RODGERS SCORES WIN AT ALTAMONT

Source: Debbie Shipherd
Date: 04/06/2004

Gordon Rodgers of Winton won the 25 lap feature at Altamont Motorsports Park on Saturday, April 3 from his front row starting spot, taking the lead from J & J Dairy's Ed Amador around lap 6 and holding it to the checkers with hard charging TBS's Scott Holloway on his tail. Rodgers also took the trophy dash win in his first visit with the NCMA in a number of years.

Bill Zarevich of Lathrop took over driving duties for Sam Davies and had a great run, winning his heat race from a front row start. Bill's son Michael ran in the same heat race, a first time for the father and son drivers. Modesto's Ed Amador won his heat race and held off fast qualifier Alum-Line's Pat Ariaz.

The freezing Altamont winds cooled off the track drastically and made chassis set up a challenge for many teams. The Holloway team was the first to experience problems, qualifying while running on only 6 cylinders. The crew was busily making repairs wearing allergy masks, making it look as if they were performing surgery. The Holloway team missed their heat race, but made it out for the trophy dash as an alternate when the Shipherd team had to scratch from the dash with front end repairs underway from a heat race incident.

J & J Dairy's Ed Amador took the lead at the green in the feature, Rodgers overtook him early in the race, and TBS's Scott Holloway progressed up the field. 420 Garage's Shipherd pulled in to the pits with handling problems from heat race damage, and by lap 12 the leaders began lapping traffic. Charging hard to overtake Holloway in second, Alum-Line's Ariaz clipped the wall on the back straight, then lost a wheel on the front straight, with Manteca's Michael Zarevich spinning to avoid hitting him. New driver John Silva powered his Dan's Racer Safety sprinter in a smooth line, keeping up with the fast paced leaders, and at the checkers, it was Rodgers, Holloway, Amador, Silva, and Bill Zarevich in the top five. The NCMA sprints will have the next weekend off for Easter, and return to Altamont on Saturday, 4/17, followed by the 2nd race in the West Coast Select Series on Saturday, 4/24 at Chowchilla Speedway. Drive safe, have fun, and take care.

Summary: Fast Qualifier: Pat Ariaz 18.938 Heat 1: Ed Amador, Pat Ariaz, John Silva, Burt Siverling Heat 2: Bill Zarevich, Gordon Rodgers, Michael Zarevich, Keith Shipherd Dash: Gordon Rodgers, Scott Holloway, Pat Ariaz, Ed Amador Main: Gordon Rodgers, Scott Holloway, Ed Amador, John Silva, Bill.Zarevich, Burt Siverling, Michael .Zarevich, Pat Ariaz, Keith Shipherd

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