Sunday, April 18, 2010

Laliberte, Foulger Win At Antioch

Figured I'd put something out there about Antioch Speedway again for the heck of it. Jack is getting small stories in the Antioch newspaper and occasionally even gets results in The Times. Better than nothing. Maybe we can get his stories in The Times next so more people can read something about the track. Anyway, some results may be unofficial here. If I get more details, I may add them at the bottom of this page.

The 50th consecutive season of racing at Antioch Speedway continued Saturday night with a four division show featuring Wingless Spec Sprints, Dirt Modifieds, Dwarf Cars and Hobby Stocks. When the checkered flag fell on the feature events, there were two repeat winners and two drivers collecting their first wins of the season.

There were 17 Wingless Spec Sprints in action, and four drivers collected the preliminary victories. 2008 champion "Bullet" Billy Macedo won his heat race ahead of Tommy Laliberte. Former BCRA Midget racers Scott Dupont and Tom Dupont ran 1-2 in their heat race, and former Petaluma Speedway champion Terry Schank Jr. held off two time Antioch champion Scott Holloway for the victory in the third heat. Ryan Burnal won the Trophy Dash ahead of Macedo.

Coming off of his closes second place finish a week earlier that moved him into third in the standings, Laliberte became the fourth different feature winner in as many races. The veteran Schank chased him across the line in second as Ryan Bernal rounded out the top three. After rolling his car twice last week, "Jammin" Jim Perry Jr. rebounded nicely with a fourth place finish ahead of point leader David Press. The championship battle is close as Press leads Laliberte by four tallies and Perry by six.

In the Dirt Modifieds, Troy Foulger continued to impress by winning his heat race ahead of Petaluma visitor Oreste Gonella and then scoring a Main Event victory. It was the second straight win for Foulger, who is the new point leader after this effort. Nick DeCarlo came back from a disappointing run last week to finish a strong second, followed by "The Richmond Rocket" Bobby Motts Jr., Norm Boeck and Shawn O'Gara. Incoming point leader Joe Carr won his heat race ahead of Gene Haney, while Jeff Thomas held off Boeck in winning his heat race. Foulger has assumed the point lead by ten over Carr and 18 over DeCarlo.

With one win in the books already, Nick Squatritto returned to the winner's circle with his Dwarf Car feature victory in front of open wheel veteran Charlie "The Hammer" Correia, Mike Corsaro, Sonny Calkins and Jerry Doty. The top three in the heat race was identical to the Main Event, and Squatritto now holds a four point lead over Doty in the championship battle.

In the Hobby Stocks, 13 cars were in action. The Team 99 car appeared to have scored the victory in the feature. The team is switching drivers every week, while earning points for the car. Last week, Jim Freethy had a second place run going until he and third place Eric Schantin locked bumpers and spun in Turn 2 on the last lap. Listed as the driver again this week, Freethy lost the win to a post race disqualification.

Ironically, this handed the win to Schantin, who becomes the third different winner and remains a strong contender for the championship. Brian Beard bounced back from a disappointing finish last week by placing second ahead of Chris Sorensen, Dan McCown and Mike Rydman. Heat wins went to McCown and Natalie Perry. Sorensen holds a ten point lead over Schantin with Paul DeLucca 18 point back in third.

Five divisions compete next Saturday night, headlined by the Dirt Modifieds, 360 Sprint Cars, Super Stocks, Dwarf Cars and Four Bangers.