AGELESS ALVIS ANNIHILATES BCRA MIDGET FIELD

FERNLEY, NV. JUNE 17: The ageless Floyd Alvis scored his first feature win in nearly two years, annihilating the Bay Cities Racing Association midget field at the Reno-Fernley Raceway.
The 71-year-old seven-time BCRA champion was in sharp contrast to runnerup, just-turned-sixteen rookie talent Darrin Bolton in the experience category.
Alvis took command of the feature on the ninth lap aboard his Champion Automotive Stealth/Esslinger when pole-sitter Rob Russell spun the Thurston Spike/Esslinger Ford in the fourth turn.
Thurston had jumped into the initial lead over David Prickett, Gary Dickenson and Travis Berryhill, looking invincible with his power slides on the dry-slick 3/8-mile clay oval.
Defending champion John Sarale, experiencing mechanical problems, pitted after taking the green flag.
Alvis, starting fourth, had dropped several positions over the first lap before reaching down to surge forward, moving from seventh after the opening round to fifth on the second and fourth one lap later. Meanwhile, Berryhill moved his "Spirit of American Canyon" Stealth/Gaerte into second over the first three circuits and looked to be Russell's primary adversary.
But it was Alvis, putting behind him a lack-luster early-season, who correctly read the challenging oval, moving past Prickett's Stealth/VanDyne to hold third by the fourth lap. Setting his sights on Berryhill, Alvis out-dueled the point leader to gain second one lap later.
It was at this point that observers realized that the two front-runners were attacking the track differently. Russell continually ran the high grey-slick portion of the track, nearly spinning twice. Alvis chose the lower black-slick portion and was inching closer to Russell when, on the ninth circuit, Russell spun in the upper portion of the wide turn-four. Dickenson and Dan Parker tangled to a stop while attempting to avoid Russell. All three restarted in the rear.
The caution again appeared on the 11th lap when Berryhill and second-running Prickett tangled as they entered the first turn. Prickett spun into the outer track exit road and Berryhill remained on-course. Prickett was pushed pitward and returned to the track entrance after driving through the pits. The track officials stopped him before he reentered and disqualified him for speeding in the pits. Meanwhile, the BCRA referee had the starter black flag Berryhill and disqualified him for rough driving. This moved rookie Bolton up to second over Tony Boscacci, Rick Haugh and Parker.
At the resumption, with Sarale returning to the track nine laps down, Alvis held the lead over Bolton. Both generated near lock drifts exiting the turns, but Alvis slowly pulled away from the youngster. Haugh moved by Boscacci for third with Parker and Dickenson dropping him further back over the next several laps.
Russell, now utilizing the lower black slick portion of the turns, had moved back up to fifth, when approaching the white flag he pulled to the infield with no brakes.
Alvis powered to the win over Bolton, Haugh, Parker, Dickenson, Boscacci and John Haugh with Scott Nail finishing eighth one lap down.
With five divisions running, there was no qualifying. The lineups were determined by point average. Dickenson won the first heat race over Prickett and Boscacci. Russell took the second eight-lapper over Berryhill and Alvis. Russell came back to score the trophy dash win.
The BCRA vintage division ran a heat race and main event with Ron Dunn in his Benson/Chevy II taking the exhibition feature over Pete Bray's Malloy/Chevy II.
The midget, midget lite and vintage race scheduled for June 24 at the Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville has been cancelled. The midgets next appear at the Lakeport Speedway on July 1.

SUMMARY:
Heat-1: Dickenson, Prickett, Boscacci, J. Haugh, Parker, Bolton.
Heat-2: Russell, Berryhill, Alvis, R. Haugh, Nail, Sarale.
Dash: Russell, Berryhill, Dickenson, Prickett.
Main: Floyd Alvis, Alvis; Darrin Bolton, Bolton; Rick Haugh, Haugh; Dan Parker, Roza; Gary Dickenson, Dickenson; Tony Boscacci, Walker; John Haugh, Haugh; Scott Nail, Donaldson; Rob Russell, Thurston; John Sarale, Sarale; David Prickett, Prickett; Travis Berryhill, Berryhill.