SoCal USRA Scale Race Buena Park Raceway May 19, 2001

Nobody minds racing at Chris and Lenore Gallego’s world famous Buena Park Raceway. When the Barn in Hemet wasn’t ready in time to host the race they were awarded by the USRA, BP offered their awesome raceway on short notice so we could all have a great race.

Amateur 4" Nascar saw 11 entries and was a tight race between BP’s Mike Hudson and Paul Sterrett with Mike winning and grabbing the TQ points with a 4.827 on the Purple lane and 278 laps. Alex Freund was third and followed by his Dad Jody, Big John Estopellan, Jason Holmes, Daniel Hudson and Jonathan Forsyth.

Expert drew a full field and was bound to be a good race after the exciting weekly 4" race on Friday served as a great warm up for experts and amateurs alike. Duran won over Roy Hood with Crazy Chuck third and TQ at 4.777 on the purple lane. Bill V ran fourth with Steve Forsyth fifth and followed by Phil Roberson, Dennis "Foamy" Hill and Ira Stoker.

4.5" Nastrucks is gaining in popularity again with enough entries for an Amateur and Expert main. Paul Sterrett got by Mike Hudson in the fifth as Mike had to pit to change a badly bent axle and held on till the end with Mike H. second and TQ with a 4.886. Big John Estopellan was third with Boxstock Ace Sam Rackham fourth and followed by Alex Freund who had been leading early, and Richard Estopellan.

Expert trucks started with Chuck Panno, Duran Trujillo and Greg G. dicing for the lead. Duran put a lap on Greg in the second and then had to pit with a broken axle and dropped way back. Roy Hood moved up to battle with Chuck as Greg pulled away and Duran started a great drive trying to catch the leaders. Duran ran a TQ time of 4.718 in his attempt to catch up. Roy and Chuck had a great race for second with Roy winning out. Chuck was third with Duran fourth, Steve Forsyth fifth and followed by Ira and Phil.

Amateur GT-1 was a big success with 14 entries. The Semis took quite a while to run but the racing was great. Paul Sterrett, Alex Freund, Daniel Hudson, and Henry Trujillo all made the move up from the B Semi. Mike Hudson, Jason Holmes, Jonathan Forsyth and "Big John" Estopellan escaped from the A semi.

Paul Starrett and Mike Hudson had quite a race in the main swapping back and fourth like they do in the BP Vintage, 4" Nascar and DTM races until Mike went ahead by one in the seventh and made it stick till the end. Jason Holmes was all by himself in third while Henry Trujillo and Jonathan Forsyth had an awesome battle for fourth that lasted the whole race! Jonathan finally put two on Henry in the last segment to take the position with Daniel Hudson, John Estopellan and Alex Freund rounding out the main. Mike Hudson TQed at an awesome 4.39 on purple. Only experts Chuck Panno and Greg G. bettered this fast time.

Expert GT-1 was fast with Greg G, Roy Hood and Crazy Chuck going at it early until Duran got past Roy just in time to see Greg and Chuck disappear over the horizon to battle it out on their own. Roy almost ran Duran down in the last heat but came up one short as Greg finally got a lap Chuck and held it till the end. Greg was TQ at 4.324, only .010 faster than Chuck Panno. Bill V, Dennis Hill, and Steve Forsyth filled out the rest of the expert positions.

Amateur GT-12 was all Jason Holmes with Jonathan Forsyth, Earl Wilson and Dennis Rios taking the remaining spots. Jason TQed with a fast 3.835 lap.

In expert, Bill V and Greg G debuted the new ToyTech Cadillac body and Greg used it to run more laps than any GT-12 has ever run at BP. Duran and Greg diced briefly until Greg hit the faster lanes and figured out that he COULD go that fast with that car.

In the end Greg won with Duran seven back with Roy Hood third, Steve Forsyth, Chuck Panno, Bill V and Jason Holmes, who broke in the first heat, rounded out the main.

Greg was TQ over a tenth faster than the next fastest car. After it was all over, Greg felt the body, which was basically untested prior to the start of the race, was such an advantage that it was unfair to have used it at this time. After thinking it over Greg took a voluntary reduction to third and accepted third place points along with TQ points. Duran was awarded first place points and Roy Hood was advanced to second.

Thanks to Chris and Lenore and the Buena Park racers who put on the usual great show. Thanks to the SoCal racers for the good turnout.