CHRISTIAN SCORES SANTA MARIA MIDGET WIN

By Floyd Busby

SANTA MARIA, CA., JUNE 19: Jimmy Christian scored his third Bay Cities Racing Association career Midget win, charging his Riolo Chevy powered Stealth into the lead on the 13th lap of the main event at the Santa Maria Speedway.

Michael Hubert III kicked off the 25-lapper from the pole, charging into a commanding lead aboard the Mike's Body Shop Chevy/Eagle.

It looked to be a battle of the rookies for the win in the early stages with Brian Gard slinging the Borghesani Gaerte Chevy Beast past traffic from sixth starting to nail second by the second lap, trailing third generation driver Hubert over Tim Joyce, Greg Dennett and veteran Floyd Alvis. John Sarale dropped out after one lap.

Gard immediately began closing the gap and was beginning to challenge for the lead when suddenly the motor in his machine quit, relegating him to coast past the finish line to a stop, bringing out the only caution flag of the race.

At this point the hearty battle for third between Dennett and Alvis gave two-time BCRA Midget Lite champion Dennett the nod for second with Gard out. Alvis rode third and Christian, from ninth-starting, was up to fourth, followed by fast qualifier Rob Russell, looking for his second consecutive win.

At the green Hubert continued his lead as Christian swooped past Dennett and Alvis with Russell charging directly behind to claim second and third. Hubert, now suffering from a lack of brakes due to a broken left rear brake disk, still managed to maintain the top spot, but the nonability to run deeply into the turns helped his pursuers converge upon the sixteen-year-old pilot.

Hubert held Christian and Russell at bay until Christian made an inside move exiting turn-four and edged into the lead at the completion of the 13th circuit. For the next two laps Russell hounded Hubert, finally claiming second on the 15th lap.

Meanwhile, Alvis had bettered his feud for fourth with Dennett, who was holding Thomas Meseraull and Scott Pierovich to sixth and seventh with Joyce, Pete Davis and Garratt Boyden following.

The positions remained the same throughout the remainder of the race with only Davis dropping back to be lapped. Several times Russell made serious attempts to get by Christian, but his Guerrini Gaerte Ford/Stealth couldn't quite match Christian's straightaway acceleration and he crossed the finish line two car lengths ahead of Russell.

Russell out-qualified the field. Hubert took the first heat race over Alvis and Joyce with Gard scoring the second eight-lapper ahead of Russell and Pierovich.

BCRA makes its only Watsonville Speedway appearance on Friday, June 25 then returns to the Lakeport Speedway for the annual Independence Day weekend race on July 3. The annual BCRA "Jack London Bash" picnic and Hall of Fame inductions takes place during the day prior to racing on July 10 at the Placerville Speedway.

SUMMARY:
QUAL.: 1. Rob Russell, #63 Guerrini 14.360; 2. Greg Dennett, #47 #d Racing 14.562; 3. Jimmy Christian, #16 Christian 14.612; 4. Scott Pierovich, #35 Lance Pierovich 14.668; 5. Thomas Meseraull, #9 Mertl 14.845; 6. Brian Gard, #57 Borghesani 14.944; 7. Floyd Alvis, #18 Alvis 15.050; 8. John Sarale, $32 Sarale 15.156; 9. Pete Davis, #00 Davis 15.323; 10. Rick Faeth, #91 Faeth 15.700; 11. Tim Joyce, #99 Segur 15.798; 12. Michael Hubert III, #56 Hubert 18.347; 13. Garratt Boyden, #42 Boyden N/T/

HEAT-1: Hubert, Alvis, Joyce, Davis, Sarale, Faeth (NS).
HEAT-2: Gard, Russell, Pierovich, Dennett, Meseraull, Boyden (NS).

MAIN: Jimmy Christian, Rob Russell, Michael Hubert III, Floyd Alvis, Greg Dennett, Thomas Meseraull, Scott Pierovich, Tim Joyce, Garratt Boyden, Pete Davis, Brian Gard, John Sarale.

NOTES:
Rick Faeth's car had dire engine problems at the end of his qualifying laps and he was out for the evening. Garratt Boyden broke the Jacob's Ladder during practice. Faeth's mechanism was removed and installed on Boyden's just in time for him to start at the rear of the feature. As fortune would have it, Faeth's car was the only one that has the same style Jacob's Ladder to that of Boyden's.  Floyd Alvis has been experiencing mysterious engine problems for the last five or six races. He had changed everything but still could not run properly at Santa Maria. But apparently the cure was finally found and Alvis looked like his 'ol self, racing wheel-to-wheel with, undoubtedly, a big grin beneath the helmet.