BAKERSFIELD, California -- Canyon Country, California's Rod Johnson took the lead for good, on lap 101, and won the Final 125 NASCAR Super Late Model race, October 13th, at Bakersfield's Mesa Marin Raceway. The event was part of the raceway's annual October Classic. It was the first NASCAR Late Model race at Mesa Marin in two years and also the final one before the famed track closed for good.
The car count for this event was extremely healthy when Kevin Thompson came off of the front row to lead the 29 starters under the initial green flag. Thompson, from the beginning, clearly proved to be formidable and made it clear that he was going to be the driver to win the last ever Super Late Model race at Mesa Marin. His steady race rhythm was only disrupted three times, for minor incidents that brought out yellow flags, before the competiton yellow came out on lap 75 for a ten minute break to allow for tires, fuel and adjustments.
On the restart, for the final 50 laps, Thompson again jumped away from the field to resume his dominant pace. Meanwhile Rod Johnson quickly and quietly began working his way through the top five. He took fourth on lap 76, third on lap 92, second by lap 97 and then made a hard charging outside pass to take the lead for good on lap 101.
A two car crash, on lap 106, brought out the final yellow flag of the race. During the course of running yellow flag laps for track clean up, NASCAR officials noticed fluids leaking from the rear of Thompson's car and called him into the pits. It turned out to be a very good call because the rear end of Thompson's car gave way and sprayed grease on pit road. Thompson's brilliant run in this race came to a heartbreaking end.
On the restart Johnson made quick work of winding down the final 13 laps to take his first ever October Classic win. Mark Perry, Kevin Vernon, Keith Spangler and Eric Richardson completed the top five.
In victory lane Johnson said "I wanted to win here because it's the last one. I've never won an October Classic race and this is like winning a championship. I've raced here for 12 years and considered it my home track. I want to thank, Mesa Marin owners, the Collins family. I've known them for years and I love their place like it was my own track."
