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MOHAVE VALLEY STAR BRIAN SHORT $1,000 CANYON WIN

Lake Pleasant, AZ --

Mohave Valley Raceway star Brian Short struggled at the Nationals at his home track the previous week, but he charged to a $1,000 win in the second annual Arizona Dwarf Car Nationals Saturday night at Canyon Raceway. Midget star Mark Passerrelli entered the main looking for a clean sweep, but settled for second ahead of California invader Mark Chaves. Doug Shadd's win in the 20 lap super stock main gives him the track point lead with just one race left for that class. Pure Stock point leader Mark Williams followed up his Friday night second place with a win in the 15 lap main on Saturday night with Friday night winner Jeff Stafford second on Saturday night. The mini stocks raced on Friday night and Gene Povinelli continued his recent domination of that class with another feature win.

Dwarf cars from 8 states entered their rich Nationals event. On Friday, they were split into four heat races with the wins going to Passerrelli, defending race champion Howard Fergerson from Newark, CA, Warren Daniel and Jim Emede. Passerrelli capped that night's action by winning the Dash for Cash. On Saturday night, Chaves, Short and Peter Dozeman raced their way into the A Main by running 1-2-3 in the B Main. Aztec Speedway dominator Nick DeVilbiss from New Mexico was the early leader in the A Main after three restarts. The first restart came for a six car tangle. On the second, Colorado's J D Gardner hit the front wall and was done for the night. A two car tangle in turn 1 forced a third restart and the officials elected to go with a single file lineup. Finally, a lap was scored with DeVilbiss in front of defending race champion Fergerson. DeVilbiss led five laps, then Fergerson took over. Passerrelli and Short were dueling DeVilbiss for second. Short gained second on lap 9 and both he and Willy Grombach passed Fergerson for the 1-2 slots on lap 10. Short and Grombach staged a spectacular side by side duel with the top spot trading several times. Short gained the lead for good at the halfway point of the 30 lap main. Chaves took second from Passerrelli with 10 laps to go, but lost the spot back before the checkered flag. Short, Passerrelli and Chaves were trailed by Grombach, Fergerson, Dozeman, Al Ghioroso, Brad Hickson, DeVilbiss and Jim Wodiuk.

Joe Sarginger led the first 11 laps of the 20 lap super stock feature. After several yellow flags, the red fell on lap 15 when Ron Funk flipped off turn 2. He was unhurt, but his car was heavily damaged. Randy Boring had passed Sarginger for the top spot on lap 12. Boring blew a tire a lap later and Shadd led the remaining laps for the important win that elevated him into the point lead. Lonnie Foss ran second ahead of Sarginger, Mark Mann, Cliff Maggard, Boring and Funk. Heat winners were George Fronsman, Robert Beebe and Boring.

The pure stocks had two big nights of racing and point leader Williams did not hurt his spot with his 2nd and win. On Friday night, Williams raced into the early feature lead over Andy Wheat, Stafford and Chris Huneycutt. Stafford passed Williams on lap 8 and won the 15 lapper with Williams second ahead of Rob Munoz, Huneycutt, Wheat and Randy Pope. That night's heat winners were Munoz and Williams. Saturday night heat winner Pope raced into the feature lead ahead of Williams and Tom Thorpe. The race ran without a yellow flag and winner Williams established a new 15 lap track record. Williams and Stafford both passed leader Pope on lap 8. Williams and Stafford were trailed at the checkered flag by Huneycutt, David Glover, Wheat, Steve Bender and Sam Johnson. Thorpe and Williams joined Pope as Saturday night heat winners.

The mini stocks were on the Friday night card. Gary Hadler jumped into the feature lead. A four car tangle at the flagstand forced a lap 2 yellow. On the restart, Hadler was leading Mike Schmidt and Jodey Mericle. By lap 7, Povinelli had climbed into third. He passed Schmidt on lap 8 and Hadler on lap 9 to take over the top spot. Povinelli raced to the win ahead of Danny Shaffer, Schmidt, Mericle, Bill Moore Jr, Hadler and Bill Runo. Heat winners were Mark Dryer and Runo.

On Nov 5-6, the modifieds invade Canyon Raceway for a $5,000 to win special with a $15,000 purse. They even have practice nights slated for both Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Summary Oct 29

Mini Stock Heat 1-Mark Dryer. Heat 2-Bill Moore Jr. Main-Gene Povinelli, Danny Shaffer, Mike Schmidt, Jodey Mericle, Moore, Gary Hadler, Bill Runo, Dryer, Duane Perry, Russ Clark. Pure Stock Heat 1-Rob Munoz. Heat 2-Mark Williams. Main-Jeff Stafford, Williams, Munoz, Chris Huneycutt, Andy Wheat, Randy Pope, Steve Bender, Hillbilly Campbell, Peter Gilmore, Bryan Rarick. Dwarf Car Heat 1-Mark Passarrelli. Heat 2-Howard Fergerson. Heat 3-Warren Daniel. Heat 4-Jim Emede. Dash-Passerrelli.

Oct 30

Pure Stock Heat 1-Randy Pope. Heat 2-Tom Thorpe. Heat 3-Mark Williams. Main-Williams, Jeff Stafford, Chris Huneycutt, David Glover, Andy Wheat, Steve Bender, Sam Johnson, Terry Aschenbrenner, Rob Munoz, Hillbilly Campbell. Super Stock Heat 1-George Fronsman. Heat 2-Robert Beebe. Heat 3-Randy Boring. Main-Doug Shadd, Lonnie Foss, Joe Sarginger, Mark Mann, Cliff Maggard, Boring, Ron Funk, Fronsman, Dale Wall, Beebe. Dwarf Car B Main-Mark Chaves, Brian Short, Peter Dozeman. A Main-Short, Mark Passerrelli, Chaves, Willy Grombach, Howard Fergerson, Dozeman, Al Ghioroso, Brad Hickson, Nick DeVilbiss, Jim Wodiuk.

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