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Buena
Park wing races October 5th, 6th & 7th
2001 |
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Buena Park Raceway 6161 Lincoln ave. , Buena Park , CA
Spray Glue Box Stock We started off our Western States weekend on Friday evening with the spray glue box stock race. We had 11 racers show up and sign in. TQ was San Diego racer Joe Chevy, turning a lap of 2.847. Bill Pinkston and Bill Taylor were 2nd and 3rd. The early leaders were Monty Ohren (driving from a chair in the switch back), Jason Holmes, Joe Hughes and Brian Sloan. Joe and Brian were unable to match the pace of those who were to follow and dropped back to eventually finish 3rd and 4th respectively. Jason broke down early and Monty, starting on white, was sitting out after one heat. Bill Pinkston was in for heat 3 and was right on the pace taking the lead on the average 2 heats later as Monty came back in on red. Monty would soon drop back, unable to hold his pace by losing a tire and getting his braid tweaked a couple of times. Bill Taylor was able to get by Monty in heat 6, but was never able to mount a serious charge at the former world record holder. Pinkston won by 10 over Taylor, with Brian another 4 back. Joe Hughes, Monty, fast qualifier Joe Chevy, Evan McKee, Rick Elting, Dale Garcia, Jason Holmes and Bob Johnson were the other finishers. Box Stock After a lot of practice on Friday night, the track was in good shape, read that, well glued up, for the first race on Saturday. Bill Pinkston was the fastest of 18 racers in qualifying with a lap of 2.53. Jim Swofford and Brad Freisner were 2nd and 3rd. Eighteen racers and 2 round robin semi’s later we had Brad Friesner, Bill Taylor, Pat Ularte and Bill Pinkston transferring from the second and fast semi. Jim Swofford, Jason Holmes, Wendell Smith and John Waller transferred from the first semi. To start the main, Bill Pinkston was on the green lane and put a lap on Brad Friesner on white. Brad pulled even in heat 2 and put 7 laps on Bill in heat 3 and it was basically over. Brad followed up his win at the Nats in Amateur boxstock to beat Bill by 7 laps. The race for 3rd was a race that nobody wanted with 5 different drivers laying claim to it at different points in the race. Give it to Bill Taylor getting past a slowing Pat (I WILL! go 16 heats without a motor change!) Ularte in the final heat. Jim Swofford, Wendell Smith, Jason Holmes and John Waller all suffered with various problems.
C-12 If you heard a collective moan from the direction of the raceway at about 4:30, this is when we realized that Beuf was entering a car for this class. Qualifying was pretty ugly with the new daddy being almost 2 tenths faster than the rest of the field in qualifying.
The race itself however was kinda interesting. Mike Graverson started out on white and then sat out for 4 heats. Beuf was in for heat 5 and then Mike was back in for the next heat with Mike holding the lead on the average until he hit blue where he broke a lead wire and dropped about 30 laps. Beuf moved to 2nd in heat 6 and assumed the lead when Mike broke his lead wire and although he won by 17 laps, I think he was just playin’ with us. Bill Taylor would start on red and hold down the 2nd place on the average until a misadjusted controller sensitivity switch in the 5th heat saw him crash a whole bunch on black in the lead on. Phil Larcom was able to get past Bill into the 2nd spot and Les Wright tied Bill during that heat also. Les then faded with car troubles and Phil just held off Bill by a lap at the end to secure the 2nd spot. Les, Joe Chevy, Mike Graverson, Jim Ward, Al Chuck, Larry Blanton, Rich Humphrey, Rich Curnutte and Bob Johannis were the other finishers.
Group 27 Group 27 had 15 racers turn in cars and once again it was the man from spud land with the quick time, of 1.962. Mike Graverson and Jose Mario were next. A pair of semi’s were needed to cut the field down to the best 8. Out of the fast semi came Beuf, Rich Curnutte, Larry Blanton and Jason Holmes. Pat Ularte, Brad Friesner, Mike Graverson and Wendell Smith made the transfer out of the other semi. The main started with Beuf on the white lane and winning the heat by 2 laps. Mike led after 2 when Beuf went to red and dropped all the way to 4th. But Mike had problems in heat 3 and dropped all the way to 5th. Beuf took advantage of Mike’s problems by ripping off a 101-lap heat on green and taking the lead back for good. Pat Ularte ran a 98 on yellow in the same heat to move to the 2nd spot. Jason and Wendell raced for 3rd until the 7th heat when Jason’s arm threw a tag letting Wendell have the spot. Jason would the lose the 4th spot to Mike in the last heat with another thrown tag Larry Blanton, Brad Freisner and Rich Curnutte took the final One Motor Open Sunday morning saw the one motor open cars take to the racetrack and 15 cars were submitted to tech. Mike Graverson turned the quick lap with1.938 on race power. Larry Blanton and Jeremy Kranes were next. Beuf, Mike Graverson, Connie Aloise and Les Wright made the transfer from the "A" semi with Pat Ularte, Jose Mario, Gil Gunderson and Jim Ward making the transfer from the "B" semi. Jose was the leader until the 5th heat when his motor slowed. Mike, Beuf and Gil spend those first 5 heats trading 2nd, 3rd and 4th between themselves and remaining only 2 or 3 laps behind Mario. Beuf moved into the lead on the purple lane followed by Gil, Mario and then Mike, who was now 11 laps behind Beuf after running the black lane. In heat 6 Mike made up 2 laps on Beuf and moved to 3rd and then it got good. Mike ran a perfect heat on orange to move to only 3 down after 7 heats. Then it got REALLY good. Mike caught Beuf at the halfway mark and they ran the next minute side by side. But Beuf crashed! Then crashed again! and Mike ran another perfect heat to win the race by 2 laps over Beuf. And as if that wasn’t enough, Les Wright was quietly sneaking into the picture for a podium spot. He came from 7 laps behind Gil after 7 to take the final podium position. Gil, Pat, Connie, Jose and Jim finished in that order.
Group 7 Carlos, John Tore Anderson, Jose Mario and Jim Swofford transferred out of the "A" semi joining Forrest Watchers, Beuf, Per Person and Jeremy Kranes from the "B" semi. The main started with Beuf on the blue lane and leading Carlos by a lap after the first heat. Carlos got by Beuf and into the lead during the second heat and he would add just a couple of laps to his lead every heat. Carlos would move to the black lane for heat 6 and Beuf would make up 7 laps, finishing the heat only 2 laps down. Forrest would also use this to his advantage by turning the high heat of the day with a 142 laps on yellow and following it up with another 142 laps on orange in the 7th heat. This would put him into 2nd place as Beuf faltered on the red lane. Carlos would finish on orange and would lead the assembled masses to the checkered flag. Forrest finished 2nd 18 laps behind Carlos and 20 ahead of Beuf. Tore Anderson, Per Person, Jim Swofford, Jose Mario and Jeremy Kranes rounded out the final results.
Track Calls The first Southern California USRA race was held in 1968 at Circle "T" Raceway in the San Fernando Valley and was run on an Orange American. The first Western States race, also in 1968, was at Checkered Flag Raceway in Inglewood, CA. Such legendary racers as John Cukras and Mike Stuebe have won the pro race. Recent winners include current day speedy guys, Paul "Beuf" Peterson and Carlos Aloise. In spite of all the travel problems, this year’s edition had racers from 7 states and well as racers from Sweden, Canada and Brazil. Special thanks to Chris for completely rebraiding the track and to Jim Swofford for tuning up the power. Connie brought cookies!
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