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California report, July 8-9

Antioch and San Jose results from Friday are at the tail of this. WATSONVILLE -- A controversial one-lap shootout bent a lot of cars in the Grand-American Modified Division competition Friday night at Watsonville Speedway. Ahead of the ...

Antioch and San Jose results from Friday are at the tail of this. WATSONVILLE -- A controversial one-lap shootout bent a lot of cars in the Grand-American Modified Division competition Friday night at Watsonville Speedway. Ahead of the melee was Los Gatos' Dave Byrd, who scored his fourth feature race win of the season. There seems to be a new rule in the Street Stock Division: only people who've never won before may win the main event. Ken Pelphrey, also from Los Gatos, was the fourth driver to score his first career feature victory in as many weeks, and the fifth driver to do so this year. Yet again, Santa Cruz's Jim Gillespie won in Figure 8 competition, ahead of Mike Finlen and John Keldsen. When the cars of Rick Fisher and David Furia did a dance on the 24th lap of the Grand-Am feature, the starter did not have the checkered flag in hand, so threw only the yellow. Normally an incident on the penultimate lap would result in the checkered flag coming out with the yellow, ending the race a lap early. The reason for that was demonstrated just two turns after the green and white flags came out simultaneously. Bobby Hogge IV went to the high side of Ken Nott Jr. as point leader Scott Busby made it three wide on the bottom. Hogge and Nott collided, sending Hogge spinning into Busby. Five cars behind them had no escape. ``All I saw was a crash,'' said Steve Hendren, who was immediately behind the trio. ``I didn't see who started it or why.'' He was lucky to get away with only a bent front bumper. ``And my neck,'' he was quick to point out. Who started it is a matter that is not likely to be agreed upon. Hogge was sure who started it. ``I saw (Nott) coming up the track,'' he said. ``I really didn't think this of Kenny, but he came into me, and I said, `OK, he's bumped me.' But he stayed into it. Pretty soon, I found myself going backwards coming out of Turn 2.'' Nott's belief was the diplomatic ``racing accident.'' However, he was upset that people were pinning blame on him, claiming bias toward the Hogge family among track officials. In his distraught state, Nott said he may take a few weeks off from Watsonville. If he does, he would give up second place in the championship standings to Byrd, and nearly seal up Busby's third straight track title. The Street Stock race came down not to a pair, not to a trio, but to a septet. It was close to being a one-man show, though. Dan Wagner had checked out, but his engine went up in smoke shortly after half distance, making what had been the exciting battle for second all the more exciting. Pelphrey held off last week's winner, Joe Antonetti, and Doug Hagio for his first career win. That's almost a surprise, considering he's second in points. ``A lot of luck played a factor,'' he said. ``I'd get up there, then something would happen. All I wanted to do was win one. I can relax a bit now.'' Pelphrey is second in points, but is well behind leader Don Silva. He hopes this turnaround in luck -- last week he finished dead last -- will allow him to close on the top spot. The combination of new clay and a dry surface made for the fastest qualifying fields ever. All four Grand-Am trophy dash competitors had a qualifying lap under 16 seconds, and the five fastest Street Stocks had laps under 18 seconds. However, although the fields overall were faster, no track records were broken. Results from Friday's NASCAR Winston Racing Series at Watsonville Speedway: GRAND-AMERICAN MODIFIEDS Fast Time -- 15.876 seconds; Bobby Hogge III, Salinas Trophy Dash, 4 laps -- 1:03.66 1. Hogge 2. Louis Davis, Mountain View 3. Scott Busby, Martinez 4. Steve Hendren, Santa Cruz Heat Race 1, 6 laps -- 1:40.63 1. Walt Carmichael, Placerville 2. Busby 3. Davis 4. Dennis Furia Sr., Healdsburg Heat Race 2, 6 laps -- 1:38.47 1. Hogge III 2. Tim Reynolds, Petaluma 3. Hendren 4. Bobby Hogge IV, Salinas Main Event, 25 laps 1. Dave Byrd, Los Gatos 2. Davis 3. Ron Parker, Soquel 4. Ken Nott Jr., Watsonville 5. Johnnie Baptista, Seaside 6. Carmichael 7. Busby 8. Hogge IV 9. Hendren 10. Bob Hansen, Danville 11. Reynolds 12. David Furia, Healdsburg 13. Rick Fisher, Cupertino 14. Lonnie Lacy Jr., Watsonville 15. Jim Beck, Salinas 16. Kevin Schroeder, Marina 17. Hogge III 18. Furia Sr. STREET STOCKS Fast Time -- 17.856 seconds; Don Silva, Salinas Trophy Dash, 4 laps -- 1:11.45 1. Jim Gillespie, Santa Cruz 2. Darrell Hughes, Salinas 3. Silva 4. Dennis Pelphrey, Los Gatos Heat Race 1, 6 laps -- 1:55.31 1. Tom Phipps Jr., Pescadero 2. George Penney, San Jose 3. Mike Malone, Marina 4. Steve Wallace, Carmel Heat Race 2, 6 laps -- 1:56.92 1. Chuck Harrell, Hollister 2. Ralph Sampson, Pescadero 3. Peter Reinero, Santa Cruz 4. Ron Stefani, Castroville Heat Race 3, 6 laps 1. Jerry Movrich, Gilroy 2. Doug Hagio, Prunedale 3. Bob Ford, Boulder Creek 4. Fred Dickey II, Ben Lomond Heat Race 4, 6 laps 1. Chris Araujo, Santa Clara 2. Peter Petracca, Felton 3. Andy Clark, Prunedale 4. Silva C-Main Event, 8 laps 1. Sampson 2. Michael Jimenez, San Jose 3. Vern Niewald, San Jose 4. John Ralston, San Martinez B-Main Event, 12 laps 1. Dan Maloney, Sunnyvale 2. Tim Hamilton, San Jose 3. Reinero 4. Wallace Main Event, 20 laps 1. Ken Pelphrey, Los Gatos 2. Hagio 3. Joe Antonetti, Santa Cruz 4. Jay Baer, San Jose 5. Hughes 6. A. Clark 7. Silva 8. Cindy Clark, Prunedale 9. D. Pelphrey 10. Hamilton 11. Maloney 12. Mike Finlen, Watsonville 13. Araujo 14. Petracca 15. Dickey 16. Gillespie 17. Fred Lind, Morgan Hill 18. Dan Wagner, Salinas 19. Movrich 20. Manuel Sanchez, Las Lomas FIGURE 8 Main Event, 15 laps 1. Jim Gillespie, Santa Cruz 2. Mike Finlen, Watsonville 3. John Keldsen, Castroville 4. Fred Lind, Morgan Hill 5. Steve Wallace, Carmel 6. Matt Medina, Santa Cruz 7. Fred Dickey II, Ben Lomond 8. John Ralston, San Martinez

Results from Antioch Speedway:

GRAND-AMERICAN MODIFIEDS Main Event, 25 laps 1. Brad Coelho, Hayward 2. Bart Reid, Knightsen 3. Dennis Furia Jr., Healdsburg 4. David Furia, Healdsburg 5. Scott Busby, Martinez

Results from San Jose Speedway (for Sunbelt Region points):

LATE-MODEL STOCKS Main Event, 20 laps 1. Steve Hendren, Santa Cruz 2. John Silva, Fremont 3. Vance Beltran, Gilroy

Tim Green won the 410 Sprints feature race.

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

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