GREWOHL CHARGES TO MADERA MIDGET WIN - SARALE CAPTURES BCRA CHAMPIONSHIP

MADERA, CA. OCT. 21: Bobby Grewohl set the pace by outqualifying the 24 car field, then finalized his efforts by capturing to the Bay Cities Racing Association midget feature at the Madera Speedway. The DeBeaumont Motorsports Beast/Ed Pink Ford driver proved his high standards by charging from 14th to win the 39-lap main event , scheduled for 40-laps, but cut short with a 38th-lap yellow/checkered flag. BCRA point leader John Sarale finished the BCRA racing season finale by winning his second consecutive driving championship.
Pete Davis led off from the pole for the first lap as Bradley Galedrige spurred his Al Galedrige Gerhardt/Mopar from 12th-starting to charge to sixth over the first lap route, then into the lead in the second circuit on the banked quarter-mile paved oval. David Prickett, from sixth, took over second as Davis faded. At this point Grewohl spurred his mount to move briskly through traffic and held third on the third round, then displaced Prickett for second one lap later. At this point, WMRA's Brea Lopez held fourth in the Press Beast/Esslinger and top BCRA rookie and second-fastest qualifier Justin Grant charged his way to fifth with Scott Pierovich convincingly moving into sixth in the Lance Pierovich Beast/Wirth Mopar from tenth.
On the eighth lap Floyd Alvis drove to the edge with a broken rear axle to bring out the first caution flag. After one more completed lap Jared Little drew the yellow flag with a spin.
Galedrige, with Grewohl trailing, began to feel his right rear tire slowly deflating, but he was able to maintain his lead as Grant moved by Prickett for third, followed shortly by Pierovich and Sarale dropping Prickett further back.
While the front-five maintained their positions it was Thomas Meseraull making headway from his 23rd starting position in the Jack Walker Stealth/Esslinger backup car, moving into seventh by the 11th lap, then passing Prickett for sixth one lap later.
Completing the 16th circuit Grewohl was nearly side-by-side with Galedrige who was experiencing more difficulty with the deflating tire. On the 17th round Grewohl made good his bid and took over the top-spot as the frontrunners began lapping several backmarkers.
On the 21st lap Rob Lindsey and Prickett exited turn four battling for position near the track apron, giving Travis Berryhill an opening to make an attempt to pass on the high side. As the trio raced side-by-side onto the front stretch, contact was made, sending Lindsey into a sliding spin as Berryhill rode over a wheel. Lindsey's spinning car made contact with Prickett, sending him into a spin. Lindsey and Pickett came to a stop just before the starting line as Berryhill managed to extract himself and pull away. The melee brought out the caution flag, which was followed by a red flag to halt the race in order to clear the two stranded cars. During this period Prickett climbed from his car and angrily confronted Lindsey and was then hustled off to the infield by track officials. Lindsey left his car and walked to the infield to confer with Prickett. Both driver's actions were rules violtions and the possibility of disciplinary action could have resulted in disqualification. In a post-race meeting with chief referee Tom Manning, both were chastised, but were not penalized further.
Grewohl held the lead at the restart over Galedrige, Grant, Pierovich, Sarale and Meseraull with Alfred Galedrige and Lopez following. Berrryhill held ninth over Gundo, then spun a 360-degree in turn-one, managing to continue without losing position.
On the 30th circuit Gundo and Rick Faeth tangled and spun to a stop on the front straightaway to bring out the yellow flag. While running under the caution Meseraull make contact with Sarale on the backstretch. Sarale spun into the wall as Alfred Galedrige spun to the infield to avoid contact. Meseraull was summoned to the rear of the field by the referee. Disenchanted with the official ruling, Meseraull stopped his car at the finish line and jumped from the car and strode to the infield, leaving the track officials to remove the Walker machine from the track.
Back to racing, Grewohl continued his dominating pace until the 33rd lap when Alfred Galedrige spun in the middle of turns 3 and 4, drawing another caution.
Older brother Bradley Galedrige used the opportunity to duck into the infield where his crew quickly changed his nearly flat right rear with a new tire, returning to the track at the rear without losing a lap.
At the resumption Grewohl again retained his lead with Grant how in second over Pierovich and Lopez. Bradley Galedrige, from the rear, quickly maneuvered through traffic and by the 36th round was back up to fifth.
All looked well for Grewohl to pace the field to the win, when on the 38th lap Alfred Galedrige again spun in turn-four to bring out the yellow, followed quickly by the checkered flag, relegating the main event to 39 laps.
Grewohl took the win over Grant and Pierovich with Bradley Galedrige moving past Lopez on the final racing lap to snare fourth.
Grewohl was fast qualifier at 14.106. Sarale romped to the trophy dash win. The BCRA format called for three totally inverted heat races. The first heat, with the eight slowest qualifiers, was won by Eddie Abrew over Dan Parker and Faeth. Alvis took the second ten-lapper over Lopez and Gary Dickenson with Pierovich scoring the third heat for the eight fastest qualifiers over Grewohl and B. Galedrige. Grewohl drew a 14 pill for the main event inversion.
Dallen McKinney lost an engine in hot laps to become the only car not to run the full program.
Leading into the final race of the season Alvis held a five point led over Berryhill for second in the point standings, When the dust settled, Berryhill overcame his deficit to claim the runnerup spot behind Sarale who will pick up his championship check, trophy and ring at the annual Awards Banquet on November 18.
SUMMARY: QUAL.: 1, Bobby Grewohl, #11D DeBeaumont 14.106l 2. Justin Grant, #30 Grant 14.290; 3. Bradley Galedrige, #29 Galedrige 14.293; 4. John Sarale, #32 Sarale 14.321; 5. Scott Pierovich, #35 Pierovich 14.351; 6. Alfred Galedrige, #26x Galedrige 14.377; 7. Rob Lindsey, #23 Lindsey 14.511; 8. Travis Berryhill, #11 Berryhill 14.580; 9. David Prickett, #15 Prickett 14.647; 10. Dan Gundo, #6 Gundo 14.686; 11. Bill Lindsey, #61x Fowler 14.720; 12. Brea Lopez, #25x Press 14.757; 13. Gary Dickenson, #8 Dickenson 14.763; 14. Pete Davis, #00 Davis 14.791; 15. Floyd Alvis, #18 Alvis 14.838; 16. Jared Little, #23x Little 14.841; 17. Dam Parker, #38 Parker 14.880; 18. Bobby Dalton, #36 Dalton 14.889; 19. Ralph Cortez, #31 Cortez 15.226; 20. Eddie Abrew, #25 Abrew 15.273; 21. Rick Faeth, #3 Faeth 15.443; 22. Mike Donaldson, #87 Donaldson 15.541; 23. Thomas Meseraull, #10x Walker 17.602; 24. Ken Bonnema, #58 Bonnema N/T; 25. Dallen McKinney, #88x McKinney N/T.
DASH: Sarale, B. Galedrige, Grant, Grewohl. 4-lap/57.37.
HEAT-1: Abrew, Parker, Faeth, Cortez, Dalton, Donaldson, Bonnema, Meseraull. 10 laps/2:2893.
HEAT-2: Alvis, Lopez, Dickenson, Davis, Gundo, Prickett, B. Lindsey, Little. N/T
HEAT-3: Pierovich, Grewohl, B. Galedrige, R. Lindsey, Sarale, Berryhill, Grant, A. Galedrige. 10-laps/2:24.06.
MAIN - 39-laps: 1. Bobby Grewohl, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Scott Pierovich, 4. Bradley Galedrige, 5. Brea Lopez, 6. Eddie Abrew, 7. Ralph Cortez, 8. Bobby Dalton, 9. Travis Berryhill, 10. Dan Parker, 11. Bill Lindsey, 12. Alfred Galedrige, 13. John Sarale, 14. Thomas Meseraull, 15. Dan Gundo, 16. Rick Faeth, 17. David Prickett, 18. Rob Lindsey, 19. Pete Davis, 20. Mike Donaldson, 21. Jared Little, 22. Floyd Alvis, 23. Ken Bonnema, 24. Gary Dickenson. N/T.
LEADERS: 1 Davis, 2-16 B. Galedrige , 17-39 Grewohl.