BAKERSFIELD, California — Brian Baker was a 21-year old NMRA-TQ Midget Series rookie of the year last season after he won the season finale October 16 in Santa Maria. It took race three of 2011 at NMRA's home-track--the third-mile clay Bakersfield Speedway--to prove that victory was not a fluke. He started and finished first Saturday night and led all 25 laps in his own No. 6 Dennis Hart chassis with a 750cc Honda built by Ventura's Jerry Clerc The mini-sprint racer in Oklahoma returned to California and last year bought the No. 6 TQ from owner/driver Jimmy Dodson to go racing again. The winner, a backhoe operator and Taft resident, is the younger twin by two-minutes of 2011 NMRA rookie owner/driver Adam Baker, who works on oil pumps in Kern County. Both twins have daughters about two years old. Their father, also Brian, is a management consultant who might drive a TQ midget also to join his twin sons on the NMRA-TQ circuit.
Chuck West, the three-time NMRA driving champion (2002, 06 and 08) started seventh and finished second in one of two Evans Motorsports cars--a Stealth/Suzuki by Bob Wirth. Anthony Lopiccolo came from fifth to earn third in his father's Stewart/Honda. Scott Dobson started third and finished fourth in his own Stewart/Honda, with Ron Ahrendt fifth after starting fourth.in his Ellis/Honda. The top five finishers completed all 25 laps. Rookie Adam Baker, the older twin, came from ninth to finish sixth. He completed 24 laps in his own No. 17. Reigning NMRA driving and car owner champion West Evans also ran 24 laps for seventh place. Three drivers--Dakota Schweitzer, rookie Michael Black and Scott Niven--did not reach lap 7 and were classified in P. 8-10 respectively.
West now has a 14-point lead over B. Baker in both driver and owner 2011 point standings. Third ranked Schweitzer is 12-points in back of Baker. Dobson and B. Baker started from the front row in a pair of 8-lap heat races and won their preliminary events. Six races at Bakersfield Speedway and two at Santa Maria Speedway remain on the current NMRA schedule. This season is the tenth consecutive year since NMRA revived operations in 2002 after the USAC sanctioning body began sanctioning Ford Focus midgets. NMRA had sanctioning three-quarter midget racing from the mid-1950s to 1987 when USAC started sanctioning three-quarter midget competition in western states.
Summary:
Heat 1 - Scott Dobson, West Evans, Scott Niven, Ron Ahrendt, Adam Baker.
Heat 2 - Brian Baker, Anthony Lopiccolo, Chuck West, Michael Black, Dakota Schweitzer.
Main - B. Baker, West, Lopiccolo, Dobson, Ahrendt, A. Baker, Evans, Schweitzer, Black, Niven.
