SARALE NEW BCRA MIDGET CHAMPION.....
MESERAULL TAKES PACIFIC NORTHWEST MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE

ANDERSON, CA, SEPT. 24: In an eventful evening of racing three champions were crowned and a racing season was finished unexpectedly at the Shasta Raceway Park in Anderson, CA.!

As the fourth and final race of the Pacific Northwest Midget Championship went into the record books in the co-sanctioned Bay Cities Racing Association and Washington Midget Racing Association, it was Thomas Meseraull taking the series championship honors, and, partly because of circumstances, John Sarale became the newest BCRA driving and car owner champion with Meseraull second. Although not a participant, Rick Moss became a ten-time champion in WMRA. The WMRA run for second between Brea Lopez, Dallas Melby and Rob Lindsey was so close that the outcome was not known at this writing.

Earlier in the day it was announced that BCRA's season finale, the 3rd Annual Johnny Baldwin Classic at the Santa Maria Speedway on October 8, had been cancelled by track management. This put added pressure on the front-runners for the BCRA championship, Sarale and Meseraull. Meseraull had entered the Shasta race 34 points behind Sarale. When the checkered flag flew with Meseraull the race winner, that gap has been lowered to 15 points and the anticipated final battle for the title at Santa Maria had dissipated.

WMRA's Brian Olson led off the 27-car field aboard the Richard Flake Ford powered Beast with a new track record of 15.001 in qualifying.

The scheduled 40-lap feature kicked off with pole-sitter Bobby Dalton taking the lead. Former WMRA champion Kenny Ferris charged into second over front row starter Dallas Melby with Greg Dennett, Brad Curtis and Thomas Meseraull taking the next slots on the fast 1/3-mile paved oval.

The BCRA rookie of the year candidate continued his lead until the eighth lap when he took an outside route to lap Alan Norton as they exited the fourth turn. Norton moved high to give room to the faster cars and made contact with Dalton, sending Dalton's Beast/Pink Ford into the air. Dalton came to a stop as Ferris took the lower groove under Norton to take the lead as the yellow flag ceased the action. At this point Meseraull had worked the Bill Ferrari Beast/Gaerte Chevy up to fourth with Ben Petter now fifth in the Marc DeBeaumont Motorsports Stealth/Ford. Later Dalton would reenter the race several laps down with a slightly bent front axle.

At the green Ferris spurred his Beast/Baer Chevy into a fast-paced lead. For several laps Meseraull put the pressure on Dennett's 3D Racing Beast/Pink Chevy, running nearly alongside on several occasions.

On lap-12 Petter tapped Meseraull from the inside as the front-runners charged into the third-turn. The contact sent Petter into a partial spin that began a chain-reaction with eight cars tangling to a halt. From the wreckage two cars were carried off by service vehicles, with Scott Walker on the hook and Brian Olson's machine on a flatbed. After pushoff local standout Michael Hubert III limped to the pits to replace a deflated left rear tire, then returned in time to take the green flag. The melee moved 13th running Rob Lindsey into fifth, followed by WMRA rookie speedster Brea Lopez and the remainder of the field.

At the green Meseraull again began hounding Dennett, making good his bid for fourth with a high move through turns three and four. Now it was Melby under pressure from Meseraull, who again used the entrance into turn three to make his pass for second on the 16th circuit.

The veteran Ferris continued his lead over the pursuing Meseraull with Melby, Dennett, Lindsey and Lopez leading a charging Travis Berryhill, Pete Davis and Ryan Kaplan.

On the 21st round Petter tangled with Brian Gard, then spun into the turn-four infield to bring out the caution. The leaders remained the same with Meseraull moving alongside Ferris on the 27th round, only to be thwarted by the veteran.

The complexion of the race changed on the 31st lap when Ferris passed the lapped Faeth on the low side in turn-four.

Meseraull took the outside route, but cut down a bit too soon, glancing off the right front wheel of Faeth. The slight impact was enough to send the rear of Meseraull's car outward. At that point the unintentional angle projected Meseraull into a low dive as he accelerated next to Ferris exiting turn-four. Meseraull's right wheels contacted Ferris' left wheels, forcing Ferris slightly off course and projecting Meseraull into the lead. "If I had attempted to set the car to pass Ferris on the inside I would have slid out and been passed, but my contact with Faeth worked to my benefit and allowed me to dive under him", Meseraull would state after the race.

With Meseraull now in the lead at the green, Melby put pressure on Ferris for second, moving under as they ran the backstretch and into turns three and four, getting the upper hand to take over second on lap 31. Ferris now held third over Dennett, Kaplan and Lindsey.

A turn-four skirmish on the 32nd circuit resulted in seventh-place running Lopez, Curtis and Faeth tangling to a stop with Berryhill missing the spinning cars to take seventh over Gard and Hubert. The three continued the race in a multi-lap battle with positions changing several times. Kaplan got by Dennett for fourth on the 33rd round. During this period Rob Lindsey began having severe handling problems with a very loose machine. Berryhill was unable to avoid Lindsey as they charged down the front chute on the 38th lap and taped Lindsey, sending him into a brush with the wall, coming to rest at the starter's stand.

What was to become the final green flag had Meseraull leading Melby and Ferris, but Ferris' fortunes worsened as he ran down the backstretch on the white flag lap. At the end of the chute at full throttle the right rear axle broke, sending him into a reverse spin.

The unsettled car rolled to bring out the red flag. Ferris was uninjured. The race was called at that point after 39 laps.

Meseraull took the win and the BCRA/WMRA series championship.

Melby placed second over Kaplan, Dennett, Berryhill, Hubert, Gard and Sarale. Nineteen of the 22 starters took the checkered flag.

The B-Trophy Dash for the fastest of the second half of the qualifiers (13-16) was won by Gard over Lopez, Sarale and Skeeter Flake. Hubert took the fast qualifier's A dash ahead of Petter, Kaplan and Olson.

Bill Lindsey, making his first appearance in two years, drove brother Joe's car to the first heat race win over Eric Mostin and Faeth. Gard won the second heat over Davis and Lopez with Ferris taking the third heat ahead of Melby and Meseraull.

The BCRA vintage midget division ran several exhibition races with a good showing of classic midgets from bygone eras.

SUMMARY:
QUAL.(B=BCRA/W=WMRA): 1. Brian Olson, #71 Flake 15.001 (W) (Record); 2. Ryan Kaplan, #21K Kaplan 15.020 (B); 3. Ben Petter, #11D DeBeaumont 15.077 (B); 4. Michael Hubert III, #56 Hubert 15.114 (B); 5. Thomas Meseraull, #69X Ferrari 15.175 (B); 6. Brad Curtis, #12 Curtis 15.196 (W); 7. Greg Dennett, #47 3D Racing 15.247 (B); 8. Kenny Ferris, #28 Ferris 15.254 (W); 9. Dallas Melby, Melby 15.357 (W); 10. Bobby Dalton, #36 Dalton 15.383 (B); 11. Rob Lindsey, #23 Lindsey 15.382 (W); 12. Scott Walker, #34 Walker 15,429 (W); 13.  John Sarale, #32 Sarale 15.432 (B); 14. Brea Lopez, #25 Press 15.492 (W); 15. Skeeter Flake, #17 Flake 15.534; 16. Brian Gard, #57 Borghesani 15.584 (B); 17. Pete Davis, #00 Davis 15.692 (B); 18. Eric Mostin, #12X Mostin 15,695 (B); 19. Glenn Carson, #26 Bock 15.901; 20. Bill Lindsey, #23X Lindsey 16.399 (B); 21. Dan Parker, #38 Parker 16.401 (B); 22. Jim Fowler, #24 Fowler 16.531 (B); 23, Rick Faeth, #3 Faeth 16.626 (B); 24, Alan Norton, #69 Norton 16.826 (W); 25. Travis Berryhill, #11 Berryhill 18.680 (B); 26. Matt Stone, #10 Stone N/T (W); 27. Garratt Boyden, #42 Boyden N/T (B).

B-DASH: Gard, Lopez, Sarale, Flake.
A-DASH: Hubert, Petter, Kaplan, Olson.

HEAT-1: B. Lindsey, Mostin, Faeth, Norton, Parker, Carson, Berryhill, Fowler.
HEAT-2: Gard, Davis, Lopez, Sarale, Walker, Flake, R. Lindsey, Dalton.
HEAT-3: Ferris, Melby, Meseraull, Curtis, Dennett, Hubert, Petter, Kaplan, Olson.

MAIN: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Dallas Melby, 3. Ryan Kaplan, 4. Greg Dennett, 5. Travis Berryhill, 6. Michael Hubert III, 7. Brian Gard, 8. John Sarale, 9. Ben Petter, 10. Pete Davis, 11. Skeeter Flake, 12. Brea Lopez, 13. Brad Curtis, 14. Dan Parker, 15. Bill Lindsey, 16. Rob Lindsey, 17. Kenny Ferris, 18. Rick Faeth, 19. Alan Norton, 20. Bobby Dalton, 21. Scott Walker, 22. Brian Olson.
LAP LEADERS: 1-7 Dalton, 8-29 Ferris, 30-39 Meseraull.