95A SPEEDWAY – COOL NIGHT, HOT RACING

FERNLEY (April 24) – The Fernley 95A Speedway dodged a bullet as a passing storm spared the oval. So, despite the cool temperatures, the track was able to welcome back the BCRA (Bay Cities Racing Association) Midgets after an absence of several years.

“The car was awesome and it just got better and better. It seemed like the more throttle control I could learn I would catch then reel him in,” Frank Geurrini said after winning the BCRA main.

Then he thanked his parents as well as F&F Racing 63 and K&N.

Jake Morgan (19s) and Sean Dodenhoff (9d) lead Frank Guerrini (63), Scott Peirovich (35) and the field to the start of the BCRA main.

When the green fell on the 15-car field Sean Dodenhoff was on point but soon surrendered it to Matt Streeter on the backstretch. While Streeter was in the lead second place was closing.

Sean Dodenhoff (9s) briefly leads the BCRA field until Jake Morgan (19s) talks the point.

Then on lap 11 things came to a halt when a fire broke out in Doug Hunting’s car. This happened on the front stretch and he stopped at the top of Turn one to make a hasty exit from the car.

In the meantime officials red flagged the race as the emergency crew roared off to put the fire out and check on Hunting, who seemed uninjured.

Once racing resumed Streeter was being chased by Scott Pierovich. Then Guerrini caught the lead duo and used an inside move grab the lead several laps later.

Frank Guerrini (63) is about to make the winning pass and get by leader Jake Morgan (19s)

There was one more quick caution late in the race but in the end Guerrini took the win with Jake Morgan second ahead of Pierovich and Brian Gard.

On the final lap there was contact between Guerrini and runner up Jake Morgan but both agreed it was just a racing incident where both drivers were close to each other.

Frank Guerrini celebrates after winning the BCRA main at Fernley 95A Speedway.

After the race Morgan said, “This is my first race in a Midget, never seen the track before so bringing it home second is not too bad. The track is pretty awesome but you’ve just got to know how to be fast with the throttle to win it. There was a little bit of driver error in the beginning and once I got it figured out it was good from there on.”

Then he thanked Mike Sala, his parents, crew and Mike Streeter for giving him tips on how to race the track.

A field of 16 IMCA Modified too the green when their feature race began. On point was Rocky Goetz with Walter Ball right behind him.

Five laps into the 30-lap race there was contact that ended Bill Pearson’s night. Once racing resumed Bal used an inside move on the front stretch to claim the lead.

Behind the leader Shawn Natenstedt, Jake Holland and Robert Miller were moving toward the front. After a short caution for Keith Walsh to limp into the pits racing continued.

Now it was a three-way battle for the lead between Ball, Natenstedt and Holland. Lap after lap they flew around the track so close a very large blanket would have covered all three cars.

Soon it became a four-way fight as Robert Miller joined the fray. Behind them Cory Sample, who had a driveline failure in his heat race was moving through the pack and eventually ended up fourth.

During the IMCA feature it was a 4-way battle for the lead between Walter Ball (xxx), Shawn Natenstedt (1), Jake Holland (11H) and Robert Miller (59).

Finally Ball was displaced from the point as Natenstedt and Holland swapped the lead a couple of times. After that it was all Holland’s race as he took off and left everyone in his dust.

Jake Holland take the checkered flag and scores his first IMCA victory at Fernley 95A Speedway.

Natenstedt ended up second ahead of Miller, who was right behind him.

“It was an awesome battle, probably one of the funnest races I’ve ever been in, it really was,” Holland said afterwards. Shawn ran great tonight, kid of the first run for him to get up front and when he got by me I though he was going to leave us and win it. You could have thrown a blanket over Shawn and I trying to pass Walter Ball.”

Then he thanked his parents, wife Lydsay, Advocare Holland, Graphics Unlimited, Maxima Race Oil, Granite Propane and Earl Motorsports.

This was the first of five nights the Pro Stocks ran for a special payout of $1,000 to the winner. And 10 of these speedsters took the green when their main began.

Up front Dean Cichowicz briefly led until Malen Gonzalez, in B.J. Pearson’s Nuclear Banana grabbed the point. Earlier Gonzalez felt the suspension was wrong but one couldn’t tell it in the main.

Once in the lead Gonzalez took off although soon Jay Sears in Travis Peterson’s “Flying 56,” car moved from eighth to second and the chase was on.

However Gonzalez timed his catching and passing any lappers just right so Sears had to work a bit harder to get past those cars.

Malen Gonzalez, driving B.J. Pearson’s Nuclear Banana car, won the Pro Stock main and pocketed the $1,000 victor’s prize.

In the end Gonzalez scored the victory followed by Sears and Rob Grace while Cichowicz faded to fourth place ahead of Al Goss.

Sears laughed and said having a “crappy starting position,” was one reason he couldn’t catch Gonzalez that night.

Leading off the night were the Street Stocks and on the green Joel Blackwell was on point until J.T. Stark got past him. Soon afterwards Dwight Bolton as in second.

Blackwell spun himself out of contention and caused a red flag as he wound up sideways on the front straight. Once that was cleaned up the green waved again and Bolton grabbed the point.

This was about as close as anyone ever got to Dwight Bolton (51/50) after he took the lead in the Street Stock main. Here he is about to take the green followed by J.T. Stark (188) and David Ausano.

After that it was all Bolton’s race and he streaked away from everyone. David Ausano ended up second head of Jake Baker and Rick Miller.

During the awards ceremony Bolton said, “I just figured out I had to go for it and couldn’t wait. And I think we got the car where it needs to be as it all came together as I could run high or low.”

Then he thanked sponsors, Silver Springs Napa, his wife, friends and pit crew Mike Carpenter and Mike Tripp.

OTHER RACING NEWS:

• Fernley 95A Speedway will host a double header this Friday and Saturday as it’s the annual Dave Richardson and Leroy Kay Memorial. This is a Dwarf Car regional and features two nights of racing with qualifying beginning at 5 p.m. each day.

•Friday night, around 6 p.m. is when the Lovelock Speedway will begin its 2015 season. This year the track has changed it schedule and will usually host Friday night races.

• This weekend NASCAR’s top two divisions visited Richmond for a pair of night races and two Nevadans were in the fields.

Despite a pit fire that injured two members of his team Brendan Gaughan finished 11th in Friday’s Xfinity event.

On Saturday Kurt Busch started third and won the Sprint Cup race scoring his 28th victory in the senior series.

RESULTS

Fernley 95A Speedway – April 24

BCRA Midgets:

+ Heat 1: 1. Jimmy Sills, 2. Frank Guerrini, 3. Jake Morgan, 4. Mark Maliepaard, 5. Britton Bock, 6. Floyd Alivs, 7. Tom Doherty, 8. Doug Hunting

+ Heat 2: 1. Brian Gard, 2. Scott Pierovich, 3. Seasn Dodenhoff, 4. Matt Streeter, 5. Barry Pries Jr., 6. J.R. Williams, 7. Gary Centerno

+ Main (30-Laps): 1. Frank Guerrini, 2. Jake Morgan, 3. Scott Pierovich, 4. Brian Gard, 5. Mark Maliepaard, 6. Gary Centerno, 7. Floyd Alvis, 8. J.R.  Williams, 9. Jimmy Sills, 10. Matt Streeter, 11. Barry Pries Jr., 12. Sean Dodenhoff, 13. Tom Doherty, 14. Britton Bock, 15. Doug Hunting

IMCA Modifieds:

+ Heat 1: 1. Robert Miller, 2. Royce Goetz, 3. Bill Pearson, 4. Nick DeCarlo, 5. Keith Walsh, 6. Jeff Olschowka, 7. Cory Sample

+ Heat 2: 1. Paris Archie, 2. Shawn Natenstedt, 3. Mark Wauge, 4. Carl Barlow, 5. Mark Skender

+ Heat 3: 1. Jake Holland, 2. Walter Ball, 3. Rocky Goetz, 4. Travis White, 5. Dave Sciaronni

+ Main (30-Laps): 1. Jake Holland, 2. Shawn Natenstedt, 3. Robert Miller, 4. Cory Sample, 5. Nick DeCarlo, 6. Walter Ball, 7. Rocky Goetz, 8. Paris Archie, 9. Royce Goetz, 10. Travis White, 11. Dave Sciarroni, 12. Carl Barlow, 13. Mark Skender, 14. Mark Wauge, 15. Keith Walsh, 16. Bill Pearson

Pro Stocks:

+Heat 1: 1. Jay Sears, 2. Rob Grace, 3. Al Goss, 4. Malen Gonzalez, 5. Dean Cichowicz

+ Heat 2: 1. Gary Nevers, 2. Unlisted, 3. David Rauscher, 4. Unlisted

+ Main (25-Laps) – 1. Malen Gonzalez, 2. Jay Sears, 3. Rob Grace, 4. Dean Cichowicz, 5. Al Goss, 6. Unlisted, 7. Gary Nevers, 8. Unlisted, 9. Unlisted, 10. David Rauscher

Street Stocks:

+ Heat: 1. Rick Miller, 2. Dwight Bolton, 3. Jake Baker, 4. David Ausano, 5. Jesse Vankol, 6. J.T. Stark, 7. Joe Blackwell

+ Main (20-Laps) – 1. Dwight Bolton, 2. David Ausano, 3. Jake Baker, 4. Rick Miller, 5. J.T. Stark, 6. Joe Blackwell, 7. Jesse Vankol, 8. Unlisted

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