ALVIS BEGINS NEW SEASON WITH FEATURE WIN

By Floyd Busby

STOCKTON, CA., MARCH 28: Floyd Alvis began his quest for an eighth championship with the win in the Bay Cities Racing Association feature at the Stockton "99" Speedway Sunday afternoon.

The 69-year-old veteran drove his Interstate Batteries Stealth/VanDyne to the 30-lap victory over Thomas Meseraull.
Meseraull traveled to Stockton following his win in the televised second "Twin 25" at the Irwindale Speedway the previous evening. He drove the Bill Ferrari Beast/Brayton Ford from seventh to challenge Alvis over the waning laps.

Alvis began the day in spectacular style when a heim joint broke during hot laps, sending his car into the wall and flipping
onto the roll cage. The crew replaced the front suspension in time for him to make the final qualifying lap. His 14th fastest lap put him on the pole for the feature.

Alvis jumped into the lead at the green with Rob Lindsey tucking his Beast/Gaerte into second over Cameron Beard's
Stealth/Gaerte and the Stealth/Gaerte of Cliff Servetti. Pete Davis brought up fifth over Lee Yetter and Meseraull.

Fast qualifier John Sarale moved his Arata/Sarale Beast/Chevy into seventh on the second lap, then picked off Servetti for sixth one lap later.

Following a restart on the sixth lap for a spinning Tim Joyce, Brian Gard, one of a number of outstanding rookies, was hit by another car, sending his Beast/Gaerte Chevy hard into the turn-two wall with extensive damage to his car. The 18-year-old former modified stock car ace had started 16th and was shunted while running ninth.

As Alvis continued his narrow lead, Meseraull worked his way past Beard for third on the 17th lap. By this point 15th starting Garratt Boyden has worked his way to seventh, then moved by Beard for sixth on the 22nd lap. Over the course of the 24th lap the hot rookie passed three cars to lay third behind Alvis and Meseraull.

On lap 26 lap Eric Mostin spun in the first turn to bring out the caution flag. One lap later it was Greg Nelson spinning into the turn-two infield. As the cars behind him braked hard, Desi Bray climbed a wheel, his Stealth/Esslinger crashing into the outer wall.

At this point, another of the effective rookies, Michael Hubert III, had moved from 14th to hold seventh aboard his
Eagle/Chevy.

The final yellow flag was unfurled on the 29th round when the radiator cap on Boyden's car dislodged and the youngster spun in his own water, then caught the inside ridge of the track and flipped. Rob Lindsey was unable to avoid Boyden and was out with a damaged front end.

Over the final two laps Meseraull made every attempt to unseat Alvis, attempting an outside pass exiting the fourth turn as they approached the white flag. The right rear wheel of the Alvis machine made contact with Meseraull, nearly upsetting both cars, but Meseraull had to settle for second behind the 51st career victory for the wiry veteran. Sarale brought up third over Hubert, Yetter, Davis, Beard, Dan Gundo, Ryan Kaplan, Streeter and two-time BCRA Midget Lite champion Greg Dennett.

Sarale outqualified the 26-car field, only 1/1000 of a second over Lee Yetter. Yetter won the trophy dash over Meseraull, Sarale and Gard. Matt Streeter took the semi with the top-six transferring to the rear of the main event. The scheduled heat races had been cancelled due to delays in the three-division program.

The next BCRA Midget race is co-sanctioned with USAC Western States at the Madera Speedway on April 10, 100-laps with 33-cars three-abreast start.

SUMMARY:
QUAL.: 1. John Sarale, #32 Arata/Sarale 13.664; 2. Lee Yetter, #22 Ron Yetter 13.665; 3. Thomas Meseraull, #69 Ferrari 13.667; 4. Brian Gard, #57 Borghedani 13.691; 5. Garratt Boyden, #41 Gary Boyden 13.747; 6. Pete Davis, #00 13.749; 7. Michael Hubert III, #56 Judy Hubert 13.750; 8. Tim Joyce, #99 Segur 13.834; 9. Ryan Kaplan, #21 Ken Kaplan 13.918; 10. Cameron Beard, #1 13.949; 11. Cliff Servetti, #83 14.028; 12. Rob Lindsey, #23 14.081; 13. Greg Dennett, #47 14.089; 14. Floyd Alvis, #18 14.101; 15. Dan Gundo, #6 14.144; 16. Eric Mostin, #12 Mike Mostin 14.217; 17. Greg Nelson, #17 Nelson/Thurston 14.189; 18. Joe Lindsey, #23X Rob Lindsey 14.331; 19. Carly Lawrence, #11L 14.337; 20. Eddie Abrew, #25 14.348; 21. Rick Faeth, #91 14.500; 22. Desi Bray, #25S 14.747; 23. Mike Donaldson, #87 Stu Donaldson 15.574; 24. Cory Schmuck, #41 15.670; 25. Steve Roza, #20 Bob Roza 15.922; 26. Matt Streeter, #97 N/T.

HEATS: Cancelled due to time.

SEMI: Streeter, Faeth, Bray, Abrew, Nelson, Schmuck, Donaldson, Roza, Lawrence.

MAIN: 1. Floyd Alvis, Thomas Meseraull, John Sarale, Michael Hubert III, Lee Yetter, Pete Davis, Cameron Beard, Dan Gundo, Ryan Kaplan, Matt Streeter, Greg Dennett, Cliff Servetti, Eddie Abrew, Rick Faeth, Greg Nelson, Eric Mostin, Steve Roza, Garratt Boyden, Rob Lindsey, Desi Bray, Brian Gard, Tim Joyce.