BF's BS
By Bill Foland
04/21/02 ...Hello
once again from a "warming up" Mtn. View California. I will cover
the past few weekends of racing that climaxed with the Dave Bradway Jr.
Memorial race run last night. So without any further delay here we go….
Hanford is one of those places
that is usually very racy but can be follow-the-leader if is gets too crumbly
up top. A couple of weeks ago the main event turned into a freight train
on the bottom. The heat races were fairly good with some passes but it turned
out to be very difficult to pass later. After Jonathan Allard and
Brent Kaeding started in the front row, it looked to be an Allard
runaway as he scooted out to a commanding lead after just a few laps. Then,
disaster struck as Allard hit the infield berm exiting turn four and did
a slow rollover that ended his night.
Brent Kaeding was the benefactor
and parlayed that into a 26 lap romp to victory lane. Jason Meyers
looked to be on the move but a spin in front of him left him no place to
go and front end damage sent him to the pits where he would lose a lap.
Following BK across the line was Steve Kent, Peter Murphy,
Blake Robertson and Tim Kaeding who ran the top side up to
3rd until it all but wore out and he faded to 5th.
The next weekend it was off
to the picturesque Calistoga Speedway where the thin field of 21 cars and
even thinner crowd in the stands greeted the Golden State Challenge. The
wanted posters were all over the Fairgrounds looking for a lost boy from
the Pylant racing past. Luckily he turned up, unharmed and unfazed by the
"Beware of the White Mullett" posters. The old timers were also there, as
well as Jimmy Sills with his two-seater. After watching both Heather
Pylant and Melissa Tarlton strap into the car and take a few
laps on the speedway, I am sure they either have a newfound respect for
their husbands or were giving them pointers on how to get through traffic.
Their smiles were both huge when they exited the two-seater.
The heat races that night were
fairly uneventful except when Jim Skinner had a fuel line problem
and jumped out of his car on fire. Luckily there were a few quick thinking
drivers and pit crewmembers that pounced on him and put the fire out. The
main event was once again taken from the front row, although it was very
exciting as they weaved there way through traffic with Eric Rossi
picking up his first win of the year over Kevin Pylant, 13th starting
Jason Meyers, Brent Kaeding and Steve Kent. Congrats go out to some of the
true nice guys of the sport: Florie Fillipich and his gang including
Frank, Mike and Gene. Good job guys you really earned that one.
The following weekend was off
to Chico for a doubleheader, including a regular show on Friday night followed
by the Dave Bradway Jr. Race on Saturday night. The regular show got off
to the same way it has the past 6 weeks as Peter Murphy blew past the clocks
for fast time. Point Leader Jonathan Allard didn't make the A-Main after
contact in B-Main, lapped traffic with 4 laps to go, sent him to the back.
Jonathan made a strong bid to get into the top five but came up one car
short.
With a 6 invert, this put Tim
Kaeding, and young, up and coming, Chico regular, John Gray in the front
row. Tim is hard to beat at Chico when he starts in the last row, so when
given the front row it was over in turn one. He smoked the field as he endured
a few yellows and other stoppages including a major water leak in turn 1
and 2 half way through the event. The extra water actually made for an interesting
race, as the cars were actually able to hook up to the racing surface and
make some passes. All kidding aside the main event ended with Tim Kaeding
out front followed by John Gray, who scored a career best 2nd place
finish. The top five was rounded out by Rick Hirst, Ryan Flynn
and Peter Murphy.
The following night was the
coveted Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial Race with extra money, extra laps, and
extra high side passes, just the way Junior loved to race. The night started
out with Garrett Ishii attacking the clocks to score his first ever
fast time in one of the biggest upsets since Marv Webster won a NARC
race at Chico. Garrett banked a healthy $600 for the most surprising fast
time since Jim Taves took the honors a few Bradway races ago.
The heat races were fast and
furious as all but one car made it out of row three to transfer into the
40-lap headliner. Tommy Tarlton returned from a qualifying flip to
run third in his heat race from 7th. The past few weeks, there has been
a whole lot of complaining about the pill draws etc. in the Golden State
races. Here is my take on the whole thing… It basically comes down to two
things: 1. You must time in the top 12-14, then make it out of the heat
race, unless you are lucky enough to get the zero then it doesn't matter.
Are you following me?? 2. Be in the right spot at the right time. Last night
arguably the two fastest cars in the field started in the front row. The
zero must have been pulled right?? Wrong, it was the 10 and it would have
been interesting to see Tim Kaeding and Jason Meyers come from row 5 last
night because the probably would have done well anyway.
With Tim Kaeding and Meyers
in the front it more than likely spelled doom for the competition, but somebody
forgot to tell Brent Kaeding that, as he rocketed into the lead as Tim and
Jason jockeyed on lap one. Lap two got very close as Brent led entering
turns 3-4 and slid across the very racy and wide racing surface. As both
Meyers and Tim had a head of steam on the top they all met in the same place
with Meyers and Brent making contact, sending Brent high in the air and
Meyers with a broken front end. Brent was able to keep the lead with Tim
in 2nd as Meyers was able to get his front end changed quickly and return
to action without losing a lap (Great job goes to Preston Cross and
Darren Carter).
Peter Murphy was also involved
in a shunt early in the race and ended up with severe front-end damage and
he also was able to return to the fray with help from an additional yellow.
I counted no less than 26 guys from 9 different teams in there helping get
Peter out there and for that you guys should all be commended.
After the restart Brent led
Tim, as Brent was glued to the bottom of one and two, and Tim was dedicated
to the razor thin high scary side that he has made a trademark over the
past few years in Chico. Brent led until lap 14 when Tim made a high side
pass exiting turn 2 and drove out to a huge lead. The next time the yellow
flag flew, Tim had a hefty 6 lapped car advantage over Brent and a very
fast Craig Stidham, who was running a very tight low groove. When
the green light appeared again Brent disposed of the lapped car in 3 laps
and set his sight on Tim but wasn't able to gain ground.
A Red flag on lap 35 closed
the field up and allowed for fuel and adjustments to be done. It would have
been very close for some of these guys as I heard a few of them say they
had less than 5 gallons left. On the restart Brent took on last shot at
Tim but came up short in the end as Tim nailed the top side lap after lap
in a performance that would have made Dave Bradway Jr. come to victory lane
and give Tim a high five. Great job to Tim and the entire Wright One Construction
Team on a dream weekend.
Next week it is back to Watsonville
then onto Santa Maria for another doubleheader…..
BF' Notes: All-Star
winners over the past couple of weekends included, Jeff Shepard, Greg
Wilson, Lance DeWease and Gary Wright…Steve Kinser took
the Knoxville race and Danny Lasoski was very lucky that the following
night got rained out as he was in California for the IROC race that ran
long…Todd Shaffer and Tyler Walker won Gumout races in PA
and Illinois…Steve Kinser also took home top honors in Nebraska and Granite
City…Tyler Walker was able to do his patented endo on the front chute after
winning in a World Of Outlaws race at Sedalia, Mo…Lance DeWease took home
back to back weeks of Friday night races at Williams Grove…Todd Shaffer
also took home another trophy from Port Royal last weekend…Cris Eash
took top honors at Lincoln… Todd Hestor spanked the field this
past Saturday after Keith Kauffman had problems in traffic…The Allard
brothers have been strong at Chico with Jonathan and Stephen winning
on consecutive Friday nights...Johnny Rodriguez returned to victory
lane at Placerville a couple weeks ago, but Roger Crockett took home
the honors at the Civil War race the following week…Dave Lindt continues
to rack up wins at Petaluma as does the ageless Art McCarthy… Ricci
Faria and Tim Worth were victorious at Hanford the past 2 weeks…
Tony Hunt has caught fire winning two consecutive USAC Western States
races… Congrats to Doug Lippincott on finishing 5th in his first
ever USAC Sprint Car race over the weekend at Carson City…Joey Magaruh
returned to Placerville in winning fashion over the weekend…Michael
Dupuy, Travis Rilat and Garry Lee Maier all visited victory
lane on the very tough ASCS Tour…Congrats to Cliff Blackwell as his
young hot shoe Steven Williams won the BCRA race at Orland… J.J.
Yeley won a USAC sprint and midget race the same night in Cedar Rapids,
IA…Michael Lewis took home the gold in the Sparta, KY USAC midget
race…Glen Carson went to Eureka and came home a victor in the BCRA
ranks…Jon Stanbrough won the USAC Sprint car race at Terre Haute
after Dave Darland and Bud Kaeding flipped wildly out of the
racetrack in nearly identical spots. Darland returned to the track and Kaeding
went to the hospital for a possible eye problem. (Hope you feel better soon,
son we miss ya)…Tony Jones won at Ventura and Cory Kruseman
at Manzanita in SCRA competition….That is all I have for this week, I hope
to see you all at the races very soon….
BF
