Shane Golobic Captures Gold in Placerville

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 14^th 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 11^th 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 19^th 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 10^th.

Gary Conterno in Floyd Alvis’ #83 Stealth/Wesmar Gaerte claimed 11^th with J.R. Williams takings 12^th 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

Three Generations Making Cross-Country Chili Bowl Trek

Three Generations Making Cross-Country Chili Bowl Trek

By Robert Haugh

With around 250 entries at the 26^th Annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, including three-time and reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and reigning NASCAR Nationwide series champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., there are a myriad of families competing in the prestigious race that features drivers from an array of backgrounds.

One of the West Coast families making the trek in hopes of capturing the coveted Golden Driller trophy on January 14 is The North Bay Wine Country’s Bock family – Doug, Mike and Britton Bock. Doug is a longtime Midget car owner, with many Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) feature wins under his belt, and is also a former BCRA car owner champion.

Doug, who has fielded a Midget for 11 years at the Chili Bowl (and attended for 18 years) will once again be fielding his #26 Spike/Esslinger, sponsored by Get Som Sports, Bicycles Inc. (Ft. Worth, TX), Country Builders, Piners Welding Supply and Driveline Service for Fremont, CA’s Shane Golobic, a young gun who’s won in wing and non-wing Sprint Cars, Midgets and other open wheel race cars. Golobic is among only two-dozen drivers having qualified for the Chili Bowl finale in the past two years.

Britton, Doug’s Grandson has been racing for over 11 years, is hoping to follow in his Grandfather’s footsteps in becoming a Midget racing champion. Making his second Chili Bowl start, 19-year-old Britton will be piloting his own #67x McNamara Electric-Mike Bock-Crain Construction-General Engineering-Pete’s Tractor Service Spike/Esslinger. Britton is a recent graduate of St. Helena High School who plans on attending Northwest Lineman College (PG&E) in the Spring of 2012. The Angwin, CA native has been racing for 11 years, including four years competing in Midgets. Britton claimed eighth in the BCRA Dirt points in 2011, and was tenth in the 2010 BCRA owner and driver points.

Joining the Bock team at the prestigious five-day Chili Bowl Midget Nationals will be 19-year-old San Jose, CA native and current Oklahoma resident, Ricky Wright, Jr., who will be driving Doug and Britton’s #35w TCR/Esslinger. Wright, who claimed fifth in the 2011 ASCS Sooner Region points while capturing Rookie-of-the-Year honors, is a Bellarmine College Prep graduate, studying at Oklahoma State University, majoring in Sports Management and Marketing. Wright has five career Sprint Car victories. In 2009, Wright claimed seventh in points at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, CA and third in points at Petaluma Speedway, where he earned most improved driver. Wright is sponsored by Wright One Construction, Red Line Oil, Maxim Performance, Butlerbuilt and Bell Helmets.

Bill McNamara is Britton’s Crew Chief.

Britton and his grandfather Doug are leaving for Tulsa on January 3 while Mike is leaving on January 8.

The Chili Bowl kicks off on Tuesday, January 10, with the finale on Saturday, January 14. Britton competes in Tuesday’s prelim qualifying night with Wright competing on Wednesday and Golobic racing on Thursday, with all three competing in Saturday’s finale. The Chili Bowl takes take at the Tulsa Expo Center’s QuickTrip Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Visit www.chilibowl.com for additional information on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. Check back here at http://wowracingnews.blogspot.com for updated information on West Coast results from the Chili Bowl.