SANTA MARIA, Ca — Aug. 15 – Richard Ortega, Jr. won his third NMRA-TQ 25-lap feature this season Saturday at the third-mile clay Santa Maria Speedway in round 12 of the 17 race TQ season. It was his third feature victory in the last six races and all three triumphs came at the Santa Maria track. The event was the fourth of five 2009 TQ races scheduled for SMS. The Camarillo resident started sixth in the 11-car field and led all but the first two laps in his own No. 8 Stealth/Kawasaki.
It was Ortega's fourth career TQ-midget main event victory. His initial feature trophy came in August 2007 at the mid-week Ventura County Fair. Ortega, the second place driver in 2009 NMRA points, cut four points from Scott Dobson's point lead and now trails Dobson by nine points (673-664). Both drivers are seeking their first TQ championship. Ortega was the 2005 NMRA rookie of the year and Dobson was the NMRA 2006 rookie of the year. Dobson, from Newbury Park, started eighth in Guy Barber's Stewart/Honda and raced to second place in an effort to increase his point advantage.
Bruce Hiroshima, the third ranked driver (635 points), started fifth and finished third in his own Camarillo-based Stewart/836cc Honda. Kenny Wiley, a two-time winner and the August 6 Ventura Fair winner, came from seventh grid position to place fourth at SMS. West Evans, pole starter Scott Niven, Jimmy Dodson, newcomer Ron Wiley, Anthony Lopiccolo, Dave Lambert and rookie Amanda Thomas rounded out the field. All drivers completed 25 laps.
DoDson started second and led the first two laps before falling back in the field. DoBson started and finished first in the initial 8-lap heat race that started five cars. Hiroshima started fourth and won the second, six-car 8-lap heat race. The next NMRA event will be Saturday, August 29 at Bakersfield Speedway in the fifth of six scheduled TQ races at the Kern County third-mile clay oval.
Other main event winners Saturday at Santa Maria in the four series program were: Peter Murphy, of Clovis, in a 30-lap race with a field of 22 West Coast 360 cubic inch sprint cars; Nick Sylvester, of Bakersfield, in a 25-lap IMCA Modifieds feature with 22 starters, and Jeremy Heroux, of Nipomo, in a 20-car, 20-lap mini stock race.
| NMRA-TQ Midget Series |
|---|
| 1 Scott Dobson 673 1 No. 18 Guy Barber 709 2 Richard Ortega, Jr. 664 2 No. 8 Richard Ortega, Jr. 700 3 Bruce Hiroshima 635 3 No. 5 Bruce Hiroshima 668 4 West Evans 605 4 No. 36 West Evans 641 5 Kenny Wiley 602 5 No. 96 Kenny Wiley 635 6 Anthony Lopiccolo 507 6 No. 21 Paul Lopiccolo 537 7 Scott Niven 493 7 No. 66 Scott Niven 526 8 Jimmy Dodson 468 8 No. 6 Jimmy Dodson 498 9 Dave Lambert 425 9 No. 55 Dave Lambert 462 10 Amanda Thomas ® 381 10 No. 40 Ed Thomas 414 |
