BAKERSFIELD, California -- "Shooter" Shane Thomas won the 30 lap Crystal Pools Street Stock main event and motorcycle ace Josh Chisum proved he could handle four wheel vehicles by winning the 25 lap Havoline Racing Revolution Sports Compacts feature. Both events were part of the September 1st Thursday Night Thunder at Bakersfield's Mesa Marin Raceway.
In Crystal Pools Street Stock action Jaron Parks and J R Garcia led the starters under the initial green flag. Parks led the first two circuits before a very fast Tim Conley moved from third to first. Conley appeared to be the class of the field, but Thomas moved to second and began the process of eliminating the paved real estate between him and the leader.
At the halfway point of the race, the two drivers staged a torrid side by side duel before Thomas made his winning move to take over the lead. The hard racing continued until lap 23 when the only yellow flag of the event appeared due to J R Garcia's spin in turn three. Moments later, Conley appeared on pit road with a smoking engine and was out of contention for the night.
Thomas now had a rear view mirror full of Howie Smith's car. Both men are hard chargers, both are previous race winners and both are in a battle for second in the series' points standings. The two drivers ran a torrid duel, in the final seven laps, before Thomas crossed under the checkers to take the win. Randy Tucker, Danny Pruitt and Jason Niederriter completed the top five.
In victory lane Thomas said "that 06 car, (Conley), was pretty tough. It didn't look like anybody was catching us and it was hard getting by him so I thought let's just stay together and pull away from the rest of the field and then I'll deal with him at the end of the race."
The race ending duel with Conley didn't pan out but the duel with Howie Smith's #99 did. Commenting on that, Thomas said "that 99 car was tough too and he was right on our bumper during the final laps. We may be battling him for second in the points right now but Howie's a good, clean, driver and I appreciate that."
The Havoline Racing Revolution Sport Compacts were introduced to Mesa Marin's regular line up last April and quickly became a fan favorite. Adding to the fun is the policy of painting the cars to resemble past and present NASCAR Nextel Cup teams.
23 cars started this 25 lap main event and it was evident from the start that motorcycle aces Josh Chisum and Steve Ayler were going to be the drivers to beat. Both men are race winners from Mesa Marin's Supermoto Series and both men clearly proved they can handle four wheels and fenders with the same expertise they use to race their motorcycles.
Chisum and Ayler made quick work of taking over the first and second spots right from the initial green flag and quickly ran away from the field. During the final moments of the race the two drivers staged a torrid duel, and swapped the race lead back and forth, before Chisum finally took the checkers. Lance Hildebrand, Bobby Aldridge and Matt Surber completed the top five.
In victory lane a smiling Chisum said "that was really fun. I'm really not into racing cars but I really learned a lot while I was out there."
