S.C.F.T.A. Round #8

August 12th, 2012

Photos by Jamey Blunt

Tags and Article by Jamey Blunt



#54 Frank Flores is a regular at Perris. He knows the track and how to race it, and on this hot day he put it alltogether and wonthe 85cc 4stk Beginner main event. His fastest lap of the race was 18.07 seconds.



#7x Grant Holmes makes a long trip from northern Calif. to race at Perris. At round eight he put it all together and took the victory in the 85cc 2stk Beginner class with a best lap time of 17.93 seconds in his cool ROSSI helmet!!!!



#12 Paul Ott picked his pace up at round eight to capture the Open Amateur main victory. Ott always seems to be found near the front of whatever class he races...



#89 Danny Perkins perhaps was born at Perris. Or it seems that way. Perkins has been racing at Perris for as long as anyone can remember and we are better for it. At round eight Perkins won the Bomber Main and is also one of the cleanest racers on the track.....



#95 Tom "TOO FAST" Ferguson was the class of the field in the combined Classic Vintage 500cc-750cc-250cc main event. Ferguson had the fastest lap of the race at 16.54 seconds and was the overall winner.



#369 John Perez is knocking on expert statuses door as he won another Senior Vet +50 Amateur main event. His fastest lap was a 16.04 seconds.



#44s Robert Bush had a great day at Perris. His first victory came in the Vintage 750cc main aboard his Triumph; which he easily won.


Robert Bush switched bikes to his 450cc mount for the shortened fifteen lap pro main event and led every lap to the checkered flag, notching another pro victory in his resume belt.



#197 Michael Fritz quietly goes about his business at Perris, his business; racing. Fritz campaigns a beautiful Yamaha in the air cooled 2stk class. At round eight Fritz  won the 2stk 250cc novice final....



#33 Dr. Wes Powell has long been a supporter of Perris. He made a return to racing over the double header weekend and showed he still has what it takes to win. Powell topped the Senior Vet +50 Expert field with a best lap time of 16.04 seconds.



#07 Allison Stacey is fast and very talented! She not only won the 85cc 2stk Novice main with an impressive lap time of 16.62 seconds, she is competing in the Open Novice class as well honing her skills.


8-12-2012 S.C.F.T.A. Round #8

Perris Raceway ¼ Mile Oval

Article & Photos by Jamey Blunt

Is one hundred eight degrees with seventy nine percent humidity hot? Forget about the people who say "at least it's dry heat", it's still hot! This is what greeted the riders that filled the sixteen main events at round eight of the S.C.F.T.A. on Sunday, with the only breeze coming from hawks or perhaps vultures that circled overhead. None of this was a deterrent for true racers who love this sport we have chosen, called dirt track. Title sponsor Lucas Oil was as always on hand with a display set up in the pits showcasing the many fine products they offer and had an assortment of goodies prepared for each and every winner of each main event.

Twenty two entries made up the youth classes covering displacement sizes from 50cc to 85cc in both 2stk and 4stk configurations. Grant Holmes with his cool Rossi helmet led the 85cc 2stk beginner field off the line and through turns one and two. Travis Petton the 4th, Frank Flores, and Alyssa Flores gave chase. Out of turn four for the first time Holmes went real wide which allowed both Petton and Frank Flores to pull alongside as the crossed the stripe. Entering turn one for the start of lap two Petton lost the front end in some wet loose dirt and went down. He was up and alright, but for this race and his win streak, it was finished. From the accident Alyssa Flores advanced past Frank Flores as he avoided Petton on the ground which put her into second and Frank now in third with Noah Bush in fourth. Out front and getting away Holmes turned his fastest lap of the race at 17.93 seconds as the only battle left was the one for second between the Flores siblings. Exiting turn four to the white flag Frank moved up to second but Alyssa wasn't finished yet and made a final run at Frank on the drag race to the checkered flag which she won to take second back by inches. Of course Holmes had long since finished with a two second gap for his victory. Bush held on for fourth and Petton came home with a fifth place finish.

On a similar note Frank Flores pulling double duty came back in the 85cc 4stk beginner class to take the victory over Evan Harich, Noah Bush, and Reece Watowa.

The top contenders in the 85cc 2stk-4stk Novice field are Allison Stacey (2stk and Sean Heeney (4stk) although from over a years observation neither ride like a novice, expert is a more appropriate classification. Justin Hanson nailed the start and led the field of seven into turn one. Stacey settled in at second with Heeney making a run up the back straight on the first go round to slot in at third. On the first trip through turns three and four James Ott slid out, but only the bike hit the ground as his quick reflexes saw him jump like a cat to his feet letting the bike go once he realized he couldn't save it. "Nice Move!" With Ott of the track this moved Clayton Williams up to fourth, Monica Gil to fifth and Jayce Callison to sixth. Two laps in exiting turn two Stacey put a wheel under Hanson and took over the lead down the back straight. On the next exit from turn four Heeney had a drive on Hanson, who sensed it coming and took Heeney's line away making Heeney back off the throttle. On the fourth run down the back straight Heeney shot past Hanson into second and was going after Stacey at the front. Hanson in third now had Williams to contend with to try and salvage his podium spot. At the front Stacey had an eight bike length gap and turned a 16.62 second lap. Heeney now clear of traffic bettered her lap slightly at 16.42 seconds but time was short and the distance to Stacey was great. On the last lap Williams made his move past Hanson dropping him to fourth making the finishing order Stacey, Heeney, Williams, Hanson, with Gil and Callison making contact in turn four on the race to the checkers, but both saving it from going down.

The Senior +50 Novice class is fast becoming the Corey Bauman show. Bauman launched from the line into the lead and never looked back. Curtis Pimentel and Mike Wayne gave chase initially but soon it was clear that Bauman was in a class by himself as he took another victory. Fred Berger, Greg Powell, Paul Claybaugh, and Danny Manthis were well off of Bauman's pace, which makes one think perhaps it's time to bump Bauman up into the Amateur ranks.

Danny Perkins showed the Bomber class how it's done as he led from the start with the Vintage 750cc class on the track at the same time (but scored separately). Keith Bradford (Bomber) ran in second with Robert Bush (750cc) third and Jim Ottele (750cc) fourth. Out front Perkins opened up a fourteen bike length gap as he left the Perris zip code turning a 15.42 second lap on a hot dry track. Meanwhile Bush on the heavier Triumph was all over Bradford for second overall as the top three left Ottele behind and Jim Wood away from a poor start was closing, which gave Ottele new energy as his pace quickened. At the white flag Bradford, Bush, Ottele and Wood had all come together to fight over second as that's all that was left to fight over since Perkins was the clear winner. The rest of the field all being seasoned racers finished mistake free in the same order as stated.  

Michael Fritz is a fixture at Perris in the Vintage 250cc/360cc air cooled 2stk. Nov., Am., Exp., class. Will Ott may have won the Expert part of the race but Fritz is always in there fighting and came home with the 250cc novice top honor on his beautiful Yamaha.

Dr. Wes Powell returned to racing over this double header weekend at Perris and led the pack into turn one in the Senior Vet +50 expert main event. Jim Wood dropped in behind Powell in second with Paul Ott (Vet +35 class) third. Running in fourth was Jim Ottele (+50 Exp.) with Travis Petton the 4th (+50 Exp.) in fifth and Paul Herman (+35) sixth. Out front Powell turned his fastest lap at 16.04 seconds with Wood less that a bike length behind for the entire race waiting for a mistake from Powell, which never came. At the checkered flag Powell was on the top step of the podium with Wood second and Ott third overall but first in the Vet +35 class.

John Perez looks poised to move up to the expert ranks soon as he seems to find his way to the front no matter where he starts in the Senior Vet +50 Amateur class. Perez once again continued his win streak topping Jim Kesler (back from serious injury) Mike Cordero, Bill Wright, and Larkin Wight.

There were but six machines in the Classic Vintage 500cc-750cc-250cc main event. But when it was all said and done Tom "TOO FAST" Ferguson aboard the Jim McMurren 350cc H.D. sprint was the class of the field regardless of displacement size. Ferguson's fastest lap time of 16.54 seconds was the fastest of the race as he handed McMurren another victory over Johnny Apple's H.D. Sprint with Jim Ottele aboard and Lenny Rodriguez on a Triumph.

Entering turn one off the start of the Open Amateur main event Dylan Morin went down bringing out the red flag stopping the race. On the full re-start Austin Williams got the jump to lead into turn one in front of Paul Ott, Paul Herman, Morin, and Brad Rudy. Starting lap two David Reinhard went down between turns one and two but this only brought out the yellow caution flags. Reinhard was thankfully up and ok. Williams at the front was under pressure from Ott and on the next run out of turn four went wide leaving room for Ott to take over the lead. At this point Herman had Morin to contend with for his third place spot as Ott out front was checking out with a ten bike length gap. By the white flag Morin was past Herman for third and making a run at Williams for second which he took on this last go round. Herman stayed in fourth with Rich Hanson climbing past Rudy for fifth.

Due to the extreme heat the Pro main event was shortened to fifteen laps. Robert Bush on his Honda 450cc DTX machine read starter Rudy Gil and burst into the lead off the line with Nick Armstrong second, David Bush third, Jim Rosa fourth, Brandon Bates fifth, Aaron Colton sixth, A Jay Hateley seventh, Ian Foulds eighth, and Nick Gil ninth. Two laps complete saw Robert Bush still out front with a small gap as Bates in fourth was all over David Bush who in turn was all over Armstrong. Bates went up to a high line on the race track which was starting to work for him. At the front Robert Bush settled in at 15.74 second lap times riding mistake free knowing that the wind and heat were going to dry out the track making it harder to pass on as the race wound down. Four laps in had Rosa up to fourth and making a run at the leaders while Hateley had moved up to sixth dropping Colton to seventh. At the front on lap five Robert Bush couldn't shake Armstrong who gave him a love tap to his back side in turn three. Also in turn three Bates pushing just a little too hard lost the front end and went down. This moved Rosa up into fourth and Hateley up to fifth. Exiting turn two Armstrong once again tapped Robert Bush saying "I'm still here", with this fighting up front David Bush reeled in the leaders and it was now a three way battle for the win. As the laps wound down Armstrong found himself in a Bush sandwich while Gil had found his rhythm and moved past both Foulds and Colton up into sixth where he would finish. Then on lap eleven in turn four David Bush tapped Armstrong making him change his line and stand up the bike giving David Bush the second place position. With two laps remaining Foulds slid out in turn four unhurt. At the white flag Robert Bush had this in the bag with brother David second, Armstrong recovered from the more than slight tap in third, with Rosa a solid fourth, Hateley fifth and Gil sixth, which is how it would remain for the final lap. Next up for the S.C.F.T.A. is as they say "See you in Sept.". Oh, that's a song, but the next race is in Sept.   


Round 7 August 11th coverage