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SoCal USRA Scale Series Race #1 Uncle Kal’s Underground Raceway , Monrovia CA Jan 25th (&26th) 2003

Saturday January 25, 2003 was the first race of the SoCal USRA 2003 season at Uncle Kal’s in Old Towne Monrovia. New President Chris Radisich was at the helm as the doors opened at 7:00AM and an amazingly large crowd began to stake out their spots in the limited pit space. The racers kept coming and eventually 116 entries were signed up. The result of this spectacular turnout had the GT-12 Expert main starting after 4:00AM!!! Sunday morning! WOW!

First up were the 4” GP-10 Nascars with 18 entries. Local boys Phil Phillips and Ross Curtright took the semi wins with James Bruncati, Arizona’s Jerry Johnson,and Jimmy Ross also advancing in the Bs. Alex Freund, Tim Hould and Daniel Hudson moved up from the A semi. Greg G won Expert concourse with a Gil Rivera “rainbow” body. The Main was all Phil Phillips as Phil took a two lap lead in the first segment and never let it go. James Bruncati was holding on to second as Arizona’s Jerry Johnson chased him 1 to 3 laps in arrears. Alex Freund stayed close but missed the last podium spot by one lap with semi winner Ross Curtright fifth and followed by two time WSC Champ Tim Hould, returning after a year lay off, Jimmy Ross and BP’s Daniel Hudson.

Expert 4” Nascar drew thirteen racers and featured UK’s Casey Scott’s Expert debut. From the time the big round robin began it was evident that a string of 40 lap heats would be needed to ensure victory. Duran started off with a 40 on orange and an awesome 41 on white for the early lead with Paul Starrett one behind. Casey Scott and Chris Radisich came in with great 39s on red and looked to be in the hunt. Greg G looked to be in control after three 40+ lap heats when a braid problem dropped him back. Casey Scott sat out after 9 with 313 laps. Greg needed 41+ to tie and it was a stretch but doable. Greg came up a half a lap short and Casey took his first win as a SoCal USRA Expert.

Amateur 4.5” Nascar had the first semis in SoCal USRA history for this class. Phil Phillips, Jerry Johnson, Alex Freund and Bob Johnson advanced from the B semi. Jody Freund, Colin Herzig, Jimmy Ross and Ross Curtright made it out of the A. Amateur concourse was won by Robert Stubbs with his Valvoline car. In the feature Phil Phillips jumped out to a one lap advantage over Jerry Johnson and Alex Freund. In the second heat a poor 32 lap heat on green made it look like Phil was out of the running but he battled back with consistent high lap heats including high heat of the race at 38 on orange. Phil just nipped young Alex Freund for the win with Jerry Johnson claiming the last podium spot and UK’s Ross Curtright finishing fourth. Jody Freund, Bob Johnson, Colin Herzig and Jimmy Ross rounded out the 8 car field.

Expert 4.5” was like a continuation of the “Wednesday night 4.5” races at BP. Duran, Gil Rivera, Greg G. along with a whole batch of new 4.5” racers attracted by the generous prizes offered by the Slixx decal company lined up to do battle with some of the best looking cars to date. This race could have gone any one of three ways but Greg G got the breaks to turn one more lap (297) than Duran (296) who in turn had one more than Chris Radisich (295). Jonathan Forsyth, fresh back from the Div 2 Warm up in Mineral Ridge, Ohio took fourth five back of Chris with SoCal regular Roy Hood who was fighting a cold fifth and followed by Paul Sterrett, the “man who made SoCal love the 4.5” Nascar” sixth with Monty Ohren, Mike Hudson, Steve Forsyth, and Gil Rivera completing the round robin main.

The break was kept to a minimum to help push the program but by now it was evident that we were all in for a late night.  The “Wheel Thing” man John Emmons raffled off a flexi chassis donated by Uncle Kal’s as well as a genuine “Wheel Thing” and one of John’s Driven Products Motor building/Zapping Slugs in the winners choice of size. This is to raise money to send a top Amateur racer who can’t afford to attend to the 2004 Div 2 Nats. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets.

In GT-1 Amateur Colin Herzig and Jerry Johnson both won their Semis. Tim Hould, Bob Johnson and Daniel Hudson also moved up from the A semi. Mike Lewis, Charlie Colvin and Phil Phillips made the move out of the Bs. The main looked like it was going to be all Jerry Johnson until Daniel Hudson and Mike Lewis got going. Daniel drove with wild abandon, running into anything that got in his way but putting up awesome lap totals! Mike Lewis ran the only 44 lap heat on red as he chased Daniel on his wild ride. Young Colin Herzig stayed close to Daniel and Mike but had to settle for third two behind Mike in second. Jerry Johnson finished three behind Colin and set fast time of the race at 3.898. Big Ol’ Charlie Colvin drove his bright red Audi RSC to fifth with Phil Phillips sixth, Bob Johnson seventh and Tim Hould rounding out the feature.

Uncle Kal only asks the SoCal Experts to run on his “Korkscrew” track twice a year, one GT-1 race and one GT-12 race. This year we figured we would just get it out of the way and do it on the first race of the year. An even dozen Expert GT-1 entries battled on the Korkscrew with such flat track notables as Roy Hood, Greg G., Chris Radisich, Steve and Jonathan Forsyth and ISRA Worlds standout and Winter Classic GT-12 Champ Jason Stone lining up. From the fourth heat on it was obvious there were three racers with the best shot. Casey Scott was setting an amazing pace as Greg G and Roy Hood chased him in the round robin main. Radisich’s and Stone’s cars never quite hooked up and Crazy Chuck struggled on orange and yellow when everyone else was making laps. John Tore Anderson ran consistently and cleanly as always and was heard to say “I love this track”! Really? Only a driver can love this one. In a turn about from the 4” Nascar race Greg nipped Casey by less than a full lap to take the expert GT-1 win with Roy Hood third, Radisich fourth, Crazy fifth, Mike Hudson sixth, and, Duran seventh. Greg had fast lap at 3.788.

GT-12 Amateur racing began after 2:00AM with two 9 car semis with Tim Hould and Colin Herzig finishing on the same lap 1-2 in the B semi. Alex Freund and James Bruncati also advanced. In the A semi Phil “TB Player” Phillips dominated with an eight lap win over Wing standout Pat Ularte. Santee’s Earl Wilson and UK’s Linn Hammond also moved up. In the feature James Bruncati, who only just tried a GT-12 about two weeks ago leapt out to a one lap advantage over Colin Herzig and Pat Ularte. In the second heat Tim Hould pulled even with James as Colin was one back. Alex Freund challenged briefly but couldn’t keep up the pace for long. In the end James won by four over Colin who had one over Tim. Alex was fourth with Pat fifth. Phil Phillips, Earl Wilson and Lin Hammond filled out the field.

Expert GT-12 was much like the GT-1 race. From the moment the power went on Casey Scott and Greg G. were just gone. Roy Hood tried to keep up but at 4:00AM it was hard to stay awake, much less go really, really fast with a GT-12 on an insanely tight, fast track. Did I forget narrow? Casey led the entire race after the first heat, which Greg won. Finally in the last heat when Greg needed to make up a one lap deficit the pair both turned 49 laps, high heats at the same time, racing each other to the bitter end. Casey was the winner with Greg second. Roy Hood battled New President Chris Radisich for second with Roy coming out the better by three. John Tore Anderson was fifth. I hear he likes the track. 4 time National Champ Alan Ohren battled an ill handling car before losing interest and finishing sixth. Jonathan Forsyth, Jason Stone, Chuck Panno and Steve Forsyth completed the round robin main. It was now almost 5:00AM, but we were done racing!

Thanks to Uncle Kal’s, Greg G., Bill Brown, Josh Bauer, Alan Ohren, Casey Scott, Chevo and the rest of the Underground Staff. Special thanks to “Big Brian” for the Super Suction Track Vacuum. Thanks to John Emmons and the “Supreme Bean” for the Coffee and “Big Brian” for the cups, plates, plasticware and being the coffee pot monitor. Sorry the donuts were late. Yes, I slept well, thank you.

We look forward to seeing all or most of you at Santee Slotcar Raceway on February 22 Ph 619-562-3604

Look for a special announcement regarding a way to avoid racingat 4:30AM.