Kato & Torres Sr. Go The Distance @ Bakersfield

Photos and article by Bob Johnson  Auto Club Famoso Raceway Bakersfield, Calif.  June 9 & 10, 2007

Roger Kato won his second Southern California Pro Gas Association event of the season at Auto Club Famoso Raceway, while Val Torres Sr. won his second race in two weeks with his Chevy Corvette Roadster.  The weekend doubleheader at Bakersfield was sponsored by Chuck’s Automotive, Team Smooth, and Adopt-A-Church.

The 3rd Annual Chuck’s Automotive Pro Gas Round Up event drew 46 Super/Pro Gas entries, with Dave Zewe’s ’94 Lumina leading qualifying with a perfect 9.900 time slip.  Rick Gunther was also perfect with his Anaheim-based ’27 Ford Roadster, and Doug Sedmak was third with a 9.901.  Of the 46 qualified cars, eight of them ran on the 9.90 index.

Kato, who won the third event of the season staged at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, picked up his second series win of the year with his Las Vegas-based Chevy Cavalier, and has moved into second place in the point standings.  Kato went to the final by defeating Paul Chaffee, Vince Campa, Paul Giacalone, Rich Okerman and Val Torres Sr in the semifinal.

Matching up against Kato in the Saturday afternoon final was Ed DeStaute with his ’62 Chevy Corvette.  DeStaute got to the final with wins over points challenger Pete Bothe, Brad Pierce, Mike Bolden, and Randy Bowers before getting a bye into the final.

In the final round, Kato won the match as both drivers were distracted as DeStaute inadvertently blinked the stage bulb and  the ‘tree went green on both sides.  Kato left the line with a .143 winning reaction time to DeStaute’s second best of .185.  Kato’s winning time was 9.899 at 155.35 as DeStaute lost with an 8.890 at 143.44.

Val Torres Sr. won his first NHRA event the weekend before the Bakersfield Pro Gas race when he won the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event Super Gas title at Fallon, Nev., and except for a failed starter motor in that prevented him for competing in the semifinal of the Saturday event, Torres may have had a perfect weekend at Famoso.

Three drivers turned in perfect times in qualifying for the Team Smooth/Adopt-A-Church sixth race Pro Gas race of the season, with current points leader Wes Anderson running the 9.900 number first with the Ronnie Marcum-owned ’66 Chevy Nova, followed by Dave Zewe and Mike Blodgett Sr.  Nine of the 42 racers qualified with 9.90 times.

Fourth round racing began with Steve Parson’s cutting a .006 light to beat Clyde Treadway, Travis Balough used a .002 light and 9.899 to beat Wes Anderson, Gary Cooke ran a 9.905 to get around Rich Okerman who was too quick by .001, Torres Sr. defeated Pete Bothe, Mike Bolden defeated Johnny Matassa, and Anthony Matassa got a bye.

Parson’s defeated Balough to open the quarterfinals, Torres Sr. beat Cooke, and Bolden stopped Matassa in a double breakout race.  Bolden went to his first final of the year when Parson’s drew a .017 redlight, and Torres got a bye into the final.

In the final round, Torres Sr. got an easy win as Bolden, driving the Chip Rumis-owned ’92 Camaro, had a battery fail before the final.  Torres is sponsored by Val Torres Construction.

With six of the ten Pro Gas races completed, Wes Anderson has 3261 points and will hold the series lead going into the next doubleheader weekend, scheduled for July 14-15 at Auto Club Dragway at California Speedway.  Following Anderson is Roger Kato with 3137, Greg Ventura has 3124, Gary Cooke is next with 3006, and Rick Gunther is fifth with 2866.  Rounding off the top ten racers is:  Pete Bothe, (2726); Val Torres, (2619); Mike Boner, (2521); Travis Balough, (2437); and Brad Pierce, (2516).