BAKERSFIELD, California -- Bakersfield, California's Eric Richardson finished his 2005 season at Mesa Marin Raceway at the same place where he started: victory lane. The 2005 NASCAR Late Model champion won the, October 14th, last ever Late Model race at the famed half mile oval. The Green Frog Markets 125, presented by Racing West.Com, was filled with some of the best racing teams from the western states and their on track action did not disappoint the fans who came to see them.
But to make it into this race the teams had to deal with the pressure of double qualifying. First, there was the traditional two lap run under the time clock but all that got a driver was a starting berth in one of the twin, 40 lap, qualifying races held the night before. The top 14 finishers from these qualifiers were transferred to the 125 lap main event.
In the first 40 lap qualifier Mesa Marin regular, and series rookie, Ray Robinson won his first ever race at his home track and led it flag to flag. Robinson began the night by setting a new series two lap qualifying record of 19.420 seconds. This race was actually 43 laps long due to a late race caution that set up a green white checker finish. Eric Richardson finished second while Josh Horn, Tim Huddleston and Jeff Destefani completed the top five.
The first qualifier produced one of the worst accidents seen at Mesa Marin in quite some time. On lap 26 Doug Foos spun off of turn four and came to a rest facing on coming traffic on the front stretch. He was collected by Bryan Herzog who, in turn, was hit hard by Jeff Smith. The hard impact ruptured the fuel cell on Herzog's car. In a matter of seconds, the Herzog and Smith cars were completely engulfed in flames. Both driver activated their in car fire extinguisher systems and that was followed by the quick arrival, and quick work, of the Mesa Marin safety team. Herzog quickly climbed out of his car and rolled to the ground to make sure his firesuit was not burning.
Smith was assisted out of his car and declined medical attention at the track. However, the following evening it was announced that Smith had voluntarily checked himself into Bakersfield's Mercy Hospital due to breathing difficulty. The walls of his throat swelled and closed up according to a family spokesman who said "there placed a surgical balloon there to keep his throat open and then inserted a tube to help him breathe." He was placed in the hospital's intensive care unit so doctors could determine if his condition was caused by the fire itself or due to the smoke and chemicals from the halon based fire safety system in the car.
Herzog's calm demeanor and sense of humor amazed everyone. During an interview with the track announcer, Herzog said he was fine and added "my nose may be a little sunburned and I'm glad my wife stayed home and didn't see this. We were here last year and the same thing happened on the first lap. At least now they can't call me half lap Herzog anymore."
The first qualifying race was red flagged a second time on lap 36 when cars driven by George Ruark and Ray Marroquin crashed on the front stretch. Marroquin, a Mesa Marin series regular, was very slow to get out of his car and was assisted to the ambulance by medical officials. However, moments later, Marroquin declined medical attention and the ambulance released him at his pit area.
In the second 40 lap qualifier Mesa Marin regular, and series rookie, Cody Pruitt made a winning pass, on lap 22, on Brian Richardson to take the win. Richardson, with white smoke trailing from his engine, limped to second while Travis Thirkettle, Scott Youngren and Eddie Patterson completed the top five.
This race was also delayed by a red flag, on lap 22, when Jason Gilbert and Glen Burke crashed hard on turn two. Neither driver was injured, but the damage to their cars was massive.
All of this set the stage for the 125 lapper the following night when 48 entries were trimmed down to 29 starters led by Tim Huddleston and Travis Thirkettle. Huddleston clearly proved, from the initial green flag, that he was going to be the car to beat. His hard driving race rhythm was only disrupted by occasional caution flags due to minor incidents and on track debris that came from hard racing from the back of the pack.
All this while Huddleston and Thirkettle ran one-two and it appeared that the Irwindale Speedway regulars were going to run away with the race. But right behind them were a trio of Mesa Marin Raceway regulars who were biding their time for the right moment determined not to allow an out of towner a trip to victory lane on the final weekend at their home track.
The right moment came on lap 96 when Thirkettle slid high in turn four and nudged the wall Eric Richardson quickly moved into second and began the process of running down the race leader. Opportunity presented itself on lap 111 when Huddleston slid high in turn four. Richardson blew by him like he was parked and took the lead for good.
Huddleston's next racing situation was with Mesa Marin regular Cody Pruitt who put a great deal of pressure on him for second place. The pair were racing hard when they hit each other, on lap 118, coming off of turn four. Josh Horn made a quick thinking evasive move and went from fourth to second just as the caution flag waved for an unrelated incident. During the caution laps, Pruitt lost his demeanor and began ramming the back of the Huddleston car. Unfortunately for Pruitt, this activity was observed by raceway officials who black flagged him and brought him into the pits.
The race did not even get officially restarted before the last of the ten caution flags flew for a turn three spin out. That created the highly dramatic green white checker finish which meant the last ever NASCAR Late Model race at Mesa Marin was going to end in grand fashion.
It ever there was a time for a good restart it was now and Richardson pulled off a great one. He smashed the throttle of his Chevrolet coming off of turn four and had a three car length lead by the time he came across the start finish line. He was followed by Horn, Brian Richardson, Huddleston and Eddie Patterson who completed the top five.
A huge honorable mention goes out to veteran Roy W. Degeer for his seventh place finish in this race. Degeer had some problems in the qualifying race the night before and wound up starting shotgun on the field in 29th position. In methodic fashion, he passed 22 cars for a most impressive top ten finish.
In victory lane an emotionally charged Eric Robertson celebrated with Rich Pak Motorsports and yelled "this is awesome, the last Late Model win ever. The team and I planned on keeping ourselves in position so we could make our move around lap 75. We used good tire management in the early stages, but the tires are always going to be good when you've got a car that runs that good. I actually think I was more nervous about this race than I was before the, (September 17th), championship finale." Making the evening even sweeter was the fact that the race sponsor, Green Frog Markets, is also the primary sponsor for Richardson and Rich Pak Motorsports.
