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Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter Wednesday, June 22, 2011 1C
SPORTS
AND
RE CREATI 0 N
INSIDE SECTION C: FEATURING THE ACTION AROUND PLUMAS COUNTY
Jim Richardson, right, led the first several !aps of the second heat race Saturday, until a blown
back right tire allowed the No. 88 car to get by. Richardson is integral to the sprint car races at
American Valley Speedway.
With a colorful paint job that attests to how expensive racing is, Chase Nieman of Quincy is one
of several local Dwarf car drivers. Photos by Shannon Morrow
Ridiculously fast
Larry F. Douglas
Contributor
American Valley Speedway
The California Civil War
Sprint Car Series brought
more than cars producing in
excess of 700 horsepower mo-
tors in 1,500-pound winged
bodies to the American Val-
ley Speedway for the sixth
event of their series. It
brought the best of the West
in 360 Sprint Car racing. It at-
tracted not only the champi-
ons but also the future gener-
ation of drivers of their
sport. It brought pit crews
that could put a damaged car
back into competition within
minutes after an accident. It
brought an organization
proud of its unique history
in the development of speed
and safety in motor sports
racing. It brought 13-year-old
Bradley Kennedy announc-
ing with veteran Steve Ross.
The Friday night sprint
car race was planned as a
memorial for Jim Richard-
son's contributions to Amer-
ican Valley Speedway. His
service has led to the devel-
opment and attraction of
sprint car racing in Plumas
County.
The evening event began
with another memorial ser-
vice to Roy Moore and Her-
man Klein for their contribu-
tions to sprint car racing.
Roy's grandson Mark took a
warm-up lap then a hot lap
in the family sprint car as
the crowd stood in commem-
oration and listened to their
stories of service.
Friday night was filled
with excitement. It took
three starts to complete the
first lap of racing of the
sprint cars. Accidents put pit
crews to the test as they got
their teams back on the
track. Robby Witchurch,
from Chico, in car No. 82
took first with a total time of
56:34.744 from delays and the
fast lap time of 16.841 sec-
onds. Coby Weisz, from Col-
fax, in car No. 21 took second
with a difference of 1.24 sec-
onds. Brad Bumgarner, from
Chico, in car No. 88 took
third. The veteran Jim
Richardson, of Graeagle, in
car No. 8 was running in
fifth when, on the !5th lap of
20, a five-car accident took
him out of the race. Only 13
of the 22 cars finished.
Seven IMCA cars raced on
Friday. Chris Neiman in car
No. 3 took the lead from start
to finish. Chris, in his rookie
year as an IMCA Modified
driver, lead Wade DeBurg in
car No. 17 by 6.309 seconds.
Bobby Higgins in car No.
13H took third.
AVS is proud of the devel-
opment of its young drivers
and for the leadership from
its veterans. The variety of
classes permits a diversity of
options for drivers and
teams.
The Saturday night races
attracted another rookie of
the year and a family with
four generations of sprint
car drivers. Chase Johnson
in the No. 24 Johnny
The Quincy volunteer fire department had its rescue truck and an
Franklin car is the great-
grandson of Frank Johnson,
who left NASCAR as a grand
champion to race sprint cars
in the early '50s. His son Bob-
by began racing midgets at
an indoor stadium with
wood floors at Sonoma Coun-
ty Fairgrounds and raced
sprint cars until he had a
near-fatal accident. Robbie
became the third generation
sprint car driver and was the
points leader in Petaluma
while his son was taking the
honors as "rookie of the
year."
The next generation of
Johnsons is competing in
Outlaw GoKarts. They raced
in Ukiah on Friday night.
The Johnson family came up
the Canyon on Saturday for
Chase to compete in Quincy.
Saturday night Jim Richard-
son set a new record by com-
peting with three generations
of the Johnson family.
The Civil War series
brought a female attraction
to Quincy. Alissa Geving,
from Penngrove, is giving
the men a run for the check-
ered flag. She is fifth in the
overall standings. She was
also a "rookie of the year."
Her qualifying time was
16.477 seconds. She was sec-
ond in her heat race and fin-
ished ninth in the "A" Main.
Women are taking the oppor-
tunity to become leaders in
motor sports racing.
The Saturday night sprint
car "A" Main was a 30-lap
race with 22 cars. The start
had one yellow flag and an-
other after 26 laps. The
restart with only four laps
was the climax of an exciting
and faster race. The overall
time of the fastest car was
25:24.158. Andy Forsberg,
from Auburn, in car No. Xl
,
engine crew on standby at the infield of the track.
took the checkered flag with
a fast lap time of 16725 sec-
onds. Andy is five-time Civil
War champion and now has
three wins in this series. Col-
by Weisz again took second,
with a difference of 1.487 sec-
onds. The top 10 finishers
were rounded out by 24-year-
old Brett Rollag, of Rohnert
Park, in car No. 27; Mason
Moore, of Quincy, in car No.
5H; Hermit Klein, from
Sacramento, tied for overall
points in car No: 91; Steven
Tinct, from Visalia, in car
No. 94; Mike Henry, from
Sacramento, eighth overall
in car No. 18; Jermery Butt,
of Grass Valley, in car No.
2B; Alissa Geving; and Kyle
Hirst, from Elk Grove, in car
No. 14.
Eight dwarf cars raced 15
laps in Saturday night's
"A" Main. Jason Crosby, of
Quincy, and Jesse Van Kol,
of Portola, had a cross-town
rivalry delivering one-two
punches throughout their
races. Jason got the win with
Jesse in second. Bobby Wil-
son in car No. 87 and Race
Wilson in car No. 65 took
third and fourth. Chase Nie-
man retired after nine laps
with a blown motor.
The California Civil War
Sprint Car Series is a high-
light which is over for this
season. There is much more
racing to come at American
Valley Speedway. One of the
newest attractions is the
GoKarts. The next race is Ju-
ly 9.
AVS wishes to thank Rich
Baucom, Jake, Fish, Bill, Jr.,
Dr. Dirt, Tom of the Flags,
and all the volunteers that
make these events possible.
For more information call
283-2175 or visit american
valleyspeedway.com.
Butt Lake has potential, and get ready for the Hex hatch
li iS'.'i:!,g :;ii *:::i*i°::: • , '
Michael Condon
Staff Writer
Internet@plumasnews.com
Butt Lake
I have been, and still am,
hopeful that Butt Lake will
turn out to be our local
sleeper fishery. In its hey-
day, before the lake was
drained for dam repairs sev-
eral years ago, Butt Lake
was well known for produc-
ing very large trout.
If my memory serves me
correctly (that is an increas-
ingly important qualifier
these days) the record rain-
bow from Butt Lake weighed
in at 25 pounds! Double-digit
weights were not uncom-
moil.
Butt Lake, or more cor-
rectly Butt Valley Reservoir,
is a very shallow lake. That
enables sunlight to pene-
trate much of the lake to the
bottom.
The sunlight penetration
allows a wide variety of
aquatic vegetation to grow
providing great habitat and
abundant food sources for
both trout and small-mouth
bass.
My concern is that the fish
that has rebounded the most
since the repairs just may be
the fish formally known as
squaw fish.
That name was recognized
as an ethnic slur so it was
recently changed to Sacra-
mento pike minnow. It is
neither a pike nor a min-
now, but somehow the name
seems to fit.
My wife and I visited Butt
Lake a couple days ago. It
was the middle of the day.
We were mainly there to
paddle around in our kayaks
and have a relaxing picnic.
I have always felt it is bad
karma to go anywhere near
water without fishing gear
so I had some with me.
When we arrived at the
cove where we were going to
launch the kayaks, there
were fish rising everywhere.
I tried my best to remain
calm while I unloaded the
kayaks and got my fishing
rod prepared. All I could
hear was splashing water as
the fish gorged themselves.
I was having some difficul-
ty keeping my adrenaline be-
low the boiling point.
I launched my kayak and
immediately noticed a mass
of flying ants. Hundreds of
them had inadvertently be-
come swimming ants, pro-
viding a ready meal for the
fish.
But they were very close
to shore and most of the
feeding was happening a bit
further from shore.
A little further out there
were many small green
midges hatching. The emerg-
ing and newly hatched in-
sects covered the water and
the fish were feeding active-
ly.
I was puzzled by what fly
fishers like to call the "rise
form." Midges are very
small insects and when they
hatch they do so in great
numbers. In this situation,
trout normally feed by cruis-
ing and sipping, expending
minimal energy for a small
meal. The rise is fairly sub-
tle.
That was not what was
happening here. These were
aggressive splashy rises; the
kind that are characteristic
of pike minnows. And they
were everywhere. The big
trout I had been anticipating
were nowhere to be found.
The pike minnows were
everywhere.
I know the big trout are
there and I will keep look-
ing.
The powerhouse is run-
ning and that section of the
lake opened to fishing
Memorial Day weekend. The
channel below the power-
house is where many of the
biggest fish have been
caught at Butt Lake.
Try fishing a pond smelt
imitation. Small silver spin-
ners and lures will also
work.
Fly anglers should keep
their eyes open for the Hex
hatch. It usually starts at
Butt Lake before Almanor
due to the warmer water in
Butt Lake.
If you don't know much
about the Hex hatch, read
on.
Lake Almanor
Spring and fall undoubted-
ly offer the best fishing at
Almanor.
By the looks of things this
year spring fishing should
extend into July.
Just when the spring fish-
ing is about to fade into the
dog days of summer, some-
thing wonderful happens at
Almanor: the Hex hatch.
"Hex" refers to Hexagenia
limbata, a mayfly. But the
Hex is not just any mayfly. It
is a very, very large mayfly.
To put it in trout terms, a
midge is like a half of a
peanut butter sandwich.
Most mayflies are equiva-
lent to hamburgers. The Hex
is more like a medium rare
prime rib with a glass of ex-
cellent cabernet. No self-re-
specting trout can resist the
Hex.
Hexagenia are fairly com-
mon in the Midwest, even to
the point of being a nui-
sance. (Imagine hundreds of
oversized bug splats on your
car's windshield.)
Here in California there
are only a handful of waters
where the Hexagenia are
found. Lake Almanor is one
of the best.
If you want to learn about
the Hexagenia, how to fish
for them and how to tie some
Hex flies, the Almanor Fly
Fishing Company annual
Hex-O-Rama is worth a visit.
Tom Maumoynier, owner
of Almanor Fly Fishing
Company, is a very experi-
enced fly fisher and ties
some beautiful Hex flies.
As if that weren't enough,
he is bringing in one of the
big guns in the Hex game,
Lincoln Gray. Lincoln is a
professional fly-fishing
guide who has been fishing
the Hex hatch for many
years. He offers an annual
school dedicated to every-
thing Hex. Lincoln will be
sharing his knowledge of the
Hexagenia as well as demon-
strating how to tie some
very effective Hex imita-
tions, some of his own de-
sign.
The Hex-O-Rama will be
held at the Lake Almanor
Fly Fishing Company, 181
Main St. in Chester. Snacks
and sodas will be offered.
There is no charge for the
event and advanced sign-up
is not needed.
The Hex-O-Rama will be-
gin at 9 a.m. and run until 2
p.m. (Not coincidentally, 2
p.m. happens to be the start
time for the annual Few
Brews & A Banjo celebration
being held down the street at
the Chester Park.)
If you have never fished or
seen the Hex hatch its worth
checking out. It is a late
evening affair, peaking just
before dark. This is a unique
opportunity to see many
large fish cruising the lake
surface sipping on mayflies
that look like small yellow
sailboats.
See Fishing, pag e 4C