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POINTS RACE #9 AT OCEAN SPEEDWAY
June 27, 2008 |
| Friday
the 27th should be just the opposite of Friday the 13th. Apart from the
many curious things about the number 27, people with pointy hats and crystal orbs think
it's a fortunate or lucky number. But, not true this night which ended
in chaos. My theory = the 'luck force' went south because the #27 car was absent. So, next time you're on
the track with Doug Penny, take him out. No, just kidding, Doug is my
friend. At this point in the racing schedule, after throwaways, top three drivers were separated by only 10 points; top two drivers by only 2 points. Every race and every point is important in the chase to the title and Race #9 action was expected to be heads up and balls out. HEAT RACES Winners of the four heat races were, Ryan DIATTE (Heat 1), Bill MARTINEZ (Heat 2), Gilbert TOSTE (Heat 3) and John WEAR (Heat 4). In Heat 1, Ryan started 2nd and took the lead from lap 1 for the win by almost a straightaway. Polesitter, Dave Mosier, competed only one lap and left the race with a broken axle. Rookie, Dan Youngblood, moved up from 4th to 2nd on lap 2 and finished 2nd, 2 seconds behind Ryan. Marty Weisler ran 3rd from start to finish, off the pace by 4 seconds. Steve Oliveira started 5th, ran 4th from lap 2 and finished 4th (scored manually, no Tx data). Thomas Smith, much improved rookie, started 6th, finished 5th and went to the B Main. Fast time = 15.920 sec, Ryan Diatte In Heat 2, Bill was the boss; rocketing up from 5th to 1st, stretching his lead to most of a straightaway by the finish and setting fast time on the final lap. Camron Diatte started 3rd, took 2nd on lap 2; dropped a little speed, then picked up the pace and ran steady for 2nd place. The next three finishers were spread out. Mark Tillinger started 6th and finished 3rd, 5.3 seconds out. Rookie, John White Jr, started 5th and finished 4th, 8.8 seconds out. Joel Osias started 2nd and finished 5th, 11.3 seconds out. Polesitter, Danny Zuger, was bumped early in lap 1; went to the rear and made little progress. Fast time = 15.832 sec, Bill Martinez In Heat 3, Gilbert was dominant, leading from pole to flag (approx 15 car lengths by lap 2, straightaway by lap 4, half track by lap 6 and huge 7.2 seconds at the finish line. Rookie, Nick Squatritto, started 2nd and finished 2nd. Oscar Milla, substituting for Ernie Davila, started 3rd and finished 3rd. Chris Dorto was 4th from start to finish and rookie, Mike Collins, came up from 6th to 5th. Fast time = 15.455 sec, Gilbert Toste In Heat 4, John was quick to move from a 2nd place start to the lead - increasing as much as a straightaway and 2 seconds ahead of the next car across the finish line. Punky Pires made a steady advance from 4th to 2nd. Polesitter, Robert Mesloh, dropped back to 4th but finished 3rd. Duane Daniel was 5th at the start, 4th by mid-race and 4th at the finish. Rookie, Mark Biscardi, started 3rd, ran 2nd briefly, lost speed for a few laps and had to settle for the 5th place finish and the B Main route. Fast time = 15.766 sec, John Wear TROPHY DASH Start: Ryan Diatte, Toste, Wear and Camron Diatte. Finish: Ryan DIATTE, Toste, Wear and Camron Diatte. Camron was alternate in lineup, since Bill Martinez chose to sit out. Fast time = 15.934 sec, Gilbert Toste B MAIN After a disappointing heat race, Mark BISCARDI obviously had his problem solved; started 3rd, took the lead on lap 1 and held it for the win, 4.5 seconds over Dave Mosier who is rarely in a B Main. Dave was quick to go from an 8th place start to 3rd, then 2nd by lap 5. Thomas Smith gave up 2nd to Dave but was steady for a 3rd place finish. Martin Whittingham went from 7th to 4th, Mike Collins went from pole to 5th and Jeff Mead, substituting for Mike Bejovich, went from 5th to 6th to earn the final transfer spot. Fast time = 15.609 sec, Mark Biscardi A MAIN The first three starters, Gilbert Toste, John Wear and Ryan Diatte ran 1st, 2nd and 3rd for 15 laps. Gilbert managed to open a few car-length gap but the pressure was unrelenting. John was often within inches of Gilbert's bumper and tried inside and outside passes, got nose to door but couldn't complete the pass for the lead. Ryan was waiting for an opportunity; got past John on lap 16 then past Gilbert on Lap 17 for the lead. Gilbert was trying to re-gain the lead when he (outside) and Ryan (inside) came together out of turn 4 on lap 18. There were different opinions about what happened but I think, all things considered, John Prentice got it right. 'It was a racing incident' - the result of hard, close racing for points; nothing reckless, nothing malicious. I reviewed the video numerous times, forward, reverse, slow motion and stop frame. On the previous lap, Gilbert (insde) and Ryan (outside) were also damn close coming out of turn 4, with Ryan holding his line and Gilbert moving up. The next time around (lap 18, turn 4), Ryan's rear slipped out just enough for his right rear wheel to make contact with Gilbert's left front wheel. Ryan was launched into a wild ride like a small plane making a bad landing and Gilbert went to the infield. Both had serious damage but Gilbert left on the hook and Ryan went to the pits and back on the track. John Wear made a quick-thinking maneuver to avoid crashing into anybody and ended up facing backwards. After a yellow-red-yellow period, there was much confusion about how to re-set the lineup and run out the last two laps. Finally, the field was led around and given the yellow-checkered and, later, it was determined that Wear, Diatte and Toste would be scored 10th, 11th and 12th. Duane DANIEL advanced from 14th to 6th by lap 5 and 4th by lap 16; then, with the change at the front, claimed his first feature win. Punky Pires, Robert Mesloh and Oscar Milla started in rows 3 to 5 and were running 5th, 6th and 7th at the time of the incident; therefore moved up to 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Nick Squatritto started 5th, got crossed up in lap 4 and sent to the rear (18th); then, made a steady recovery and scored 5th with the change at the front. The rest of the official top 10 were, Chris Dorto, Steve Oliveira, Martin Whittingham, Thomas Smith and John Wear. Camron Diatte and Dan Youngblood were DNS. Camron left the track with a problem before the start and did not get back in time to take the green. Dan had a mechanical problem and decided to scratch. Fast time = 15,731 sec, Gilbert Toste CONGRATULATIONS TO DUANE DANIEL (A MAIN WINNER), MARK BISCARDI (B MAIN WINNER), HEAT WINNERS (RYAN DIATTE, BILL MARTINEZ, GILBERT TOSTE AND JOHN WEAR), GILBERT TOSTE (DASH WINNER) AND TOP FINISHERS. THANKS TO ALL DRIVERS WHO MADE THE SHOW. |