Regier, Hunt, Tatro and McKenney Triumph in Harvest Classic at Madera Speedway

 

The Harvest Classic is always one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the Madera Speedway schedule and the 36^th renewal of this open-wheel racing tradition on Saturday, September 15 at Madera Speedway more than lived up to those expectations.

 

Although powerful 410 Supermodfieds and the track’s 360 Modifieds ran separate heat and dash races, the two ran as a single combined field for their feature race. As the final points paying event of the season for the 360 Modifieds, the race took on added significance with the 2007 track title on the line for the locals.

 

An invert draw of eight put the evening’s fast qualifier, Troy Regier of Dinuba, well back in the 19 car starting field for the start of the 50-lap Modified feature. Regier calmly worked his way up to third during the first half of the race before taking the lead on a dramatic pass under both Eric Silsby, of Minden, NV and Jim Birges, of Fresno, in one swoop on a lap 27 restart following Bryan Warf’s unfortunate excursion with the back straight wall. Birges gamely tried to retake the lead from Regier, but ultimately would settle for second place ahead of Silsby. 

 

“It was tough out there. We weren’t at our best tonight, but my crew worked their butts off a car to get it done tonight,” said Regier in celebration of his 70^th main event win. “At the start we were back there a ways and I really didn’t think we had enough, but we made a few good moves, had a little luck and we got it.”

 

The main event win was the culmination of a clean sweep of the Supermodified activities for Regier, who earlier in the night picked up wins in his heat and the dash.

 

Hometown ace Lance Tatro entered the evening with a nine point lead in the 360 Modified standings over his good friend and car owner David Tuey of Bakersfield. He was able to give himself a bit more breathing room by extending that lead to 19 points heading into the feature after posting the top qualifying time and picking up second place finishes in the 360 heat and dash races.

 

Tatro drove a methodical race in the main, staying out of harms way, to clinch the 2007 360 Modified track championship in style by posting his third consecutive victory. Fresno’s Kenny White took second place and Madera’s Kenny Kinchen, the trophy dash and heat race winner, finished the main in third.

 

“We have been nervous about this for the last month and now we can finally celebrate. It really feels good, but I don’t think it has fully hit me yet,” said Tatro, who also won the Supermodified championship back in 1993. “There was also a little extra pressure running with the Supermodifieds. We don’t know those guys as well, but it all worked out.”

 

The final 2007 standings in the 360 Modified class show Tatro with a 213 to 188 advantage over Tuey with Fresno’s Kenny White, Madera’s Kenny Kinchen and Kingsburg’s Lance Jackson round out the top five.

 

Chico’s Ryan Kaplan held a narrow lead in the Lucas Oil USAC Western Sprint Car championship standings over Rohnert Park’s Jo-Jo Helberg and Lincoln’s Tony Hunt heading into Saturday’s USAC/CASA co-sanctioned Sprint Car feature. The three championship contenders battled it out through much of the caution free 50-lap race, including several electrifying side-by-side stints, before Hunt finally got the best of his two rivals to score his ninth career feature win at Madera.

 

“I love the Harvest Classic and I love Madera Speedway. It is great to see such a nice crowd out here and I am glad we could put on a great show for them,” said Hunt, a five-time USAC champion. “The car wasn’t that good in the heat, but we made some last minute changes and luckily it came together for the main.”

 

It may have been a case of losing the battle, but winning the war for Kaplan, who finished the race in second behind Hunt and ahead of Helberg.

 

“It was a real fun race tonight. I think we missed the setup just a bit and Tony (Hunt) was able to get off the corners a little better than us,” explained Kaplan. “It was a good points night though. We set fast time and finished second in our heat so if we either gained a few points or stayed about the same so it feels pretty good heading into the last race at Irwindale Raceway.”

 

With a huge field of 23 cars taking the green flag at the “Fastest 1/3 Mile in the West” the BCRA Midgets put on a wild and exciting race.

 

Fremont’s Shane Golobic grabbed the lead in the 30-lap BCRA main from pole sitter Justin Melton, of Flower Mound, TX, on the second lap and tenaciously held on to it until

Dallen McKenney, of Clovis, made a daring pass underneath him on lap 29 to steal the top spot and the victory following a late race yellow caution.

 

“The car was really good and I thought we would go right to the front, but when I got into second I had nothing for Golobic,” said McKenney. “That yellow worked to my advantage because my car seemed to work a little bit better than his after it and I was able to squeeze by him.”

 

“It is never fun to lose like that right at the end, but Dallen ran a great race,” lamented Golobic. “We’ll just try again next time.”

 

The ultra competitive BCRA class spread the night’s top honors amongst a phalanx of drivers as Melton, Kevin Morris of Ripon and Nick Foster of San Carlos, all earned heat wins, Paul Zimmerly of Ridgefield, WA, won the dash and Hanford’s Michael Faccinto set fast time in qualifying.   

 

Although a strong field of 20 cars started the Legends of the Pacific 30-lap main, the race belonged to only one driver, Tracy native Jeremy Woods. Starting from the third row, Woods shot to the lead on the second lap and never looked back to take the checkers ahead of Frankie Marks, of Orangevale and Steve Cantrell, of Ceres.

 

“This is a brand new car that my father has been working on for me and I want to thank him for all his help,” said Woods, who now lives in the eastern U.S. “We didn’t have the fastest car so we made some changes just before the main and they worked.”

 

Carmichael’s Jack Stone, Sacramento’s Randy Fellman and Redding’s Zack Kavert all picked up heat victories in the Legends while Mackena Bell, of Carson City, NV, set fast qualifying time and triumphed in the dash.

 

Madera speedway will go dark again on Saturday, September 22 before returning with the final NASCAR Whelen All American Racing Series event of the season on Saturday, September 29 with a program that will include the Western Late Models, American Limited Stock Cars, Modified Super Toyotas, Toyota Sedans, Hornets and Mini Cup.

 

Madera Speedway will conclude the 2007 season with the 1^st Annual Pumpkin Smash 400 Enduro and Demolition Derby on Saturday, October 20.

 

The Madera Speedway is located at the Madera County Fairgrounds just off to the west side of Highway 99 at the Cleveland Avenue exit.

 

For more Madera Speedway information go to www.racemadera.com on the web or call the Info/Race Line at (559) 673-RACE.