LEWIS WINS BCRA/USAC HARVEST CLASSIC AT MADERA

By Bobby Gerould

Sept. 18: MADERA, Calif. -- The United States Auto Club Western States Midgets and Bay Cities Racing Association Midgets came together to co-sanction the 33rd annualar Harvest Classic at chilly Madera Speedway Saturday evening. At the end of 40 laps, Michael Lewis stood in the winner's circle, having driven brilliantly in the Western Speed Racing #40.

"Our start was good and then it went away", said the winner. "The car really changed at the end of the race and I was super tight in turns three and four. Larry (Trigueiro Jr.) was giving me hand signals and he was trying to tell me (Thomas) Meseraull was coming on the bottom but I thought he was telling me to get to the bottom. It worked out though, thanks to the great equipment we have which is possible because of Red Line Oil, Wirtgen, Hoosier Tires, and all of our sponsors."

Greg Dennet of Livermore had luck on his side when scheduled outside front row starter John Sarale scratched. That moved Dennet up to the front row and he outgunned polesitter Wally Pankratz to lead lap one. Michael Hubert III led laps two through five. It didn't take Lewis long to get going. He moved to the top groove and hustled from eighth starting into fourth by lap three. The Noblesville, Indiana driver was in second spot by lap four and took the lead from Hubert III on lap six.

Jerome Rodela did a quick spin on lap eight which force a caution flag. The restart was a showcase for Thomas Meseraull who darted into the top three on lap nine. Meseraull and Hubert chased after Lewis to the point of locking up their brakes each lap upon entry to turn three. The resulting front tire smoke kept fans on the edge of their seats as the two seemingly drove deeper and deeper into the corner with each tour of the paved 1/3 mile oval.

Garrett Hansen spun on lap 16 on the back chute to bring out another caution. USAC Western States points leader Johnny Rodriguez was moving forward at this point. "J-Rod" took fourth on the restart with a low move in turn four.

After a lap 24 caution, Meseraull snared second from Hubert and set sail after Lewis. He pressured Lewis heavily but ultimately dropped from the race on lap 35 with a mechanical problem. Lewis won by seven car lengths over Hunt. Hubert III finished third, and Rodriguez was fourth. Pankratz earned a hard fought fifth. A photo finish for sixth saw Rodela edge Brian Gard.

Rodela and Matt Mitchell won heats. The top ten qualifiers did not have to run heats as they were locked into the front five rows of the feature. Lewis established quick time, turning the fast surface in 14.17 seconds. Pete Davis won the B-Main.

SUMMARY:
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Michael Lewis, 40, Western Speed, 14.17 seconds; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 69, Ferrari, 14.22; 3. Johnny Rodriguez, 30, Rodriguez, 14.30; 4. Tony Hunt, 4, Rosen, 14.33; 5. Michael Hubert III, 56, Hubert, 14.38; 6. Garrett Hansen, 70, Hansen, 14.40; 7. Greg Dennett, 47, 3D Racing, 14.50; 8. Garratt Boyden, 42, Boyden,14.54; 9. John Sarale, 32, Sarale, 14.59; 10. Wally Pankratz, 8, Pankratz, 14.60; 11. Jerome Rodela, 25, Rodela, 14.64; 12. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell, 14.66; 13. Brian Gard, 57, Borghesani, 14.68; 14. Cliff Servetti, 83, Servetti, 14.74; 15. Bradley Galedrige, 19, Galedrige, 14.76; 16. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich, 14.79; 17. Floyd Alvis, 18, Alvis, 14.81; 18. Tim Joyce, 99, Segur, 14.82; 19. Tyler Brown, 32x, Brown, 14.84; 20. Oete Davis, 00, Davis, 14.87; 21. Dan Gundo, 6, Gundo, 14.94; 22. Ryan Kaplan, 21, Kaplan, 14.94; 23. Dallen McKenney, 88, McKenney, 14.98; 24. Eric Mostin, 12, Mostin, 14.99; 25. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen, 15.06; 26. Joe Lindsey, 23, Lindsey, 15.20; 27. Carly Lawrence, 11L, Lawrence, 15.39; 28. Eddie Abrew, 25x, Abrew, 15.43; 29. David Prickett, 12x, Prickett, 16.26; 30. Dan Parker, 20, Roza, no time.

QUALIFYING RACE #1 (10 laps): 1. Rodela, 2. Gard, 3. Galedrige, 4. Brown, 5. Alvis, 6. McKenney, 7. Lawrence, 8. McQueen, 9. Prickett, 10. Gundo.
QUALIFYING RACE #2 (10 laps): 1. Mitchell, 2. Joyce, 3. Pierovich, 4. Kaplan, 5. Servetti, 6. Mostin, 7. Abrew, 8. Lindsey, 9. Parker, 10. Davis.
QUALIFYING RACE #3 (10 laps): 1. Davis, 2. McKenney, 3. Gundo, 4. Alvis, 5. Servetti, 6. Abrew, 7. McQueen, 8. Lindsey, 9. Lawrence, 10. Mostin, 11. Pickett.

FEATURE (40 laps): 1. Michael Lewis, 2. Tony Hunt, 3. Michael Hubert III, 4. Johnny Rodriguez, 5. Wally Pankratz, 6. Jerome Rodela, 7. Brian Gard, 8. Scott Pierovich, 9. Garratt Boyden, 10. Bradley Galedrige, 11. Matt Mitchell, 12. Greg Dennett, 13. Tim Joyce, 14. Dallen McKenney, 15. Dan Gundo, 16. Shannon McQueen, 17. Floyd Alvis, 18. Thomas Meseraull, 19. Ryan Kaplan, 20. Tyler Brown, 21. Garrett Hansen, 22. John Sarale.

Lap leaders: Dennett 1, Hubert 2-5, Lewis 6-40.