DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Call it a premonition. Call it luck. Or call it just plain domination, Auggie Vidovich ran rough shot over the field Saturday night at Mesa Marin (Calif.) Raceway to win round number two of the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series 14 race campaign. Vidovich started on the outside of the front row and took the lead from pole sitter Travis Bennett as the duo exited turn two and never looked back. Vidovich scored his seventh career win and third MMR triumph by .353 seconds over local favorite Burney Lamar. Vidovich knew he would win this race.
Lamar collected his 12th career Bud Pole Award earlier in the evening with a quick lap of 18.332 seconds/98.189 mph around the high-banked half-mile oval. Following Lamar in qualifying were multi-time Mesa Marin Late Model champion Dan Holtz, 2004 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series National champion Greg Pursley, former Northwest Series champion Gary Lewis, and 2004 Southwest Series Rookie-of-the-Year Rip Michaels. Lamar drew an eight-car invert for the 150-lap contest putting Northwest Series standout Travis Bennett on the pole for the HPS/Victory Circle sponsored event.
Though Vidovich got the jump on Bennett at the start, the 2004 Northwest Series runner-up dogged Vidovich relentlessly over the first 125 laps, but could not find a way around the 2003 Southwest Series champion.
While Vidovich seemed to toy with the rest of the field, Bennett held off charges from 2004 Southwest Series Jim Pettit II for most of the race. By lap 50 Vidovich led Bennett comfortably with Pettit, Lamar, and Pursley in tow. Holtz, MK. Kanke, Lewis, Rip Michels, and Jeff Jefferson rounded out the top ten.
2002 Southwest Series champion Eddy McKean saw his day go sour around the one-third mark when an oil leak under the #19 forced him to the garage. On lap 51 the first of six cautions waved when Thomas Martin got loose in turn four collecting Dustin Jones and Matt Hall. All three drivers were able to continue but Martin had to pit for repairs dropping him two laps down.
Dan Holtz’s day came to an early end on lap 68 when his car looped down the backstretch. A broken suspension caused Holtz to spin while he was running in the sixth position. By lap 75, Vidovich continued to lead comfortably followed by Bennett, Pettit, Lamar and Kanke.
Doug McCoun lost power on his CBA Motorsports ride and coasted to a stop in turn two bringing out the caution. After switching ignition boxes McCoun was able to re-fire, but the caution bunched up the field and evaporated Vidovich’s lead. Vidovich had his lead back and then some by lap 100 as he stretched his advantage on the field to ten car-lengths. By this time Pettit was applying pressure on Bennett and the pair raced side-by-side for several laps. With each advance by Pettit, Bennett slammed the door and asserted his claim to the number two spot. While Pettit was trying the wrestle the position from Bennett, Lamar began to make his move on Pettit.
Pettit finally moved by Bennett on lap 127 after the pair rubbed door handles in turn two. But as quickly as Pettit gained the position, Lamar passed both Pettit and Bennett and set his sights on leader Vidovich.
With ten laps to go Lamar closed the gap on Vidovich to two car lengths but ran out of laps as Vidovich took the checkered flag .353 seconds ahead of Lamar. Pettit finished third with Northwest Series stars Lewis and Bennett rounding out the top five. Kanke, Ryan Foster, David Mayhew, Pursley, and Greg Voigt rounded out the top ten finishers.
After the event Vidovich knew he would be standing in victory lane. “I knew we had the car to beat tonight,” Vidovich said. “I was disappointed in how we qualified, but it did not matter where we started, I knew I could win here tonight. Mike Harvick (crew chief) and the rest of the team gave me a great car to drive. This was a big win for our team.”
The win moved Vidovich into third in the point standings after two events. Finishing second was Lamar who was both thrilled and disappointed. “I really wanted to win this race for Les (Denherder, car owner) as his company sponsored this event,” Lamar stated. “Auggie was tough tonight and he had us all covered. Finishing second puts us in the point lead and that is where we need to stay.”
After destroying his primary car in Friday’s practice, Jim Pettit was satisfied with a third place run. “My team worked real hard for this finish,” Pettit said. “After wrecking our primary car on Friday we had to spend all night getting our Phoenix car ready. The team did a great job. I was a fun race, I am sure the fans got their monies worth.”
Vidovich led all 150 laps the race which was slowed six times for 36 laps of caution. Local Mesa Marin standout was the top finishing Sunoco rookie with his eighth place performance. Ryan Foster collected the $750 PowerAde Award for improving the most positions in the event (16). Travis Bennett collected the Featherlite Award for improving the most positions from the previous event.
Southwest Series top ten after two races: 1. Lamar 350; 2. Pettit 320; 3. Vidovich 301; 4. Kanke 292; 5. Voigt 268; 6. Pursley 265; 7. Thomas Martin 256; 8. Joe Herold 251; 9. Eddy McKean 247; 10. Jeff Jefferson 247.
The next event for the Southwest Series is Saturday, April 30 at Stockton 99 (Calif.) Speedway for round three of the 14-race series.
