A WIN FOR ARIAZ AT ALTAMONT

Source: Debbie Shipherd
Date: 04/19/2004

TRACY, California -- Alum-Line's Pat Ariaz of Manteca won the main event at Altamont Motorsports Park on Saturday, April 17 from a front row start, taking the lead from pole starter John Silva of Tracy on the 1st lap, and holding off the hard charging Gordon Rodgers for the entire caution free 20 laps. Ariaz also took the win in the fast 6 lap heat race.

The chance of showers and the extremely cold and windy conditions forced Altamont's promoters to run a rain schedule, which meant that after qualifying, only trophy dashes and feature events would be run. With a small field of NCMA teams that braved the weather, all the drivers generously elected to run a 6 lap heat race instead of the dash to allow everyone to get some laps in before the feature event, and agreed to shorten the feature from 30 to 20 laps. This was a bit of a disappointment for rookie driver John Silva, who qualified his Dan's Racer Safety sprint car fast enough to run in his 1st NCMA trophy dash. Another personal victory for the evening was the qualifying time for Manteca's Michael Zarevich, who clocked in under a 20 second lap time for his 1st time at Altamont's fast 1/2 mile track. Winton's Gordon Rodgers clocked in with an amazing fast time of 18.506.

After the trophy dashes, Altamont's promoters scheduled a special Kid's Night event with all of the drivers going in to the infield to throw autographed stuffed animals to the kids in the stands, which was a bit of a challenge in the strong wind, but a treat for the fans. Prior to the main event, a stroll though the pits was eerily quiet, as most crews were huddled in their trailers trying to stay warm.

Fast qualifier Rodgers pulled a 3rd invert, putting John Silva and Pat Ariaz on the front row. Silva jumped into the lead at the green, but was overtaken by Ariaz on lap 1, and Rodgers pulled into 2nd on lap 2. J& J Dairy's Ed Amador passed Silva smootly on lap 6, moving into 3rd. Rodgers made several attempts at passing Ariaz in lapped traffic, but Ariaz held him off, and at the checkers it was Ariaz, Rodgers, Modesto's Ed Amador, John Silva, and Contra Costa Auto Part's Keith Shipherd in the top 5.

The NCMA Spec Sprints will be racing again on dirt at Chowchilla Speedway's 1/3 mile track on Saturday, April 24. This will be the 2nd race in the West Coast Select Series, a series of 6 races open to all Spec Sprint legal cars, following the NCMA rules, and with a special point fund. Drive safe, have fun, and take care.

Fast Qualifier: Gordon Rodgers 18.506

Heat 1: Pat Ariaz, Ed Amador, Gordon Rodgers, John Silva, Steve Amador, Keith Shipherd, Michael Zarevich, Burt Siverling

Main Event: Pat Ariaz, Gordon Rodgers, Ed Amador, John Silva, Keith Shipherd, Steve Amador, Michael Zarevich, Burt Siverling

See Also .:

• Altamont Motorsports Park Track Page

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