RED BLUFF, Calif. -- Forced to turn his qualifying laps in the kart of friend Cody Braund after his own ignition failed, Steven Gannon was back in his own mount to score a wire to wire win from the pole Saturday night in the 30 lap Open Outlaw A Main as the Red Bluff Indoor Winter Outlaw Kart season continued after a two week break for Thanksgiving. The teams competed on the quickest track in the long history of the Arena and Matt Menne placed second ahead of new track record holder Brian McCain. Gannon began the night just 7 points behind point leader Robbie Whitchurch, but Whitchurch continued his consistent efforts with a fifth place run. Oregon’s Chadd Noland runs a 250 cc engine in his first season with the Open Intermediate division, but he defeated his 500 cc rivals in their 25 lap feature after earlier winning the dash. Braund faded from 2nd to 4th in the early laps when he jumped the huge cushion a couple times, but charged back to second on lap 10 and finished there ahead of point leader Justin Reinolds. Mike Larson and Mike Reinolds combined forces to put together an entry in the new F200 class and they have let a variety of people race it. This week, Garth Miller took his turn and he won the 20 lap feature race by fending off the challenges of point leader Clarence Marshall and track legend Tony Sousa. An outside commitment forced Jeremy Zirkle to miss the racing day, but he lined up Sousa as a substitute and Sousa raced to fast time honors, then won both the heat race and dash.

With the QRC All Star Tour finishing off their 2003 point season in the December 13th event, several visitors swelled the Open Outlaw kart count to 54. B McCain was the first to time in under the majic 8.5 second barrier with a 8.470 clocking in his first round. Chuck Herman then lowered the mark to 8.454 and Pete Johnston threatened that new mark with a 8.456 lap of his own. In the second round, B McCain pushed the standard all the way down to a 8.338 lap. Neither Herman or Johnston could improve on their times and Tyler McCain ranked fourth at 8.507. Having dominated the recent action in Chico, David Fowler returned to Red Bluff with fifth quick honors at 8.517. Gaining points for Jasen Webb, USAC Ford Focus midget star Ryan Kaplan won the dash ahead of Johnston and T McCain. This division runs five ten lap qualifying heats, transferring just the top two finishers from an invert 5 lineup. After Joe Weststeyn and Kaplan tangled while dueling for the lead, B McCain came from fifth to win heat 1 over Danny Tompkins and David Wilson. Beau Perkins won heat 2 and Zack Mason beat track legend Tom Hubert around a last turn accident to take the second transfer spot. Occasional Winston Cup racer T Hubert always returns to the Red Bluff action when he comes home for the December holidays. S Gannon won heat 3 ahead of M Menne as Johnston had to battle back through the field to third after stalling. T McCain was a flip victim in heat 4, but still battled back to place fourth as Whitchurch beat Sean Becker and Tyler Wolf. Oregon’s Richard Weststeyn won heat 5 ahead of Keith Hill and Fowler. The final four A Main starting slots were determined in the hotly contested 25 lap B Main. T McCain led wire to wire for the win. Johnston ran second until he spun sideways as he attempted to miss a lap 24 tangle. Amazingly, Johnston rebounded on that final lap to take the fourth transfer spot, but angered people with his aggressive effort as Daniel Becker ran second ahead of T Hubert, Johnston, Ryan Foster and Michael Tarter. Visitor Robbie Berge flipped for a lap 19 red flag. M Tarter had won the C Main ahead of Berge, Foster and Shelby Blaisdell. Kevin Juvenal escaped unhurt in a hard hit with the turn 3 barrier. Tyler Schohr and Redding TV cameraman Joe Courage both flipped in the D Main action where Kyle Cattanach won ahead of usual Chico racer John Bunch and David Lewallen. David Tarter was the E Main winner ahead of Cattanach, Eric Gannon and Courage. In that event, both Cycleland announcer Sally Long and Oregon’s Brandon Govenor flipped.

The A Main lineup inverts the five fastest karts to advance from the heat action and that put S Gannon and Perkins on the front row ahead of S Becker, M Menne and B McCain. The race had to be restarted after B McCain and S Becker tangled on the front stretch. S Becker kept going and got to retake his position while B McCain had to restart in the rear. Tompkins spun for a lap 1 yellow and S Becker fell out as S Gannon took a quick lead over Perkins and M Menne. Mason raced into third on lap 2 and Johnston spun for a lap 4 yellow. Some contact racing between M Menne and Perkins allowed Mason to take over second on lap 5 and B McCain moved quickly from the rear, taking fifth on lap 6 and passing Perkins for fourth on lap 8. The standings were shuffled on lap 11 when D Becker crashed and Mason spun out. M Menne emerged in second ahead of B McCain and Perkins. Fifth was traded between Whitchurch, Keith Hill and T McCain before Whitchurch regained the spot on lap 14. Mason got into the infield on lap 18 and the only caution of the final half of the race found T McCain and T Hubert tangled on lap 23. S Gannon ran fast on the high groove track for the win ahead of M Menne, B McCain, Perkins, Whitchurch, Mason, D Becker, K Hilla nd T McCain.

Adam Main surprised by pacing the 19 Open Intermediates in time trials with his 8.722 lap. That nipped the 8.738 that Reinolds had run and the 8.859 of returning Nevada racer Tom Purcell. Bradley Terrell made his first Red Bluff appearance of the winter and timed in 4th quick ahead of Noland. Noland beat Reinolds and Braund in the dash. Oregon’s T J Kress won the first heat race ahead of female ace Reyna Krueger and Noland. Brent Hamilton beat Reinolds and Micah Parmer in heat 2. The B Main saw Steven Rogers break while racing in 2nd and Brett Miller won ahead of Terrell, a returning Chris Weber and Rogers. Noland was a wire to wire winner in the 25 lap A Main. Again, an invert five lineup saw Braund run second for two laps before Reinolds got by. On lap 4, Purcell took third from Braund with Terrell stalling for the first yellow flag on lap 7. A pair of big tangles slowed the action on laps 9-10 and Braund leaped back to second on that lap 10 restart. The contact racing eliminated Weber, Alex Cartwright and Rogers for being involved in two cautions. Parmer took fifth from Krueger on that final green flag start. Reinolds made inside challenges to take second from Braund, but couldn’t pull off a pass. At the white flag, Reinolds drifted far into the infield, but managed to dart into turn 1 still in front of Purcell and Parmer. Noland collected the win ahead of Braund, Reinolds, Purcell, Parmer, Krueger, Terrell and Thomas Bruckenstein.

The new F200 class had a season high ten entries and Sousa posted quick time with his 10.883 lap. He grabbed the lead in the heat race by coming from the fifth row to the lead in just two laps. He beat Marshall and sprint car racer Gary Morgan in that race as Morgan was subbing for Gary Gabel. Sousa beat Marshall and Kenny Bellamy in the dash. The 20 lap feature was restarted after previous race winner Paul Baker and Karl Pavlik tangled. Kevin Seavey paced a couple rounds before Miller raced into the lead. Bellamy settled into second while Sousa quickly climbed to third. Morgan had scratched after the dash effort. Marshall gained fourth on lap 6 and Sousa used a high line to take second from Bellamy on lap 11. Marshall gained third on lap 13 when Bellamy got into the infield and he passed Sousa for second a lap later. Miller ran a flawless race for the win with Marshall second ahead of Sousa, Baker, Alyssa Hogan and Seavey.

RESULTS

F200
Fast Time-Tony Sousa 10.883
Dash-Sousa, Clarence Marshall, Kenny Bellamy.
Heat-Sousa, Marshall, Gary Morgan, Bellamy, Paul Baker.
Main-Garth Miller, Marshall, Sousa, Baker, Alyssa Hogan, Kevin Seavey, Bellamy, Jim Matson, Karl Pavlik.

OPEN INTERMEDIATE
Fast Time-Adam Main 8.722
Dash-Chadd Noland, Justin Reinolds, Cody Braund.
Heat 1-T J Kress, Reyna Krueger, Noland, Tom Purcell, Main.
Heat 2-Brent Hamilton, Reinolds, Micah Parmer, Braund, Garrett Mills.
B Main-Brett Miller, Bradley Terrell, Chris Weber, Steven Rogers, Thomas Bruckenstein, William Lyons.
A Main-Noland, Braund, Reinolds, Purcell, Parmer, Krueger, Terrell, Bruckenstein, Mills, Kress, Hamilton, Miller, Main, Weber, Alex Cartwright, Rogers.

OPEN OUTLAW
Fast Time-Brian McCain 8.338
NTR Dash-Ryan Kaplan, Pete Johnston, Tyler McCain.
Heat 1-B McCain, Danny Tompkins, David Wilson, Kaplan, Joe Weststeyn.
Heat 2-Beau Perkins, Zack Mason, Tom Hubert, Daniel Becker, Michael Tarter.
Heat 3-Steven Gannon, Matt Menne, Johnston, Mitch Mootz, Robbie Berge.
Heat 4-Robbie Whitchurch, Sean Becker, Tyler Wolf, T McCain, Shelby Blaisdell.
Heat 5-Richard Weststeyn, Keith Hill, David Fowler, Michael Hubert III, Josh Zander.
E Main-David Tarter, Kyle Cattanach, Eric Gannon, Joe Courage, Joe Shrock, Andy Cumpton, Brandon Govenor, Jeremy Bremerman, Brandon Mansfield, Sally Long.
D Main-Cattanach, John Bunch, David Lewallen, E Gannon, Todd Boyd, David Maples, Jason Schuppert, D Tarter, Kirk Simpson, Bryan Eady.
C Main-M Tarter, Berge, Ryan Foster, Blaisdell, Bunch, Brandon Farquhar, Lewallen, Chuck Herman, Bubba Hill, J Weststeyn.
B Main-T McCain, D Becker, T Hubert, Johnston, Foster, M Tarter, Fowler, Wolf, Blaisdell, Hubert III.
A Main-S Gannon, Menne, B McCain, Perkins, Whitchurch, Mason, D Becker, K Hill, T McCain, T Hubert, Johnston, Tompkins, R Weststeyn, S Becker.