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SCRA BEGINS 2007 SEASON
By Dan Fleischer
SCRA’s 360 wingless Sprint cars are primed for their third season of action-packed racing on Saturday, March 10th when they invade their new “home” track, Hanford’s (CA) Kings Speedway. A band of cagey veterans and a host of promising rookies will be looking to dethrone defending series champion Jonathan Logan, who captured two main events and two dashes on his way to the 2006 title. Logan is chalk-full of confidence after last year’s successful campaign and is eager to show everyone that the championship was no fluke.
Challenging the Hanford resident will be Davey Pombo, winner of two SCRA main events, one Grand Slam and two Dirt Nationals last year. Pombo plans on campaigning the entire schedule this year in his newly acquired Cory Kruseman sprinter. Through the years, Pombo has garnered more main event victories at Kings than the entire competition combined and is the early-season favorite to capture the title.
Australian transplant Peter Murphy also plans on competing for the title driving for noted car owner Tom Tarlton. Murphy captured two mains last year in a limited number of appearances.
Veteran Richard Harvey Jr., who enters his 25th season behind the wheel, will tool Chad Boespflug’s 2005 championship-winning car for owner Bob Gatten. Harvey’s Stinger Chassis “house” car #59 was sold in the off-season to teenager Myles Bishop, one of several promising rookies stepping up in class to contend for Rookie-of-the-Year honors. Harvey will have recently retired driver Jason Yount as chief “wrench.”
Bishop, a Micro-Midget driver who never sat behind the wheel of a Sprint car prior to February 24th, surprised everyone with a hard-fought main event victory during open competition at Kings on that date, defeating Rusty Carlile (last season’s runner-up in points) and the balance of the field.
Jeff Gardner, a long-time Sprint car chauffer, including stints with USAC, looks forward to a banner year with his newly acquired Ricci Faria sprinter, a potent machine campaigned by Faria in the Golden State Challenge series the past few seasons.
Others participating include Steven Williams, Chris D'Arcy, Brian Schuler, Albert Pombo, 2006 Rookie Of the Year Kevin Barnes and new rookies Axel Walker and Tony Thomas, successful drivers from the state of Washington, Dean Alexander, Tom Neigley, brothers Richard and Jade Vanderwerd, and 16-year-old female Justyne Hamlin, another multi-time winner in Micro Midgets. Veteran observers praised Hamlin during her off-season test sessions.
SCRA will compete at the super-fast 3/8th-mile Kings 16 times from March 10th through September 28/29, with additional stops at Bakersfield Speedway on May 12 and August 4.
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