CHRISTIAN SCORES TWIN CITIES MIDGET WIN - SARALE NEW BCRA POINT LEADER

MARYSVILLE, CA., JULY 30: Jimmy Christian emerged the winner in the 30-lap Bay Cities Racing Association midget feature at the Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville as second-place John Sarale moved into the point lead. Chrisitan charged his Riolo Chevy powered Stealth by Sarale's Riolo Ford Stealth on the eighth lap following a heated battle on the quarter-mile clay oval to score his second victory of the season. With season-long point leader Thomas Meseraull opting to run in the Belleville Nationals, Sarale moved into the point lead by 40-points.

Sarale jumped into the lead from the outside of the front row over pole-sitter Gary Dickenson as fourth-starting Christian charged into second over Dickenson, Matt Streeter, Adam Young and Terry Tarditi to complete the first lap.

Streeter moved his Pink Chevy TCR into third on the third circuit as Arizona visitor Young began experiencing brake problems that would eventually force retirement. Four-time champion Tarditi, making his first appearance in his own Gaerte/Ellis in two years, moved up to fifth as Travis Berryhill gained sixth aboard his Gaerte/Stealth.

Streeter dogged the two frontrunners, but could not keep up the pace and began losing ground, while still comfortably in front of the remainder of the field.
Christian continued to pressure Sarale, when, on the eighth lap, he dove under the leader exiting onto the backstretch and took a narrow lead. Now it was Sarale's turn to dog Christian, which he did lap-after-lap. During the leader's battle, Streeter managed to move back up within striking distance and the trio was as one at the conclusion of the 12th round when Tarditi pulled off-track with electrical problems. Dickenson was still holding fourth over Berryhill with Rick Haugh now up to sixth over David Prickett.

The first caution flag came on the 14th lap when Haugh and Prickett tangled to a stop exiting turn-four, just as Berryhill spun in the second turn.
At the restart Sarale rekindled his per suit for the lead, diving under Christian in the fourth turn to lead at the line, only to be met by another yellow flag when Prickett stopped at the line with a flat right front and rear tire, putting Sarale back behind Christian. Prickett's team managed to mount the two new tires in time to rejoin the field.

The front-running duo continued their tight race as Streeter and the remainder of the field were unable to keep the pace. Rick Faeth was now riding sixth over Prickett as several cars withdrew with mechanical ills.

On the 25th circuit Prickett looped in turn-one and was relegated to the pits under the two-spin rule. At the resumption it was Streeter who lost third with a spin in the second-turn.

At the green, Berryhill put pressure on third-running Dickenson, taking the spot on the 27th lap as Faeth came up to drop Dickenson one more position. Streeter retired to the pits.

Over the final laps Sarale did not let up on Christian, but came up short at the checkered over Berryhill, Faeth and Dickenson.

It was Tarditi in his T&T Trucking entry that took top honors in qualifying at 14.520. Berryhill took the trophy dash over Tarditi, Young and Rob Russell.

Heat wins went to Haugh over Pete Davis and Prickett with Streeter taking the second eight-lapper over Sarale and Berryhill.

At the conclusion of the first heat race as the field completed the cool-down lap, Davis, still at full race speed, climbed over the right rear of winner Haugh's slowing Gaerte/Beast and flipped violently down the front straight, striking the top of the high catch fence before coming to rest inverted in the first turn.
Uninjured, Davis was quickly extracted from his Esslinger/TRC by the track safety crew. He would later state that he did not see the white, checkered and yellow flags.

All three of the BCRA racing divisions competed, the midgets, midget lites and vintage midgets. Nine vintage cars took to the oval in several demonstration runs. The evening's racing card finalized a full day of BCRA activities that included the annual Hall of Fame Picnic and induction ceremonies, held a short distance from the track at the Peachtree Golf & Country Club.

SUMMARY:
QUAL.: 1. Terry Tarditi, #64 T&T Trucking 14.520; 2. Travis Berryhill, #11 Berryhill 14.601; 3. Rob Russell, #17 Thurston 14.708; 4. Adam Young, #1X Young 14.797; 5. Jimmy Christian, #16 Christian 14.811; 6. Matt Streeter, #97 Streeter 14.848; 7. John Sarale, #32 Sarale 14.879; 8. Gary Dickenson, #8 Dickenson 15.060; 9. David Prickett, Prickett 15.109; 10. Dan Parker, #20 Roza 15.201; 11. Rick Haugh, #51 Haugh 15.385; 12. Steve Rhoades (R), #3X Sander 16.204; 13. Rick Faeth, #3 Faeth N/T; 14. Joe Lindsey, #23X Lindsey N/T; 15. Pete Davis, #00 Davis N/T; 16. John Haugh, #21 Haugh N/T.
DASH: Berryhill, Tarditi, Young, Russell.

HEAT-1: R. Haugh, Davis, Prickett, Faeth, Parker, Rhoades, Lindsey, J. Haugh.
HEAT-2: Streeter, Sarale, Berryhill, Russell, Christian, Young, Tarditi, Dickenson.

MAIN: 1. Jimmy Christian, 2. John Sarale, 3. Travis Berryhill, 4. Rick Faeth, 5. Gary Dickenson, 6. Matt Streeter, 7.
David Prickett, 8. Dan Parker, 9. John Haugh, 10. Terry Tarditi, 11.
Adam Young, 12. Rob Russell N/S, 13. John Haugh N/S, 14. Steve Rhoades N/S.

NOTES: The Dave Thurston #17 crew worked throughout the evening to mend suspension problems, only to have the timing belt slip at main event push-off.....Joe Lindsey contacted the front straight wall during hot laps and flipped his Esslinger/Gambler. As Rick Faeth slowed under the yellow flag and pulled his Chevy V4/TCR out of gear, the entire drive line dropped onto the track. Both Lindsey and Faeth were able to make repairs, but Lindsey was unable to continue while Faeth started at the rear of the first heat.....Terry Tarditi, who has supplemented his racing career by flying his WWII P-51 Mustang, got the "bug" when asked to drive the Jack Walker car at Antioch, enough that he brought his own #64 Gaerte/Ellis out of retirement to compete at Marysville. We can expect to see the four-time champ again soon.....While the entry field was minus a number of BCRA regulars who ran the Belleville Nationals, their absence was filled by several unexpected entries, such as the two Haugh machines, rookie Steve Rhoades and Arizona's champion Adam Young.