Locked in a tight duel with Dan Holtz for the NASCAR late model championship at Mesa Marin Raceway, Mike Duncan thought he was in for a tough night with a hot lap crash forced him to trailer his usual mount. Fellow competitor Kevin Small came to the rescue, offering the use of his backup car to Duncan. Duncan ended up driving the borrowed car to a win in the first of the twin 50 lap main events and he then ran second in the 50 lap finale to first time winner Rex Calderwood. Holtz was second in the first 50 lapper, but broke an engine in the second and now trails Duncan by 13 points in their track championship duel. In the street stock action, Mike Riale's recent roller-coaster continued. Two weeks ago, he was disqualified from a feature win, but re-instated in midweek. Last week, he and three other competitors were disqualified for too much camber and that cost him a main event win and the track point lead. This week, Riale again won the 20 lap main to give him a division leading six main event wins, but Mike White ran third behind Bill Tucker to protect his solid point lead.
There were 11 late models in action with Holtz the fast timer at 18.990. That just nipped the 18.996 of R Calderwood. Duncan had to time his borrowed car with no hot laps and he was fifth fast behind Shawn Calderwood and Brian Branson. R Calderwood won the trophy dash that saw Holtz, S Calderwood and Branson all crash. The Duncan team then had to fix an electrical fire after time trials in order to start the first 50 lapper. Kevin Small took the early lead in the first 50 lapper over Duncan, Branson, Shawn Calderwood, R Calderwood and Holtz. Holtz had lined up last for the first 50 due to a rough driving incident in the dash. While Small couldn't hold the bottom groove, he was passed by both Duncan and Holtz. Holtz bid to catch Duncan went away when a leaky header gasket robbed him of horsepower. Holtz still finished second ahead of R Calderwood, S Calderwood, Small, Branson and Jeff Latimer. At the start of the second 50 lapper, a turn 2 incident sidelined S Calderwood and Small and damaged the mounts of Holtz, Branson and Jeremy Salamacha. This left just 8 cars to run the race as Michael Burrow had scratched. R Calderwood and Duncan found themselves running in the1-2 slots when laps starting counting and Holtz came from the rear to third in 17 laps. Holtz broke a motor to end his night. R Calderwood got out of shape in turn 2 on lap 40, but was able to gather it up without losing the lead to Duncan. The R Calderwood win broke the strangle hold that Duncan and Holtz had had on the winner's circle. Holtz had six wins and Duncan's win in the first race was his fifth. Rodney Peacher finished a distant third ahead of Branson and Latimer. Duncan and Holtz are still seperated by just 13 points, but third place Branson is 89 points out of the lead.
The street stocks had a 14 car field and Riale was the fastest with a 23.115 lap. White ran 23.360 with Tucker, Lloyd Wren Jr and John Balfanz also in the 23's. Tucker beat Riale in the dash. In the 20 lap main, it took Riale just 3 laps to take the lead. Tucker ran second and John Balfanz rode the high line to maintain third ahead of White until the final turn. Balfanz spun and White finished third ahead of Wren, J Garcia, Robert Faihtinger and Balfanz. With the Riale DQ of the previous week, White now holds a 49 point lead over Riale and Wren's DQ on July 14 dropped him back to 4th behind Mark Tenhet. In the Lady Stocks, Michelle Kelley won for the second time in three races and took over the point lead. Carol Jordan had won the dash, but Kelley took the 12 lap feature over Jordan, Dawn Sevenich and Jerry Ellis. Kelley is now 4 points ahead of both Sevenich and Jordan.
The Campus Motorsports action found Valley Christian High going for a fifth straight win, but driver Pat McIrvin's last lap bid to pass Chris Settlemire for the victory saw McIrvin in the turn 2 fence as Settlemire drove the South High car to victory. Zack Towes from Shafter had finished second, but the postrace tech disqualified four cars including Settlemire and Towes with Mike Springstead of North High emerging with the win ahead of Porterville High and Kern Valley High. In the 911 Race for Youth action, Matt Pontes of Kern County Rangers won and it was their fourth win. Mike Cottle of Bakersfield Police was second ahead of Jeff Fahsbender from Kern County Sheriffs and Dale Kamline of the School Superintendents. Bakersfield Fire's John Patterson was fifth.
Summary Lady Stock Dash-Carol Jordan, Dawn Sevenich, Michelle Kelley. Main-Kelley, Jordan, Sevenich, Jerry Ellis. Street Stock Fast Time-Mike Riale 23.115 Dash-Bill Tucker, Riale, Mike White. B Main-John Balfanz, J R Garcia, Josh Horn, Robert Faihtinger, John Avila, Dan Brandow, Mark Tenhet, Ron Rogers, Luke Dawson, Kevin Jordan. A Main-Riale, Tucker, White, Lloyd Wren Jr, Garcia, Faihtinger, Balfanz, Tenhet, Rogers, Jordan, Brandow, Dawson, Horn, Avila. Late Model Fast Time-Dan Holtz 18.990 1st Main-Mike Duncan, Holtz, Rex Calderwood, Shawn Calderwood, Kevin Small, Brian Branson, Jeff Latimer, Rodney Peacher, Michael Burrow, Jeremy Salamacha, Craig Trefz. 2nd Main-R Calderwood, Duncan, Peacher, Branson, Latimer, Trefz, Holtz, Salamacha, Small, S Calderwood.
