S.C.F.T.A. Round #6
July 14th, 2012
Article and Photos by Jamey Blunt
Ninety seven degree heat greeted the riders as they came through the
gate at Perris for round six of the S.C.F.T.A. But as it has been said
sometimes it's dry heat; it wasn't, the humidity was at ninety eight
percent. Had it not been for a nice breeze it could have been
miserable. But given the time of year, it was really very comfortable
all things considered, besides any day at the races is a good day.
Perhaps Lucas oil (a title sponsor) could develop a product to ward off
personal heat. They seem to have a product for just about anything you
could imagine. For six rounds thus far in the 2012 season the rider
count has yet to drop below a hundred, with one hundred fifteen in
attendance on this date. This rider count made up twenty three heat
races and eighteen main events.
#12 James Ott finally got on a
bigger bike. Ott has always been FAST! But needed to step up in size.
At round six he did and what a difference it made. Ott Won the 85cc
2-stk Beg. main over Travis Petton the 4th, with a fastest lap time of
16.73 seconds.....
As has been mentioned on these pages in the past, the youth
classes continue to grow, which is a good thing for dirt track with the
85cc 2-stk beginner field being the largest of the classes on this
night. The question has been asked many times "what will it take to
stop Travis Petton the 4th?" It has also been noticed that James Ott
rides the wheels off his too small Honda and needed a bigger machine.
It just so happened that Ott came to Perris with a fresh stable of
Kawasaki's and clad in green from head to toe. The field of ten could
only watch as Ott shot from the line to lead into turn one over Petton
followed by Alyssa Flores, Jimmy Gillen, and Noah Bush. Three
laps complete had Ott into lappers with a twenty plus bike length gap
over Petton, who in turn had a full straight gap back to third. On a
charge through the pack from a less than stellar start was Jace Callison
Who would go on to displace Flores for third by the finish.
Ott would win and be the only rider to lap under seventeen seconds at
16.73 as he answered the question "who could stop Petton?"
#53 Allison Stacey was a
double winner at Perris taking the overall victoryin the 85cc
2-stk/4-stk Nov. final. She then took flight in the Open Novice "A"main
event where she topped a field of sixteen riders, her fastest lap was
10.04 seconds
Allison Stacey and Sean Heeney are the ones to watch in the
85cc 2-stk/4-stk novice class. Stacey led the pack through turns one
and two with Heeney in tow. These front runners immediately opened up a
gap over the rest of the field with Justin Hanson third, Monica Gil
fourth, and Frankie Flores fifth. Lap after lap Stacey would exit turns
two and four wide leaving an opportunity for Heeney to make a pass but
Heeney was never quite close enough to make it happen. When the
checkered flag came out it was Stacey by four bike lengths over Heeney
with Hanson holding on barely to third over Gil a full straight back
and Flores fifth over Noah Bush.
Former National #37 Jeff
Johnson showed he still has what it takes to win. Johnson always with a
smile on his face and having a blast on a motorcycle had the second
overall fastest lap time of the night at 15.22 seconds. He ran away
with the Senior Vet +50 Expert class victory in the process.
Jeff Johnson made an appearance at Perris and decided to race
the Senior +50 Expert/Amateur combined class. Johnson launched from
pole by virtue of his heat race victory to lead through one and two
however entering turn three back in mid pack Jim Ottele for whatever
reason failed to shut off or make the turn and slammed into John Perez,
knocking Perez hard into the crash wall damaging the wall itself.
Repairs had to be made to the wall which gave Perez time to check his
bike and body to see if all was good for the complete re-start. Perez
would start from the second row this time as Johnson once again led the
field into turn one flowed by Travis Petton the 2nd, Jim Wood, Jim
Ottele, Larkin Wight, and Perez. By lap two Johnson was getting away at
the front as he turned the second overall fastest lap time of the night
at 15.22 seconds and Perez had made a move that saw him up to fifth
dropping Wight to sixth. By lap four Johnson was eight bike lengths in
front of Petton who now had Wood just a couple bike lengths off his
back side pressuring. Perez had also caught Ottele who was still in
fourth. On a side note Perez didn't need to pass Ottele as the front
four were experts and Perez is an amateur and at this point was in
first for his class. But this didn't sway Perez as with two laps
remaining on the exit from turn two Perez put a wheel under Ottele, got
a drive and shot past down the back straight into fourth. At the finish
the order remained the same with Johnson winning in convincing style,
Petton second hounded by Wood, Perez fourth (1st Am.), Ottele fifth,
Wight sixth, Bill Wright seventh and Dan Kane eighth.
#71m Joh Nunes made his trip from
up north in King City a good one as he posted the ninth overall fastest
lap time of the evening at 15.53 seconds en-route to a convincing
victory in the Vet +35 main event..
A former Perris Pro main event winner opted to enter the Vet
+35 class which he was within his rights to do so having put in the
right amount of years on the third rock from the sun. Jon Nunes from
King City California has been there and done that so to speak, he's no
stranger to racing or oval dirt tracks. Nunes shot to the front from
the start, had a fastest lap time of 15.53 seconds and basically put on
a school for Paul Ott, Paul Herman, Joel Kath and Eric Cleveland. With
two laps complete Nunes had a fourteen bike length gap over the battle
waging for second between Ott and Herman (both fast in their own right)
who had in turn left Kath and Cleveland to fight over fourth. At the
finish Nunes took the victory with over a three second gap as Ott
picked up his pace to break free from Herman's attack to secure second
and Kath won the war with Cleveland for fourth.
#89 Danny Perkins with a new set
of Rosa number plates (rumored to not allow dirt to stick to them)
continues to impress. Perkins lowered his lap time to 15.39 seconds as
he won the Bomber Main event by over a full straightaway.
Of late Danny Perkins seems to own the Bomber class, the epic
battles between Perkins and Travis Petton the 2nd just haven't
materialized for the last few rounds as Petton seems to have a lot of
mechanical gremlins that hold him back. Perkins led off the start with
Paul Herman second and Tim McWhorter third while Keith Bradford was
left sitting on the starting line giving everyone at least a twenty
yard head start before he got going. With three laps complete Perking
was racing the track and no one else as he lowered his lap time to a
blistering 15.39 seconds on a thirty five year old motorcycle. By lap
five Bradford was in his rhythm and had worked his way up to third past
McWhorter but Herman was too far gone and time was short, this made the
final tally Perkins (by over three seconds out front) Herman, Bradford,
and McWhorter.
The Open Novice class was so big it had three heats and two main
events. In the faster of the two, the "A" main twelve riders staged two
rows deep with young Allison Stacey reading starter Rudy Gil perfectly
to nail the start and lead through turns one and two. Purl Pitzonlza
ran second with Corey Bauman third, Sean Heeney fourth, Jimmy Gillen
Fifth and John Garcia jr. sixth. Lap two saw Stacey put in a 16.04
second lap attempting to get away but the field was evenly matched and
though she did have the fastest lap of the race Garcia, Pitzonlza, and
Heeney also ran in the sixteen second bracket. Entering turn one for
the third time Bauman went past Pitzonlza for second with Garcia also
on a forward march from his sixth place start. With all this fighting
behind her Stacey smooth and mistake free stretched out an eight bike
length gap over Bauman in second by lap five. The biggest battle now
was for third between Pitzonlza, Garcia and Heeney as Curtis Pimentel
and Roy Stafford were working their way forward while Gillen was
slipping backward and would eventually finish in eighth. Coming to the
white flag first and second positions were pretty much set but Garcia
made a push past Pitzonlza for third dropping Pitzonlza to fourth with
Heeney settling for fifth. This gave Stacey a much earned and deserved
second victory for the night having already won an 85cc main event
earlier.
Rich Hanson led the Open Amateur class off the line flowed by Paul Ott,
Brad Rudy and Paul Herman. Ott showed Hanson a wheel entering turn one
the second time but couldn't make the attempt at the lead stick. On the
second trip through turn four Rudy made a mistake and went wide
allowing Herman past for third. Then exiting turn two for the third
time Ott got a drive and shot past Hanson to take over at the front.
Once up front Ott put his head down and turned the fastest lap of the
race at 15.80 seconds (the only rider to enter the fifteen second
bracket) all while Dave Reinhard was finding his rhythm and recovering
from a so, so start and was past Joel Kath up to fifth. Back up front
Ott was pulling away with an eight bike length gap over Hanson. By the
white flag the order was set as Reinhard had worked past Rudy for
fourth making the finishing order Ott, Hanson, Herman, Reinhard, Rudy,
Kath, and Dylan Morin.
#58 Brandon Bates and #43 A Jay Hateley
Round five's Pro Main event
winner #44s Robert Bush actually had a much more impressive ride at
round six. Bush was in sixth place entering turn one and had to fight
his way through the field to finish a strong third. His fastest lap was
15.36 seconds.
After the introductions (while all was quite) to the
spectators of the pro field they were staged for the final race of the
evening's program, the twenty lap pro main event. Two thousand eleven
pro champion David Bush showed the field how to get a great start as he
shot into the lead into turn one from the middle of the front row. Ajay
Hateley (a former pro main winner at Perris) quickly dropped in behind
David bush with Brandon Rothell left stunned, last to leave the
starting lines. With one lap complete and the field settling down
Brandon Bates, who has been mostly absent from the dirt track scene for
the past few years was running third and applying pressure to Hateley.
But on lap two Bates went wide allowing Jim Rosa to go past into third
and the question was had Bates lost his edge or at least was just rusty
from lack of seat time. Robert Bush (round #5 pro main winner) at this
point was up to fifth from a sixth place start with Nick Armstrong in
sixth and Brandon Rothell up to seventh. Back at the front Hateley who
had his father John (former national #98) doing the wrenching on his
bike this night was giving David Bush all he could handle in the fight
to take over the lead. Lap four had Bates go back past Rosa into third
while Hateley shot under David Bush exiting turn two to take the lead
away. On the next run through turn one Bates attacked David Bush as
well and moved into second position. Bates who by this point had found
his pace had locked his cross hairs on Hateley and wanted a victory on
his new Yamaha. On lap seven Robert Bush saw the two leaders getting
away and on the exit from turn two made a move on his brother David to
take over the third place spot while Rosa was looking tired and had
faded to sixth. On lap eight in turn two Bates pounced on Hateley and
took over up front, the question now was did Bates have the stamina to
hold the lead over a fit Hateley. By the half way point Armstrong had
dropped David Bush (whose bike just didn't seem to want to turn)
another rung on the ladder to fifth as Nick Gil had finally found his
pace and was attacking Rothell and Rosa. Bates at the front put in the
fastest lap of the night at 15.00 seconds but Hateley was all over him
showing him a wheel in every corner, this one would go all the way to
the finish and come down to who might make the slightest mistake. As
the laps wound down Bates must not have been able to believe he was in
the lead as he kept looking over his shoulder to check behind him,
every time he did Hateley was there. Bates made a few mistakes going a
little wide a couple of times which got a reaction from the crowd as
Hateley would pull alongside but was never able to make a move stick.
With five laps remaining Hateley (who has never stepped in gum) was so
close to Bates he could reach out and touch him, was trying everything
he could to make a pass. This was shaping up to be one of the closest
pro mains in Perris history. With three to go Hateley ran it in hard
and just tagged Bates rear wheel which cost Hateley a couple of bike
lengths. At the white flag the two leaders were separated by less than
a bike length and Gil had found his way around Rosa for sixth place.
Entering turn three for the final time Bates was smart and protected
the inside line which kept Hateley from having any chance at the
victory short of knocking Bates off the track (not an option for
Hateley as he's a very clean rider). As they came to the checkered flag
1/10th of a second separated first and second making this the closest
finish of a pro main event on the Perris oval. Robert Bush took a very
impressive third with Armstrong fourth, David Bush fighting to hold
onto fifth, Gil in sixth, and Rosa finishing in seventh.
This closed out round six of the S.C.F.T.A. with rounds seven
and eight being a double header on Aug. 11th & 12th mark your
calendars!
#95 Tom Ferguson seems to
be getting used to Jim McMurren's H.D. Sprint. At round six Ferguson
lowered his lap times out of the seventeen second brackett to 16.90
seconds in the Classic Vintage 750cc-500cc-250cc final..
Race Results July 14th 2012
50cc 4 stk Beginner
1. Aiden Walters
2. Ethan Walters
50cc 2 stk Beginner
1. Colin Petton
85cc 2 stk Beginner
1. James Ott
2. Travis Petton
3. Jace Callison
4. Alysa Flores
5. Jimmy Gillen
6. Frank Flores
7. Noah Bush
8. Grant Holmes
9. Reece Watowa
10. Aolani Francis
85cc 2 stk Novice
1. Allison Stacey
85cc 4 stk Novice
1. Sean Heeney
2. Justin Hanson
3. Moncia Gil
85cc 4 stk Beginner
1. Frank Flores
2. Noah Bush
3. Evan Harich
70cc 4stk Beginner
1. Ava Bush
0cc 4stk Novice
1. Evan Harich
2. James Ott
65cc 2 stk Novice
1. Travis Petton
2. Grant Holmes
3. Jace Callison
Premier Seniors 70yrs +
1. Gary Lane
2. Mel Stoner
3. Allan Girdler
Speciality Bikes
1. James Rust
2. Jake Bussey
Senior +50 Novice
1. Corey Bauman
2. Curtis Pimentel
3. Fred Berger
4. Greg Powell
5. Paul Claybaugh
6. Danny Manthis
Super Senior + 60
1. Vince Graves
2. DeWayne Jones
3. David Molitor
Senior +50 Experts
1. Jeff Johnson
2. Travis Petton
3. Jim Wood
4. Jim Ottele
5. Dan Kane
Senior + 50 Amateur
1. John Perez
2. Larkin Wight
3. Bill Wright
Vets + 35
1. Jon Nunes
2. Paul Ott
3. Paul Herman
4. Joel Kath
5. Eric Cleveland
Vintage 250-360 2stk Novice and Experts
250cc Novice
1. Michael Fritz
250 cc Expert
1. Will Ott
360cc Novice
1. Rick Logan
2. Gary Lane
Open Unclassified Non Paying.
1. Nick Armstrong
2. Branden Rothell
3. Dyan Morin
4. Sean Heeney
Vintage 750cc
1. James Ottele
2. Shannon Adams
3. Dylan Morin
Classic Vintage 500-750cc
1. Tom Ferguson
2. Lenny Rodriguez
3. Joe Pape
Classic Vintage 20cc
1. Fred Berger
Bomber
1. Danny Perkins
2. Paul Herman
3. Keith Bradford
4. Tim McWhorter
Open Novice A Main
1. Allison Stacey
2. Corey Bauman
3. John Garcia Jr
4. Purl Pitzonlza
5. Sean Heeney
6. Curits Pimentel
7. Roy Stafford
8. Jimmy Gillen
9. Tom Brown
10. Brian Bell
11. Moncia Gil
12. Paul Claybaugh
Open Novice B Main
1. Andrew Harding
2. Monty Watowa
3. Eric Cleveland
4. Jaycee Jones
Open Amatuer
1. Paul Ott
2. Rich Hanson
3. Paul Herman
4. Dave Reinhard
5. Brad Rudy
6. Joel Kath
7. Dylan Morin
8. Harly Legowski
Pro
1. Brandon Bates
2. Ajay Hateley
3. Robert Bush
4. Nick Armstrong
5. David Bush
6. Nick Gil
7. Jim Rosa
8. Brandon Rothell
9. Ian Folds
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