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