KUHN DOMINATES MODIFIED MAIN EVENT AT ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY

SAN BERNARDINO -- Dean Kuhn spent the money necessary for 10 hours of testing at Orange Show Speedway. Saturday night (June 9) he made that testing pay off with a wire-to-wire win in the Lucas Oil ASA Modified Series.

The Oceanside driver qualified second and started on the pole alongside fast qualifier Jason Patison, then surged ahead when the green flag waved and stayed there through 75 laps of the ASA-sanctioned quarter-mile oval at the National Orange Show Events Center.

The race, the third of nine this season for the touring series, was slowed appreciably by two red flags and five yellow caution flags, and at the end only eight of the 22 starters were on the lead lap. One of those red flags, on lap 11, was waved after Colby McMillin of Los Alamitos caught a tire in a rut while trying to avoid another car and flipped several times on the back straightaway. Fortunately, McMillin escaped injury.

With a crowd of 3,648 looking on, Kuhn was able to avoid all the trouble and maintain his lead without a challenge. Mike Salm of Oceanside moved into second and Billy Johannex of Phoenix took third when Patison spun on lap two and remained in that order to the finish. Patison, who had won the season’s first two races, dropped to 21st after pitting for a tire change, but worked his way into fourth at the checkered flag.

BSR West Late Model points leader and defending champion Jim Conklin of Big Bear rolled to his third win in seven starts, and for the first time this season a class that had had more than its share of accidents completed 35 laps without a yellow caution flag.

Conklin, the fast qualifier, started on the pole and led every inch of the event, with Jimmy Rouse Jr. of San Bernardino second and Anthony Mainella of Palmdale third from start to finish.

Tom Smith of Lakewood continued his perfect season in the Lucas Oil Outlaw Figure 8 class by capturing his seventh straight main event. Smith started on the outside pole, took the lead from Rusty Stewart of Long Beach at the start, then held off Stewart for 30 laps.

Riverside Norte Vista High student Bree Brewer, 17, got her third win in the past four races and padded her lead in the Leno’s Rico Taco Legends Cars class. Brewer started on the pole in her scale-model, Yamaha-powered 1934 Ford sedan and led all 30 laps. Santee’s Darren Amidon started fifth and finished second to remain within 12 points of Brewer after seven of the 14 races. Brewer is the only driver in the class with a top five finish in every event.