Albright wins BCRA Midget Lite final at Merced

by, Mark Sublett
Merced, CA…11-21-20…Dakota Albright from Waterford won the final Bay Cities Racing Association Midget Lite main event of the season Saturday night at Merced Speedway. Albright took the lead from from David Bezio from San Diego on lap 13 and never looked back to score the $1,000 win. James Turnbull III from Indio finished an exciting second after using a last corner pass to take the runner up spot. Eric Greco from Palmdale finished third. The race was run without fans due to the covid-19 pandemic but was streamed live on Flo Racing.
David Bezio took the lead at the start of the 20 lap main event from his outside front row starting spot closely followed by pole sitter Hunter Kinney. The opening laps were fast and furious as Lakesides Dalton Sexton got a run on the outside to pass H. Kinney for second and made a run at the leader Bezio by lap two. H. Kinney took back the runner up spot on lap four and tracked down and passed the race long leader Bezio a handful of laps later coming off turn four. At the halfway point the yellow flag waved for Danika’Jo Parker who stopped in turn four and required the tow truck to get her back to the pits. On the ensuing restart H. Kinney raced his way out into the lead but his mount broke going down the backstretch ending his strong run. On the next restart Bezio lead until the yellow came out for Chase Gaal and Wyatt Boczanowski was late to see it and rode the left rear wheel of Brent Sexton going into turn one and took a wild ride bringing out the red flag. Boczanowski was uninjured but done for the night. On the restart Bezio led with D. Sexton second and Dakota Albright third. Albright got a run to the inside of D. Sexton to take second on lap 12 coming off turn two. Trying to get the spot back in turn three D. Sexton spun after clipping wheels with Albright bringing out the yellow. When the green flag came back out Albright raced his way into the lead with James Turnbull III making outside moves to second until D. Sexton flipped on the front stretch stopping the action. D. Sexton was uninjured in the accident. When racing got going again Albright stretched his lead the final four laps to take the checkers over Turnbull III who patiently worked his way to second from deep in the field. Eric Greco finished third with Bezio fourth and Jeff Dryer completing the top five.
Twenty two cars towed to the the Merced County Fairgrounds and were split into three heat races. D. Sexton won heat one in exciting fashion when he made his move coming off turn four on the final lap to score the win. Albright won heat two handily when leader Tyler Gerdes got sideways slowing his run. Bezio won the final heat from the pole position. It was good to see past BCRA Midget Lite Champion Greg Dennett make his return to racing after several years off. Great racing was seen and thanks go out to promoter Doug Lockwood and his staff for putting on the races despite challenging times. The Midget Lites were pleased to be a part of the night two undercard for the first USAC National Midget event won by former BCRA Midget Champion Thomas Meseraull on Friday and Tanner Thorson won on this night as did Nicholas Johnson winning the Hobby Stock feature coming off turn four of the last lap. This race concludes the BCRA Midget Lite season and due to limited races run because of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic the decision was made to not crown a champion in 2020. 11-21-20 – BCRA Midget Lite – Merced, Speedway
SUMMARY:
Main Event (20 laps) – 1. Dakota Albright 2. James Turnbull III 3. Eric Greco 4. David Bezio 5. Jeff Dyer 6. Scott Kinney 7. Terry Bergstrom 8. Harlee Agulera 9. Greg Dennett 10. Steve Roxa 11. Dalton Sexton 12. Brandon Leedy 13. Chase Gaal 14. Hunter Kinney 15. Brent Sexton 16. Wyatt Boczanowski 17. Danika’Jo Parker 18. Brody Fuson 19. Grant Sexton 20. Tyler Gerdes 21. Josef Ferolito 22. Sheldon Creed
HEAT 1 (8 laps): 1. D. Sexton 2. Gaal 3. B. Sexton 4. Turnbull III 5. S. Kinney 6. Dennett 7. Aguilera 8. Fuson
HEAT 2 (8 laps): 1. Albright 2. Gerdes 3. Parker 4. Leedy 5. Bergstrom 6. Dyer 7. Roza 8. Ferolito
HEAT 3 (8 laps): 1. Bezio 2. H. Kinney 3. G. Sexton 4