Press Makes Himself at Home Again at Saugus

Dan Press of Frazier Park was back on track Saturday night at Saugus Speedway, speeding to victory in the 41.6-mile Miller 125 before an overflow season-high crowd of 5,806.

Press, a Saugus favorite who posted Modified division titles in 1978 and ‘82, entered the eighth race of the 20-race NASCAR All-American Challenge Series Southwest Tour as the points leader.

After qualifying second and winning the evening’s trophy dash Press, who has a track-record 61 main-event wins in his 16-year career, bolted into the lead on Lap 67 after starting seventh in the grid.

Four drivers--pole sitter Ken Pedersen of Sausalito, Roman Calczynski of Sepulveda, M. K. Kanke of Granada Hills and Mike Chase of Bakersfield--each held the lead before Press shot past Kanke in Turn 4. Press opened a huge lead over Kanke and later Troy Beebe of Modesto, surviving three yellow flags to win by a half-lap margin.

The win was Press’ fourth victory on the 12-track circuit, two more than Chase, the only other driver with more than one.

For much of the night, the track was littered with cars as the two most devastating crashes at Saugus this season dominated the evening’s early action.

A heat-race crash between Street Stock drivers William Hoose of Sepulveda and Steve Reynolds of Sylmar resulted in Reynolds being pried from his car by track workers and taken away in an ambulance. He reportedly was suffering from a whiplash injury.

But that crash paled in comparison to a flaming wreck during the 15-lap semi-main event of the Miller 125, Race No. 8 in the Southwest Tour.

Rich DeLong Sr. of Castaic, whose car flipped on its side and came to a rest atop the wall between Turns 3 and 4, also was taken away in an ambulance, with undisclosed injuries, after a fiery spin with Chuck Pittenger of Northridge. Pittenger escaped unhurt from his burning car while spectators in the Turn 4 grandstands fled from the fire.

The crash and ensuing cleanup forced the cancellation of the Street Stock semi-main event and delayed proceedings for more than 30 minutes.

Pittenger, who entered the evening second in the points standings, ran surprisingly slow in qualifying, forcing him to compete in the semi-main to gain entry to the 41.6-mile, $23,000-purse race.

After being passed by Pittenger in Turn 2 of Lap 10, DeLong appeared to have nudged the rear of Pittenger’s car at the end of the backstretch, causing both to spin out. DeLong’s car vaulted over Pittenger’s and into the wall.

Although DeLong was severely shaken up, he did not appear to be seriously injured, according to racing director Monte Monteleone.

Neither driver was penalized by track officials, but Pittenger claimed that DeLong, a part-time tour competitor who is not among the top 25 in the points standings, had caused the accident as a retaliatory move.

“In my opinion, he tried to kill me,” Pittenger said. “I wasn’t worried about (the crash), but he sure was in a precarious position.”

Glen Cummings of Highland, last season’s Modified division champion at Saugus, won the race and Bobby Campanella of Sepulveda finished second. Campanella, however, who also is not among the top 25 on the tour, yielded the final position in the main event to Pittenger, who raced in Campanella’s car.

In other races, Jim Marlewski of Simi Valley won the 25-lap oval main event ahead of Eric Foster of North Hollywood and Russ Beckers of Sepulveda.

Southwest Tour heat races were won by Cummings, Pittenger, Harry Brady of Canyon Country and Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale.

Eight-lap Street Stock oval heat race winners included Doug Renno of Canoga Park, Foster and Tom Eurton of Valencia. Rick Crow of Canyon Country won the eight-lap figure 8 trophy dash.

Claude Mereau of Van Nuys won the eight-lap Mini Stock heat race.

Trophy-dash winners included Press, Dale White Jr. of Simi Valley (Street Stock oval), Craig Rayburn of Simi Valley (Street Stock figure 8) and Pat Dennison of Van Nuys (Mini Stock).

Beebe posted the evening’s best time in the Southwest Tour division with a one-lap time of 15.75 seconds. It was Beebe’s second top-qualifying time of the year and second in as many weeks. He has posted a tour-high 10 career fast times.