BCRA Results From Tuesday Night’s Chili Bowl “Pre-Qualifying” Night

-By Robert Haugh

With over 285 entrants, and over 70 in Tuesday’s pre-qualifying feature, several BCRA-affiliated cars and drivers took to the track in hopes of advancing to one of the main preliminary feature programs. Of the ten BCRA-affiliated entries on Tuesday, only Justin Melton and Cole Peard qualified for Tuesday’s A-main, with Melton being the only to transfer into a qualifying night event.

Texas’ Melton, making his first Dirt Midget start, showed veteran skill, winning Heat 2 and earning a spot in Wednesday night's Creek Nation Casino Qualifying night event by finishing twelfth in the A-main Tuesday. Melton was slated to start the feature outside the fourth row, but was relegated to the tail when forced to the work area for quick repairs to get his mount to fire. He battled from the rear to transfer to Wednesday’s program behind-the-wheel of Mike Beason’s #36j Stealth/Pink Chevy. Melton drove one the DMS Race Products #11 House Beast/Esslingers in 2007 on pavement

15-year-old BCRA rookie Cole Peard transferred from B-main 2, and was moving up in the Gordon & Alisa Peard #58 Twister/Fontana, but made contact with another car, flipping in Turn two and bringing out the caution on Lap nine for a turn two flip. Peard was scored with a 22nd-place finish.

Two-time BCRA Midget Lite champion Jeff Griffin just missed making Tuesday’s A-main, finishing fifth in B-main 2 in his #50 Stealth/Esslinger. Griffin battled for the win in Heat 8, but settled for second in the Heat.

Fresno’s T.J. Smith was well on his way to taking the win in Heat 10 after rocketing into the lead from the outside pole in the #10t Chris Walker/Bay Muffler Stealth/Esslinger, but early on the battery died, causing him to drop out of contention in the Heat. Smith rebounded well, driving the Bay Muffler mount from the rear of C-Main 2 to capture fourth, two spots shy of transferring. Smith will also begin his quest for the Golden Driller trophy very early in the alphabet soup on Saturday evening.

2007 BCRA Midget Lite champion Doug Nunes got upside down on the opening lap of Heat 3 in the #27c Blackwell Motorsports Stealth/Gaerte, quickly being initiated to the Chili Bowl. Nunes was unable to start C-Main 2. If repairs can be made, Nunes will be starting at the very rear of the lowest feature on Saturday night.

Former BCRA car owner champion and multiple-time BCRA Midget and Midget Lite feature winner Cameron Beard in Larry Mrytle’s #9b Stealth/Esslinger, Peard, Griffin, Doug DeWitt in his #11d Stealth/Fontana, Connecticut driver Kelly Ferrell in the Bay Muffler #10f Stealth/Esslinger, Smith, Nunes and Trish Dover in Lance Pierovich’s #6p Spike/Wirth Mopar will all now be forced to work their way through the alphabet soup, starting out in the early portion of Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Championship feature events.

Tuesday Night's Bass Pro Shops Pre-Qualifier (BCRA-affiliated car) Results:

Heat 1: 5. #11D Doug DeWitt, Sunnyvale, CA, Dewitt Stealth/Fontana; 7. #6P Trish Dover, Springfield, NE, Lance Pierovich Spike/Wirth Mopar

Heat 2: 1. #36J Justin Melton, Flower Mound, TX, Mike Beason Stealth/Pink Chevy

Heat 3: 8. #27C Doug Nunes, Kingsburg, CA, Blackwell Motorsports Stealth/Gaerte

Heat 4: 7. #9B Cameron Beard, Atwater, CA, Larry Mrytl Stealth/Esslinger

Heat 5: 5. #58 Cole Peard, Quincy, CA, Peard Twister/Fontana

Heat 7: 3. #10F Kelly Ferrell, Chaplin, CT, Chris Walker-Bay Muffler Stealth/Esslinger;

Heat 8: 2. #50J Jeff Griffin, St. Helena, CA, Griffin Stealth/Esslinger

Heat 10: 7. #10t T.J. Smith, Fresno, CA, Chris Walker-Bay Muffler Stealth/Esslinger

C-Main 1: 3. Cameron Beard, 7. Trish Dover (Pierovich)

C-Main 2: 4. T.J. Smith (Walker/Bay Muffler), DNS Doug Nunes (Blackwell)

B-Main 1: 12. Kelly Ferrell (Walker/Bay Muffler)

B-Main 2: 3. Cole Peard, 5. Jeff Griffin, 16. Doug DeWitt

A-Main: 12. Justin Melton, 22. Cole Peard

Wednesday night's Creek Nation Casino Qualifying night event will feature several BCRA-affiliated entries, including 2006 BCRA Dirt rookie-of-the-year Darrin Bolton in the Bolton Racing #xx Stewart/Stanton Mopar, 15-year-old New Yorker Coleman Gulick aboard BCRA veteran Pete Davis’ #00 Hot Head Heaters Stealth/Esslinger, Shannon McQueen piloting her #7s Spike/Esslinger, 2000 BCRA Midget champion Matt Streeter manning his #14jr Spike/Ed Pink Chevy, Troy Rutherford behind-the-wheel of multi-time BCRA feature winning car owner Mike Sala’s #19s Spike/Wirth Mopar, Ryan Kaplan in Ken Kaplan’s #21k Stealth/Wirth Fontana, two-time BCRA Midget champion Glenn Carson making his return to Midget action after being out several months due to a crash in early 2007 aboard Doug Bock’s #26 Spike/Esslinger, Tony Elliott aboard the Blackwell Motorsports #27b Stealth/Gaerte, Chad Boat aboard father Billy’s #30 Spike/Esslinger, Tuesday night transfer Melton aboard Beason’s #36j Stealth/Pink Chevy and former Midget Lite ace Brad Sweet aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing #49e Spike/Mopar.

Log on to www.bcraracing.com for BCRA-affiliated results and pictures from Floyd Busby. Visit www.chilibowl.com for complete results and information on the 22nd Annual Dodge Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.

If you cannot be there to see all of the exciting Midget action live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the race will be streamed live online at www.racingboys.com and Saturday’s feature events will be broadcasted live on HBO Sports PPV. Call your cable or satellite provider to order. Complete entries and nightly lineups can be found at www.chilibowl.com. Friday’s qualifying features will be streamed as well, via www.nascar.com.