For the second time this year, Watsonville Speedway had 50 qualified
Street Stocks.  Phew.

 
   WATSONVILLE -- Salinas' Bobby Hogge III almost won two main events 
Friday night at the Watsonville Speedway.
   He came a couple laps short in the open-competition Late-Model 
Stock Car race after taking the win in the Winston Racing Series feature
race in his Grand-American Modified car.
   He started losing handling with just five laps remaining in the 30-
lap late-model race, clearing the way for winner Steve Hendren of Santa 
Cruz. In NASCAR-sanctioned racing, Hendren leads the points at San Jose 
Speedway as well as the Sunbelt Region championship.
   Doug Hagio held off Larry Mickey -- a strong-running visitor from 
Santa Maria -- to take the Street Stock Division feature race. It was 
the third win of the year for the driver from Prunedale.
   Finally, the Figure 8 division has its third different winner this 
season. Santa Cruz's Matt Medina passed pointleader Jim Gillespie, who 
then got out of shape trying to catch back up, for the win. Fred Lind 
took second place.
 
   The two winningest drivers in the Grand-Am division this year never 
got to start the 25-lap main event. At the inital green flag, 
polesitter Lonnie Lacy Jr. spun, and three cars were collected, 
including five-time winner Dave Byrd and four-time winner Scott Busby.
   The third car, believe it or not, was Hogge -- the only of the trio 
to come out undamaged.
   A complete restart flag came out after the incident, but Byrd and 
Busby weren't around for the new start, so scored no points.
   That allowed Watsonville's Ken Nott Jr. to catch up considerably on 
Busby for the track championship. Nott finished third, putting him just 
28 points away from the top position.
   It also allowed Hogge to close on Byrd for third in the standings. 
Now Hogge sits only two points from the position.
   Finishing second in the race was Dennis Furia Sr. of Healdsburg.
 
   There was a misunderstanding among the fans concerning Hendren's 
victory. On lap 17, he slowed on the race track. A moment later, 1993 
Pacific Coast Region champion Robert Miller -- driving Joel Hannagan's 
car -- lost his hood in Turn 4.
   When the yellow flag came out, Hendren was passed by the leaders. 
However, the yellow flag was thrown for him being slow on course, not 
the debris, so he remained scored on the lead lap. After a pitstop for a
new tire, he was back up to speed.
   When Hogge got out of shape on lap 25, it was Jim Pettit II who took
over the lead, but he made a mistake under the pressure applied by 
Hendren, sliding too high in turns 3 and 4 with just two laps to go. He 
gathered it back, but had lost the lead to Hendren.
 
   Hagio was the fourth fastest qualifier of another extremely quick
street stock field.
   Dan Wagner set a new one-lap street stock record in qualifying, 
stealing the record from Santa Cruz's Joe Antonetti, who had it for only 
a few minutes. Hagio then set a new four-lap record while winning the 
trophy dash, and Eddy Juster set a new six-lap record in the fourth heat
race.
   The Grand-Ams weren't left out of the record breaking. Busby set a 
new four-lap mark for that division as he scored only his second trophy 
dash victory of the season at the speedway.
   Making it three new trophy dash records was Hendren in the late 
models.
   Next week, the street stocks run for 100 laps.
 
Results from Friday's NASCAR Winston Racing Series at Watsonville Speedway:
 
   GRAND-AMERICAN MODIFIEDS
   Fast Time -- 15.915 seconds; Bobby Hogge III, Salinas
 
   Trophy Dash, 4 laps -- 1:03.35 (record)
 1. Scott Busby, Martinez
 2. Hogge III
 3. Bobby Hogge IV, Salinas
 4. Louis Davis, Mountain View
 
   Heat Race 1, 6 laps -- 1:40.96
 1. Robert Brumit, Watsonville
 2. Dennis Furia Sr., Healdsburg
 3. Dave Robe, Watsonville
 4. Ron Parker, Soquel
 
   Heat Race 2, 6 laps -- 1:39.53
 1. Dave Byrd, Los Gatos
 2. Troy Speers, Fremont
 3. Ken Nott Jr., Watsonville
 4. Busby
 
   B-Main Event, 8 laps
 1. Kevin Schroeder, Marina
 2. Dan Barger, San Jose
 3. Brumit
 4. Speers
 
   Main Event, 25 laps
 1. Hogge III
 2. Furia Sr.
 3. Nott
 4. David Furia, Healdsburg
 5. Bob Hansen, Danville
 6. Mike Walko, Oakley
 7. Hogge IV
 8. Lonnie Lacy Jr., Watsonville
 9. Parker
10. Davis
11. Schroeder
12. Robe
13. Jim Beck, Salinas
14. Ken Pedersen, Kentfield
15. Dan Barger, San Jose
16. Ray Morgan, Watsonville
17. Busby
18. Byrd
 
   STREET STOCKS
   Fast Time -- 17.623 seconds (record); Dan Wagner, Salinas
 
   Trophy Dash, 4 laps -- 1:09.70 (record)
 1. Doug Hagio, Prunedale
 2. Larry Mickey, Santa Maria
 3. Joe Antonetti, Santa Cruz
 4. Wagner
 
   Heat Race 1, 6 laps
 1. Matt Darton, Aptos
 2. Ralph Sampson, Pescadero
 3. Steve Roberson, Scots Valley
 4. Fred Dickey II, Ben Lomond
 
   Heat Race 2, 6 laps
 1. Ed Jacobs, Salinas
 2. Chuck Harrell, Hollister
 3. Dan Maloney, Sunnyvale
 4. Dave Rosa, Antioch
 
   Heat Race 3, 6 laps
 1. Chuck Monasmith, Prunedale
 2. Manuel Sanchez, Las Lomas
 3. Tim Hamilton, San Jose
 4. Chris Walint, San Jose
 
   Heat Race 4, 6 laps -- 1:48.48 (record)
 1. Eddy Juster, Prunedale
 2. Ken Pelphrey, Los Gatos
 3. Antonetti
 4. Chris Araujo, Santa Clara
 
   Heat Race 5, 6 laps -- 1:50.71
 1. Jerry Movrich, Gilroy
 2. Jay Baer, San Jose
 3. Don Silva, Salinas
 4. Peter Petracca, Felton
 
   C-Main Event, 10 laps
 1. Roberson
 2. Peter Reinero, Santa Cruz
 3. Mel Matthews, Pittsburg
 4. Jacobs
 
   B-Main Event, 12 laps
 1. Movrich
 2. Jim DiGiovanni, Morgan Hill
 3. D. Rosa
 4. Ron Stefani, Castroville
 
   Main Event, 20 laps
 1. Hagio
 2. Mickey
 3. Darrell Hughes, Salinas
 4. K. Pelphrey
 5. Cindy Clark, Prunedale
 6. Jim Gillespie, Santa Cruz
 7. Araujo
 8. Antonetti
 9. DiGiovanni
10. Silva
11. David Soito Jr., Las Lomas
12. Fred Lind, Morgan Hill
13. Dennis Pelphrey, Los Gatos
14. Baer
15. Ron Souza, Pescadero
16. Petracca
17. Movrich
18. Matt Medina, Santa Cruz
19. Wagner
20. Rick Watterworth, Redwood City
 
   FIGURE 8
   Main Event, 15 laps
 1. Matt Medina, Santa Cruz
 2. Fred Lind, Morgan Hill
 3. Jim Gillespie, Santa Cruz
 4. Steve Wallace, Carmel
 5. Dave Rosa, Antioch
 6. John Keldsen, Castroville
 7. Frank Rosa, Antioch
 8. Mike Finlen, Watsonville
 9. Wayne Reeder, Watsonville
10. John Ralston, San Martin
11. Fred Dickey II, Ben Lomond
12. Ed Cain, Prunedale
 
   LATE MODEL STOCKS
   Fast Time -- 14.995 seconds; Steve Hendren, Santa Cruz
 
   Trophy Dash, 6 laps -- 1:00.34 (record)
 1. Hendren
 2. Dave Byrd, Los Gatos
 3. Bobby Hogge III, Salinas
 4. Kimberly Myers, Half Moon Bay
 
   Heat Race, 6 laps -- 1:34.84
 1. Hendren
 2. Hogge III
 3. Bobby Large, Watsonville
 4. Robert Miller, San Jose
 
   Main Event, 30 laps
 1. Hendren
 2. Jim Pettit II, Seaside
 3. Miller
 4. Hogge III
 5. Large
 6. Myers
 7. Byrd
 8. Vance Beltran, Morgan Hill
 9. Andy Clark, Prunedale
10. Barry Bradshaw, Bakersfield
 
Saturday's top finishers from Antioch Speedway:

   GRAND-AMERICAN MODIFIEDS
   Main Event, 25 laps
 1. Keith Brown, Pittsburgh
 2. Tim Stratmeyer, Martinez
 3. Scott Busby, Martinez
 4. Bobby Hogge III, Salinas
 5. Brad Coelho, Hayward

Saturday's top finishers from San Jose Speedway, Sunbelt Region:

   LATE-MODEL STOCK CARS
   Main Event, 20 laps
 1. Ed Sans Jr., Santa Clara
 2. Steve Hendren, Santa Cruz
 3. Vance Beltran, Morgan Hill
 4. Kimberly Myers, Half Moon Bay
 5. Rene LaChance, Prunedale

That was LaChance's first race in a late-model stock car.

Chuck Miller won the 410 sprint car feature.

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