BCRA MIDGET SEASON SET TO OPEN AT SHASTA RACEWAY PARK

Thomas Meseraull will be gunning to defend his 2004 Bay Cities Racing Association driving championship with the opening of the 67th season of midget auto racing April 2 at the Shasta Raceway Park in Anderson, CA. Meseraull will drive the Bill Ferrari Brayton Ford powered Beast on the fast 3/8-mile paved oval.

The large field of BCRA entries will be augmented by seven entries from the Washington Midget Racing Association according to WMRA business manager Rob Lindsey. Among the top WMRA entries in addition to Lindsey will be seven-time WMRA champion Rick Moss of Seattle, looking for his 78th career win aboard the Harold Beal Ed Pink Ford powered Beast.

In a surprise announcement, 2004's second-place driver and rookie of the year Greg Dennett will relinquish his 3D Racing Ed Pink Chevy Beast in favor of Chuck Gurney Jr. at the wheel. Gurney, who competed in BCRA midgets in 2000 and 2001, scoring eight feature wins, will make his first midget appearance since moving to the sprint car ranks. Dennett, with years of experience on the dirt, including two BCRA midget lite championships, stated that he wanted to learn pavement racing technique and setup from Gurney. 3D Racing won the 2004 BCRA car owner championship.

Brian Gard and Michael Hubert III, two of last season's outstanding rookies, will be back for their sophomore season. Hubert, a resident of Anderson, Established the one-lap qualifying record on his hometown oval of 15.196 last season.

Among the BCRA entries will be three-time champion Glenn Carson, Pete Davis, Cliff Servetti, Scott Pierovich, Steve Roza and Travis Berryhill.

Heading south from the Northwest to join Moss and Lindsey will be Brad Curtis, Scott Walker, Alan Norton, Spence Gatrell and Breanna Lopez, with Bobby Bird making the long trip from Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Gates open at 4:30 p.m. with qualifying at 5:15 and racing at 6:30. The BCRA midgets will be joined by the NASCAR late models, mini stocks and bombers.