Nobile, Sasselli, Snider and Vanderpool Win Gerhardt Features By freelance open wheel writer Gerald Laurie Madera Speedway held their Annual Fred Gerhardt Classic on Saturday, Spetember 12. This Open Wheel Show features a 100 lap Midget Faeature with Winged Suprmods and Sprints, Non-Wing Sprint Cars, and HPD Midgets as support classes. This Race honors the Central Valley Car owner and Entrepenour who entered Midgets in races for decades and who not only entered the Indy 500 on a regular basis, but also built many Customer cars for the ultimate Open Wheel Spectacular. Fred’s family remains heavily involved in Sprint Car and Midget Racing to this day with his Great Grandchild Cody involved locally. The afternoon segment of the show featured Time Trials and Heat Races. The USAC HPD Midgets started the show Dylan Nobile(40) taking Fast time at 14.950 seconds on the 1/3 mile banking. Shawn Buckley(7) at 15.021 and Tom Patterson(9) at 15.149 rounded out the top three. Next up were the NCMA Sprint Cars. Audra Sasselli (77) took fast time at 14.401 followed by Eric Humphries(15) at 14.439, and David Burchett(77B) at 14.907. The jointly sanctioned BCRA/USAC Midgets were next to challenge the clocks. Chad Nichols(17) was fastest at 13.793 followed by Tanner Swanson(4) at 13.986, and Cody Gerhardt(29) at 14.059. Madera Speedway’s Winged World Series were the last to drag their transponders across the scoring line. Jeff Collins (99) turned 12.574 for the top spot followed by Jim Birges (32) 12.617, and Kyle Vanderpoo(3) 12.811. USAC Ran two 8 lap heat races for the HPD Midgets. The first lined up with Dylan Nobile(40) on the pole followed by Tom Patterson(9), Duke Love(3), Annie Breidinger(75) and Joel Rayborne(2). With the fast timer on the poll, the expected happened. Nobile lead over Love and Patterson from the green flag. Patterson dogged Love continuously while Nobile built a good lead. Patterson finally took second at the white flag and Nobile won over Patterson and Love. The second heat featured Shawn Buckley(7) and Cody Jessop(00) in the front row followed by Christine Breckenridge(26) and Toni Breidinger(80). The inside was the place to be as Buckley led followed by Breckinridge and Jessop. A slide job in turn one brought Jessop to second on lap three and that was the race. Buckley took the checkers over Jessop and Breckinridge. The Northern California Modifed Association had a single heat race. Steve Amador(7) and David Burchett(77B) led off with Eric Humphries(15), Audra Sasselli(77) and Denny Burrell(88) in pursuit. Bud Trimble scratched. The outside line surged forward at the start with Burchett leading lap one by a nerf bar over Sasselli and Amador. On the second circuit, Sasselli took first and Humphries moved to second on lap three. Burrell managed to snag third place on the last lap making Sasselli the winner over Humphries and Burrell. There were no Midget Heats due to the scheduled 100 lapper. The Winged Cars ran two Heat races. The fast heat lined up with Jeff Collins(99) leading the pack over Jim Birges(32), Kyle Vanderpool(3), Tim Skoglund(60) and Chad Nichols(96). Nichols scratched after the warm up with an oil leak. Birges won the drag race off turn four to lead Collins, Vanderpool and Skoglund on lap one through the lap six checkered flag. The second winged heat featured Eric Humphries(15), Donnie Large(10), Joey Aguilar(40), Art McCarthy(19), Steve Johns(12), and Kenny Hamilton(98). Humphries grabbed the lead at the start over Large and Aguilar. Large slowed on lap three and Aguilar moved to second followed by McCarthy to third. The yellow flew on lap five when Large rolled to a stop on the backstretch, reportedly out of fuel. The crew chief needs to sharpen his pencil for six lap races. On the re-start, McCarthy had a major tank slapper but caught it coming off four, but the ageless Hamilton had already blasted past. Humphries won the heat over Aguilar and Hamilton. After opening ceremonies featuring a tribute to Fred Gerhardt, it was time for features and racing under the lights. The HPD Midgets were scheduled to go thirty laps. Tom Patterson, Toni Breidinger, Dylan Nobile, and Shawn Buckley occupied the first two rows. Annie Breidinger, Christine Breckinridge, Cody Jessup, Duke Love, and Joel Rayborne rounded out the field. Patterson led lap one from the pole over T. Breidinger, Nobile, and Buckley with Breckinridge bringing up fifth. Nobile and Buckley blew by Toni on lap two. On the fourth round, Nobile worked around Patterson and started to extend a large lead. Meanwhile, Buckley was pushing Patterson hard and Breckinridge moved to fourth on lap five. Jessop took fifth a lap later. By lap seven, Jessop had taken fourth. AT 1/3 distance, Nobile was in front followed by Patterson, Buckley, Jessop, and Breckinridge. Little changed until Buckley spun in turn 2 on the nineteenth circuit. The restart had Nobile leading Patterson, Jessop, Breckinridge, and Love. Breckinridge hit the pits just after the green with a water leak. This brought Love forward and Annie Breidinger into the top five. On the lap twenty, Patterson Had a “moment” and Jessop and Love took advantage. At twenty laps, the order was Nobile, Jessop, Love, Patterson, and A. Breidinger. Buckley, who had started in the rear after his spin moved back into the top five on lap twenty four and snagged fourth from Patterson on the last circuit. Meanwhile, Love had worked his way around Jessop on lap twenty eight. Finish order was Nobile over Love, Jessop, Buckley, and Patterson. The NCMA Sprint Car 30 lap Feature lined up with Steve Amador pacing the field pursued by David Burchett, Eric Humphries, Audra Sasselli, Bud Trimble, and Denny Burrell. Humphries and Burchett ran laps one and two nearly side by side with Sasselli hunting a way through. Eric finally cleared Burchett on lap three and Sasselli sneaked through into second. Burrell took third at lap ten making the order Humphries over Sasselli and Burrell. Sasselli ran both high and low trying to get around Humphries for lap after lap. She would back down a bit to cool the tires and then go at it again. Lap twenty reflected lap ten exactly. Then on lap twenty four she got a wheel underneath in turn four and stayed side by side for a full lap, nosing ahead at the line on lap twenty five. Sasselli finally cleared Humphries on the backstretch and worked out a several car length lead by the end. Audra Sasselli won the hard fought caution free race over Humphries and Burrell. The Gerhardt Tribute Race was a hundred lap midget feature lined up three wide for the start with the fastest six cars inverted.This put David Goodwill, Michael Snider, and Jerome Rodela on the front row followed by Cody Gerhardt, Tanner Swanson, and Chad Nichols. The rest of the field consisted of Jarid Blondel, Gary Conterno, JR Williams, Floyd Alvis, David Prickett and Rick Holbrook. The outside line surged forward a little at the start for Rodela to lead over Snider, Goodwill, Nichols and Swanson. Nichols took third on the second lap with Swanson taking fourth on lap three. Nichols passed Snider on lap four and Swanson did likewise a lap later. At the end of ten, Rodela led over Nichols, Swanson, Snider, and Goodwill and the leaders were into lapped traffic.The yellow flew on lap fifteen when Swanson slowed dramatically and then stalled on the back stretch. This moved Conterno into the top five as Swanson retired with a broken throttle shaft. Yellows were counting in this hundred lapper until the final twenty laps. On lap twenty four, Gerhardt headed to the pits. At ¼ distance, Rodela led over Nichols, Snider, Goodwill and Conterno. Nichols stayed with Rodella pushing occasionally, but generally saving the tires for the end. On lap forty two, the leader made contact with Blondel while trying to lap him and spun. Blondel continued and Nichols took evasive action to cross the line in front. On the restart, Nichols led over Goodwill, Snider, Conterno, and Blondel. Rodella was fighting to come back even though a lap down. Meanwhile, there was lapped traffic everywhere. At half way, the order was the same as the lap 42 restart. During the second half, Nichols slowly extended his lead, again saving the tires for any upcoming challenge. The yellow flew again on lap 60 when Conterno and Alvis tried to occupy the same real estate in turn one. Both continued after being pushed off. This moved Blondel up a spot to fourth with Conterno now in fifth. By lap 75, Nichols had a nearly half lap lead over Snider, with Goodwill close behind and Blondel struggling to stay on the lead lap. Nichols finally lapped through fourth place on lap 83 and was extending his lead getting close to lapping the field. Nichols lapped Goodwill on lap ninety three and then pulled off the backstretch into the pits on lap ninety six with a suspected broken rocker arm. It was a brilliant dominating performance that just came up five laps short. Snider assumed the lead with Goodwill now back on the lead lap and everyone just held on to survive. Mike Snider took the Gerhardt over David Goodwill, Jarid Blondel, Gary Conterno and Nichols, still in the top five even after the engine failure. The Final feature was the fifty lapper for the Winged World Series. With nine of the eleven cars inverted, it would be exciting. Joey Aguilar started on the poll, flanked by Donnie Large. Ken Hamilton and Eric Humphries resided in the second row. Chad Nichols and Tim Skoglund occupied row three. Kyle Vanderpool and Jim Birges comprised row four. Jeff Collins completed the invert with Steve Johns and Art McCarthy rounding out the line up. The first attempt at a start had McCarthy spin in turn one and a complete restart was ordered. Aguilar led lap one over Large, Skoglund, who made a bonzai move to grab the three spot, Humphries and Birges. Birges moved to fourth on lap two. Then took third from Skoglund on four. When Birges worked Large out of position to take second, Skoglund and Vanderpool followed him through. On lap six, Birges blew around Aguilar and Humphries moved Large out of the top five. Vanderpool took third on the seventh circuit with Collins taking fifth. Vanderpool got Aguilar on lap eight and brought Skoglund with him. Then Collins took fourth on the tenth lap . Order at ten was Birges with a big lead over Vanderpool, Skoglund, Collins, and Aguilar. Birges atarted lapping cars on lap thirteen and then he seemed to get through traffic with few problems and started heading for another zip code. Twenty laps saw Birges still leading over the same four suspects. Birges lapped Aguilar on lap twenty four. The yellow flew on twenty nine when Collins had contact with Humphries while trying to lap him. Collins retired after the contact. This brought Hamilton into the top five with only the 3 and 60 on the lead lap with Birges. Aguilar and Hamilton were fourth and fifth, one lap down. With lapped cars between the leaders, Birges again escaped on the restart and headed for the hinterlands. Then disaster struck on lap thirty five when Birges broke a water line and coasted to a stop in turn two in a cloud of steam. Humphries got around Aguilar on the restart and at forty laps, Vanderpool and Skoglund were on the lead lap with Hamilton and Humphries a lap behind while Aguilar had lost a second lap. The last ten laps, Skoglund made a charge to catch Vanderpool, but could not reel him in and that was that. Kyle Vanderpool won the fifty lapper, with Skoglund second, Ken Hamilton third, Humphries and Aguilar rounding out the top five. The Annual Gerhardt Classic was a great show. However it did not pay to lead for long perioda as experienced by Jerome Rodella, Chad Nichols and Jim Birges. The front was just not the place to be when Lady Luck decided to bestow her graces. Madera Speedway, July 12, 2014 Fred Gerhardt Classic USAC HPD Midgets Qualifications: 1. 40 Dylan Nobile, 14.950; 2.0 7 Shawn Buckley, 15.021; 3. 9 Tom Patterson, 15.149; 4. 80 Toni Breidinger, 15.397; 5. 3 Duke Love, 15.417; 6. 26 Christine Breckenridge, 15.463; 7. 75 Annie Greidinger, 15.492; 8. 00 Cody Jessop, 15.792; 9. 69 Jesse Burks, 16.066; 10. 51 Courtney Burks, 16.069; 11. 2 Joel Rayborne, 16.070. Heat 1: 1. Nobile; 2. Patterson; 3. Love; 4. A. Breidinger; 5. Rayborne. Heat 2: 1. Buckly; 2. Jessop; 3. Breckinridge; 4. T. Breidinger.Feature: 1Nobile; 2. Love; 3. Jessop; 4. Buckley; 5. Patterson; 6. A. Breidinger; 7. Ti Breidinger; 8. Rayborne; 9. Breckinridge. NCMA Sprint Cars Qualifications: 1. 77 Audra Sasselli, 14.401, 2. 15 Eric Humphries, 14.439; 3. 77B David Burchett; 14>907; 4. 7 Steve Amador, 15.332, 5. 9 Bud Trimble, N/T; 6. 88 Denny Burrell, N/T. heat: 1. Sasselli; 2. Humphries; 3. Burrell; 4. Burchett; 5. Amador.Feature: 1. Sasselli,; 2. Humphries; 3. Burrell; 4. Burchett; 5. Amador; 6. Trimble. USAC/BCRA Midgets Qualifications: 1. 17 Chad Nichols, 13.796; 2. 4 Tanner Swanson, 13.986; 3. 29 Cody Gerhardt, 14.059; 4. 5 Jerome Rodella, 14.120; 5. 6 Michael Snider, 14.206; 6. 3 David Goodwill, 14.232; 7. 98 Jarid Blondel, 14.386; 8. 55 Gary Conterno, 14.425; 9. 74 JR Williams, 14.675; 10. 18 Floyd Alvis, 14.881; 11. 74X David Prickett, 15.029; 12. 46 Rick Holbrook, 15.540. Feature:1. Snider; 2. Goodwill; 3. Blondel; 4. Conterno; 5. Nichols; 6. Alvis; 7. Prickett; 8. Rodella; 9. Williams; 10. L. Snider; 11. Gerhardt; 12. Swanson; 13. Holbrook. Winged World Series Qualifications; 1. 99 Jeff Collins, 12.574; 2. 32 Jim Birges, 12.617; 3. 3 Kyle Vanderpool, 12.811; 4. 60 Tim Skoglund, 12.908; 5. 96 Chad Nichols, 12.950; 6. 15 Eric Humphries, 13.211; 7. 98 Ken Hamilton, 13.246; 8. 10 Donnie Large, 13.424; 9. 40 Joey Aguilar, 13.435; 10. 12 Steve Johns,13.500; 11. 19 Art McCarthy, 13.838. Heat1: 1. Birges; 2. Collins; 3. Vanderpool; 4. Skoglund; 5. Nichols(DNS). Heat 2: 1. Humphries; 2. Aguilar; 3. Hamilton; 4. McCarthy; 5. Johns; 6. Large. Feature: 1. Vanderpool, 2 Skoglund; 3. Hamilton; 4. Humphries; 5. Aguilar; 6. mcCarthy; 7. Large; 8. Johns; 9. Birges; 10. Collins; 11. Nichols.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:16:32 +0000