Kaplan conquers Altamont in USAC Western Midget go – By Bobby Gerould – June 17, 2006 – Tracy, CA. …Ryan Kaplan won the 30-lap USAC Western Midget feature event Saturday evening at Altamont Motorsports Park. Kaplan had just started to apply pressure to race leader Bradley Galedrige late in the run when Galedrige’s car puffed smoke and came to a stop safely in the infield despite throwing oil onto the track. Galedrige made a ‘professional save’ to avoid losing control of his machine when the under hood issues began suddenly on lap 24.

Kaplan assumed the lead and ran away from the remaining competitors to post to a convincing 8.4 second win. It was his first victory of 2006 after posting two wins last season the USAC Western Midget Series. He was followed at the Altamont checkered flag by Chase Barber, and Kody Swanson, a pair of rookies who raced impressively. Tony Hunt and Jerome Rodela finished fourth and fifth respectively. Scott Pierovich, Tyler Brown, Garratt Boyden, and Stuart Birkinbine were next in line at the finish.

Rodela and Bradley Galedrige won heat races. Swanson, making his midget driving debut, set a new one-lap track record for midgets on the half-mile paved oval. Swanson drove the Western Speed #60 around the track in 17.203 seconds for an average speed of 104.633 MPH.

Alfred Galedrige, the 16 year-old younger brother of Bradley Galedrige, made his pavement midget debut. He was running second in the feature on lap 13 when he suffered a mechanical failure on his TGIC Importers #26.

In the companion USAC Ford Focus California Pavement series 25 lap feature, Jace Maier of Las Vegas, NV. was the winner. The ‘Focii” ran on the inner quarter-mile. Maier said, “This was a team effort. We fought through the adversity of not qualifying well and came out with a win.”

Laura Poorter of Amsterdam, Holland finished second, and series points leader Michael Faccinto was third. Paul Zimmerly, and Levi Roberts completed the top-five finishers. Nic Faas was sixth, followed by Garrett Peterson, Cameron Veach, Chris Veach, and Laura Hayes.

Next up for the midgets of USAC’s Western Series is a stop at Bakersfield Speedway, (Oildale, CA.) Saturday June 24, 2006.

USAC WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2005 – Tracy, California – Altamont Motorsports Park

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kody Swanson, 60, Western Speed-17.203; 2. Ryan Kaplan, 21, Kaplan-17.234; 3. Tony Hunt, 4, Rosen-17.392; 4. Bradley Galedrige, 29, Galedrige-17.407; 5. Alfred Galedrige, 26, Galedrige-17.512; 6. Garratt Boyden, 42, Boyden-17.539; 7. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich-17.580; 8. Chase Barber, 91, Barber-17.725; 9. Jerome Rodela, 5, VanDyne-17.789; 10. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-17.994; 11. Tyler Brown, 34, Brown-18.139; 12. Stuart Birkinbine, 02, Birkinbine-18.654; 13. Dallen McKenney, 88, McKenney-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Rodela, 2. Pierovich, 3. Brown, 4. A.Galedrige, 5. Hunt, 6. Swanson. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. B.Galedrige, 2. Kaplan, 3. Barber, 4. McQueen, 5. Boyden, 6. Birkinbine. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Ryan Kaplan, 2. Chase Barber, 3. Kody Swanson, 4. Tony Hunt, 5. Jerome Rodela, 6. Scott Pierovich, 7. Tyler Brown, 8. Garratt Boyden, 9. Stuart Birkinbine, 10. Bradley Galedrige, 11. Alfred Galedrige, 12. Shannon McQueen. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Boyden, Laps 5-24 B.Galedrige, Laps 25-30 Kaplan.

NEW WESTERN MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Rodela-442; 2-Brown-423; 3-Barber-368; 4-Garrett Hansen-312; 5-Chris Rahe-308; 6-Greg Bragg-306; 7-Matt Mitchell-303; 8-McQueen-247; 9-Boyden-237; 10-Pierovich-218.

NEXT WESTERN MIDGET CAR RACE: June 24 – Bakersfield (CA) Speedway

USAC CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS PAVEMENT SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2006 – Tracy, California – Altamont Motorsports Park

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Michael Faccinto, 4, Scelzi-13.390; 2. Nic Faas, 17, Faas-13.395; 3. Paul Zimmerly, 8, Sutton-13.582; 4. Levi Roberts, 42, Sutton-13.584; 5. Laura Hayes, 27, Hayes-13.613; 6. Ian Miille, 3, Sutton-13.627; 7. Laura Poorter, 32, Maier-13.694; 8. Jace Meier, 9, Sutton-13.764; 9. Chris Veach, 63, Veach-13.767; 10. Garrett Peterson, 31, Peterson-13.782; 11. Tim Skoglund, 40, Camarillo-13.818; 12. Daniel Bedford, 12, Bedford-13.867; 13. Jenna Frazier, 29, Frazier-13.912; 14. Cameron Veach, 53, Veach-14.001; 15. J.R. Williams, 74, Williams-14.311; 16. Quintin Crye, 15, Crye-14.314; 17. Jared Little, 2, Luiz-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Faccinto, 2. Frazier, 3. Zimmerly, 4. Poorter, 5. Williams, 6. Chris Veach, 7. Little, 8. Hayes, 9. Skoglund. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Peterson, 2. Cameron Veach, 3. Meier, 4. Bedford, 5. Roberts, 6. Faas, 7. Crye, 8. Miille. NT

FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Jace Meier, 2. Laura Poorter, 3. Michael Faccinto, 4. Paul Zimmerly, 5. Levi Roberts, 6. Nic Faas, 7. Garrett Peterson, 8. Cameron Veach, 9. Chris Veach, 10. Laura Hayes, 11. Jenna Frazier, 12. Ian Miille, 13. Daniel Bedford, 14. Tim Skoglund, 15. J.R. Williams, 16. Jared Little, 17. Quintin Crye. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Peterson, Laps 20-25 Meier.

NEXT CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS RACE (Dirt): June 24 – Bakersfield (CA) Speedway

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