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By Robert Haugh
Michael Faccinto won the final Bay Cities Racing Association midget main event
of the 2007 season on the second night of the Tachi Open Wheel Invitational
held at Kings Speedway in Hanford, CA. (M&M Photo)
Starting on the pole, Hanford’s Michael Faccinto emerged
victorious in the #41 Gary Scelzi Racing Beast/Mopar, claiming the winner’s
honors in the season-concluding DMS Race Products BCRA Midget feature at the
lightning-fast 3/8-mile King’s Speedway on Saturday, September 29 on night two
of the inaugural Tachi Open Wheel Invitational.
Rummaging what was left of abrasive-worn tires, the 16-year-old chauffer
delighted the local crowd, leading every lap of the shortened 14-lap feature
race, originally slated for 35 laps and dropped to 15 because of tire wear
concerns.
Returning from their intense battle for second-place the night before,
16-year-old Justin Grant and two-time reigning BCRA champion John Sarale came
into Saturday’s foray with just two points separating them in the battle for the
2007 BCRA Dirt driver’s points race.
Upon restarting on the second lap, Sarale had moved past Grant, with the two
waging battle throughout the feature for third place on the abrasive track, both
running tires far too soft for the hard track.
Nearing the end of the conclusion of the race, Sarale developed a flat tire,
limping to a seventh-place finish when the race was called because of severe
tire wear concerns, while Grant scored a third-place finish aboard the Dave and
Wendy Thurston #17 Spike/Esslinger.
At the yellow-checkers, Faccinto claimed his first BCRA Midget triumph over
Travis Berryhill aboard the Berryhill Racing #11 Stealth/L.J.’s Gaerte, Grant,
Friday-night winner Brian Gard manning Mark Borghesani’s #57 Spike/Brayton Ford
and Allan Ballard in his #54 Spike/Fontana rounding out the Top five.
Rounding out the Top 10 in the depleted field were 17th-starting 7-time BCRA
champion Floyd Alvis aboard the #18 Champion Automotive Stealth/Esslinger,
Sarale in his #32 Sarale Farms Stealth/Riolo Ford, Dave Stoltz aboard his #77
Pacific Flyer/Buick V6 and BCRA rookie Nick Foster, Jr., piloting the Walker
Motorsports-Bay Muffler #19 Stealth/Esslinger.
Nearing the conclusion of the race, which has been reduced to 15 laps because of
the tire wear concerns, a myriad of cars experienced tire-wear issues expiring
with deflated and bald tires.
After a yellow unfurled due to several cars stopping with flats, the decision
was made to call the race after 14 laps. The abrasive and hard track was simply
too much for the smaller, softer Midget tires to handle.
Fifth-place finisher Ballard exited the track following the yellow-checkers with
a flat tire as well.
At post-race tech inspections, nearly every car came to the scales with
extremely bare tires.
Faccinto claimed the 4-lap Dash over Brad Sweet, Grant and Berryhill.
Nick Foster, Jr. claimed Heat 2 in the Walker Racing-Bay Muffler #10 Stealth/Esslinger
over Stoltz, Scott Nail in Stu Donaldson’s #87 Stealth/Pontiac and Steve Roza
aboard Bob Roza’s #20 Beast/Esslinger. Foster’s Heat win is his second in as
many races.
Kody Swanson claimed Heat 1 in the Blackwell Motorsports #27d Stealth/Gaerte
over Fresno’s David Prickett in the Neverlift Motorsports #15 Stealth/Van Dyne,
Ballard, 1999 BCRA champion Matt Streeter aboard his #14jr Spike/Pink Ford and
Kingsburg’s Doug Nunes in the Blackwell Motorsports #27b Blackwell Motorsports
Stealth/Gaerte.
Brad Sweet outpaced the stellar field in qualifying with a mark of 17.142.
Sweet, however, retired from the feature in the opening lap with unknown
mechanical gremlins.
With his two-third-place runs at the Tachi Open Wheel Invitation over the
weekend, Grant guided the Dave and Wendy Thurston #17 to a commanding Dirt
owner’s title. Grant had already wrapped up the overall driver’s title on Friday
and claimed the pavement driver’s title after last week’s rainout at Shasta.
With Sarale’s late-race misfortune on Saturday, Grant narrowly claimed the BCRA
dirt driver’s title over Sarale.
Visit www.bcraracing.com for additional information on the BCRA Midgets.
Summary:
Main event (start position)
1. Michael Faccinto (1)
2. Travis Berryhill (4)
3. Justin Grant (3)
4. Brian Gard (7)
5. Allan Ballard (11)
6. Floyd Alvis (17)
7. John Sarale (6)
8. Tanner Swanson (15)
9. Dave Stoltz (22)
10. Nick Foster, Jr. (16)
11. Pete Davis (20)
12. Ralph Cortez (23)
13. Jimmy Voitel (8)
14. Scott Nail (18)
15. Steve Roza (21)
16. Kody Swanson (10)
17. Doug Nunes (13)
18. Kevin Morris (5)
19. Burt Foland, Jr. (19)
20. Cole Peard (14)
21. Brad Sweet (2)
22. David Prickett (9)
23. Matt Streeter (12)
Lap leaders: 1-14 Faccinto, race halted due to tire-wear related conditions.
Heat 2, 2:31.066
1. Nick Foster, Jr.
2. Dave Stoltz
3. Steve Roza
4. Burt Foland, Jr.
5. Ralph Cortez
6. Pete Davis
7. Scott Nail
Heat 1, 6:22.694
1. Kody Swanson
2. David Prickett
3. Allan Ballard
4. Matt Streeter
5. Doug Nunes
6. Cole Peard
7. Tanner Swanson
8. Floyd Alvis
Dash, 7:45.105
1. Michael Faccinto
2. Brad Sweet
3. Justin Grant
4. Travis Berryhill
5. Kevin Morris
6. John Sarale
7. Brian Gard
8. Jimmy Voitel
Qualifying
1. Brad Sweet, 17.142, #88
2. Jimmy Voitel, 17.251, #87jr
3. Travis Berryhill, 17.254
4. Michael Faccinto, 17.272
5. Allan Ballard, 17.334
6. Tanner Swanson, 17.396
7. Matt Streeter, 17.490
8. Floyd Alvis, 17.510
9. Cole Peard, 17.582, #18x Peard Twister/Fontana
10. Doug Nunes, 17.691
11. Kody Swanson, 17.750
12. David Prickett, 17.760
13. Scott Nail, 17.842
14. Steve Roza, 17.867
15. Pete Davis, 17.953
16. Ralph Cortez, 18.145
17. Burt Foland, Jr., 18.157
18. Dave Stoltz, 18.446
19. Nick Foster, Jr., 18.605
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