Sunday, August 22, 2004
Woodland's Yolo County Fair
results | news coverage | news - a team | news - mayor | more pictures
First Heat:
1st - #20 (Clayton Worl of Woodland)
2nd - #63 (Ralph Garcia of Dixon)
3rd - #1 (Dave Emery of Woodland)
The blue Colt 45, racing for Brother Nature, the yellow/red/blue car #34,
racing for The Diesel, and the green car #18 (Justin Weber), racing for Ahchie
were all out before the heat ended and all three had to be towed out of the
arena.
Second Heat:
1st - Jordan Quam of Woodland
2nd - #5 (Matt Bradley), racing for Ahchie
3rd - #17 (Kevin Elvert), racing for The Diesel
The red/black #57, racing for Brother Nature, and the #5 was still running
at the end of the heat.
The red #17 was not running and was towed out of the arena.
Third Heat:
1st - Jake Lamont of Dixon
2nd - #22 (Justin Quam), racing for The Diesel
3rd - Russell Hatanaka
The red car #8 (Steve Holland), racing for Brother Nature, spent most of the
heat trapped under car #64.
The black #007, racing for Ahchie, performed horribly, pushing the officials
to the brink and giving all 007's a bad name.
Mini-Stock Heat
1st - #777 (Willie Azevedo)
2nd - Heidi Spaeth
3rd - #44
The Starsky and Hutch #27, racing for Brother Nature, the white striped #12,
racing for Ahchie, and the red #76, racing for The Diesel, were all knocked
out.
Consolation Heat
Transfers to Main Event: #12, #58, #18 (racing for Ahchie), #17A,
and #57 (racing for Brother Nature)
The Scuba Steve #8 and #57, racing for Brother Nature, and the #18, racing
for Ahchie, were all running at the end of the heat.
The #911 (nine-eleven), racing for The Diesel, was knocked out.
Exhibition Heat
Winner was #66 (Neal Peart), the last car still running.
The mayor in #36, racing for The Diesel, the killer whale #2A1, racing for
Ahchie, and the police cheif #25 1/4, racing for Brother Nature, were all
knocked out.
The exhibition featured the mayor, the fire chief, the police chief, and various city council members, did not award drivers for hits and did not have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd finish. The car that won did so by avoiding contact, and his win was frowned upon by the BMTG and is not recognized as a victory. The BMTG gave the victory to councilman Jeff Monroe, who's car was eventually knocked out by a rather large fire under the engine.
Main Event
1st - #1 (Dave Emery of Woodland)
2nd - #12
3rd - #42
4th - #4
Most Aggressive Driver went to #63X.
The #5 (Matt Bradley) and #18 (Justin Weber), both racing for Ahchie, the
yellow #22, racing for The Diesel, and the Colt 45 and #57, both racing for
Brother Nature were all knocked out.
The #8 (Steve Holland), racing for Brother Nature, left the arena before the
start of the event and did not return.
Yolo derby finals: A smash hit
By MATT FIFE, Democrat Correspondent
Smoke,
roaring engines and the occasional fire marked the final night of competition
at the Yolo County Destruction Derby.
Many drivers were competing in their second night of the derby, while competitors from outside the local area were allowed to smash around for the first time.
Willie Azevedo, a first-time participant in the derby, came away with the mini division title in his No. 777 car. Azevedo almost didn't make it into this year's destruction derby.
"About two months ago I gave up on the car all together," Azevedo said. "I talked with my mom and she was the one that finally convinced me to enter in this year's derby. I had lots of fun this year. The sportsmanship among drivers is great in the Woodland derby."
Azevedo decided to compete in the mini division and save himself from the tougher contact of the full size cars.
"I decided to compete in the mini division because I talked to guys who competed in the regular division and they were having to take a couple of days off of work after the competition to heal. I had helped some of my friends on their derby cars before and had seen how they were made. When I finally decided to enter the competition, I pulled out the rule book and looked at all the things I could do to my car."
In the inaugural city officials competition, Neal Peart outlast the rest of the field and came away with the victory. Peart's car was deemed the only car running at the end of competition. The event was brought to a close when Councilman Jeff Monroe caught the underside of his car on fire and had to leave his vehicle.
In heat one of the open Demolition Derby, Clayton Worl of Woodland and his
No. 20 car finished first. Ralph Garcia of Dixon and Dave Emery of Woodland
finished second and third, respectively.
"I had some trouble with my car," said Emery cutting away metal
from his wheelwell in preparation for the main event. "There are always
good drivers in the Woodland derby. I really haven't run in this derby for
a few years."
In the second of three heats, Jordan Quam of Woodland finished first. Matt Bradley finished second and Kevin Elvert finished third.
"It was a lot better with more cars out there tonight," said Chase Covington of Woodland who ran his car in the second heat. "I think I did pretty well in heat two. I ran until the end."
Jake
Lamont of Dixon won the third heat while Justin Quam was second and Russell
Hatanaka was third.
"There really aren't any teams out there," said Russell Hatanaka as he inspected the damage taken by his car in the third heat. "I am always looking to hit the drivers from out-of-town first, but when it comes down to just my friends and, of course, I will go after them."
On Saturday, Robb Steinmetz of Woodland won the main event. Hatanaka was second, Jason Johnson of Esparto was third while Bradley was fourth. Bradley also took home the most aggressive driver award, while Frank Gonzales of Madison won for best appearing car.
In the mini division, Michael Ulricksen Jr. of Esparto finished first. Azevedo finished second, Bruce Eary of Esparto was third while Scott Martinez and Miranda Van Atta finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
from the Woodland Daily Democrat, Monday August 23, 2004
Usually,
they're hardly noticed during all the banging, steaming and smoking at the
Yolo County Fair Destruction Derby.
The orange-shirt volunteers have been the vital support group for one of Woodland's most successful events, and they jumped right into the middle of the arena this year.
Known as the A Team, the group took over operation of this year's derby, and Ron Berg is beaming over the results, having shaken the first-game jitters.
Their bold promotional move becomes a huge benefit to the fair, and Berg sees a whole new world of dents, smoking engines and banged up fenders looming.
Saturday night's fair derby has become the hottest ticket in town. More significantly, the proceeds are staying here instead of lining the pockets of out-of-town promoters.
With an assist from head official/inspector Tommy Thompson, the A Team is beaming over its first time at the derby controls. The transition worked fine, albeit lowed by a few speed bumps.
The big difference is more than 25 grand will be staying at the fairgrounds to help keep the fair admission free and to make necessary improvements.
T-shirt sales helped pay for a new speaker system, and Jim Hilliard coordinated State Farm Insurance agents to pay for trophies.
Berg is the first to understand adjustments had to be made after congestion in the pit area and coming up short on awards.
"Once we got the flow going, the system was great," said Berg, who ran in early derbies before stepping out from behind the wheel almost two decades ago. (His son-in-law Jason Lloyd recently won the fair derby in Tillamook, Ore.)
Berg is pumped after being back in the center of attention, looking at a lot of familiar names against whom he raced their fathers, like Shadinger, Fricke, Hatanaka, Schneider, etc.
He joked about asking ministock runner-up Heidi Spaeth, "Does your dad (Otto) know you're out here?"
Certainly, he was impressed with her competitiveness ("She was good.") and particularly the exhibition staged by the minis.
"They put on a great show," Berg noted. "They are popular. We are going to be bringing them back."
With that fine start, the A Team isn't about to stand on its laurels. They are cultivating new ideas.
While this year's derby had one night restricted to in-county competitors (Saturday) and one night of open competition, Berg wants a return to a completely open format.
He pointed to longtime derby champion Dave Emery of Dixon, whose son Davy won Sunday night, calling the Yolo derby the best because of the arena, organization and crowd enthusiasm.
"We want to beef up this mini-thing," Berg said. "It's hard to find these big, older cars. That's why minis are coming on real strong now.
"They turn on a dime and are funny. They had a blast."
The goal is to see the ministocks get equal treatment with the regular derby cars, if it can be squeezed into a three-hour program.
Already, Dwight Meddock of Metro Auto has offered plenty of donated cars.
"Some like 'em better than the big boys," Berg continued. "They really got a bang out of 'em. They get going faster than the big cars. They're the same bruises regardless. Any kid who goes through a whole heat is hurting today."
Berg wants to start a derby drivers association where the participants can set the rules.
"The Emery boys are working on cars today for next year's event. That's why they come out here and take the money. Those guys have rivalries. The first thing people do when they get beat is call somebody a cheater. It's about time we start an association and get everybody involved."
That's just a few of the ideas that will be forthcoming from the A Team, which has been doing the volunteer grunt work and expanding since being started over 30 years ago with lead roles by Wes, Alan and Mike Reiff.
"A big thing is the money stayed here," Berg concluded, "we're paying bills and everybody is happy."
Let's hear it for the A Team.
from the Woodland Daily Democrat, Wednesday August 25, 2004
Rexroad sets sights on Derby
By MATT FIFE, Democrat Correspondent
In
the smoky confines of the Yolo County Destruction Derby, city officials will
clash for the first time in an effort to raise funds to support Vincente Escobedo
and his family.
City mayor, Matt Rexroad, Councilmen Neal D. Peart, Art Pimentel, Jeff Monroe, City Manager Rick Kirkwood, Chief of Police Carey Sulivan and Fire Chief Karl Diekman will lock fenders August 22 in a special city officials bracket. Apart from Peart, none of the other city officials have ever taken part in a derby.
No trophies will be given, however city bragging rights will be up for grabs.
"It should be fun," said Rexroad, who will climb in behind the wheel of his modified Honda Civic which he hopes to paint Marine red and gold.
All seven cars entered are two-wheel drive compact cars.Techincally,the competition is classified as a mini division event. Most vehicles have already been outfitted with steal cages to protect the drivers and Rexroad hopes to have them all up and running soon. The task of converting the street vehicles into derby cars has taken about two weeks. Gas tanks have been repositioned and batteries relocated in an effort to conform to derby rules. According to Rexroad, judges will be present just like a regular derby competition.
"Most importantly we just want to make sure that everybody has a car that runs," Rexroad said. "I would work on a car that someone else is driving just as much as I would work on my own. The really critical thing is that we raise money for Escobedo. Hopefully we can raise over the 3,000 dollars that has already been given to his family to help them with their expenses in getting over to Athens to watch the games."
Sections of each car have been sold off as advertising space during the derby. In addition, the drivers are soliciting donations from community members. Doug Worl of Citizens Towing and Impound donated all the cars that will run in the event.
"Running in the derby is something I have always wanted to do," Rexroad said. "This year I was going to enter and Neal Pert came up with the idea that we should create this city officials division to raise some money. I thought it would be fun competition and a great community event. I am just proud to help support Escobedo. To be an Olympian is truly amazing and I think this city should be really proud of his accomplishments. Had Camarena made it, we would have given a portion of our donations to help her family get over there as well."
Rexroad, who admittedly has never undertaken such an automotive project, has always been a big fan of destruction derbies. While never competing himself, Rexroad has compiled a list of his favorite teams.
"I use to watch all the Yolo County derbies when I was a kid. I remember watching those car 54 guys from Dixon and rooting against them. It always seemed to me that when the finals rolled around it would always be a couple car 54 guys battling it out for the top spot. Those guys were good, they were pros," Rexroad said.
While he has not conformed to a definite strategy, his activity in the competition has already been decided.
"I'm going to go down swinging," Rexroad said. "I'm not the type of person that is going to sit in the corner and wait for things to happen. Once that bell sounds I am going to be thinking about where I can get my first hit."
from the Woodland Daily Democrat
