Mesa Marin Raceway - Mike Duncan could have been conservative on his last night of the points season in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Late Model Stock Cars, but he wasn’t. He didn’t have to be. He was smooth, consistent, patient and had the strongest car on the track.
During the 4-lap KUZZ Fast Time trophy dash, Duncan was not as fast as Rick Grissom, but he still found his way to the winner’s circle to collect the trophy and be honored with the Justin Boot Silver Boot Award. During the CARQUEST 75 presented by Prolong Super Lubricants Kevin Vernon shot out front, but Duncan just waited until he could cleanly get by Vernon and once he made the pass he was gone.
"I couldn’t do it without this team," said Duncan surrounding by his team and family. "Each week they give me an awesome car and we go out and give it our best. This Championship belongs to all of us."
Jason Small finished 2nd, followed by Rick Grissom, Kevin Vernon and Jeremy Salamacha.
Kevin Small was presented with the Rookie of the Year Banner. Steve Lewis won the Timberwulf Hard Charger Award.
In the Accel Modified Stocks, Gene Fife needed a strong finish to win the championship and 3rd place was good enough. The battle of the night was between 2nd point Brian Richardson and last year’s track champion Danny Collins. Collins won the earlier trophy dash and was able to pull ahead of Richardson for the lead. Richardson was on his tail the entire 30 laps, but could not make the pass. Fife sandwiched Richardson in and that’s how they finished. Eric Sunness and Vic Posey put in a great battle for the lead earlier in the race. Posey and Dave Howell rounded out the top five.
This was not his first championship, but it was the first one his son played a critical role. He too recognized the team’s weekly contributions to his success.
Jimmy Tartaglia owns Mesa Marin when it comes to the CAM 360 SuperModifieds. He dominated from the beginning of the 30 laps main event and even won the earlier trophy dash. Bill Wilkers was his closest competition coming in 2nd followed by Lance Jackson, Ron Mazzeo, and Ron Fuller.
In the 911 Race For Youth the California Highway Patrol won the "demolition derby" that was stopped at lap 10. First the DA and the Bakersfield Police Dept. got into it and both went to the pits. Later the Sheriff got loose in turn two and the Superintendent’s plowed into him. Finally, the Bakersfield Fire and the Ranger got into it and the race director called the race, but they all said they had a great time afterwards.
Finally in the season finale of the Campus Motorsports High School Series, Valley High won the 2000 track championship, but South High was able to take the glory and cheers for winning their 1st main event in three years of trying. Chris Settlemire walked around with the trophy the rest of the night. Shafter took the early lead, but South was able to go low and take the lead from them midway through the race. Valley was moving up as they typically did, but when Shafter got themselves turned around they took Valley with them and South was able to finish in 1st without any trouble following them too close. North picked up 2nd, Centennial 3rd and Porterville 4th.
Valley had an exceptional team for their first year of competition. They were focused, rarely missed a practice and had good leadership and advisors. As Mike Duncan said earlier it takes a team and Valley had the winning team finishing the season with six wins.
The next event is the Monster Truck show next Friday, Saturday and Sunday plus the Super TT Motorcycles.
