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Western
States Sprint Car Notes
by
Kerry Fasig
Western States Sprint
Car Notes- April 28, 2004
Madera Speedway kicked off the 2004 USAC
Western States Sprint Car Series
Saturday night April 24th with 27 cars
timing in. This number was down from last
years opener when 30 cars qualified. The
track record looked to be in danger as
2 or 3 cars flirted below the record in
practice.But when qualifing was over Tony Hunt
in the Western Speed #60 was fastest but
didn't break the track record, his time of
13.52 strangely enough was the same exact
time he turned last September19th when
he was second quick to Rick Hendrix's 13.46.
This allowed Tony to take an early lead
in the Earl's fast qualifier championship
points leading Chad Nichols, Brian McClish,
Michael Lewis, Chad Ede and Brad Bumgarner.
Heat race action saw Shauna Hogg take the
win in heat 1 over Nick Rescino Jr, Michael
Lewis, Michael Trimble and Tony Hunt all
transfering to the main.
Rookie Greg Anderson looked good picking up
the win in heat #2 over Destiny Hays
then came Chad Nichols, Anthony Simone and
Mark Monico. Heat #2 was also a tough
one as Chad Ede, Tim Barber and Randy Dubois
all left on the hook.
Heat race #3 was great as 9th starting Brian
McClish put on the show using the outside
groove that no one else was willing to use
and passed everyone including early leader
Michael Newman on the last lap. Mike
McCreary was third followed by Chuck Maddox
and Jeff Gardner.
The semi main was won by Brad Bumgarner over
Bryan Bullard, Tim Barber, Mike Murgoitio
Greg Taylor and Randy Dubois.
For the main event 8th quick Mark Monico and
7th fast Bryan Bullard were both in the
" I hope someone has a problem and
can't make the transfer department" so with Chad Nichols
having a brake rotor situation on the
Zarounian #67 and having to scratch and Chad Ede not
making it out of the semi, Monico and
Bullard shared the front row for the main event.
On lap one McClish made incidental
contact (climbed someone's right rear) and got airborne,
the landing was not smooth at all and
not only was the car hurt but so was Brian, the paramedics
wanted to take him to the hospital right
away, but Brian said he would go after the races.
So on the restart Lewis wasted no time
taking the lead, it took Hunt just a few more laps to pass
Bullard and then Monico for second. The
yellow flags then flew, 1 for a spin by Tim Barber in the
Pierson #14 and another for a spinning
Destiny Hays that collected Randy Dubois, that finished Randy's
first outing in the Scott #7 when his car
would'nt refire. Lewis and Hunt pulled away from field on
restarts, but Hunt didn't have enough to get
by. Anthony Simone spun and made contact
with the wall in turn 3 bringing out another
caution. With laps waning down Tony made a couple
of runs at Lewis, at one point almost
getting along side but he just didn't have enough racetrack
and couldn't complete the pass.Back in the
pack there was some really good racing going on,
12th starting Greg Anderson moved up to
finish 6th and Tim Barber came from the back of the
pack to finish 8th. So when the checkered
flag dropped Michael Lewis grabbed the win over
Tony Hunt. Bryan Bullard finished 3rd
matching the best finish of a Mike McCreary owned car
with Travis Johnson who finished 3rd at
Carson City in August of 2001. Brad Bumgarner and
Jeff Gardner completed the first five. Greg
Anderson, Michael Trimble, Tim Barber, Mark Monico
and Mike Murgoitio finished 6th thru 10th.
11th thru 15th were Shauna Hogg, Chuck Maddox
Destiny Hays and Michael Newman. Nick
Rescino Jr, Greg Taylor, Randy Dubois, Mike McCreary
Anthony Simone and Brian McClish rounded out
the field.
Point's after race1 show Michael Lewis -69
Tony Hunt-67 Bryan Bullard-56 Brad Bumgarner-56
Greg Anderson-53 Gardner-52 Trimble-47
Barber-41 Monico-40 and Shauna Hogg with 39.
With race #1 in the books this season really
looks to be exciting, with the large number of rookie
contenders - Anderson-Ede-Dubois- Hays-
Murgoitio all running good, it should add to the excitment
that the 2nd and 3rd year driver's bring
McClish- Bumgarner- Taylor- Maddox- Trimble- Barnes,
mixed in with the winner's and champions
Hogg- Nichols- Gardner- Hunt and Lewis this season is
really looking to be one of the best yet.
The next race is May 1st at Madera and I'll
fill you in after that.
Contact Kerry at kerrbear@jps.net
Webmaster@
jjmotorsportsnews.com
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