Schutte Bests BCRA at Placerville
Ben Kennedy, PLACERVILLE, Cal. (July 23, 2016) – 18 BCRA Midgets were on hand, as Michael Kofoid and Randi Pankratz paced the field to the green flag. However, before completion of the first lap, Kofoid got his midget on two wheels and flipped hard in turn three. Meanwhile, Brian Gard also turned over trying to avoid Kofoid’s flipping car. Kofoid was checked out by the speedway EMT and was released to start the 360 race later in the evening, while Gard restarted the race at the rear of the field.
When the race resumed, Pankrantz and Nick Foster led the charge, with Pankrantz taking the lead. Two laps in, the yellow lights flashed around the speedway for Dustin Golobic who came to a stop while running third.
On the restart, 7th place starter Alex Schutte took the lead, but Pankrantz fought back hard and the two jockeyed for position for many laps until the yellow lights came back on for Dustin Golobic who lost power again aboard his Doug Bock racing #25G.
When the field fired back off, Schutte checked out with a big lead, while Cory Elliott got by Pankrantz for second. Simultaneously, Brian Gard had battled his way back up to fourth after his opening lap crash, and race side by side with Pankrantz during a long green flag run in the middle portion of the event. The race was slowed on lap 24 for Maria Cofer as she spun off of turn two, collecting Floyd Alvis.
When green flag racing resumed, Brian Gard hit the tractor tire off of turn two, bringing out another yellow and ending his night. From there, Schutte led without challenge, while Pankratz repassed Elliott for the runner-up position. Taylor Simas and Sean Dodenhoff rounded out the top five when the checkered flag fell.
“Cory (Elliott) did a great job, and showed his nose on that restart”, Schutte admitted in a post-race interview. “Luckily for me the yellow came out, because I think he really had something for me. But, I guess he struggled on the restart and that helped us out, and we went on to win.”
Earlier in the evening, Dodenhoff, Schutte and Golobic won the three heat races.
(Photo courtesy of Devin Mayo)
“A” Feature Finish: 1. 28-Alex Schutte, 2. 8x-Randi Pankratz, 3. 11e-Cory Elliott, 4. 62-Taylor Simas, 5. 9d-Sean Dodenhoff, 6. 87-Bobby Wilson, 7. 35w-Nate Wait, 8. 8-Bill Lindsay, 9. 11f-Floyd Alvis, 10. 74-J.R. Williams, 11. 88-Brian Gard, 12. 57-Maria Cofer, 13. 24-Nick Foster, 14. 25g-Dustin Golobic, 15. 14jr-Matt Streeter, 16. 11-Greg Bragg, 17. 19s-Michael Kofoid.
