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ScaleRound 6 - Buena Park June 21st 2003 

SoCal USRA Scale Race #6 Buena Park Raceway Buena Park, CA  June 21, 2003

Saturday mornings during June in Southern California tend to be less than spectacular and the "June Gloom" was in full effect as SoCal scale racers headed into the spacious Buena Park Raceway facility for a full day of racing on both of BP's world class tracks. Chris Gallegos had recently remodeled the counter area to allow more pit space and make doing business more efficient.

It began to look like another huge turnout as the ample pit space began to fill and both tracks were soon buzzing with racers learning the tracks, testing and tuning. A contingent from Green Flag raceway in Hesperia came to race at BP. This is the first time Green Flag racers have really traveled on the USRA circuit outside of series regulars Steve and Jonathan Forsyth.

Amateur 4" Nascar was expecting a big turnout due to the popularity of Nascar at BP and 28 Amateur racers signed up.  Daniel Hudson dominated the monster double round robin, with Jody Freund, Tim Peck and Phil Phillips racing for second, or so it seemed.  Orange County's Mike Kravitz looked to be in the hunt as well until a poor heat on purple relegated him to fourth. Paul "Split" Heath dropped in from New Zealand for a visit and went quite fast in 4", taking ninth overall behind Colin Herzig, the consistent threat whose car just stopped working properly between practice and the start of the race.

The brutal action continued as SoCal's best Amateurs duked it out on the BP banks with Daniel Hudson turning the most laps at 298 in a runaway.  Phil Phillips finished with 283, 1 lap ahead of Jody Freund with Tim Peck just one more back. That fourth place finish was a big one for Tim as it turned out during a routine tear down that Daniel's air gap was found to be below the .575" minimum and he was dropped to eighth, or "last in the main".

Phil Phillips inherited first with Jody second and Tim Peck moving into the last podium spot. Mike Kravitz, Sam Rackham and Andrew Ross all ended up on the same lap in that order with 279 for fourth through sixth with Colin Herzig seventh and Daniel eighth.  "Split" was ninth, "Big Brian" tenth with Mark Lazzar eleventh and Randy Penny twelfth.  Paul Abbey was thirteenth, Ryan Fookes fourteenth and followed by Arizona's Jerry Johnson and T.J. Albu, Wayne and Adam Shaw from Hesperia, Alex freund who had some mechanical troubles, Stan Kovocevich, James Grinstead, Derek Peck, Joey Hudson, UK's Bob Abbey, Zack Grinstead, Earl Wilson, Cliff Kendrick and Robert Park.

Expert 4" Nascar at BP always brings out SoCals best as Santa Ana's Duran Trujillo is the man to beat and Mike Hudson is always a serious threat as well as Paul Sterrett. Add to that BP's tradition of Friday night 4" GP-10 Nascar racing and any non local thinking they want to do well had better do their homework and put in their laps.Greg Gilbert did just that, racing several warm up races and putting in the test time and practice. Duran was actually 1 lap up on Greg and Mike Hudson after three but Greg pulled ahead in the fourth. Mike, Duran and Greg continued to battle in the fifth segment until Duran was involved in a strange incident in the 90 and he was heard to say "Dad, get the pliers".  It took Henry two heats to get it straightened out as Greg steadily pulled away from Mike and Duran had to settle for third .Greg's winning total was 319 with Mike Hudson second at 310, and Duran third at 291. Paul Sterrett was fourth, Chris Radisich fifth, and followed by Steve and Jonathan Forsyth.

Amateur 4.5 Concourse is always a treat and was won by UK's Robert Stubbs who is the house photographer at Irwindale Speedway with a beautifully detailed UPS Ford Taurus. Second was Paul Heath from New Zealand with a Tony the Tiger #5 Monte Carlo in a neat display presentation..

In the race close competition was the order of the day as Mike Kravitz, Phil Phillips and Jerry Johnson battled for the lead with Andrew Ross just a couple back most of the race. With 21 entries a double sit out round robin format was used and unless you followed the lap averages closely it was hard to tell who was where. One thing for certain, it was CLOSE all through the race. Jerry Johnson held on for a three lap win over Phil Phillips with Kravitz third and Andrew Ross fourth. Alex Freund was fifth with Randy Penny sixth. Seventh was Daniel Hudson, followed by Jody Freund and Paul Abbey. Wing car standout Sam Rackam was tenth with Mike Kummer eleventh and followed by Greg Carter, "Split", Derek Peck, Earl Wilson, Stan Kovacevich, Tim Peck, Robert Stubbs, Mark Lazzar, Bob Abbey and Brian Kately.

Chris Radisich won Expert 4.5" Concourse with a beautiful #20 Tony Stewart car. Hey Chris, I suppose Split had nothing to do with that car, right? Duran Trujillo came out on red in the first heat and made a statement by leading the race by one after one. That's hard to do on red. Greg G. was one back on orange with Mike Hudson one more back on white. As the race wore on Duran steadily pulled away until he won with twelve in hand over Greg. Paul Sterrett was eight more back in third but two ahead of Jonathan Forsyth in fourth. Mike Hudson was fifth and followed by Radisich and Steve Forsyth.

After lunch Amateur GT-1 got underway with Colin Herzig jumping out to a three-lap lead over everybody and dodging the wrecks for four heats until Colin sat out and Jerry Johnson came in.  J.J. hit the track in the fifth and started going at a pace even quicker than Colin's. Tim Hould started in the seventh, and after a 36 on red got it going with some 37s, and 38s. Daniel Hudson came in with 33 on red and then started rockin' with  37s, 38s and even a 39 on yellow.  Phil Phillips and Mike Lewis had a battle of their own going throughout the race. They would finish on the same lap with Lewis taking fifth by sections over Phil.

As the race wore on Jerry and Colin stayed strong as Tim Hould fought handling problems that hurt his heat on white and cost him an almost sure podium spot. Colin set top time with a 4.335 on his way to a two lap win over Jerry Johnson. Daniel Hudson hit almost every other car on the track at least once but salvaged third by one over Tim Hould. Mike Lewis, a UK racer recently relocated to Orange County was fourth by segments over Phil Phillips with Paul "Split" Heath who bravely ran an ISRA style body with the front fenders cut out sixth and "Big Brian" Johnson just one more back in seventh. T.J. Albu was eighth with Sam Brown, who is finding the faster cars to his liking finished a strong ninth. John Emmons was tenth and was followed by Paul Abbey, Joey Hudson, Bob Abbey, James Grinstead, Adam Shaw and Zac Grinstead.

  Expert was pretty much all Duran except for a brief challenge from Greg G. during the early heats.   Mike Hudson stayed in the hunt but suffered from a rather unforgiving car.  Roy Hood and Jonathan Forsyth had the only other real battle going as they ended up on the same lap fifth and sixth respectively. In the end it was Duran by five over Greg who had five over Mike Hudson. Chris Radisich was a few more laps back in fourth with Roy and Jonathan next. Paul Sterrett, Steve Forsyth and Jason Stone rounded out the main.

Amateur GT-12 started a bit earlier than usual and since most folks were not as tired as at some of the other races, things were a bit cleaner than usual. 15 entries filled the field and Tim Hould took off in the lead with Robert Park in hot pursuit. Robert and Tim set the pace until Jerry Johnson came in with a dazzling 43 on red which stood as high heat of the race. Sam Rackham looked strong with 42 as he came in on red but slowed in the later heats.  Jerry kept flying and eventually won by seven over Robert Park with Alex Freund third and Tim Hould, who was on a pace equal to Jerry's finished fourth after shearing off a lead wire in a straightaway incident. Sam Rackham was fifth, T.J. Albu sixth and John "Wheel Thing" Emmons pulled off a top eight finish with seventh. "Big Brian" Johnson was rocket fast and kept it on to take eighth. Ninth was Paul Heath with Colin Herzig tenth after a poor heat on purple cost him a probable top five finish. Slot Lawyer David Aikens made his first scale racing appearance since the late nineties and finished eleventh with Paul Abbey, who does such and awesome job on our newsletter twelfth. The always fast Phil Phillips started fast on red and then fought with gremlins for the rest of the race to end up thirteenth with Joey Hudson and Bob Abbey following.

  Expert GT-12 started late but after one Greg G. was six up on Jason Stone and Duran with Radisich and Steve Forsyth one more back. After a rough first heat on green Duran got it going and ran 46 on blue. Roy Hood was fast but suffered from handling woes that made him somewhat inconsistent. Jason Stone had a rocket and was getting around the track well, showing some of the driving that made him a standout at the ISRA Worlds in San Francisco last year. Roy and Jason battled back and fourth and provided some great racing as Steve, and Jonathan Forsyth diced with Chris Radisich.  Greg looked like he had it in the bag and perhaps let up a bit to protect his lead but Duran plugged in some fresh horsepower and came after Greg. Roy put a couple of laps on Jason in the last heat to finish three up for third as Greg on black, which happens to be the slowest lane tried to hold off Duran on red, the track's fastest lane. At the beginning of heat eight the lap counter showed Greg with five laps over Duran, but Duran crossed the lap counter microseconds after the power came on.

As the seconds ticked by Duran closed the gap and with less than ten seconds to go the two were on the same lap.  As time ran out there was some question as to whom was actually leading the race. Greg coasted across the lap counter and race director Bill Vanderziel ruled that Greg was on the same lap as Duran, which gave the win to Duran.  Controversy arose when nobody was sure if Greg had counted or not, but the race directors decision is final so Duran got the win. Roy Hood was third, Jason Stone fourth, Radisich fifth with Steve and Jonathan rounding out the feature.

Thanks to Chris and Lenore Gallegos, the USRA officials, Gil Rivera, Chris Radisich, and Steve Forsyth. Thanks to John Emmons for the raffle prizes. Most of all thanks to the racers, both the USRA traveling circus guys and the BP locals for coming out in force to make this race a huge success!