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Standridge Wins West Coast
Title
Race Report:
For the last race of the West
Coast Challenge Series, five drivers made the trip to Buttonwillow:
Dave Standridge, Karen Salvaggio, Mike Beeler, T.C. McNett, and Rick
Anderson. Weather was forecast to be dry, so all were anxious to do
their best. It was a well known fact that the season was not locked up
by anyone and that any miscue could change the outcome for the four
drivers in contention for the top three spots.
Saturday Race
After qualifying, the grid was
set with Dave on pole followed by Rick, and T.C. Karen wasn’t able to
make the start because of a loose water line. Mike was late getting to
the track because he was still dropping his new motor!!
At the rolling green start, Dave
and Rick were surprised by being passed by Mike with his new motor (he
really hid the supercharger well!!) and T.C. As the front three settled
into the race, Rick got punted off track by a CMC driver. After a quick
inspection of the car, Rick took off in pursuit of Mike. Meanwhile,
Dave had taken over P-1 with TC following. With the race winding down,
a small puff of smoke became a large stream of smoke coming from Dave’s
car. Soon there were flames coming out the driver’s side caused by a
power steering line that had severed. With Dave’s race ended, T.C.
cruised to the win with Rick second and Mike with his first podium
taking third.
Sunday Race
After a 20 minute qualifying
race with T.C. taking the win, followed by Dave, Karen, Rick, and Mike
all were ready for the final race of the season. At the standing start,
T.C. got a great start with Karen right on his tail. Next in line, Rick
beat Dave to turn one with Mike sitting in the cat-bird seat in case
anyone goofed. The front four made several laps nose to tail before
Dave overtook Rick. Eventually, Dave took the lead with T.C. in second,
followed by Karen, Rick and Mike. At the checker, it was Dave for the
win and the West Coast Championship, followed by T.C., then Karen for
the second place in the West Coast Series. Next came Rick to cinch the
third spot in the series from Robert Walter (by 5 points!!), and
finishing next was a strong running Mike Beeler.
A hard fought race and an even
harder fought year!! Congratulations to all the drivers this year for
making this year very interesting and rewarding for all. I hope the car
count will be even better next year as there are several new
drivers/cars out there waiting for race licenses. See you next
season!!
Rick
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