Cody Gerhardt claims the
Harvest Classic victory
The POWRi Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) midgets took
part in the action-packed 47th annual Harvest Classic at Madera
Speedway on Saturday night September 14th, 2019 for the series’
final 2019 visit to the Madera District Fairgrounds.
David Goodwill was the fastest qualifier with a best lap of
14.000 seconds in his own #3g midget, which edged out Cody Gerhardt in the
Lucas Oil-sponsored # 60 midget who posted a 14.100 second lap. The third fastest qualifier was Cody Jessop
in the #00 midget at 14.136 seconds with Blake Brannon fourth with his best
time around the 1/3-mile Madera oval recorded at 14.202 seconds.
BCRA overall points leader Robert Carson was unable to complete
his qualifying run in the Howard & Karen Segur #99, and BCRA stalwart JR
Williams did not present his #74 Fontana-powered midget for qualifying.
Unfortunately, shortly after time trials were completed, the Brannon #40 was
withdrawn from the rest of the program with power steering issues.
The pair of Cody’s’, Jessop and Gerhardt, shared the front row for
the start of the 8-lap heat race and battled side-by-side for the entire first
lap. As the pair entered turn one for the second time, Jessop forged ahead and
held the advantage for the rest of the race with Gerhardt second, Goodwill
third, Williams fourth and Carson fifth at the drop of the checkered flag.
With the points totaled from the heat race finish using the
POWRi system Jessop ad Gerhardt again shared the front row for the start of the
30-lap feature race for the POWRi BCRA midgets which was video-taped for later
airing on the MAVTV network. At the drop of the green, Jessop leapt into the
lead hounded by Gerhardt as Goodwill lurked close behind in third place.
The race’s only caution flag flew on lap seven as Robert
Carson coasted the #99 to a stop at the entrance to turn one. After Carson was
pushed to safety into the infield, the race resumed after the initial restart
was called back as the field was not aligned nose-to-tail at the start/finish
line.
Once underway, Gerhardt looked high and low for a way past
leader Jessop, and he got the #60 midget alongside Jessop’s #00 in the third
and fourth turn on the twelfth lap and completed the pass with an outside move
in turns one and two.
Once in front, Gerhardt laid down some quick laps and
pulled away with his 20th lap his fastest at 13.898 seconds, faster
than his qualifying time. Over the final few laps of the race, Goodwill made
several attempts to pass Jessop but just could not get close enough to make a move.
At the drop of the checkered flag, Gerhardt held a 3.4
second advantage over Jessop with Goodwill in third close behind. JR Williams
soldiered on for a fine fourth place finish two laps behind the winner, with
non-finisher Robert Carson in fifth place.
As the POWRi/BCRA midgets continue their 80th
anniversary season, the next scheduled events are on October 12 for a rare split program - the dirt cars will be at Keller Motor Speedway in Hanford, while the pavement cars will be in action the same day at Stockton 99 Speedway
Photos by the author
