Antioch and San Jose results

Top 5 in Saturday's events from Antioch (Pacific Coast Region) and San Jose (Sunbelt Region) will be posted at the tail of this report from Watsonville (Pacific Coast Region).

WATSONVILLE -- The odor of burnt alcohol once more hung in the air at Watsonville Speedway on Friday night, stinging the eyes of a thousand delighted fans. They were witnessing local favorite Steve Hendren, the 1992 NASCAR Pacific Coast Region champion in the Winston Racing Series, come away with a victory in an open competition for the Late-Model Stock Cars. They also watched an exciting feature race for the regular track series, the Grand-American Modified Division, in which Los Gatos' Dave Byrd passed then barely held off Bobby Hogge IV for his third win of the year, and second in a row. For the second straight week, the Street Stock Division had a first- time winner. Jay Baer of San Jose started on the pole and led every lap of the 20-lap feature. Without having to run under NASCAR rules, the late-models were faster than ever. Half the field qualified under the track record. The team which did the best tuning was that of Hendren, who currently leads the points at San Jose Speedway. He put down two laps under 15 seconds on Watsonville's quarter-mile dirt oval. ``I certainly didn't think we'd be making 14-second laps,'' Hendren said of his qualifying performance. Although he qualified fastest, the 30-lap feature race wasn't all Hendren. On the contrary, it was a classic late-model race, with several lead changes and many drivers having a turn up front. Leading the first nine laps was Kimberly Myers, who is running her first year in late-models. Myers, from Half Moon Bay, was a popular street stock competitor last year at the speedway, and also won the national Maxwell House Hero of NASCAR Award for her work with children afflicted with Cystic Fibrosis. After stretching out a lead, Myers began to lose handling, eventually handing the lead to Watsonville's Bobby Large. His lead only lasted one lap, however, as Hendren passed him on lap 11. Large wrested the lead back on a restart a few laps later, but lost it on lap 17 to 1988 regional champ Ed Sans Jr. While Sans led for a few laps, Jim Pettit II -- who won the regional title in 1984 -- made his presence known, moving quickly past a couple of cars to challenge for the lead, which he'd never get. Hendren had drifted back to fifth place on lap 18, then turned up the wick. He went to the outside groove and picked off the competitors one per lap. Once Hendren was in front, a battle for second began behind him between Pettit and Sans. It was Pettit who came away with the position, with a gutsy move in Turn 2 on the final lap. There were 15 late-models at the speedway, but only 14 started the race. Another former regional champion, Bobby Hogge III, suffered terminal engine failure while leading the trophy dash early in the evening. The night didn't get better for him, as a pair of early incidents put him out of the Grand-Am feature. The final five laps of that race had the fans on their feet. Byrd went to the outside groove to move into second, then to the low side, eventually taking the lead from the Hogge IV. Byrd slid high after taking the lead, allowing the younger Hogge to get underneath, where he challenged right up to the checkered flag. The win moves Byrd into fourth in this year's track championship. Results from Friday's NASCAR Winston Racing Series at Watsonville Speedway: GRAND-AMERICAN MODIFIEDS Fast Time -- 16.176 seconds; Scott Busby, Martinez Trophy Dash, 4 laps -- 1:04.24 1. Dennis Furia Sr., Healdsburg 2. Louis Davis, Mountain View 3. Bobby Hogge III, Salinas 4. Busby Heat Race 1, 6 laps 1. David Furia, Healdsburg 2. Hogge III 3. Bobby Hogge IV, Salinas 4. Lonnie Lacy, Jr., Watsonville Heat Race 2, 6 laps 1. Ken Nott Jr., Watsonville 2. Dave Byrd, Los Gatos 3. Victor Gonella, Petaluma 4. Furia Sr. Main Event, 25 laps 1. Byrd 2. Hogge IV 3. Furia Sr. 4. Davis 5. Busby 6. Bobby Scott, Santa Cruz 7. Da. Furia 8. Ron Parker, Soquel 9. Nott 10. Bob Hansen, Danville 11. Joe Chapman, San Jose 12. Lacy 13. Kevin Schroeder, Marina 14. Rick Fisher, Cupertino 15. Dan Barger, San Jose 16. Gonella 17. Robert Brumit, Watsonville 18. Tom Woods, San Jose 19. Ray Morgan, Watsonville 20. Hogge III STREET STOCKS Fast Time -- 18.277 seconds, Don Silva, Salinas Trophy Dash, 4 laps -- 1:12.44 1. Andy Clark, Prunedale 2. Doug Hagio, Prunedale 3. Rene LaChance, Prunedale 4. Silva Heat Race 1, 6 laps -- 1:53.24 1. Dennis Pelphrey, Los Gatos 2. Jim DiGiovanni, Morgan Hill 3. Steve Roberson, Scotts Valley 4. George Penney, San Jose Heat Race 2, 6 laps -- 1:54.58 1. Ed Jacobs, Salinas 2. Ron Stefani, Castroville 3. Kyle Wade, Santa Cruz 4. Fred Dickey II, Ben Lomond Heat Race 3, 6 laps -- 1:48.53 (record) 1. Mike Malone, Marina 2. Jerry Movrich, Gilroy 3. Greg Stefani, Castroville 4. Rickey Sanders, Watsonville Heat Race 4, 6 laps 1. Chris Araujo, Santa Clara 2. Ron Souza, Pescadero 3. Darrell Hughes, Salinas 4. Jay Baer, San Jose B-Main Event, 12 laps 1. Tim Hamilton, San Jose 2. R. Stefani 3. Roberson 4. Penney Main Event, 20 laps 1. Baer 2. Hughes 3. Silva 4. Hagio 5. Ken Pelphrey, Los Gatos 6. Hamilton 7. Peter Petracca, Felton 8. Movrich 9. Araujo 10. Malone 11. LaChance 12. Louis Stojanovich, San Jose 13. R. Stefani 14. Manuel Sanchez, Las Lomas 15. Sanders 16. Joe Antonetti, Santa Cruz 17. A. Clark 18. Jim Gillespie, Santa Cruz LATE-MODEL STOCKS Fast Time -- 14.841 seconds (record); Steve Hendren, Santa Cruz Trophy Dash, 4 laps -- 1:02.43 1. Ed Sans Jr., Santa Clara 2. Hendren 3. John Silva, Fremont 4. Bobby Hogge III, Salinas Heat Race 1, 6 laps -- 1:32.61 1. Silva 2. Shawn DeForest, Hayward 3. Jim Pettit II, Seaside 4. Kimberly Myers, Half Moon Bay Heat Race 2, 6 laps 1. Bobby Large, Watsonville 2. Joel Hannagan, Campbell 3. Sans 4. Dave Byrd, Los Gatos Main Event, 30 laps 1. Hendren 2. Pettit 3. Sans 4. Large 5. Silva 6. DeForest 7. Mike Collins, Porterville 8. Vance Beltran, Gilroy 9. Myers 10. Byrd 11. Hannagan 12. Derek Nance, Merced 13. Tom Johnson, San Jose 14. Dave Glass, San Juan Bautista Top finishers Saturday from Antioch Speedway:

GRAND-AMERICAN MODIFIEDS Main Event, 25 laps 1. Brad Coelho, Antioch 2. Bobby Hogge IV, Salinas 3. David Furia, Healdsburg 4. Ray Morgan, Watsonville 5. Keith Brown, Pittsburg

Top finishers Saturday from San Jose Speedway:

LATE-MODEL STOCK CARS Main Event, 20 laps 1. Ed Sans Jr., Santa Clara 2. John Silva, Fremont 3. Steve Hendren, Santa Cruz 4. Vance Beltran, Gilroy 5. Kimberly Myers, Half Moon Bay

410 SPRINTS 1. Tim Green, San Jose

360 SPRINTS 1. Mark Chaves, San Jose

-- Ron O'Dell `Keeper' keeper@cats.ucsc.edu keeper@armory.com keeper@ucscb.ucsc.edu