Golobic dominates 

the Stockton dirt track

On Saturday night May 26 a group of thirteen Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) midgets were part of the $5,000 to win winged 360 cubic inch sprint car program along with the Joe Hunt sprint car series. Two of the thirteen BCRA drivers, young Kalib Henry and Michael Faccinto, were set to perform double duty in both the BCRA and Joe Hunt races. Due to the size of the fields in both the sprint car divisions, the BCRA competitors did not qualify through time trials, rather the field was set using a blind draw conducted by Jimmy Montgomery.

Unfortunately, two of the BCRA midgets did not survive the hot laps warmups – youngster Jackson Dukes’ car broke a rear end, and Frankie Guerrini III flipped his midget hard in turn three and the car was too damaged to continue. Kalib Henry exhibited great sportsmanship and offered to step out of the Finkenbinder #3F midget in favor of Guerrini.

In the first 8-lap heat race, the pole position starter Shane Golobic seized the lead early and was never challenged, as Guerrini moved up from the tail of the field to finish second with David Prickett third, Rick Cook fourth and JR Williams finished in fifth place.

Late arrival Marvin Mitchell tagged the tail of the second heat race, and at the drop of the green flag, outside front row starter Maria Cofer swooped across the track in front of John Sarale to take the early lead.  Entering the first turn, second place runner Alex Schutte encountered a rough spot in the clay surface which sent his car flipping high in the air and it continued to roll over the first turn banking. After a few anxious moments, Alex emerged uninjured but his #28 midget was done for the night. When the race resumed, Michael Faccinto in the Dodenhoff #9D powered past 2017 BCRA champion Cofer to take the lead which he held to the finish. Following Faccinto and Cofer across the finish line were Sarale in third, multi-time West Coast champion Ronnie Gardner fourth and Mitchell finished in fifth place.

Maria Cofer and Guerrini shared the front row for the start of the 25-lap feature race, with Faccinto and Golobic side-by-side for row two. At the drop of the green flag, Maria grabbed the race lead, but her advantage was short-lived, as Golobic soon powered past. As Golobic built his lead as the leaders maneuvered through traffic, Faccinto and Cofer dueled for second place, with Maria able to hold off Michael with Sarale in third place and Guerrini in fourth place.

Faccinto cleared Cofer on lap thirteen, but Golobic already had built a straightaway lead over second place, and the driver of the #9D midget was unable to close the gap as the race wound down. At the drop of the checkered flag, Shane Golobic in the Wood #17W had lapped up to the fourth-place finisher and won by ¾ lap over Faccinto. Cofer finished third, with Sarale fourth, Guerrini fifth ahead of David Prickett.  Ronnie Gardner finished seventh, Rick Cook eighth, JR Williams who battled a fuel leak in ninth and Marvin Mitchell in tenth place.

Next up for the BCRA mighty midgets is a big doubleheader weekend with races at Ocean Speedway on tap for Friday night June 8 and the next night June 9 at Petaluma Speedway.     

      

Faccinto returns 

and wins a thriller at Petaluma

Twenty-three midget cars drivers and crews were on hand Saturday night July 15 at the 3/8-mile Petaluma Speedway for the Jack London Hall of Fame race co-sanctioned by Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) and the United States Auto Club (USAC). In the afternoon before the racing program began, BCRA hosted the annual Jack London Bash Picnic and the 2017 BCRA Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Behrens Park on the Sonoma - Marin Fairgrounds.

Among the race entries were four female drivers- Randi Pankratz, Courtney Crone, 2011 BCRA dirt series champion Shannon McQueen and current BCRA points leader Maria Cofer. Four midget drivers- Ronnie Gardner, Geoff Ensign, Britton Bock and Cory Elliott did “double duty” as they also raced in winged 360 cubic inch sprint cars which were also a part of the evening’s racing program. 

Ronnie Gardner in his #68 Stewart chassis midget powered by an Esslinger engine was the fastest qualifier with a best lap of 14.635 seconds, followed by Michael Faccinto who posted a lap of 14.665 seconds and Geoff Ensign third with a time of 14.679 seconds.

At the start of the first 8-lap heat race, front row starter Danny Carroll took the point and the Australian driver now living in Roseville California held the lead throughout in Sean Dodenhoff’s #9C.   Frankie Guerrini charged up from his fourth starting spot to run second behind Danny with Gardner third. On the last lap, Alex Schutte in #28 tried a ‘slide job’ in turn three to take third from Gardner but settled for fourth place. Young Mason Daniel finished in the important fifth place as the top five heat finishers kept their qualifying times to determine the starting position for the feature race.

In the second heat race, Cory Elliott charged into the lead at the drop of the green from the outside of the front row and held on despite his #11E machine experiencing an electrical issue which periodically caused the Esslinger engine to nearly stop running at times. Courtney Crone and Michael Faccinto battled hard for second place while David Prickett and CJ Sarna dueled for fourth place. Elliott was first under the checkered flag trailed by Crone, Faccinto, Prickett and Sarna as the top five finishers.

The third heat race featured three of the female drivers starting in the first front two rows, and Maria Cofer led the first two circuits before she was passed by Anaheim’s Robert Dalby in his new #4D Esslinger powered Spike midget. Sixth place starter Geoff Ensign aggressively moved through traffic to run in third place then in the closing laps pushed underneath Cofer to finish the heat race in second place. Shannon McQueen capitalized on Cofer’s detour out of the turn three and four racing groove to finish third as Maria recovered to finish in fourth place ahead of Tyler Dolcaki who charged into fifth on the last lap.

Fast qualifier Ronnie Gardner pulled the number “8” pill on the re-draw for the line-up of the 30-lap feature which placed Courtney Crone on the inside of the front row for the start with Guerrini alongside. The feature race action came to a halt quickly after the initial green flag however, as Nate Wait got tangled up in traffic and flipped the #35 midget in turn one of the opening lap which necessitated a complete restart less Wait’s machine.  On the second start, Guerrini blasted into the lead in the F&F Racing #63 trailed by Crone, Ensign, Gardner and Faccinto and the front five cars soon pulled away from the rest of the field by several car lengths.

The night’s first caution flag flew on lap nine for a spin by Sparky Howard in turn two, with his #3 machine soon pushed away to rejoin the field. On the restart, Gardner and Faccinto shot past Ensign as his car had broken a front brake line after contact with another car and Ensign without brakes soon exited to the pit area. On lap ten Daniels pulled his #33M machine into the infield while the racing action continued as Gardner began to press Crone for second place.

On lap 13, Guerrini bobbled in the rough inner section of turns one and two and both Crone and Gardner roared past to drop Frankie to third place. As the leaders entered lapped traffic on the 18^th lap, Gardner scooted past Crone and into the lead. On lap 20, young Santa Monica driver Kyle Beilman had a problem with his car’s Mopar engine and coasted through turns three and four and down the front straightaway and off the ramp to the pit area.  Although Beilman’s retirement did not interrupt the action, on the following lap after contact with another car, Prickett’s #22Q midget lost a wheel and rolled to a stop on the inside on turn one to once again slow the field.

Under caution with nine laps to go, the crowd began to buzz with excitement as they realized that Gardner who earlier won the winged 360 sprint feature in dominant fashion had a chance to become only the fourth driver in Petaluma Speedway history to win two features on the same night. On the restart, Faccinto charged past Crone for second place before the caution flag flew for a three-car tangle in run four that involved Dalby, Dolacki and Pankratz. The cars of both Dalby and Dolacki were too damaged to continue but Randi restarted her #8 Fontana-powered Edmunds midget at the tail of the field.

On the restart, Gardner encountered his own trouble on the high side of the rough turns one and two and his bobble allowed Faccinto and Crone to streak past. Gardner charged back and passed Crone in turn three on the next lap, but the pass was nullified when the caution flag flew as Terry Nichols’ #1P came to stop in turn three with an apparent broken rear end.  On the restart, with Faccinto ahead in the lead Crone and Gardner dueled side-by-side for over a lap, and as the pair exited turn two side-by-side the pair made wheel-to-wheel contact. Crone’s car crossed over from the inside and began a series of end-over-end flips down the backstretch along the outer fence. Behind Courtney, Gardner’s car also turned over once and came to rest on its wheels near the inside of the racing surface. 

Ronnie quickly emerged from his #68 car and the track crew pushed his car off the racing surface, while other safety workers rushed to Crone’s #25 Toyota-powered Malloy midget which was resting on its side midway down the back straightaway.  Once the car was righted, Courtney slowly climbed out but she soon laid on the ground behind the machine and was tended to by emergency personnel.

After several anxious minutes, Courtney walked with assistance to the ambulance to cheers from the crowd.  The author visited with Courtney after the race and is glad to report that after she spent part of Saturday night in a local hospital for observation, Courtney was reportedly quite sore from her rough ride and she and her father Jack returned home to Southern California on Sunday. 

The running order for the restart after the red flag was withdrawn with five laps to go was Faccinto, Alex Schutte, Guerrini, Cory Elliott (up from 13^th at the start) and Shannon McQueen in fifth. Elliott immediately charged past Frankie to grab third place, then powered into second while Danny Carroll moved past McQueen.  On race’s the last lap, Elliott’s machine suffered an apparent rear end problem and suddenly slowed in turn four, which created a traffic jam as the field packed up behind Elliott while winner Michael Faccinto streaked under the double checkered flags.

Fans will remember that at the last BCRA dirt track race at Placerville Speedway, Faccinto left the track in an ambulance after a scary-looking flip which makes his return to victory lane in the Carrillo Rod sponsored #35F midget a sweet one indeed.  Frankie Guerrini emerged from the last lap scrum to finish second to cap a strong feature performance, with Alex Schutte third and Shannon McQueen in fourth place. Danny Carroll got caught up in the confusion of the final turn to finish in fifth place, while Ronnie Gardner recovered from his earlier flip to finish in sixth place, one position ahead of Cory Elliott who coasted across the line in his wounded machine.

Maria Cofer edged Randi Pankratz for eighth, with the ageless Floyd Alvis in tenth place, CJ Sarna eleventh and JR Williams who solved his nagging fuel line problems of the past few events finished in twelfth position in his Carson City-based #74 midget. The non-finishers from thirteenth on back were Crone, Nichols, Dalby, Dolacki and Prickett with Britton Bock who grandfather Doug was inducted into the BCRA Hall of Fame earlier in the day in eighteenth place. Bielman in his second ever midget race placed nineteenth followed by Howard, Ensign and Daniel as Nate Wait rounded out the 23-car field.

The mighty midgets of the BCRA return to action on July 22 at Marysville Raceway in an exciting twin-bill with the BCRA midget lites division.   The racing program will also feature the track’s wingless sprint car division, economy sprint cars and super stocks on the program with hot laps scheduled to start at 6 PM.

    

ALEX SCHUTTE

CAPTURES

 PLACERVILLE GOLD

 

Fourteen “mighty midgets” from the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) invaded “Knoxville on the Hill” Placerville Speedway on Saturday July 1 2017 for a dramatic evening of racing in tandem with the track’s 360 cubic inch winged sprint cars.

There were two interesting entries; new BCRA member Ronnie Gardner, the reigning four-time USAC Western States midget champion was behind the wheel of Ted Finkenbinder’s Esslinger powered #3F midget, and Bakersfield’s Cory Elliott was the only driver to pull “double duty” as he debuted his new winged sprint car.

Elliott’s night started off with a problem as his #11E midget refused to fire off for wheel-packing, but the Elliott crew quickly diagnosed and resolved the mechanical gremlins in time for Cory to join the field for the warm-up sessions. Anaheim’s Robert Dalby was the fastest in hot laps with a best lap of 12.069 seconds with a back-up lap of 12.269 seconds.

Alex Schutte toured the Placerville banked ¼-mile oval in 12.325 seconds followed by Michael Faccinto in Mike Sala’s #19W at 12.378 seconds and Elliott rounded out the top four with a best lap of 12.407 seconds. Randi Pankratz’s car failed to fire for warm-ups with assistance from John Cofer and BCRA officials the #8 Edmunds machine’s fuel delivery problem was quickly rectified.  

The BCRA drivers had earlier drawn for starting positions in  the two seven-car 8-lap preliminary heat races. The first heat race featured the ageless Floyd Alvis on the pole with Terry ‘the Panda’ Nichols alongside.

 

As the field raced into turn three on the first lap, the cars of Alvis, Schutte and Frankie Guerrini made contact. Schutte and Guerrini were able to continue but Alvis spun to stop and was hit by defending BCRA champion Bobby Wilson’s #87. With the track blocked, Faccinto’ s #19W midget rolled over once and came to rest on all four wheels.

Michael indicated that he was suffering from neck pain and the Placerville Speedway safety crew did a superb job of removing him from the car on a back board. After he was transported to the local hospital, X-rays proved negative and Michael was released, albeit very sore but otherwise OK. All BCRA officials fans and drivers wish Michael a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in action soon. 

When the race restarted with all the cars except Faccinto’s, Terry Nichols took command and used the groove around the inside of the track trailed by Aussie driver Danny Carroll in the Sean Dodenhoff #9C and Wilson. Frankie Guerrini was the only driver to try and use the high groove in the F& F #63 but did not experience any success. Wilson slipped by Carroll to take second place for a few laps, but at the finish Carroll slipped past to finish second behind Nichols with Guerrini fourth, and Schutte who battled brake problems fifth and Alvis sixth.

In the second heat race, Ronnie Gardner in the #3F grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag as Maria Cofer hung tough in second place and fought off passing attempts first by David Prickett in the #22Q and late in the race from Cory Elliott who moved up from his sixth starting spot. At the drop of the checkered flag the finishing order was Gardner, Cofer, Elliott, Prickett, Pankratz, Dalby and the #74 of JR Williams.

The winner of the first heat race, Terry Nichols drew the ‘10’ pill for the feature re-draw, so Randi Pankratz was scheduled to start on the pole position, but first she and her crew thrashed to change out the birdcage on her Edmunds midget’s rear suspension. Meanwhile, Elliott was doing his ‘double duty’ in the sprint car B main but fell just short of transferring to the feature.

At the drop of the green flag for the 25-lap feature, Randi Pankratz took the race lead and held on as she used the low groove around the inside of the clay oval with Schutte in close pursuit.  Fifth place starter Elliott immediately began to use the top groove and raced up to battle for second place before his car began to experience an apparent fuel delivery problem which got progressively worse. 

The caution flag flew on lap 7 when Wilson hopped over Dalby’s rear wheel as the pair entered turn three which eliminated Wilson for the night, The top five running order under caution was Pankratz, Prickett, Schutte, Cofer and Carroll with Gardner in sixth place. Elliott took his #11E to the work area under the caution, but the Elliott crew was unable to diagnose the problem and he returned at the tail of the field. Meanwhile Guerrini retired with a flat left front tire and JR Williams retired his #74 midget with a fuel leak.

After the restart, Ronnie Gardner used the high groove to move the #3F midget up to battle for third place but he soon retreated back to the sixth. On lap 11, Schutte moved back into second place, and then on lap 21, Alex squeezed underneath Randi as the pair entered turn three side-by-side. The pair bumped and Schutte emerged from the scramble with the lead as Prickett and Carroll took advantage to drop Randi’s #8 midget to fourth place.

The action slowed on lap 23 after Maria Cofer who was battling a rear brake issue collided with Pankratz and both cars came to a stop between turns one and two. Cory Elliott was scored in fourth flag under the caution flag behind Carroll, but when the green flag was displayed, Elliott powered into third place as Carroll also encountered brake problems.

Alex Schutte battled back from problems early in the evening to win the 25-lap feature with David Prickett second while Cory Elliott recovered from his earlier misadventures to finish third in a car that Cory complained was not running right. Terry Nichols finished a strong fourth after he started in tenth place, while Danny Carroll finished fifth ahead of Alvis, Pankratz, Gardner and Cofer, as Williams, Dalby, Guerrini and Wilson failed to finish.

The BCRA midgets return to action on the 1/3-mile Madera Speedway pavement next Saturday July 8 for the 100-lap Gerhardt Classic which will feature the racers taking the green flag in a three-abreast start. It will be an action-packed night of racing with the   BCRA midgets vintage division will also be on the program along with the Western Winged Super Sprint Series, USAC HPD Midgets, NCMA Sprints, CSS/360 Super Modifieds, Legends of Kearney Bowl, Senior Open Vintage Super Modifieds, and the NCPRO 4 Modifieds.

One final note - be sure to get your ticket orders in now for the July 15 Jack London Picnic and BCRA Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Details are available on the BCRA website at http://www.bcraracing.com/