By Robert Haugh
After taking the lead on Lap 20, Fremont’s Shane Golobic
chauffeured Doug Bock’s #26 Spike/Esslinger to victory lane, capturing the
incident-marred 30-lap Bay Cities Racing Association Midget triumph on
Saturday, June 30 at the ¼-mile Placerville Speedway.
It was Golobic’s third Midget win at Placerville in the last
three years.
Lining up third on the grid, Golobic battled early with
early race leaders Justin Grant in Dave Thurston’s #11 Spike/Esslinger and Sean
Becker in Mike Sala’s #19w Stealth/Chevy as well as Matt Streeter in his #14JR
Spike/Pink Chevy.
Running both high and low, Golobic surged past Becker on Lap
20, never looking back, taking the win by a half second over Streeter, Sean Dodenhoff
in Brad Dodenhoff’s #9d Spike/Fontana, Becker and Atascadero’s Randi Pankratz
in her #8 Edmunds AutoResearch coil over/Fontana rounding out the tope five.
Pankratz steadily advanced from her 14th starting spot to finish
fifth while Dodenhoff also advanced from his ninth starting spot.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Oakdale’s Danny Parker in Bob
Roza’s #21 Stealth/Esslinger, 7-time BCRA champion “Ageless Wonder” Floyd Alvis
in his #18 Stealth/Esslinger, Manteca’s “Nito” Nick Chivello aboard his #27 Spike/Esslinger,
Angwin’s Britton Bock in his #67 Spike/Esslinger and Vacaville’s Rick Holbrook
in Peggy Holbrook’s #6 Spike/RRE Chevy EcoTec.
Bock had patiently worked his way from 11th to
seventh by Lap 4 and moved into sixth on Lap 20 before getting spun around by
another driver on Lap 27 while running in sixth and battling for a Top 5
finish. After falling back to 19th after a Lap 4 spin, Chivello
rebounded to finish eighth. Holbrook’s night looked to have ended early in the
Heat, after heavy contact with Lonny Alton’s #5a Stealth/Gaerte. Alton tipped
it over and returned later, however, Holbrook suffered severe front-end damage.
Thanks to the aid of several racers including the Alvis, Donaldson and Alton
crews, plus Midget Lite racer Howard Adam West, Holbrook’s car was repaired in
time to start the feature, and finish 10th.
Gary Conterno in Floyd Alvis’ #83 Stealth/Wesmar Gaerte
claimed 11th with J.R. Williams takings 12th in his newly
acquired Spike/Brayton Chevy.
After running up-front early, and leading Laps 3 through 20,
Sean Becker fell out of the Top 5 before coming home in fourth. Becker’s
teammate Andy Forsberg started sixth in Mike Sala’s #19s Spike/Mopar and fell
out of the Top 10 early, racing back to ninth before dropping out on Lap 27 after
getting caught up in his second incident of the race.
Bakersfield’s Shannon McQueen was holding onto a Top 5 run
in the McQueen Racing #7 Spike/Esslinger, despite fighting braking issues.
McQueen cautiously exited the race on Lap 26 when she pulled the car in after a
brick-sized boulder crashed through her front hood, severing a main water line.
Grant, a former BCRA Midget champion currently finding much
success in Non-Wing Sprint Cars in Indiana dropped out on Lap 11 with
mechanical gremlins in Thurston’s mount. Veteran Bill Lindsey pulled Stu
Donaldson’s #8 Stealth/Pontiac in on Lap 21. Alton exited after two laps.
Rookie Bret Felkins made his Midget debut in Matt Streeter’s
#14 Spike/Fontana Rhino, suffering a long night – first spinning on Lap 8 of
the feature then bringing out the red with a Lap 13 flip.
The Oh Sh*t hard luck of the night award goes to 21-year-old
Howard Fergerson, Jr., who flipped in Turn 3 in Karl Hokanson’s #98
Stealth/Gaerte during hot laps after his rear axle snapped on the right side,
ripping off the shock tower and damaging several panels.
McQueen dominated Heat 1, winning by over four seconds over
Streeter and Dodenhoff.
The Sala teammates, Forsberg and Becker, two local Sprint
car aces battled each other in in Heat 2, with Forsberg claiming the narrow win
over Becker, who claimed the June 2 feature in Placerville. .
Golobic claimed Heat 3 over Grant.
Grant claimed the 6-ap Dash, of which featured the top 2
cars from each Heat race. The Dash did not pay cash or points.
RESULTS:
FEATURE (30 Laps
[Start]): 1. Golobic (3), 2. Streeter (4), 3. Dodenhoff (9), 4. Becker (2), 5.
Pankratz (14), 6. Parker (12), 7. Alvis (15), 8. Chivello (10), 9. Bock (11),
10. Holbrook (18), 11. Conterno (16), 12. Williams (20), 13. Forsberg (6), 14.
McQueen (5), 15. B. Lindsey (17), 16. R. Lindsey (7), 17. Felkins (13), 18.
Schweitzer (8), 19. Grant (1), 20. Alton (19), 21. Wood (DNS)
LAP LEADERS: 1-3
Grant, 4-19 Becker, 20-30 Golobic
DASH: 1. Grant, 2.
Golobic, 3. Streeter, 4. Forberg, 5. Becker, 6. McQueen
HEAT 1: 1. McQueen,
2. Streeter, 3. R. Lindsey, 4. Dodenhoff, 5. Felkins, 6. Conterno, 7. B.
Lindsey, 8. Williams
HEAT 2: 1. Forsberg,
2. Becker, 3. Schweitzer, 4. Bock, 5. Pankratz, 6. Alvis, 7. Wood
HEAT 3: 1. Golobic,
2. Grant, 3. Chivello, 4. Parker, 5. Alton, 6. Holbrook
