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Hunt wins feature, Wease debuts with track record in Altamont USAC Western SprintBy Bobby Gerould – Tracy, CA. July 29, 2006 – Tony Hunt won for the fourth time in ten USAC Western Sprint Car features this season Saturday evening at Altamont Motorsports Park. Driving the Alan Kaiser owned Eagle/Bailey #4, Hunt withheld the charges of USAC rookie Nick Green to claim the 50-lap headliner in mild weather on the ˝-mile paved oval.

 

“This is a great racetrack!” exclaimed Hunt, to infield announcer Jim Krum, moments after the feature finished. “I appreciate the support of the fans to the great group of racers in our series. Everyone out here was using their head and racing with courtesy and respect.”

 

The courtesy was needed with action close and fast as 20 sprint cars took the green flag for the feature event. Shauna Hogg led the opening three laps before being overtaken on the front chute by fellow front-row starter Mike Murgoitio. A three-way battle for fifth erupted by lap five with Billy Wease, Kody Swanson, and Green dicing to the fans delight.

 

The first of four caution flags flew on lap six for Tony Iacobitti who had spun in turn four. The restart saw Wease fall to sixth as he got ‘hung out’ on the outside groove. In four laps the Noblesville, IN pilot was running fourth on the heels of Hogg, and behind the lead pack of Murgoitio, and Hunt. Wease passed Hogg for third low in turn one on lap 13.

 

The battle for the lead was intense on laps 15-17 as Murgoitio worked the low groove with Hunt mirroring his moves in the top-lane. Hunt completed the winning pass on the outside at the end of the back-stretch heading into turn three.

 

The second caution flag was for a tangle between Darren Rusconi, and Matt DeMartini on lap 20. At that juncture, Green was in fifth place. On lap 23 – Green moved into fourth position low in turn four with a pass of Greg Anderson. Two laps later the third yellow-flag of the race appeared for a stalled Brian McClish.

 

Green saw an opening low in turn one on lap 27, and managed to pass both Wease and Murgoitio to move into the runner up spot. The final caution came out on lap 32 for Anderson who lost power on the McClish MotorSports #04 that he was piloting for the first time.

 

The final 18 laps were run under green-flag conditions with the top four of Hunt, Green, Wease, and Murgoitio pulling away from the field. Hunt was running laps under the track record – turning one amazing lap of 16.4 seconds. In traffic, on lap 45, Hunt became ‘bottled up’ behind Ivan Worden allowing Green to close in. However, Hunt safely cleared Worden and won by .386 seconds over Green. Third place fell to Wease, who was followed by Murgoitio, and 1998 USAC Western Sprint Car Champion Jeff Gardner.

 

Wease made the most of his pavement sprint car debut by establishing a new one-lap track record at Altamont MotorSports Park. The facility that has been in operation since 1965 had never seen a sprint car lap faster than Wease’s 16.518 second clocking.

 

Bradley Galedrige and McClish won heat races.

 

Tim Skoglund became the first repeat winner in the USAC Ford Focus California Pavement Midget series. The companion feature event for the Focus cars was contested on Altamont’s inner quarter-mile. Michael Faccinto protected his points lead with a runner-up finish while Jace Maier was third at the checkered flag. Faccinto set quick-time for the fifth time in five 2006 opportunities. 

 

USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 29, 2006Tracy, CaliforniaAltamont Motorsports Park (Co-Sanctioned by CASA)

 

            QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Billy Wease, 40, Western Speed-16.518; 2. Greg Anderson, 04, McClish-16.598; 3. Nick Green, 114, Geeen-16.656; 4. Brian McClish, 4B, McClish-16.673; 5. Kody Swanson, 75, KT-16.707; 6. Tony Hunt, 4, Kaiser-16.782; 7. Mike Murgoitio, 20, Hamilton-16.798; 8. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-16.830; 9. Nick Rescino Jr., 11, Rescino-16.839; 10. Jeff Gardner, 51, Revcon-16.874; 11. Joe Helberg, 4x, Helberg-16.892; 12. Jim Kaiser, 94, Kaiser-17.116; 13. Bradley Galedrige, 21, Hamilton-17.130; 14. Matt DeMartini, 6, Carr-18.132; 15. Darren Rusconi, 66, Sullivan-17.281; 16. Glenn Hopper, 8, Stanton-17.317; 17. Ryan Bumgartner, 24x, Bumgartner-17.577; 18. Ivan Worden, 63, Worden-17.959; 19. Tony Iacobitti, 71, Oval Chassis-18.055; 20. Marvin Mitchell, 68, Mitchell-20.017.

 

      FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Galedrige, 2. Wease, 3. Rusconi, 4. Helberg, 5. Rescino, 6. Murgoitio, 7. Swanson, 8. Bumgartner, 9. Iacobitti, 10. Green. 2:46.97

 

      SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. McClish, 2. Worden, 3. Hunt, 4. Hogg, 5. Hopper, 6. Matt DeMartini, 7. Greg Anderson, 8. Jeff Gardner, 9. Jim Kaiser, 10. Marvin Mitchell. 2:19.78

 

      FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Tony Hunt, 2. Nick Green, 3. Billy Wease, 4. Mike Murgoitio, 5. Jeff Gardner, 6. Kody Swanson, 7. Nick Rescino Jr, Bradley Galedrige, 9. Shauna Hogg, 10. Joe Helberg, 11. Jim Kaiser, 12. Ivan Worden, 13. Ryan Bumgartner, 14. Greg Anderson, 15, Brian McClish, 16. Matt DeMartini, 17, Darren Rusconi, 18. Glenn Hopper., 19. Tony Iacobitti, 20. Marvin Mitchell. NT

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Hogg, Laps 4-16 Murgoitio, Laps 17-50 Hunt.

 

NEW WESTERN SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Hunt-502; 2-Murgoitio-456; 3-Galedrige-406; 4-Swanson-389; 5-McClish-375; 6-Hogg-315; 7-Rescino-286; 8-Gardner-264; 9-Green-254; 10-DeMartini-229.

 

NEXT WESTERN SPRINT CAR RACE: August 5 – Boise, ID – Meridian Speedway

 

USAC CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS PAVEMENT SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 29, 2006Tracy, CaliforniaAltamont Motorsports Park

 

      QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Michael Faccinto, 4, Scelzi-13.037; 2. Laura Poorter, 32, Maier-13.184; 3. Tim Skoglund, 40, Camarillo-13.251; 4. Ian Miille, 3, Sutton-13.308; 5. Jace Meier, 9, Sutton-13.329; 6. Levi Roberts, 42, Sutton-13.345; 7. Chris Veach, 63, Veach-13.386; 8. Paul Zimmerly, 8, Sutton-13.440; 9. Daniel Bedford, 12, Bedford-13.457; 10. Jenna Frazier, 29, Frazier-13.483; 11. Laura Hayes, 27, Hayes-13.510; 12. Cameron Veach, 53, Veach-13.544; 13. Ryan Rusoni, 98, Rusconi-13.630; 14. J.R. Williams, 74, Williams-14.021.

 

      FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hayes, 2. Faccinto, 3. Skoglund, 4. Meier, 5. Chris Veach, 6. Bedford, 7. Rusconi. 1:48.03

 

      SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cameron Veach, 2. Zimmerly, 3. Frazier, 4. Miille, 5. Poorter, 6. Williams, 7. Roberts. NT

 

      FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Tim Skoglund, 2. Michael Faccinto, 3. Jace Meier, 4. Ian Miille, 5. Levi Roberts, 6. Laura Poorter, 7. Jenna Frazier, 8. Cameron Veach, 9 Chris Veach, 10. Daniel Bedford, 11. Ryan Rusconi, 12. J.R. Williams, 13. Paul Zimmerly, 14. Laura Hayes. NT

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Meier, Laps 8-30 Skoglund.

 

NEW CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS PAVEMENT STANDINGS: 1-Faccinto-330; 2-Skoglund-291; 3-Meier-277; 4-Roberts-271; 5-Zimmerly-230; 6-Chris Veach-227; 7-Poorter-215; 8-Frazier-201; 9-Cameron Veach-194; 10-Hayes-192.

 

NEXT CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS RACE (Dirt): August 3 – Ventura (CA) Raceway

 

NEXT CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS RACE (Paved): August 26 – Irwindale (CA) Speedway

 

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