KAPLAN CAPTURES LAKEPORT MIDGETS

LAKEPORT, CA., AUGUST 6: Ryan Kaplan has added a Bay Cities Racing Association midget feature to his resume of wins as he stormed to victory at the Lakeport Speedway.

Kaplan pounced into the lead over pole-sitter Bobby Dalton on the first lap and sped on over the 30-lap route to the win aboard his Bob Wirth Mopar powered Stealth. The start was disruptive to Dalton as the two front-row starters charged into the first turn side-by-side, Kaplan with the slight advantage on the outside. The close quarters forced Dalton's Ed Pink Ford Beast nearly into the infield and as they exited the second turn Dalton's car climbed the left rear of Kaplan. The momentary episode allowed Garratt Boyden, Eric Mostin and Thomas Meseraull to drop low and pass Dalton as Kaplan managed to claim the lead.

The initial start was aborted when Kaplan jumped into the lead over original pole-sitter Scott Pierovich. At the point of exiting the fourth turn to take the green Pierovich over-throttled his Bob Wirth Mopar Beast and spun down-track and into the infield.

He was relegated to the rear for the second start.

Kaplan marched at the head of the line of apparent equally capable cars and drivers, where no single competitor could muster a challenge and running on the outside would cost position. Nearly all tried, but none were able to pass in what became a one-groove quarter-mile paved oval.
On the seventh circuit Pierovich again spun in turn-four for the caution flag. On the tenth round Mike Donaldson retired with steering problems. Kaplan continued his quick pace, but could not pull away from the field,

Lap 19 saw 11th-running Michael Hubert III's race end as he pulled to the inside of the backstretch with suspension failure.

Rookie Brad Galedrige brought out the caution on the 21st lap when he suddenly slowed on the front stretch and guided his Mopar/Beast around the outside of the first turn, at which point the right front wheel parted ways because of a broken spindle. Galedrige piloted the disabled car to the backstretch infield as his wheel continued to circulate the banked oval. Much to the fans delight, the wheel continued down the backstretch and rounded turns three and four and headed a low speed toward the finish line. To the fans disappointment, a track official stopped its forward motion only about 20-feet from the line, nullifying the wheel's chance to go down in history as having raced one more lap that the car from which it has escaped!

Only one lap was attained following the green restart before Glenn Carson and Steve Roza came together in the third turn for the final yellow flag. Both restarted.

Kaplan continued over the nose-to-tail field and took his first BCRA feature win in BCRA. Kaplan was followed by Boyden's Esslinger/Beast, Mostin's Gaerte/Beast, Meseraull's Bill Ferrari Esslinger/Beast, Dalton and point leader John Sarale's Chevy/Beast.

Brian Gard came close to his own track record in qualifying at 11.982.

Mostin took the "all-youth" trophy dash over Boyden, Galedrige and Gard. Sarale scored the first heat race win over Roza and Shannon McQueen. Hubert won the second ten-lapper over Pierovich and Kaplan.

The BCRA vintage division ran exhibition races with seven cars. Veterans Johnny Anderson and Jimmy Screeton were disqualified from the main event following the simulated heat race for excessive speed, lapping the oval in the 14-second bracket aboard their vintage midgets! Screeton drove the famed Shanoian Offy from the 1970's.

SUMMARY:
QUAL.: 1. Brian Gard, #57 Borghesani 11.982; 2. Garratt Boyden, #42 Boyden 12.005; 3. Brad Galedrige, #29 Galedrige 12.047; 4. Eric Mostin, #12 Mostin 12.080; 5. Thomas Meseraull, #69 Ferrari 12.172; 6. Bobby Dalton, #36 Dalton 12.240; 7. Ryan Kaplan,#21 Kaplan 12.274; 8. Scott Pierovich, #35 Pierovich 12.293; 9. Michael Hubert III, #56 Hubert 12.300; 10. Shannon McQueen, #7 McQueen 12.402; 11. John Sarale, #32 Sarale 12.420; 12. David Prickett, #15 Prickett 12.541; 13. Gary Dickenson, #8 Dickenson 12.475; 14. Steve Roza, #20 Roza 12.731; 15. Bob Dalton Sr., #36D 12.808; 16. Mike Donaldson, #87 Donaldson 13.177; 17. Glenn Carson,#26 Bock 13.246; 18. Joe Lindsey, #23x Lindsey NT.

DASH: Mostin, Boyden, Galedrige, Gard. 4-laps-49.07.

HEAT-1: Sarale, Roza, McQueen, Prickett, Donaldson, Dalton Sr., Lindsey, Dickenson, Carson. 10-laps-2:05.53.
HEAT-2: Hubert, Pierovich, Kaplan, Meseraull, Galedrige, Boyden, Gard, Dalton, Mostin. 10-laps-2:02.44.

MAIN: (30-laps): 1. Ryan Kaplan, 2. Garratt Boyden, 3. Eric Mostin, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Bobby Dalton, 6. John Sarale, 7.
Brian Gard, 8. Shannon McQueen, 9. Scott Pierovich, 10. Joe Lindsey, 11. Glenn Carson, 12. Steve Roza, 13. Bob Dalton Sr., 14. David Prickett, 15. Brad Galedrige, 16. Michael Hubert III, 17. Mike Donaldson, 18. Gary Dickenson (NS).