BF's BS
By Bill Foland
07/07/02 ...Hello
once again from sunny, warm and sometimes sticky Mtn. View California. As
the 4th of July holiday weekend comes to a close, I will be writing about
what has been going on for the past several weeks as I have not written
in a while. First of all, my Beast pavement car is finally completed and
I will be going to test within the week and race in the next few weeks.
I am really looking forward to getting into this car and having some fun.
Hopefully I will be able to get into Altamont and do some testing then on
to Carson City and Stockton on consecutive weeks. I spent the past couple
of weeks going to the Tulare Thunderbowl, first for a Golden State-Rebel
Cup race, then a SCRA race on consecutive weekends.
Tulare is a neat place to watch
a race, whether it is from the infield or the grandstands there is hardly
a bad seat in the house. During the Golden State races, I only get to watch
the A-Main as I am in the pits selling parts. The A-main for the GSRS was
very good as Jason Meyers was on another planet and dominated the
race after passing Brent Kaeding early in the race. Jason seemed
to have everything under control but out of nowhere (13th starting) Eric
Rossi came on strong at the end but came up just a few feet short in
the rare 31 lap A-Main.
I said 31 laps because coming
down for the white flag Brent Kaeding and Brian Coelho came together
and sent Tim Kaeding flipping into the infield and out for the evening.
This bounced Tim from the points lead as now Jason Meyers holds the lead
over Tim and Brent. With only five races to go this should be very interesting
over the next three weeks.
The following weekend it was
back to Tulare for an SCRA race and it was good to see some old friends
from the non-winged ranks. Got to talk to Bruce Bromme and Richard
Griffin for a while, as they are both fine competitors and nice people
to talk to. Talked to Bruce about the fine art of front clips. Richard was
also very helpful in that capacity.
I hadn't seen Damion Gardner
and his fun group of guys for a while and it was great to see them including
Vinnie, Melissa, Brent and Kevin Urton. Also strolling through
the pits I cam across Rickie Gaunt who is just as entertaining as
ever. I haven't talked with him in a while and it was good to be able to
chat with him until he was summoned to his car by the ageless Evelyn
Pratt. ...Also good to see Cory Kruseman and talk to him for
a minute, I didn't get to see Carrie Kruseman, but she was always
nice to talk to in the past and hopefully next time I will get to see her.
Jeff Shaver from Shaver Specialties
is always good to see and have a joke or two with him. Now onto the races….
The races got off to a strange
start as the old timers were at the track doing their exhibition. I am going
to have to say that some of these guys are running faster than others and
when that happens there is trouble and this was no exception. As a car was
trying to exit the racetrack another car went to the outside and hoped his
wheel and sent him into the crash wall full force sideways with the driver's
head hitting the outside fencing. As this man slumped over the wheel, I
feared the worst. Luckily for this man his head hit the plywood fencing
and not the cement wall or the outcome would have been different. The man
came to after a minute or two and they took him to the hospital and it sounded
like he was going to be O.K.
I forgot how hard these non-wing
guys push their cars into the corner and the Thunderbowl is a fast track
and these guys were really pushing the cushion. Damion Gardner had a spectacular
heat race as he came from 7th to take the win in rim riding fashion with
an awesome 3rd to 1st run on a restart.
Mike Faria was very
impressive in his first ever non-winged start as he timed in well then made
transfer in his heat race before starting on the pole and leading the dash
until the final corner when John Scott stole the race coming out of turn
four.
At the start of the A-Main,
Damion Gardner once again showed why he has become a crowd favorite in SCRA
with a spectacular move going into turn one to go from 3rd to 1st in one
corner. The action behind Gardner was fast and furious as three wide racing
was common all over the finely prepared track. Gardner dominated the race
with Kruseman in second until lap 27 when Gardner slipped high in turn four
and contacted the wall and sent his car flipping wildly down the front straightaway
end over end then backwards before landing cage down on the racing surface.
Damion climbed out of his car O.K. but very upset over his change in fortune.
Cory Kruseman took over the
top spot and held it until contact between himself and Tony Jones
sent Cory upside down and collected 3rd running Rip Williams. With
only a couple of laps to go Jones took off on the start only to have serious
pressure from Richard Griffin who powered under Jones and went on to win
over Jones, impressive Bobby Graham, Rickie Gaunt and Steve Ostling.
Mike Faria ended up 7th and took home the bonus for highest finishing Golden
State regular.
Brian Coelho and Peter Murphy
also were on hand but Murphy had a night to forget and Coelho was impressive
with an 8th fast time then ran the B-Main before finishing 12th in the A-Main.
B.F.'s notes...Greg
Hodnett is arguably the hottest driver in the country right now and
has won 7 races in the past few weeks…Steve Kinser is on a hot streak
as of late also winning races in OK.City, Eagle and Huset's…Danny Lasoski
has kept pace with the King with wins at Topeka, Sedalia and Knoxville …This
4th of July week was upset week as John Ivy took an All-Star win
at Fremont, P.J. Chesson won a WoO race at Fargo, Brett Mann
a PA Speedweek race at Susquhanna, Mike Hess taking home the Hut
100 win at Terre Haute and Sean Becker and Doug Lippincott
winning their first races ever at Chico on consecutive weeks…Good to see
Paul McMahan back in victory lane at the All-Star event at KC, good
job Squirt!!!!…Billy Sellers returned to action at Placerville after
nearly 2 months off for a concussion and won in his first race back…J.J.
Yeley was dominant in the 4 Ohio double headers winning two midget and
two sprint cars races…Kasey Kahne won his first ever Super Dirt Cup
at Skagit a couple of weeks ago, congrats to Kasey, Willie and Killer….
That is all I have for this time, I hope to see you all at the races very
soon. And thanks to the people that have written to me looking for my column
and have mentioned it to me at the races, it means allot to me to know that
there are people out there reading this….
BF
