BAKERSFIELD, California — Six years after winning his NASCAR Southwest Tour championship, Auggie Vidovich returned to Southwest Tour competition to win Saturday night’s “Performance Electrical 110” at Madera Speedway.
After qualifying third, Vidovich of Lakeside, CA started outside row two in his ActionSportsDrives.com/Performance Electrical Chevrolet. Fast qualifier Craig Raudman drew a six car invert, putting Josh Combs of Sacramento, CA on the pole for the third consecutive race of 2009. Troy Ermish led for the first seven laps before suddenly pulling to the pits with ignition troubles which ended his night and handed the lead over to Vidovich. Vidovich was followed closely by Raudman, Victory Circle Rookie-of-the-Year contender-Kevin Callahan, Madera’s own Justin Westmoreland and SRL point leader M.K. Kanke.
The top five remained unchanged until lap 23, when Kanke moved pass Westmoreland, followed by defending SRL Series champion Jim Pettit II. On lap 34, Kanke moved into third, behind Vidovich and Raudman. Fourth was Callahan, followed closely by Pettit, Westmoreland, Dave Byrd, Greg Voigt, Todd Bammer and Joe Farre’ rounding out the top 10.
After pressuring Vidovich for the lead for nearly 40 laps, Raudman’s night ended abruptly with engine trouble on lap 47. Now it was Kanke in the RPM-PSI Motorsports #33 who applied the pressure for the lead. Kanke dug deep into his bag of short track experience to try to get past the determined Vidovich, as the two leaders masterfully threaded their way through heavy traffic on the 1/3 mile oval.
Pettit continued to fill the mirrors of Callahan’s Guimarra Vineyards/Bedrosians Tile Ford for third until the 63rd lap, when Callahan got loose in the middle of turn 2 and spun, moving Pettit into third. On lap 100 of the 110 lap event, the top ten was Vidovich, Kanke, Pettit, Westmoreland, Voigt, Mike Mendenhall, Darrell LaMoure, Byrd, Combs and Bammer.
On the final lap, Byrd suffered brake trouble and spun in turn 1 in front of the leaders, as Kanke was looking to make a final move on Vidovich. Vidovich dove low to avoid Byrd’s #14 Greg Voigt Racing Chevrolet, Kanke also went low but made contact with Byrd. Kanke lost momentum and continued. At the line it was Vidovich winning the $4,000 prize, after leading 103 or 110 laps. 2.167 seconds later Kanke crossed the line in second, 2.75 seconds ahead of Pettit who was third. Westmoreland, a former Madera Speedway champion was fourth, Voigt was fifth, and Mendenhall who had to come from the rear of the field to finish sixth. Seventh was LaMoure, followed by Combs, Brennan Newberry, and Bammer in tenth.
"We had a big hill to climb to get here (victory lane). This is a technical track and we had a technical setup and it took a lot of patience on the throttle tonight," said Vidovich. "It’s exciting to win in the first time out for Bob Strandwold Racing and in my first race in this series since 2006." Commenting on the pressure from Kanke, “I hit my marks, turned up my mirrors and ran my own race.”
Kanke was disappointed after failing to make it to three wins in a row for 2009, but nevertheless he was pleased with his team’s performance.
"We had a great race car. It was really fast, but we just never found the room to pass," commented Kanke. "It’s been a great season so far, hats off to Auggie on the win.”
Prunedale’s Jim Pettit II, the 2008 defending SRL series champion and former Madera track champion had these comments. "We got a little to close to the back (straight-away) wall and I think I knocked the tow out. The two guys in front of us were definitely better than us today. We had a third place car and that is what we got," said Pettit. "It’s always an honor to be here…I have spent a lot of Saturday nights here…I want to say awesome job to Justin (Westmoreland) he drove a great race for fourth."
The SRL Southwest Tour Series next event will be back at Madera Speedway for the July 4th “Performance Electrical 120”, the second of three races that will make up the Madera Speedway 2009 Holiday Classic Series.
For more information go to www.SRLSouthwestTour.com or www.RaceMadera.com.
Race Stats: Performance Electrical 110 – May 23, 2009
Race Leaders: Troy Ermish 1-7, Auggie Vidovich 8-12, Craig Raudman 13, Vidovich 14-110
Lead Changes: 3
Winning Margin: 2.167 seconds
Fastest Lap of Race: Raudman 14.984 seconds on lap 20
Time of Race: 39 minutes 48 seconds
Fast Qualifier: Craig Raudman 14.694 seconds
Five Star Race Bodies Hard Charger Award: Brennan Newberry
Ron’s Rear Ends Hard Luck Award: Troy Ermish
Top Victory Circle Rookie-of-the-Year contender: Kevin Callahan
2009 Championship Standings: Kanke 158, Byrd 121, Voigt 116, Bammer 110, Pettit 109, Raudman 106, LaMoure 97, Farre’ 96, Callahan 92, Westmoreland 90, Ermish 88, Newberry 82, Combs 81, Mantooth 78, Spangler 62, Wood 56, Vidovich 53, Potts 52, Mayhew 48, Mendenhall 42, Sanchez 42, Gilbert 32, Allec 30, Thitchener 26, Lay 22, Siebert 16, Henry 12, Monroe 12.
Watch the “Performance Electrical 110” at www.GoLiveStream.TV
