Dave Villwock and Jimmy Shane battle in Heat 1A. Photo by Craig Barney - Unlimiteds.net

Temperatures topping the century mark and cloudless blue skies brought big crowds to both sides of the Mission Bay race course  for the Saturday running of Heats 1A and 1B of the San Diego Bayfair .

Air National Guard Series point leaders Steve David in the 6 Oh Boy! Oberto and Dave Villwock in the 1 Spirit of Qatar were not drawn into the same heat.  Villwock went out in 1A, joined by Jimmy Shane in the 5 Graham Trucking – currently in third place in high points – along with Kip Brown in the 17 Miss Red Dot, Greg Hopp in the 100 Fox Plumbing and Mark Evans in the 57 Miss Di Julio.

Newly qualified driver Tom Thompson in the 11 Peters & May was placed in 1A with instructions to start on the outside and to the rear of the field.  Thompson is subbing for injured driver JW Myers.

But Heat 1A had to be stopped when Brown’s Miss Red Dot lost power in the racing lanes in turn 1 before the start.

On the restart –  Shane secured the inside in the 5 Graham Trucking and forced Villwock to run very hard to get around him.  Villwock took the lead at the end of the first lap and went on to the checkered flag with Shane finishing second.  Hopp placed third with Evans fourth and Thompson fifth.

In 1B, David and the Oberto were joined by Jon Zimmerman in the 9 Jones Racing, J Michael Kelly in 37 Miss Beacon Plumbing,  Scott Liddycoat in 88 Degree Men and Kelly Stocklin the 18 Bucket List Racing.  Stocklin, another rookie, was also sent to the outside.

David and the Oberto took the early lead from lane two.  Kelly had the inside and challenged for a lap before being assessed a one lap penalty for jumping the start and slowing.  Kelly returned to the pits before the finish with an overheating engine.

Liddycoat ran three strong laps to the right of David and finished a close second, less than a roostertail back.  Third went to Zimmerman and fourth to Stocklin.

Racing continues Sunday with Heat 2A scheduled for noon and the Final Heat at 5pm PDT.

Results for Heat 1A

Results for Heat 1B