GARD OUTDUELS MESERAULL FOR TWIN CITIES WIN

MARYSVILLE, CA., JUNE 25: Brian Gard broke into the Bay Cities Racing Association midget winner's circle following a spirited duel for the lead with Thomas Meseraull over the closing laps at the Twin Cities Speedway.

The two exchanged the lead several times as they dashed for the checkered flag with Gard's Borghesani Beast/Gaerte Ford taking the slim victory over Meseraull's Bill Ferrari Stealth/Esslinger on the rutted quarter-mile oval that saw numerous off-track excursions and tangles resulting in the midget features being cut to 20 of the scheduled 30-laps.

Meseraull charged into the lead from the outside front row starting position over second row starter Jimmy Sills, pole-sitter Pete Davis and Rick Faeth. On the second round Faeth moved his Chevy V4-powered TCR under Davis for third. At this point eighth-starting Gard held fifth.
Rob Russell spun the Thurston CanDo/Esslinger in turn-one to bring out the caution flag.

At the restart Davis dropped back as Gard moved up to challenge Faeth for third. Exiting turn-two the duo made contact with Faeth's car forced out into the backstretch apron, sending a cloud of dust as he maneuvered to regain control, returning to the track directly behind Gard with John Sarale now up to fifth over Jimmy Christian and Scott Pierovich in the intensly-contested bout for position.

Meseruall continued his lead over Gard as Faeth dropped back and Sills brought his racing school car up to third.

On lap six both ends of the track saw evasive action as Richard Pickett spun in turn-one and slid off-track and Travis Berryhill exited the track in a spin off turn-three to bring out the yellow flag. Upon the restart another presentation of yellow was unfurled as Pierovich and Matt Streeter made contact, tangling together to a stop that put them both out of action.

Again, Meseraull took the green over the field, then on the seventh lap Sills ran high and off-track in turns three and four, emitting a massive cloud of dust before emerging back onto the track at the beginning of the front straight. This dropped the three-time Silver Crown champ back to 12th before pulling into the pits.

Soon it became a battle for the lead between Meseraull and Gard, both running side-by-side on several attempts by Gard to gain the lead.
Exiting the final turn on the ninth circuit, Berryhill and Prickett became entangled and slid to a stop shortly before reaching the finish line for another caution.

At the green Gard dove under Meseraull entering the first turn and made good his bid exiting turn-two, but Meseraull came back to nab the top spot exiting turn-four on the next lap. Sarale began experiencing electrical problems, dropping out on the 13th round as a spin by Faeth in turn-two brought out the final caution flag. At this point, because of two main events yet to follow the midgets, the decision was made to cut the race to 20-laps.
The run to the checkered flag did not let up on the close competition as Gard continued his assault on Meseraull, nearly taking the lead on the 16th lap, then taking command on the 17th lap.

Meseraull came back, diving under Gard going into the third-turn on the 19th lap, and taking the lead momentarily before Gard was able to muscle back into the lead on the outside. One lap later and it was Gard narrowly leading Meseraull across the line with Christian, Garratt Boyden, Davis and Faeth the only remaining cars on the lead lap. Both Gard and Meseraull's teams use the new Pete Davis designed and built Hot Head Heating System for pre-heating fluids.

Berryhill led off qualifying with the top time at 13.197.

Pierovich scored the trophy dash victory over Berryhill, Russell and Boyden.

Meseraull, who had an ignition problem from the onset and never got a lap on the track before he had to qualify, took the first heat race over Sills and Davis. Streeter won the second extremely competitive eight-lap heat over Gard and Pierovich.

During time trials Greg Dennett caught a run in the hrun three-four sector of the track and flied wildly for times. Dennett was uninjured, but the 3D Racing Beat. Wirth Chevy was out for the evening.

The next BCRA midget race is set for July 2 at the Lakeport Speedway, then to the Antioch Speedway on July 9.

SUMMARY:
QUAL.: 1. Travis Berryhill, #11L Berryhill 13.197; 2. Garratt Boyden, #46 Boyden 13.266; 3. Scott Pierovich, #35 Pierovich 13.366; 4. Rob Russell, #17 Thurston 13.424; 5. Brian Gard,#57 Borghesani 13.428; 6. Jimmy Christian, #16 Christian 13.528; 7. Matt Streeter, #97 Streeter 13.603; 8. John Sarale, #32 Sarale 13.719; 9. David Pickett, #15 Pickett 13.846; 10. Jimmy Sills, #4S Sills 14.138; 11. Rick Faeth, #3 Faeth 14.349; 12. Thomas Meseraull,#69 Ferrari 14.518; 13. Pete Davis, #00 David 14.851; 14. Mike Donaldson, #87 Donaldson 14.949; 15. Joe Lindsey, #23x Lindsey 15.213; 16. Greg Dennett, #47 Dennett N/T (Flip).

DASH: Pierovich, Berryhill, Russell, Boyden.
HEAT-1: Meseraull, Sills, Davis, Faeth, Lindsey, Donaldson, Prickett.
HEAT-2: Streeter, Gard, Pierovich, Sarale, Russell, Christian, Boyden, Berryhill.
MAIN (20-Laps): 1. Brian Gard, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Jimmy Christian, 4. Pete Davis, 5. Garratt Boyden, 6. Rick Faeth, 7. Joe Lindsey, 8. John Sarale, 9. Jimmy Sills, 10. David Prickett, 11. Travis Berryhill, 12. Scott Pierovich, 13. Matt Streeter, 14. Rob Russell.
LAP LEADERS: 1-8 Meseraull, 9 Gard, 10-16 Meseraull, 17-20 Gard