Antioch Speedway
May 3, 2014
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FOULGER THREE-PEATS IN STOCK CAR THRILLER AT ANTIOCH



Oval Motorsports
ANTIOCH, CA (May 3) - Troy Foulger of Martinez is the driver to beat at Antioch Speedway – and Aaron Crowell of Oakley almost did that in Saturday night’s thrilling modified stock car main event at the 3/8-mile clay oval.

Crowell, who built a large lead in the 20-lap International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) sanctioned feature, saw it disappear in seconds when he encountered traffic with three laps to go. In a daring second turn move, Foulger dove underneath Crowell and the driver he was about to lap, John MacDougall of Antioch.

“All of a sudden, there he was,” Crowell said of Foulger after the race. “ My car was awesome tonight. We made some changes that made the world of difference. I thought we had it won.”

Never count Foulger out.

“That is why we call him ‘Tricky’ Troy,” Crowell continued. “Sometimes, that is the way it goes in racing. It takes one move. I’m actually happy with second. If I’m going to be beaten by anyone, I’d rather it be Troy.”

Crowell didn’t let Foulger take the win easily. He got back along side him and passed him on the white-flag lap. Foulger came back to win by less than a car’s length at the finish line.

“I didn’t look back,” Foulger said. “I knew he was there. I just raced as fast as I could. It sure was fun.”

Carl Berendsen finished third, leading a trio of Antioch drivers across the finish line. MacDougall was fourth and Mike Salazar fifth.

Learn-ing To Win

Mike Learn of Petaluma first raced at Antioch Speedway in 1990, and has been looking for his first feature win since then.

That elusive win was captured Saturday in the Limited Late Model division. After avoiding crashes in the early laps, Learn was able to build an untouchable lead. He was speechless in victory lane.

“It’s about time, I can’t believe I actually changed my luck here,” Learn said. “I’ve won many times at other tracks, but not at Antioch.”

Mike Hynes Suisun raced to second, battling Mike Gustafson of Concord. Both drivers were able to continue after a turn one pileup on the first lap of the race. Top runner Larry Damitz was eliminated when Hynes made contact with the left front wheel of Damitz’s car.

“I just couldn’t get sideways fast enough to avoid hitting Larry (Damitz),” said Hynes, who was second two races in a row. “There was just no where to go.”

Gallaher’s First

Rob Gallaher of San Jose, who leads the nation in points for IMCA “Rookie of the Year”, won his first IMCA SportMod feature win Saturday night.

“It’s my first win anywhere in a SportMod,” proclaimed Gallaher in victory lane. “I’m going for the national title, and this sure will help.”
Gallaher will run 47 races this year. He decided to try for the Rookie of the Year title after moving up to SportMods from the four-cylinder “Four-Banger” division.

Scotty Hoff of Copperopolis, father of track champ Jeremy Hoff, finished second, challenging Gallaher in the final restart of the feature.
“This is only my second night in the car,” a happy Hoff said. “I wish I could share the podium with Jeremy. Maybe next race.”
Jeremy Hoff dropped out of the race with a cut tire.

Correia’s Back

He raced at former Bay Area racetracks since the 1960’s, and when Charlie Correia emerged from his Dwarf Car in victory lane, there was a line of drivers to welcome him back into the winner’s circle.

“It’s been a couple of years,” Correia proclaimed. “I can’t remember how many I times I’ve won in 50 years of racing. “

Correia, of Tracy, has a team of five cars racing in the division. Teammate Mike Corsaro of Tracy finished second. Travis Dutra of Pleasant Hill chased the teammates to the checkered flag in a close finish.

Oreta Wins With A Flat Tire

Even though he was racing with a flat left front tire, Kimo Oreta of Vacaville fought off all challengers in the Hobby Stock division – until the last lap, when Danny Jones of Castro Valley came back from an early wreck to overtake the leader.

“I really wanted to win. To lose it on the last lap after fighting with that flat tire for half the race is tough,” Oreta said after the race.
But, Oreta did win!

Jones lost a whole side of his car in the early crash. Though he won, the loss of the sheet metal made his car light. He failed the post-race weight check, and Oreta was declared the winner. Oakley’s Nick Baldwin moved up to second and Mitch LoCicero of Martinez took third.

Triple Header Saturday Night

IMCA modified stock cars return to Antioch Speedway Saturday night, May 10, with the “NORCAL Challenge”, a special event pitting the best drivers from Northern California’s other IMCA sanctioned tracks against the drivers of Antioch Speedway.

In addition, the Northern All Star Wingless 360 Sprint Cars will be racing for a big purse, as will the Northern All Star Late Model Stock Cars.

Antioch Speedway is located within the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, 1201 W. 10th St. in Antioch, Calif. Racing begins at 6 p.m.
Admission is $14 for adults, $10 for children 6-12, and $8 for senior citizens. Children under six years old are admitted free. A family four pack of tickets is $40. Secured parking is offered by the Fairgrounds for $5.

IMCA Modifieds
1 2 49 Troy Foulger
2 1 1C Aaron Crowell
3 3 88 Carl Berendsen
4 4 68M John Macdougall
5 5 29 Mike Salazar

Limited Late Models
1 4 11H Mike Learn
2 2 5 Mike Hynes
3 3 2 Mike Gustafson
4 7 48 John Evans
5 9 313 Peggy Sue Jarred
6 6 67 Cecil Henry
7 5 15 Larry Damitz
8 1 99 Jim Freethy
9 8 76A Mark Garner

Sport Mods
1 1 1 Rob Gallaher
2 2 5X Scotty Hoff
3 7 65 Al Sotomayor
4 4 96M Paul Mulder
5 6 11 Lloyd Cline
6 8 5 Jeremy Hoff
7 3 22 Megan Ponciano
8 5 43 Al Johnson
9 9 2 Chuck Golden
10 10 4 Paul Martell

Hobby Stocks
1 4 3 Kimo Oreta
2 10 17 Nick Baldwin
3 7 24 Mitchell Locicere
4 8 11 Christopher Brown
5 2 7 Patti Ryland
6 1 57 Michael Cooper
7 6 4 Dan Smith
8 3 24A Frank Furtado
9 9 69Z Robert Niven
10 11 2 Jason Coe
11 12 25X Calvin Louis
12 5 1 Dan Jones

Dwarf Cars
1 5 0 Charlie Correia
2 1 0 Mike Corsaro
3 9 22 Travis Dutra
4 10 11D Danny Wagner
5 3 55C Kurtis Craig
6 6 40 Kevin Miraglio
7 11 00X Nick Rogers
8 15 5N Tim Reeder
9 2 3 Duane Jordan
10 13 21 Tom Brown Jr.
11 7 10 Adam Teves
12 8 2 Randy Jahoda
13 4 4 Brian Tilseth
14 12 68 David Rosa
15 14 47 Mario Marques