BCRA champion to race at Indy in "BC39"

Defending Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) series champion Maria Cofer a group of several BCRA  drivers entered for “The Driven2SaveLives BC39 presented by NOS Energy Drink” midget race set to take place next week on the new quarter-mile dirt oval located inside turn three of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2 ½-mile oval.

Maria is scheduled to pilot the #97 Spike/Toyota entered by Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) as part of the nine-car KKM team. The race honors the memory of fallen racer Bryan Clauson who was born in Carmichael California and went on to capture three national midget championships.      

In addition to Ms.Cofer who hails from Macdoel, California regular BCRA competitors Robert Dalby from Anaheim, David Prickett from Fresno and Randi Pankratz who lives in Atascadero are all set to make the long tow east to the greatest race course in the world and take part is what is billed as the richest midget racing event in recent history, the event will feature a purse that totals more than $70,000 with incentives, topped by the $15,000 winner's purse. Also on the entry list for the “BC39” is 2007 BCRA champion Justin Grant, who now lives and races in Indiana.

The first night of racing action on Wednesday, September 5, will feature hot laps, heat races and a pursuit race. On Thursday, September 6, on-track action will begin with hot laps, as all cars will practice with their respective qualifying races, followed by qualifying races and the “alphabet races” as used at the Chili Bowl Nationals all which lead up to the 39-lap A-Main event.   

NBC Sports will the air event in a one-hour recap package on Friday, September 7 at 3 PM Pacific time with complete coverage of the two-day event.  

Jerome Rodela wins the 2018 Gerhardt Classic

On a warm July Saturday, the mighty midgets of the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) invaded the lighting fast 1/3-mile Madera Speedway for the annual Fred Gerhardt Classic. Jerome Rodela paced time trials in the Trench Shoring-sponsored Toyota with a best lap of 14.150 seconds trailed by Mark Maliepaard in the Morris Insurance/Hot Rod Interiors Esslinger at 14.203 seconds. Young phenom Jesse Love in the 51 Fifty sponsored Van Dyne midget was third fastest at 14.209 seconds with Chad Nichols in the Shanonian Esslinger fourth at 14.234 seconds.  

Rookie Cody Jessop qualified fifth fastest in the #00 midget, followed by defending BCRA champion Maria Cofer in the Arata #88 in sixth place, and David Goodwill seventh in his own #3G midget.  Nick Foster Junior, with only two laps of practice in the #08 Jessop US Western midget, timed in eighth at 15.289 seconds and the ageless JR Williams qualified ninth in his own #74 car. Cody Gerhardt’s #29 midget was unable to make the call for qualifying as the result of an engine issue uncovered during routine maintenance.

During the Western US Midget feature, the Jessop entry suffered an ignition failure which forced Nick Foster Junior to scratch from the evening’s feature starting field. The BCRA midgets arranged in the traditional rows of three abreast took the green flag for the 50-lap feature, and Chad Nichols grabbed the lead from his outside front row starting position trailed by Goodwill, Rodela and Love as middle front row starter Maria Cofer fell to fifth place. The yellow flag flew on lap four as Maria spun the black #88 midget to a stop inside of turn two following contact with Mark Maliepaard. Cofer restarted at the tail of the field but had lost a lap to the leaders.

After the lap seven restart, Jerome Rodela began to pressure Goodwill for second place as Nichols sprinted away to a five-car advantage. Rodela got past Goodwill on lap 18 and began to carve away at Nichols’s advantage as the handling of the #17N appeared to erode. Over the next handful of laps, attrition from the heat claimed two cars, as Cody Jessop retired with overheated brakes, followed a few laps later by Cofer with engine overheating issues. On lap 32, Rodela ducked the #25 Toyota-powered midget underneath Nichols’s orange #17N through turn four took the race lead and began to pull away.

After Mark Maliepaard retired the #51 with apparent fuel issues, on the lap 37 restart, Nichols looked low underneath Rodela’s #25 through turn one but was unable to make the pass. Jerome pulled away built a straightaway lead and won by 2.86 seconds over Chad Nichols, followed by David Goodwill in third, Jesse Love in fourth place and JR Williams finished fifth. Non-finisher Mark Maliepaard was credited with a sixth-place finish, trailed by Cofer and Jessop.

The BCRA schedule will remain pavement focused as the next stop for the BCRA midgets is July 14^th at the historic high-banked Stockton 99 Speedway in a program that also includes the Gun Slingers Winged Sprint Car Series, the BCRA Vintage Midget Division and the California Hard Top Association. The pit gates are scheduled to open at 1 PM, with the racing action set to begin at 6 PM.

Mark Malipaard claimed his first

BCRA win in the 2018 season opener

 

After the cancellation of the co-sanctioned event at Bakersfield Speedway two weeks earlier, the mighty midgets of the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) opened the 2018 season at Madera Speedway the day before Easter.    The BCRA Midgets were joined at the Pombo-Sargent Classic by the USAC Western Midgets, Legends of Kearney Bowl, 360 supermodifieds, Pacific Challenge Series super late models and the BCRA Vintage Midgets.

Unfortunately, two of the midgets entered in the program driven by Nick Chivello and David Prickett suffered mechanical problems during the Friday afternoon practice session, which reduced the BCRA entry list to seven cars. In single car qualifying, Chad Nichols in the #17 Shanonian Esslinger edged Scott Pierovich in the Morris #17P by just 5/1000 of a second to grab the top honors with a best lap of 14.014 seconds.

Jerome Rodela in the #25 Trench Shoring Toyota-powered machine timed third, with Cody Gerhardt fourth, followed by Mark Malipaard, 13-year old Jesse Love in the Van Dyne #5 and defending BCRA champion Maria Cofer rounded the field in the Arata Racing #88.

13-year old rookie Jesse Love and the Van Dyne #5

Cofer started the heat race from the pole position alongside Malipaard, who jumped into the lead at the start but Rodela soon took the lead and began to pull away from the rest of the field. On lap six of the 8-lap heat race, Rodela’s car suffered a braking problem and he spun to a stop inside turn two. Rodela’s brake problems forced his retirement, and Malipaard led the final two circuits to claim the win ahead of Pierovich, Gerhardt, Nichols, Cofer and Love. Rodela made repairs to his car in time for the feature.

The BCRA midgets lined up for the start of the 30-lap feature

The redraw for the lineup for the 30-lap feature event resulted in a full invert, with the young rookie Love tagging the back of the field for the flying start. At the drop of the green flag, Malipaard grabbed the lead into turn one with Rodela, Nichols and Pierovich in hot pursuit.

On lap 10, as the field entered turn three, Rodela’s car swung high out of the groove as his braking problems resurfaced, and Jerome pulled into the infield and retired from the event.  Five laps later, the yellow flag flew for the first time as Gerhardt spun to a stop in turn two because of a blistered right rear tire which forced his subsequent retirement.

When the green flag flew again, Malipaard continued to hold his leading position  and he set the race’s fastest lap on lap 21 with a blazing 13.679 second, while Nichols and Pierovich battled for second position.  Scott began to look to the outside of Chad’s orange machine through turns one and two beginning on lap 24, but was unable to make the pass.

On the final lap as the trio entered turn three, Nichols braked late to try to move around the outside of Malipaard’s #51 car, but Chad’s move fell short and Pierovich cut underneath Nichols to grab second place but Chad recovered second place at the checkered flag.

Winner Mark Malipaard interviewed in Victory Lane

Mark Malipaard jubilantly celebrated his first career BCRA feature victory on the main straightaway ahead of Nichols, Pierovich, Jesse Love, and Maria Cofer, as Gerhardt and Rodela failed to finish. The BCRA midgets will return to action on April 7 for the first dirt track event of the 2018 season on the exciting 1/3-mile dirt Merced Speedway on the grounds of the Merced County Fairgrounds.      

Photographs by the author       

Alex Schutte dominates Gold Cup midgets

 

 

Twenty midget racers were on hand at the famed Sliver Dollar Speedway in Chico California on Thursday night September 7 for a joint Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA)/United States Auto Club (USAC) Western States midget race. The mighty midgets were part of the second night of racing for the four-night 64th annual “Gold Cup Week” non-winged program together with the USAC/CRA sprint cars.  

Following the three preliminary hot lap sessions, the #3 machine of Sparky Howard and the #35W car of Nate Wait were both withdrawn from further competition due to terminal mechanical problems. Shane Golobic topped the field in single car time trials with a best lap of 14.256 seconds in the Wood #17W, followed closely by Courtney Crone at 14.275 seconds in the Jerome Rodela owned #25 Toyota-powered machine.

 

Chad Boat in the Tucker/Boat #84 was a just tick behind at 14.318 seconds, followed in fourth by Ronnie Gardner the only one competitor signed up for “double duty” with both a sprint car and midget ride in the Ted Finkenbinder #3F at 14.379 seconds with BCRA points leader Maria Cofer fifth fastest at 14.435 seconds.

In the first 8-lap heat race, Alex Schutte who started on the front row by virtue of his sixth-fastest qualifying time out-dragged pole sitter Randi Pankratz into turn one and never looked back as he streaked to victory over Golobic, Pankratz and Robert Dalby. Post-race inspection found that Golobic’s #17W car had lost its muffler during the race and the car was disqualified, which moved Pankratz and Dalby up to second and third place respectively with Gardner and Cody Hodgson rounding out the top five finishers.  

In the second heat race, front row starter Michael Faccinto jumped in the lead ahead of pole sitter Frankie Guerrini and led all eight circuits to finish ahead of Crone, Cofer, the #63 of Guerrini, Cory Elliott’s #11E and Floyd Alvis who celebrated his 83rd birthday on September 1.

Oklahoma’s Michele Decker in Shannon McQueen’s Spike/Esslinger #7D continued the night’s trend of front row domination as she led wire-to-wire in the third heat race from her pole starting position. Behind Michele at the finish were Boat, Mason Daniels, David Prickett, McQueen and JR Williams still on the comeback after his traffic accident following the Stockton dirt track race.

The re-draw for the eighteen-car starting field for the 30-lap BCRA/USAC “Light up the World Beverages” feature race put Alex Schutte on the coveted pole position in his family’s #28 midget with Michael Faccinto alongside, while the second all-female row was comprised of Decker and Pankratz. The third row was all Toyota power with Crone and Boat while the fourth row was shared by young guns Dalby and Cofer. By virtue of his heat race disqualification, Shane Golobic was slotted sixteenth on the grid alongside Shannon McQueen in her trademark pink blue and black Boss chassis #7.

As the field charged into the first turn at the drop of the green flag, chaos erupted back in the field which eliminated the top two drivers in the BCRA points chase. Maria Cofer lost control due to a deflating right rear tire and spun in front of Floyd Alvis; both cars suffered heavy damage and were moved to the infield by the track safety crew, finished for the night. The first ragged restart attempt was called back, but the second attempt was clean as Alex Schutte shot into the lead over Faccinto. On lap two, Decker got around Faccinto to claim second place.

The red flag flew on lap five after a serious crash in between turns one and two that involved fourth-place driver Chad Boat whose car half-spun to a halt and was struck by the machines of Pankratz and Dalby. Boat’s chassis suffered a broken left front shock absorber mount so Chad was done for the night.

 

The cars of Dalby and Pankratz went to the work area and with the concerted volunteer efforts of the members of several crews both cars were able to restart at the tail of the field. When racing resumed within a few laps Dalby’s machine pulled into the infield with a battery problem while Faccinto’s machine retired with an apparent engine failure

On lap eleven the running order remained Schutte, Decker, Crone and Pickett as those front four cars had separated themselves from the pack. By lap 16, Golobic had gained ten positions to run sixth, and two laps later Shane caught a pair of breaks as Courtney Crone brought out the caution flag with power steering problems for the second straight event. Courtney’s retirement moved the #17W to fifth and bunched up the field for the single-file restart.  

On lap 19, Gololbic’s blue #17W machine moved past Mason Daniels’ #33M to claim fourth, then two laps later, Shane made a daring outside pass around Prickett through turns one and two to claim third place. On lap 28, as Schutte continued to lead, Golobic made another turn two outside pass, this time on Decker to claim second, and then Prickett passed the #7D which dropped Decker to fourth place.

At the drop of the checkered flag, Alex Schutte picked up the wire-to-wire Gold Cup win trailed by Shane Golobic, David Prickett and Michele Decker as Mason Daniels rounded out the top five finishers. Sixth through tenth finishers were Frankie Guerrini, Shannon McQueen in seventh up from fifteenth,  USAC Western States points leader Ronnie Gardner eighth with USAC Western States runner-up Cory Elliott ninth and Randi Pankratz who recovered from her lap five accident and finished tenth. The non-finishers in order were Cody Hodgson, Courtney Crone, Robert Dalby, Michael Faccinto, Chad Boat, JR Williams, Maria Cofer and Floyd Alvis.   

The BCRA midgets return to action on Saturday September 16th at Madera Speedway as part of the 45th Annual Harvest Classic presented by Midland Tractor and John Deere.  In addition to the mighty midgets, the Western Winged Super Sprint Series, USAC HPD Midgets, Super Hobby Stock Series, NCMA Sprints, CSS/360 Super Modifieds, Legends of Kearney Bowl, and the California Hard Tops will all be in action, with a special added feature multi supercharged engine pulling tractors.