HUDDLESTON AND HAMILTON PREVAIL DURING 51ST HARVEST CLASSIC AT MADERA SPEEDWAY

MADERA, CALIFORNIA (September 28, 2024) – Racing before the largest crowd of the season, Trevor Huddleston and Davey Hamilton shared victory lane at the 51st Harvest Classic at Madera Speedway on Saturday night. Huddleston won the West Coast Stock Car / Motorsports Hall of Fame 150 in a door-banging duel with 2023 ARCA Menards Series West champion Sean Hingorani. Hamilton’s win in the 40-lap Speed Tour Super Modifieds was a dominant one in his first motorsports start of the season. Photos by Jake Scarbrough

Huddleston proposed to his longtime girlfriend Nastasia Dodd in victory lane as well at the speedway where they first met.

“What a race! This car…absolutely epic! Race Car Factory, High Point Racing, everybody who made this possible – I can’t thank them enough. Getting these wins isn’t easy,” Huddleston said.

Jaron Giannini of Henderson, Nevada scored the General Tire Pole Award in just his third start in the series over 17 entries. Huddleston worked his way to the inside of Giannini to take the lead by lap eight. 2023 polesitter Eric Nascimento, Jr. slowed to a stop with mechanical woes to end his evening early on lap 25. 2006 NASCAR Southwest Tour champion Rip Michels spun on the restart for the next caution flag.

Fourth-starting Sean Hingorani worked his way up to second by lap 33 with a three quarter of a second gap behind Huddleston. Huddleston’s lead grew to over one full second while Giannini reeled Hingorani back in for second.

2022 51FIFTY Jr. Late Model Series champion Ethan Nascimento then challenged Giannini for third. Nascimento worked upstairs to the outside of Hingorani briefly by lap 69 for second in a dynamic race among the drivers in second, third, and fourth. The next caution flew on lap 82 when Japanese driver Takuma Koga tangled with Canadian David Smith in turn two. The incident erased a nearly three second lead for Huddleston over the fierce second place battle.

Nascimento slipped back to fourth on the restart and fell into an entertaining scrum with two-time Short Track Shootout winner Kyle Keller.

Loomis’ Jack Wood spun in turn three on lap 102 and was hit hard by Kyle Whisner, requiring a red flag for fluid cleanup. When the red flag was lifted, incoming points leader Tyler Reif of Las Vegas was unavle to re-fire the No. 13 Toyota, forcing him to retire from the race and costing him the points lead over Hingorani.

Ethan Nascimento battled back to third with a three-wide maneuver underneath Giannini with ten laps to go. Wood spun in the fourth turn with five to go, setting up a sprint to the finish. Huddleston and Hingorani went side-by-side over the final two circuits. They banged doors coming to the line and Huddleston grabbed the checkered flag by just half a car length, or a mere .084 seconds on the timing and scoring. Nascimento finished third, followed by 17th-starting Eric Johnson, Jr. in a career-high fourth. Keller earned his third consecutive top-five finish in fifth.

Davey Hamilton won the 40-lap Speed Tour Super Modified feature, racing in tribute to Bill Vukovich II while driving the famed pink No. 98 normally campaigned by his 83-year-old father Ken Hamilton.

Goodyear, Ariz.’s Nathan Byrd led the unlimited winged machines to green with Fresno’s Tim Skoglund, Bobby Dalton of Morgan Hill, Hamilton, and Fresno’s Jim Birges making up an incredibly close five-car pack.

The leaders went two-by-two down the backstretch on lap ten. Hamilton eventually won second place, then soared around the outside of Byrd to lead lap 15.

Birges followed suit a few laps later but the advantage for Hamilton was nearly a straightaway at that stage. Hamilton and Birges each clicked off multiple 12 second laps but the lead grew for Hamilton in lapped traffic to nearly half a lap. Hamilton eventually lapped all but the top-three finishers in the high-speed, non-stop affair.

Hamilton and Birges were followed by Dalton and Byrd. Skoglund was unable to finish with mechanical problems, thrusting ageless wonder Art McCarthy of San Jose into fifth. Tacoma, Wash.’s Randy Anderson locked up both the owner’s title and driver’s title for the 2024 Speed Tour series as well with a sixth-place run.

“First off I want to thank Warren Budell. He owns this car and my dad usually drives it but he has to have a hip replacement,” Hamilton said. “I was just rolling. The brakes were a little tender but the car was handling so good. Madera Speedway been a long time, thank you guys for coming out. Had a lot of wins here, didn’t know if I’d ever get one again. This one is for the Vukovich family.”

Shauna Hogg of Fair Oaks won her second consecutive NCMA Sprint Car feature during a thrilling 25-lap race. Hogg withstood numerous challenges from the “Racing Doctor” David Goodwill of Napa and 10-time USAC Sprint Car champion Tony Hunt for the triumph. Folsom’s Jerry Kobza and Justin Kawahata of Clovis rounded out the top-five.

Madera Speedway serves up another big stock car show on October 19 with the 12th annual Short Track Shootout presented by Mission Foods. The Madera Pro Late Model Series will duel in a 200-lap feature on the one-third mile speedway for $10,000 to win. The event carries over $30,000 in awards. 51FIFTY Jr. Late Models, INEX Legends, and INEX Bandoleros will also have championships on the line.

For more information about the Madera Speedway including how to advertise with a race team on MAVTV please visit www.racemadera.com or call the race office at 209-356-1968.

The 2024 season would not be possible without the support 51FIFTY LTM, Mission Foods, 805 Beer, Race 2B Drug Free, Competition Carburetion, Hoosier Tires, Franks Radio, Sunoco Race Fuel, and Sealmaster.

Madera Racing on MAVTV airs Monday nights at 6pm Pacific and 9pm Eastern. Check www.MAVTV.com for program listings.

About Steven Blakesley

Steven Blakesley is a motorsports announcer and public relations specialist with more than 15 years of experience. His biggest pet peeve is race fans who only enjoy one form of racing over all others.