MESERAULL 3-4 IN BCRA MIDGET ACTION

5-20-05....Thomas Meseraull from San Jose won his third Bay Cities Racing Association Midget main event in four try's this season when race long leader Ryan Kaplan from Chico bobbled in turn one allowing Meseraull to slip underneath exiting turn two to take the lead and eventual win. Kaplan recovered to race second with BCRA regular Pete Davis a strong third. Defending BCRA champion Meseraull driving the Bill Farrari owned Hot Head Heater sponsored Stealth/Esslinger made this his second main event win in a row as he was coming off a big win in the co-sanctioned BCRA/WMRA main event held the week prior in Eureka. Meseraull's other win was in the BCRA opener in Shasta in early April.

At the start of the 20 lap main event outside row one starter Kaplan took the lead from polesitter Joe Lindsey entering turn one. Travis Berryhill and Johnny Cofer tangled in turn one the next time by resulting in them both up upside down. Both drivers were uninjured but the mishap ended Cofer's night. Berryhill quickly got his mount uprighted and to the pits where his crew and others pitched in to make repairs allowing Berryhill to restart. When the green flag replaced the red Kaplan continued to lead with Davis moving past Lindsey for second. Midpack starters John Sarale, Bradley Galedrige, Meseraull and Scott Pierovich all were racing for position and making their respected moves to the front. In one lap Meseraull passed Sarale on the inside entering turn one and got Galedrige coming off turn four to race third by midway. Davis held off Mereraull for several laps but Meseraull got a run coming off turn four to take second from Davis with a handful of laps remaining. Meseraull was driving his car to the limit trying to catch Kaplan and eventually caught the race long leader but he proved tough to pass. Entering turn one Kaplan hit a bump in the track causing his Stealth/Stanton Mopor to bounce up the track. This was all Meseraull needed to race to the inside of Kaplan and pull away to the win. Kaplan raced second with Davis third. Micro Midget graduate and current sprint car competitor Michael Trimble ran a solid fourth. Sarale rounded out the top five driving his Stealth/Riolo Ford.

With fourteen midgets in the pits two heat races were scheduled lined up by point average. Matt Streeter scratched for the evening in the Dave Thuston owned TCR/Scat V-4 with a badly overheating car due to head gasket problems. Heat one saw Davis lead until Meseraull got under him to take the lead and win. Berryhill and Sarale had a spirited battle for third with both drivers trading the position a couple of times before the two made contact with eachother on the frontstretch. Sarale was forced to the pits with a smashed header while Berryhill was sidelined with a right rear flat. This allowed Cortez to finish third in heat one. The second heat saw Kaplan win by ten car lengths at the checkers. Gard finished second after getting by Galedrige late. Pierovich finished third after a nice battle with Galedrige and Cofer. Galedrige finished fourth, Cofer fifth and Trimble rounded out the field in sixth. The dash got off to an ugly start when Gard flipped on the start in turn 1. Gard was uninjured but done for the night. When racing finally got underway Kaplan took the lead and held off the strong challenges from Meseraull to take the win. Meseraull finished second with Davis third. The traveling mighty midgets of the BCRA head to Carson City, NV. to do battle in a 50 lap main event billed as the "Salute to Indy" this coming Saturday, then head to Lakeport Speedway the first Saturday in June.

Summary: 5-20-05 BCRA Midgets - Sacramento Raceway Park

Heat 1: 1. Thomas Meseraull 2. Pete Davis 3. Ralph Cortez 4. John Sarale 5. Travis Berryhill 6. Nick Foster 7. Joe Lindsey
Heat 2: 1. Ryan Kaplan 2. Brian Gard 3. Scott Pierovich 4. Bradley Galedrige 5. Johnny Cofer 6. Michael Trimble
Dash: 1. Kaplan 2. Meseraull 3. Davis 4. Gard
Main: 1. Meseraull 2. Kaplan 3. Davis 4. Trimble 5. Sarale 6. Lindsey 7. Cortez 8. Berryhill 9. Galedrige 10. Pierovich 11. Cofer