy Nowlin, Chuck Pruett, Maines, Don Baker
Heat 1: Nick Kirby, Darrin Knight, Michael Bishop, Peggy Hawthorne, Arlene Pruett, Cassie Sterrett
Heat 2: Ruben Serrano, Pete Stillman, Chuck Egger, Kevin Waycik, Richard Hadley, Kenny Grinols, Eddie Robinson
Heat 3: Sean Sweeney, Chuck Maves, Nowlin, C. Pruett, Maines, Bernie Simpson, Baker
Semi Main: Arlene Pruett, Bishop, Kirby, Knight, Jason Mincey, Sterrett, Hawthorne
Main Event: Egger, Maines, C. Pruett, Maves, Baker, A. Pruett, Kirby, Knight, Serrano, Simpson, Robinson, Waycik, Sweeney, Bishop, Hadley, Grinols
NCI4 MODIFIEDS
Fast Time: Julie Sylva, 13.553
Trophy Dash: Sylva, Jon Hasland, Shelton Evans, Mike Wilke
Heat 1: Janice Buschiazzo, John Barker, Tiger Fernandez, Robert Snow, Virgil Cokeley, Pat Wilkins
Heat 2: Sylva, Mark Tante, Evans, Hasland, Gina Buschiazzo, Wilke
Main Event: Sylva, Janice Buschiazzo, Gina Buschiazzo, Barker, Fernandez, Evans, Darryl LeVier, Snow, Wilke, Hasland, Watkins, Tante
