POWRi BCRA midgets return 

to Kern County Raceway Park

KCRP announcer Steve Hughes, left

 interviews feature winner Austin Liggett 

The POWRi Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) midget auto racing cars and stars returned for their second 2019 visit to the 1/3-mile dirt track at the Kern County Raceway Park (KCRP) on Friday night May 3, 2018, with eleven cars signed in at the pit gate. The POWRI BCRA midgets were the featured cars in a diverse program that also included the KCRP American Stocks, Pro Stocks, and 305 cubic inch winged sprint cars. 

Austin Liggett started his perfect night by setting quick time during time trials, as he toured the oval in 14.603 seconds in his SR11-powered midget to top Anaheim, California’s Robert Dalby’s Esslinger powered machine with a 14.692 best lap. Dalby narrowly edged out local favorite Shannon McQueen by .002 seconds who was third fastest in her #7 Esslinger powered Bullet chassis.

Fourth fastest qualifier was another local racer Cory Elliott in his family’s #11E midget, with Terry “Panda” Nichols fifth, and Kyle Beilman in his Dave.Com sponsored midget the sixth fastest racer in time trials. Seventh fastest was Ricky Lewis in the #1N, with CJ Sarna eighth, Troy Morris III in the #07 ninth, followed by the ageless Marvin Mitchell in his #78 tenth with the leading Rookie of the Year contender, fourth-generation racer Robert Carson eleventh fastest in the Howard and Karen Segur #99 entry.

Austin Liggett continued his successful night in the first eight-lap heat race as he shot into the lead in turn three of the first lap past early leader Terry Nichols. On lap two, Shannon McQueen spun to a stop in turn three as she battled Lewis for position. Shannon restarted at the tail of the field, and before a lap was completed Lewis spun to a stop himself on the high side of turn three. The field reformed for the lap two restart with Lewis at the tail, but because of a broken steering arm, Ricky’s #1N midget was unable to make it through the first turn and he slapped the outside wall hard, which damaged the car so badly that it ended his racing for the night.

When racing in the first heat race resumed with two laps completed, on lap four McQueen moved up to third place with a nifty move on the low side of turn three to pass Morris, then she moved past Nichols on the inside of turn one on lap six to claim second place. McQueen was unable to close on leader Liggett over the last two circuits and at the drop of the checkered flag, the heat race one finishing order was Liggett, McQueen, Nichols and Morris as Lewis did not finish.

CJ Sarna and Kyle Beilman shared the front row for the start of the second heat race, and the pair battled side-by-side until turn four when Beilman surged ahead into the lead. On lap three Elliott moved up from his third starting position into second place and Dalby got past Sarna to drop CJ into fourth place. Elliott closed the gap on leader Beilman and challenged for the lead on lap five but was unable to get past the Dave.Com machine, and at the finish the order was Beilman, Elliott, Dalby, Sarna, Mitchell and Carson. 

When the POWRi passing points were totaled from the heat race finishing orders, the two heat race winners shared the front row for the start of the 25-lap feature, with local racers McQueen and Elliott sharing the second row. 

At the drop of the green flag, Austin Liggett shot into the lead as Beilman moved to the high side of the track down the backstretch, but his #31 car flipped wildly end-over-end through turn three which brought out the red flag. Kyle crawled out his damaged race car uninjured, and the field restarted less the cars of Beilman and Nichols which moved Elliott up to the front row alongside Liggett for the start.

At the drop of the green, Austin steered his #83 straight to the point with Elliott in hot pursuit followed by Dalby in third and McQueen in fourth place. Liggett stretched his advantage into a 5-car length lead during the early laps, but by lap eleven, Cory closed in using the high line as Austin worked the low side. 

On lap 14, Robert Dalby began to challenge Elliott for second place and got past Cory and settled into second place on lap 20. The yellow caution flag flew on lap 23 as Troy Morris III spun as he battled Sarna and McQueen, but Troy restarted without any loss of position as Marvin Mitchell and Robert Carson were both a lap down to the rest of the field.

When the green flag flew with three laps to go, Dalby quickly closed in on Liggett but could not pass him, but back in the pack Morris passed both Sarna and McQueen to claim fourth place. Austin Liggett led every lap of the 25-lap feature to top Robert Dalby, Cory Elliott, Shannon McQueen, CJ Sarna, Marvin Mitchell and Robert Carson. Among the non-finishers Kyle Beilman was awarded ninth place and Terry Nichols a tenth-place finish. 

Austin made it a clean sweep with fast time, a heat race win and the feature win on an evening when he led every lap of every race in which he competed.  

The POWRi BCRA midget racers return to action on May 11 for a co-sanctioned race with the Washington Midget Racing Association on the paved Shasta Speedway ¼-mile track on Shasta County Fairgrounds in Anderson, California together with the BCRA vintage division. Also scheduled to be in action for a program that starts at 6 PM will be the Shasta late models, limited modifieds, bombers, legend cars, hornets and the pro-4 modified class.    

     

       

 

2018 BCRA Championship Awards Banquet

On a rainy Saturday night on February 2, 2019 the drivers, car owners, crews and officials of the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) gathered at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #1051 in Ripon California to share the successes of the 2018 season.

Following the cocktail hour and a delicious dinner, after recognition of the 2018 Hall of Fame inductees and the 2018 BCRA Board of Directors members and track officials, the highlight of the evening was the awards ceremony hosted by Kevin Triplett to honored the series’ 2018 top performers.

For the BCRA midget lites division, Hunter Kinney captured the 2018 driver’s championship followed by Scott Kinney, Dakota Albright, Brad Dillard, and Terry Bergstrom in fifth place. Sixth through tenth place went to Brandon Leedy, Danika Jo Parker, Steve Brown, Gus Carcione, and Ric Johnson respectively.   

Scott Kinney captured both first and second place finishes in the 2018 BCRA Midget Lite owner’s championship, while Dakota Albright took third place ahead of Craig Dillard and Kenneth Bergstrom. Sixth through tenth place for the owners went to Brian Fonseca, Danika Jo Parker, Steve Brown, Gus Carcione, and Jim Riddell.

Among the special awards for the BCRA midget lites division, Dave LaManna was presented with the Tom Boune Midget Lite Sportsmanship Award, while Rod Browning earned the John & Gladys Soares Sr. Memorial Perseverance Award. Ken Bergstrom was the winner of the Morrie Caudle Midget Lite Mechanic of the Year award and Brandon Leedy was the recipient of the Tracy Taylor Most Improved Driver of the Year award. BCRA vintage division stalwart Bob Mastroleo won the Pete Baraldi Best Appearing Car Award for non-competition vehicles.

Turning to the BCRA midget division, Maria Cofer won the 2018 dirt series drivers’ championship followed by David Prickett with the ageless Marvin Mitchell in third place. Robert Dalby from Anaheim California was the fourth-place finisher in the dirt series, trailed by the always-smiling JR Williams in fifth place. Among the dirt series car owners, John Cofer captured the title followed by Neverlift Motorsports, Marvin Mitchell, J & J Associates and Robert Dalby.  John Cofer was awarded the prestigious Lloyd Nygren Sportsmanship Award for his tireless assistance to many competitors throughout the season.   

The 2018 BCRA pavement series championship was captured by driver Chad Nichols and Team 17, with Mark Maliepaard in second place as both the driver and car owner. Young phenom Jesse Love III scored third place in the drivers’ pavement championship and his car owner Tres Van Dyne nailed down third place in the pavement series.

Maria Cofer scored a solid fourth place for the pavement series for herself as the driver for her pavement car owners, the Arata’s Storcks Garage. Cody Jessop scored fifth place in the pavement drivers’ championship and scored the Johnny Baldwin Most Improved Driver award for the 2018 BCRA midget season. J & J Associates, owner of the #74 midget driven by JR Williams scored a fifth-place finish in the pavement owners championship.

With the 2018 BCRA overall midget driver’s champion Jesse Love III racing in Las Vegas, his mother Liz accepted his 2018 championship trophy and the Johnny Boyd Rookie of the Year trophy. Second through fifth in the overall drivers’ championship were in order Maria Cofer, Chad Nichols, and Mark Maliepaard as JR Williams rounded out the top five finishers.  

In addition to the 2018 overall BCRA Car Owner Championship Tres Van Dyne also copped the Pete Baraldi Best Appearing Car Award for competition vehicles and the Morrie Caudle Midget Mechanic of the Year. Team 17 garnered second place honors in the overall championship, trailed by Mark Maliepaard, J & J Associates and John Cofer to round out the top five overall owners.

The Bay Cities Racing Assocation offers our thanks to all our sponsors, fans, officials and competitors for their contributions to the club’s safe and successful 2018 season, and looks forward to our bright prospects for the 2019 season.     

   

2019 Chili Bowl Nationals wrap-up

The championship of the 2019 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire was settled with a thrilling last lap pass for the lead by Christopher Bell on his Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammate Kyle Larson.

Larson had grabbed the race lead from pole position starter and fellow KKM driver Logan Seavey on lap 20, but was unable to hold off Bell, who took the checkered flag just a car length ahead of Larson.

California’s Justin Grant finished third, with the “Macho Man,” Brady Bacon fourth, Zach Daum fifth and Tyler “Sunshine” Courtney sixth and the Hard Charger Award after he passed sixteen cars during the feature.  

The top ten ‘A’ main finishers were rounded out by Brad Sweet, CJ Leary, Seavey, and Tanner Thorson.  Favorites Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Shane Golobic did not finish the event.

350 cars and drivers took part in the event during the six nights and officials recorded 75 flips during the six nights with all the drivers able to walk away.  Bell who joined Kevin Swindell as the only three-time consecutive winners of the prized Golden Driller, closed out the event with the final recorded flip as he turned over his Toyota-powered Spike while he spun his victory donuts.

Crowd favorite and five-time event champion Sammy Swindell’s 2019 Chili Bowl run ended when he failed to advance out of his “C’ feature, while “The People’s Champ,” Dave Darland was disqualified from the ‘B’ feature when he ignored directions from track officials.

2005 Chili Bowl champion Tracy Hines failed to finish his ‘B’ feature and retired NASCAR star Kasey Kahne who plans a big slate of open-wheel races during 2019 was disappointed when his machine did not finish his ‘E’ feature.  

Surprising many midwestern fans with their strong performances were California racers Robert Dalby who advanced from the ‘C’ feature and Colby Copeland who advanced form the ‘B’ feature. Copeland finished fourteenth and Dalby 20^th.

The 34^th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire will be held January 13^th through the 18^th 2019. Hope to see you there next year!

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.  

Maria Cofer wins

with a clean sweep

at Placerville Speedway

Maria Cofer, her father John, and crewman Bobby Boone should have brought a broom with them to Placerville Speedway for the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) midget races Saturday night August 25.  Cofer, the defending BCRA series champion in the Tule Vista Ranches-sponsored Spike/Esslinger executed a “clean sweep,” as she posted the fastest qualifying time, won her preliminary heat race, and then topped off her night with a dominant victory in the 20-lap feature.

Off the trailer the Cofer #57 midget sported this trick visor,

built by John Cofer's Flying Farmer Fabrications

but it was replaced by a conventional visor by race time

The BCRA midgets at Placerville Speedway exhibited a remarkable variety of engines, as in addition to Esslinger and Fontana engines, Dr. Brad Dodenhoff debuted his new all-billet Chevrolet based engine for son Sean in the #9D, Robert Dalby’s #4D entry sported a new Van Dyne Engineering Mopar W9RP engine, while Beau Lemire’s #24 car featured a flat four-cylinder Subaru powerplant and Mike McCluney debuted his new #73 midget powered by a Ecotec 2.4-liter engine driven by Keoni Texeira.

As the first car out,  Dalby set the early pace in time trials and recorded a best lap of 12.136 seconds, which none of the other BCRA challengers that included David Prickett, Randi Pankratz, JR Williams, Sean Dodenhoff, Marvin Mitchell and Lemire could eclipse. As the next-to-last car out to qualify, Maria Cofer in her familiar black white and red #57 roared around the Placerville ¼-mile clay oval in just 12.080 seconds on her first lap then improved on her second lap with a run of 12.043 seconds to post the fast time for the evening.    

Following Cofer’s memorial lap that honored BCRA Hall of Fame member Howard Segur, Junior (see separate article), the BCRA midgets lined up for their 8-lap heat race with Marvin Mitchell and David Prickett on the front row and Dalby and Cofer deep in the field on the third row. At the drop of the green flag, Prickett jumped into the lead but on lap two Pankratz grabbed the point. On the third lap, Randi tried the high side of turn two but lost momentum which opened the door for Cofer to blast past into the lead which she never relinquished. Cofer was trailed across the finish line by Dodenhoff, Pankratz, Dalby, Prickett, Mitchell and JR Williams.

After the heat race was completed, the Dodenhoff #9D was withdrawn with an engine problem, as the all-new billet powerplant finished the race on just three cylinders, and McCluney also withdrew his #73 with an apparent fuel pump failure.  Maria Cofer drew the “0” pill in the redraw for the feature line-up which meant the evening’s fastest qualifier started the 20-lap feature from the coveted pole position with second fastest qualifier Robert Dalby on her outside.

Unfortunately, before the evening’s feature race began, the #14 of Beau Lemire came to a stop with terminal issues with the Subaru engine and was done for the night. When the green flag was shown, Cofer rocketed into the lead with Prickett in hot pursuit trailed by Pankratz and Dalby, who spun the black #4D to a stop in turn two on the eleventh lap for the race’s first caution period. After the restart, Cofer quickly rebuilt her lead to over five car lengths ahead of Prickett until the yellow caution flag flew again on lap 17, this time for Randi Pankratz’ yellow #8 stopped in turn three.

 Bobby Boone (Left) Maria Cofer, and John Cofer

celebrate their third BCRA victory of 2018

When the racing action resumed, over the final laps David Prickett was not able to get close enough to the flying Cofer to challenge for the lead and Cofer romped home to her third BCRA victory of the 2018 season with a two-car length victory over Prickett’s #24X. Robert Dalby overcame a throttle response issue to finish third ahead of Randi Pankratz who recovered from her earlier problem to finish fourth. Marvin Mitchell edged out JR Williams for fifth place, while Beau Lemire as awarded a seventh place ‘did not finish’ result.

Next up for the BCRA mighty midgets will be the 46th annual Harvest Classic at Madera Speedway, as the midgets will appear in the program together with the Western Winged Super Sprint Series, United States Auto Club (USAC) Western Midgets, Northern California Modified Association (NCMA) Sprints, California Supermodified Series (CSS) 360 Super Modifieds, the Legends of Kearney Bowl and the California Hard Tops, plus supercharged multi-engine pulling tractors.        

Maria Cofer claims another win at Petaluma

Eleven Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) midgets signed in at Petaluma Speedway on Saturday night June 9 for the second night of a back-to-back weekend series. Chase Johnson at the wheel of Del Morris’ midget won the feature on Friday night at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville followed by 2017 BCRA champion Maria Cofer in her family’s #57, Robert Dalby in the Dalby family’s #4D and Shannon McQueen in her own #7 machine.  

Ten BCRA midgets posted qualifying times during single car time trials, with the field led by Chase Johnson’s 14.674 seconds, followed by Maria Cofer at 14.721 seconds, with Frankie Guerrini III third fastest at 14.733 seconds, David Prickett fourth at 14.953 seconds and Geoff “the Human Highlight Reel” Ensign who along with Johnson pulled double duty with the King of the West sprint cars, the fifth fastest qualifier at 14.964 seconds. 

Floyd Alvis suffered mechanical problems and did not post a qualifying time and Marvin Mitchell did not present his car for qualifying, while young Jesse Love the second scheduler qualifier in the Van Dyne #5 suffered a broken bolt in the left rear trailing arm before he took the green flag. The crew led by car owner Tres Van Dyne quickly repaired the car in time for Jesse to make a single qualifying lap at 15.226 seconds.  

 The front row for the first 8-lap heat race was shared by Ensign and Dalby and at the drop of the green flag, Dalby shot into the lead trailed by Guerrini and Ensign. On the second lap of the heat race, veteran Marvin Mitchell exited the track and retired for the race. Through the third turn of the fourth lap Guerrini used the high line to move around Dalby and into the lead.

Guerrini built his advantage and appeared headed to victory until his engine went off-song down the backstretch on the final lap. Third place runner Chase Johnson vaulted into the lead and won with Ensign third, Dalby fourth and Matt Sargent rounded out the finishers in fifth place driving Dave Thurston’s #17.

The five-car second heat was paced by a pair of rookies, with Jesse Love on the pole and Jackson Dukes on the outside. After the first two start attempts were called back, on the third try, Dukes grabbed the lead and he held on for all eight circuits to win his first career midget heat race. Maria Cofer made repeated attempts to pass Dukes on the low side through turns three and four in the later laps, but Dukes held Maria off, with Love in third place followed by David Prickett and JR Williams.

Despite repeated efforts by the F&F Racing team crew to diagnose the electronic problems, Guerrini was forced to scratch prior to the feature along with Alvis, which reduced the starting field for the 25-lap finale to ten cars, with the field led by pole-sitter Geoff Ensign and outside front row starter David Prickett, as Cofer and Johnson shared the second row. At the drop of the green, Ensign established himself as the early leader in Ted Finkenbinder’s machine trailed by Prickett, Johnson, Dalby and Cofer.

On lap 4, Maria Cofer moved her #57 past Dalby to claim fourth place, then on lap five she moved past Chase Johnson to claim third place. On the sixth lap, the Del Morris #71 lost power through turns three and four and Chase Johnson brought the machine to a stop underneath the flag stand which necessitated the race’s first yellow caution flag as Johnson’s car was pushed into the pit area, done for the evening.

On the restart, Prickett got his car alongside Ensign’s as the pair exited turn two, and Maria Cofer dove low and powered by both the #24 and #3F and grabbed the lead as she entered turn three. Maria quickly built her lead as Ensign and Prickett battled for second place, then on lap ten Dalby slipped past Prickett to run in third place.

Cofer built up a ten-car length advantage as she wove through lapped traffic, and on lap 20 Prickett reclaimed third place from Robert Dalby. Cofer had extended her led to a full straightaway when the race’s second yellow caution flag flew on lap 23 with Jackson Dukes’ machine stopped sideways in turn four.  Dukes restarted at the tail of the field.

Maria Cofer controlled the restart and led the final two circuits to claim her second BCRA feature win of the season in her family-owned #57, trailed across the finish line by Ensign, Prickett and Dalby with Jesse Love in fifth place. Dukes recovered from his lap race spin to finish in sixth place, trailed by Mitchell and Williams. Sargent failed to finish and placed ninth, while the previous night’s winner Chase Johnson also failed to finish and was scored in tenth place.

The BCRA mighty midgets return to pavement action this coming weekend on Saturday June 16th for the Tom Manning Memorial at Stockton 99 Speedway along with the BCRA vintage midget division, the Gun Slingers Winged Sprint Car Series, and the cars from the California Hard Top Association, and the Legends of Kearney Bowl. The pit gate is scheduled to open at 1 PM followed by the spectator gates at 5 PM and racing set to start at 6 PM.

Maria Cofer claims her first

BCRA victory at Merced Speedway

On Saturday night April 21, The Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) dirt track midgets finally made their first appearance of the 2018 season following two earlier rained out dates. Two rookies made their BCRA dirt debut – Jackson Dukes in the #2 Shenanigans Motorsports entry and Jesse Love III in the #5 51-Fifty Energy Drinks Van Dyne Motorsports entry.

The entry list also included three veteran drivers who returned to race with the BCRA midgets after some time away – Jimmy Christian in Dave Thurston’s #11 machine, Rick Cook II in his father’s #7R midget and the ageless Marvin Mitchell in his own #78 entry.  

Defending BCRA series champion Maria Cofer topped qualifying in the #57 Cofer entry with a new track record reported, as she topped Cory Elliott in the Elliott Motorsports #11E, Michael Faccinto in Sean Dodenhoff’s #9D and David Prickett in his own #22Q. Sean Dodenhoff experienced oiling problems in his own #9 car and scratched for the night before time trials.

At the start of the first 6-car heat race, Robert Dalby in the #4D jumped in the lead as Cofer coasted into the infield with a rough running engine. As the field started the fourth lap Faccinto slipped by into the lead when Jimmy Christian rolled to a stop in turn two and the Thurston car caught fire.

The Merced Speedway safety crew responded quickly and got Christian out of the car, but the Thurston entry was finished for the night.  The lower legs of Jimmy’s uniform were scorched and after examination by the track EMT’s, Jimmy was transported to a local hospital for treatment. The club’s best wishes go out to Jimmy Christian for a quick recovery.  

When the first heat race resumed from the red flag stoppage, as the field rolled through turn four for the restart, Faccinto’s engine faltered and he dropped to the inside as Jesse Love grabbed the lead. Love was soon passed by Dalby as Faccinto’s #9D slowly coasted into the pit area with apparent ignition trouble. The results of the first heat race - Dalby and Love in first and second with JR Williams in third place as Faccinto, Christian and Cofer all failed to finish. 

Rick Cook II started on the pole for the second heat race and he held off David Prickett for the first lap with Cory Elliott in third. During the early laps Prickett and Elliott both passed Cook, with Marvin Mitchell settled in fourth place and Dukes in fifth. Elliott made several late moves but could not get past Prickett and the finishing order was Prickett, Elliott, Cook, Mitchell and Dukes.

In a throwback to earlier times, Merced Speedway Promoter Ed Parker offered the four fastest BCRA midgets from qualifying the chance to run a Trophy Dash and Bob Roza offered $100 to the winner. Unfortunately, Faccinto’s #9D still had engine problems after he pushed off and Michael retired to pits leaving just three cars on track. Over two fast and furious racing laps, Prickett topped Elliott and Cofer to claim his second victory of the evening.

Following the track’s Hobby Stock and Valley Sportsman feature races, the BCRA’s 30-lap feature was the finale of the evening’s racing. Once again, Faccinto and the #9D Dodenhoff car could not get going for the feature start and retired to the pit area before the start of the race. At the drop of the green flag, Maria Cofer jumped into the lead from her outside front row starting position with Prickett, Elliott and Dalby in hot pursuit. On the second lap, Elliott dispatched Prickett for second place as Maria began to pull away; by lap 6, she held a 6-car length lead over Elliott who was six car lengths ahead of the Dalby/Prickett battle for third place.

The caution flag flew and slowed the race action on lap 21 as Rick Cook II spun the #7R midget to a stop in turn four facing the wrong way. Under caution the track crew pushed Rick into the infield to join JR Williams as the race’s only retirements. On the restart, Cofer surged to a two-car length lead around the track’s top groove, as Dalby tried the bottom of the track and rocketed past Elliott on lap 23 and set his sights on the lead. Dalby stuck to the bottom of the track through turns three and four and crept closer and pulled alongside Cofer’s car at the start/finish line on several occasions.

Maria and her father and car owner John Cofer

celebrate in Merced's victory lane

author photo

On lap 26, with Dalby even closer than before, Maria moved her #57 midget down to the low line through turns three and four and blocked Dalby’s momentum. Maria held on over the final laps to claim her first career BCRA feature race victory by a single car-length over hard charger Robert Dalby, with Cory Elliott in third trailed by David Prickett, with Marvin Mitchell fifth, Jesse Love III sixth and Jackson Dukes the final finisher in seventh. Among the feature non-finishers, Rick Cook II placed eighth and JR Williams ninth with Michael Faccinto who failed to start listed in tenth place. 

Robert Dalby accepts his second place trophy

from Merced Speedway promoter Ed Parker

author photo

 

The 2018 season for the BCRA mighty midgets continues May 5 with a big night of racing for the Vukovich Classic at the 1/3-mile asphalt Madera Speedway along with the BCRA vintage midget division, the NCMA Sprints, Madera’s own CSS/360 Super Modifieds class, Legends of Kearney Bowl, Senior Open Vintage Super Modifieds, California Hard Tops, the USAC Western US Pavement Midgets, and the Legends of the Pacific.

The BCRA midgets will return to the dirt on May 26 at the Stockton Dirt Track along with the Hunt Magneto Wingless Sprint Car Series and the winged ‘Sprint Car 360 Open’ which will pay $5,000 to the winner.