In head-to-head battles throughout the points season Ryan Bernal finished right behind Terry Schank Jr. in Petaluma Speedway’s Wingless Sprint Car division. The 15-year-old from Hollister won two features and 43-year-old Schank won four, including the final two All-Pro Series races that clinched Schank’s first-ever track championship with Bernal finishing as points runner-up.

On Saturday night, competing for the largest purse of the season in California, and with both drivers starting in the front row of the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car Shootout, Bernal found a way to keep the veteran Schank behind him. He did it by roaring into the lead at the drop of the green flag and not allowing Schank’s constant presence, or years of racing experience, bother him.

“I knew he was there, I could hear him, but I didn’t worry about him,” said a confident Bernal, after holding off Schank for all 30 laps, capturing the biggest win of his emerging racing career, and pocketing the $2000 winner’s share of the purse.

Bernal, a second-year wingless sprint competitor, who qualified second-fastest among the 27 entries, combined a winning formula of flawless driving and a little luck by staying out of lapped traffic where the dangerous, and lurking, Schank could demonstrate his prowess. “We were waiting to get into lapped traffic but there were too many yellows,” noted Schank, of Santa Rosa, who received $1000 for his second place finish. “I think we were dead even. He was in the right spot and that’s what it takes to win.”

Third place finisher Jason McIntosh, the night’s fastest qualifier, who trailed only Bernal and Schank in the feature, took the long road to earning his $750 payday after being penalized in his heat race and forced to come back through the 12-lap B-main, which he led from start to finish and transferred to feature along with Cody Myers, David Press, Randy Lathrop, Zach Lynskey, and Lucas Nerlove, who brought out the race’s only red flag when he flipped his car on Lap 15.

Trophy dash winner, and ninth-starting, Billy Aton finished fourth after a long battle with Devon Ostheimer for the spot. Ostheimer finished fifth over Lathrop, Myers, Press, Scotty Dupont, and heat winner Matt Streeter. Sparky Howard, Brandon Davis, and Mason Myers also captured heat race wins. 

In a post-race interview Bernal was eager to thank his parents, grandparents, and sponsors S&S Automotive, Firestone Tile & Stone, Anderson Windows and Doors, DaMart Trenching, Van Lare Steering, and Naked Clothing for their support.

Petaluma Speedway’s All-Pro Series Super Stock division wrapped up its points season with an exciting 25-lap feature which served as a showcase for 2009 track champion Dean DeVolder, who climbed from eighth-starting into the lead after 14 laps and held off 2008 champion Danny Potts, and over the final four laps points runner-up Steve Studebaker, to notch his 18^th career win, and division-best fourth of the season, en route to winning his second track title in three years.

Ironman Shawn McCoy, making his 705th consecutive start on the Speedway’s 3/8-mile clay oval, led the initial 12 laps from the from the front row before Potts took the lead, but Potts led for just one circuit before DeVolder took charge on a Lap 13 restart. Potts, with sixth-starting Steve Studebaker riding his tail, closely pursued DeVolder until Lap 22 when Studebaker grabbed second place. At the finish it was DeVolder, Studebaker, heat and trophy dash winner Potts, and McCoy, whose fourth-place finish lifted him past

trouble-plagued Steve Dempsey, who encountered problems all night long, into an apparent, but unofficial, fourth-place finish in the final point standings.

“This was an exciting season, it was more fun winning this championship than the first one,” said DeVolder, before thanking his wife Barb, and sponsors S&S Automotive and John Silva Motorsports, for his successful season.

Rounding out the feature race finish was fifth place Michelle Byron, Anthony Matthias, Rich Levacque, Paul Hanley, Johnny Jensen, and Dempsey.

Mike Donaldson led for all but the first lap of the 15-lap, five-car Capitol City Midget feature. Cody Spencer finished second, followed by Rick Young, Lonnie Alton, and Dillon Silverman.

Two additional winners, 8-year-old Madison Conklin, and 9-year-old Ty Walling, both of Novato, were the recipients of brand new bicycles provided by race sponsor Hunt Magnetos and won in a special drawing.

Results for September 26

WINGLESS SPRINT CARS

Fast time—Jason McIntosh 14.307.

Heat 1—Sparky Howard; Taylor Simas; Scotty Dupont; Scott Hall; McIntosh; Cody Myers; Jason Woodruff.

Heat 2—Brandon Davis; Ryan Bernal; Al Ghiorso; Keith Shipherd; Zach Lyskey; David Press; Brandon Pollack.

Heat 3—Matt Streeter; Jeremy Hawes; Devon Ostheimer; Billy Aton; Lucas Nerlove; Billy Macedo; Arvo Backholm.

Heat 4—Mason Myers; Terry Schank Jr.; Tom Dupont; Rick Sharp; Randy Lathrop; Adam Christian.

Dash—Aton; Schank; Hall; S. Dupont.

B-Main—McIntosh; C. Myers; Press; Lathrop; Lynskey; Woodruff; Christian; Pollack; Macedo; Backholm.

A-Main—Bernal; Schank; McIntosh; Aton; Ostheimer; Lathrop; C. Myers; Press; S. Dupont; Streeter; T. Dupont; Hawes; Lynskey; Sharp; Simas; Howard; Nerlove; Shipherd; Davis; Hall; M. Myers; Ghiorso.

ALL-PRO

SUPER STOCK

Heat 1—Danny Potts; Paul Hanley; Michelle Byron; Anthony Matthias; Steve Dempsey; DW Drew.

Heat 2—Dean DeVolder; Steve Studebaker; Johnny Jensen; Shawn McCoy; Rich Levacque.

Dash—Potts; DeVolder; Studebaker; Hanley.

Main—DeVolder; Studebaker; Potts; McCoy; Byron; Matthias; Levacque; Hanley; Jensen; Dempsey.

CAPITOL CITY MIDGETS

Heat 1—Mike Donaldson; Dillon Silverman; Cody Spencer; Rick Young; Lonnie Alton.

Main—Donaldson; Spencer; Young; Alton; Silverman.

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