Roseville’s All American Speedway was the scene Saturday night of some of the best sprint car racing in California. The USAC Western Sprint Cars and the USAC Western Pavement Ford Focus Series including the Young Guns all competed. Here is a release from Blakesley Sports Media describing the action.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (May 15, 2011) – Alamo’s Scott Pierovich stormed to an impressive victory in Saturday night’s Larry Burton Classic at All American Speedway, leading the final 36 laps to win by 2.1 seconds over a field of 18 USAC Western Sprint Cars.
Pierovich’s win marked his third straight victory this season but his first in the USAC Sprint Cars in 2011. With the win, Pierovich extended his points lead in the overall USAC Western Classic Racing Series while he ranks second in the USAC Western Sprint Car Series on pavement.
Saturday’s action on the .333 mile asphalt oval opened up with Lincoln’s Tony Hunt taking the Echo Power Equipment fast-time with a 12.694 second lap. Hunt was awarded a gas powered leaf blower courtesy of Echo and Citrus Heights Saw & Mower. Pierovich, rookie Cody Gerhardt, Santa Rosa’s Brian McClish, and Audra Sasselli rounded out the top-five.
Luis Ramos III led the field to green while Pierovich began to move forward from fifth. By lap six, Pierovich had taken over second place from Sasselli.
The yellow came out on lap six when Shauna Hogg stalled in turn three after contact from San Francisco’s Tim Barber. Barber’s car suffered front end damage in the incident with his front bumper bar sticking straight out.
On the restart, officials attempted to black flag Barber while Pierovich went after Ramos. Pierovich made a diving pass inside Ramos in turn one to take the lead on lap 14.
The caution came out again on lap 17 when popular dirt sprint car driver Andy Forsberg tangled with the lapped car of Dave Dias. Forsberg was done for the night to the disappointment of his fans after driving from 18th to 12th in a dirt chassis that had been quickly adjusted for pavement earlier that day.
Sasselli back pedaled on the restart, eventually falling back to sixth place as she was freight trained by the leaders. That moved Ramos into second before Hunt passed him on lap 27.
Sasselli engaged in a thrilling back and forth duel with Sebastopol’s Geoff Ensign, as they did in Madera, finally taking fifth on lap 44.
Despite his large lead, Pierovich continued to run laps at pole speeds to stretch his lead to over two seconds. Pierovich ripped underneath the double-checkered flags with Hunt coming home a distant second.
Ramos fought off a challenge from Gerhardt to take third with Sasselli defending fifth over Ensign.
Heat race wins on the evening went to Hunt and Pierovich. Kaeding Performance awards for $50 were given to Gerhardt and Folsom’s Jerry Kobza.
More information on the USAC Western Classic Racing Series is available on Facebook at keywords “USAC Western Classic Racing Series”. The United States Auto Club is online at www.usacracing.com The USAC Western States is available at www.usacwesternstates.com with contact information and the latest news.
The USAC Western Classic Racing Series is brought to you by: Amsoil, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance.
USAC AMSOIL WESTERN/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT RACE RESULTS: May 14, 2011 – Roseville, California – All American Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tony Hunt, 56, Phulps-12.694; 2. Scott Pierovich, 14, Pierson-12.713; 3. Cody Gerhardt, 40, Western Speed-12.796; 4. Brian McClish, 69, Kaiser-12.805; 5. Audra Sasselli, 77, Sasselli-12.829; 6. Luis Ramos III, 21, Kaplan/Gennuso-12.851; 7. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-12.902; 8. Gordon Rodgers, 94, Dusin-12.934; 9. Tim Barber, 3T, Finkenbinder-12.945; 10. Tim Skoglund, 60, Western Speed-13.025; 11. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-13.092; 12. Jerry Kobza, 93, Kobza-13.117; 13. Justin Kawahata, 15, Harvest Supply-13.998; 14. Bill Logan, 98, Logan-14.394; 15. Bob Diaz, 24, Diaz-NT; 16. Don Emory, 50x, Emory-NT; 17. Marvin Mitchell, 68, Mitchell-NT; 18. Andy Forsberg, 92, Forsberg-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hunt, 2. Gerhardt, 3. Hogg, 4. Sasselli, 5. Diaz, 6. Ensign, 7. Emory, 8. Barber. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Pierovich, 2. Skoglund, 3. Ramos, 4. Forsberg, 5. Kobza, 6. Logan, 7. Rodgers, 8. Mitchell, 9. McClish. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Scott Pierovich, 2. Tony Hunt, 3. Luis Ramos III, 4. Cody Gerhardt, 5. Audra Sasselli, 6. Geoff Ensign, 7. Tim Skoglund, 8. Shauna Hogg, 9. Jerry Kobza, 10. Gordon Rodgers, 11. Bob Diaz, 12. Brian McClish, 13. Tim Barber, 14. Andy Forsberg, 15. Bill Logan, 16. Justin Kawahata, 17. Don Emory. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Ramos, Laps 14-50 Pierovich.
NEW AMSOIL WESTERN SPRINT POINTS: 1-Hunt-143; 2-Pierovich-119; 3-Sasselli-119; 4-Ramos-116; 5-Gerhardt-108; 6-Ensign-105; 7-McClish-97; 8-Kobza-87; 9-Rodgers-82; 10-Skoglund-80.
NEW WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT POINTS: 1-Pierovich-164; 2-Hunt-159; 3-Kobza-126; 4-Ensign-123; 5-Sasselli-119; 6-Ramos-116; 7-Hogg-113; 8-Gerhardt-108; 9-Barber-101; 10-McClish-97.
NEW WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT PAVEMENT POINTS: 1-Pierovich-164; 2-Hunt-159; 3-Kobza-126; 4-Ensign-123; 5-Sasselli-119; 6-Ramos-116; 7-Hogg-113; 8-Gerhardt-108; 9-Barber-101; 10-McClish-97.
NEXT WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT RACE: June 11 – Madera (CA) Speedway
– A Blakesley Sports Media Release