New Car Holds Together in Cran’s Win at Saugus

Ask John Cran of Reseda and he’ll tell you: Practice makes perfect.

Cran raced his new Pontiac Sportsman division car for just the sixth time Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. Three of the first five times the car broke down, so Cran had trouble qualifying for the 100-lap main event of Saturday’s 13th Fall Spectacular and was forced to run in a semi-main event.

In that race, everything came together for Cran, who led from start to finish and advanced to the main event, which had not started as of press time.

“We messed up qualifying but got lucky on the draw,” Cran said.

Cran was followed by Larry Woodside of Saugus, Larry Lyon of El Cajon and Danny Hornaday of Moorpark.

Rookie of the Year Larry Krieger of Reseda was unable to qualify for the main event after breaking his steering column in an accident.

Ken Mahler of Castaic led from start to finish to win the 50-lap Street Stock division main event and take home the $1,000 purse. Russ Beckers of Sepulveda finished second followed by Rick Crow of Canyon Country.

Scott Jacomb of Newhall won the Street Stock semi-main event to advance to the 50-lap main event. Ron Kitzmiller of Simi Valley won the 25-lap Street Stock semi-main event, taking the lead on Lap 2 and holding off a late charge by Joe Barreras Jr.

Jim Marlewski of Simi Valley and Doug Renno of Canoga Park also advanced to the main event. The top four finishers in the semi-mains advanced to the main event.

Harry Brady of Canyon Country (Sportsman) and Jerry Johnson of El Cajon (Street Stock) won C semi-main events to advance to B semi-main events.

Rick Crow of Canyon Country, the regular-season rookie of the year in the Street Stock Division, celebrated his birthday by winning a trophy dash, and Tom Eurton of Valencia won the Street Stock figure 8 heat race.