California Ford Focus Dirt Midgets Kick Off Saturday

Indianapolis
Mar 13, 2007

One week after the USAC California Ford Focus Pavement Midget Car Series kicked its season off, the Dirt Series will do the same.

The California Ford Focus Dirt Midget Car Series opens the 2007 season this Saturday at Ventura (Calif. ) Raceway for the first of nine races at the 1/5-mile track. Last season, Bobby Michnowicz of Torrance, Calif. won four races and the series championship by one point ahead of Chris Veach of Livermore, Calif.

Michnowicz said he plans to compete again in the series this season, adding he hasn’t done much to the car since competing in the National Ford Focus champion at Ventura last November.

“All I’ve had time to do really is take the car off the trailer and wash it, ” Michnowicz said. “That’s what we did a lot last season. We made the adjustments we needed to make at the track. We’re just going to basically do the same thing again this year. ”

With Veach’s family deciding to part with the Midgets, Michnowicz will be under pressure from a different group of drivers. Keith Janca is expected to drive a family-owned car as he looks to improve on his one victory and a third-place point finish in 2006, but other young drivers are expected to continue their careers in the Ford Focus machines with new competitors scheduled to debut. Nic Faas, who won the Ventura round of the National Ford Focus championship, is one of the veterans ready to tackle the 2007 season.

Tim Skoglund continued his momentum from his rookie season in California Pavement action Saturday at Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., winning the season opener after leading the final 13 laps in the No. 40 Western Speed entry. Trailing the teen were Nic Faas, Caitlin Shaw, Tom Dyer and Charles Maier. Shaw led the opening 17 laps, and Dyer was the fast qualifier at 14.853 seconds.

The Pavement Series’ next race is April 14 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada.

1. Tim Skoglund 71

2. Nic Faas 67

3. Tom Dyer 62

4. Caitlin Shaw 58

5. Charles Maier 55

6. Ian Miille 52

7. Beau DeBard 50

8. Daniel Adler 47

9. Mark Atkinson 43

10. Daniel Bedford 38