MERCED, California — - Jeff Decker of San Jose took advantage of Bobby Hogge IV’s flat tire with three laps to go and ducked underneath Richard Pappenhasuen of Chico to score a surprise victory Sunday night at Merced Speedway. He collected $3,000 for winning the Western All Stars Late Model Stock Car half of the doubleheader Budweiser Fall Classic.
"Christmas came early."— Jeff Decker
Hogge’s misfortune became Pappenhausen’s problem as he checked up to avoid hitting him.
“Christmas came early,” Decker said in victory lane. “I was in the catbird seat all race long, trying to find that line.”
Hogge IV, of Salinas, battled a weekend of bad luck in the Budweiser Fall Classic races at Merced and Antioch Speedways. It looked like he was in route to upsetting Richard Pappenhausen, who won the DIRTcar events at Antioch the night before and the previous week in Oregon. Leading most of the way, Hogge IV had Pappenhausen chasing until the tire popped.
When Decker took advantage of the situation it was too late in the race for Pappenhausen to make a comeback. A.J. Kirkpatrick brought home third place.
Chadwick returned from Iowa to take his first big win at Merced Speedway, chased by Hogge IV in the DIRTcar West modified main event.
“We made some changes that really woke this car up,” Chadwick said of his new modified. “The car was the fastest I’ve had it run so far.”
Hogge IV was pressuring Chadwick most of the main event. He lost some ground riding high on the back stretch with six laps to go, but gained it back to challenge Chadwick at the finish. Chadwick started from the front row to grab the $2,000 win.
“There is a disadvantage in starting in the first row - you don’t see how the other cars are reacting to the track,” Chadwick explained. “I just decided I would go as fast as I could until I could see someone.”
Hogge IV was close behind.
“I could hear him, but I couldn’t see him,” Chadwick added. “That was a good thing.”
Troy Foulger of Martinez was third, with Merced’s Robbie Jeppesen fourth and Chris Shannon coming back from a flat tire change to finish fifth.
| DIRTcar West Modifieds |
|---|
| Heat 1 1. 83 Kellen Chadwick 2. 2 Bobby Hogge IV 3. 16B Randy Brown 4. 4P Richard Pappenhausen 5. 84 Robbie Jeppesen Heat 2 1. 49 Troy Foulger 2. 4 Shawn DeForest 3. 3 Dereck Colvin 4. 66P Paul Stone 5. 67 Michael Shearer Heat 3 1. 03 Jimmy Pettit II 2. 32S Chris Shannon 3. 90 Jason Beaulieu 4. 13 Vance Beltran 5. 19 Royce Mull Main 1. 83 Kellen Chadwick 2. 2H Bobby Hogge IV 3. 49 Troy Foulger 4. 84 Robbie Jeppesen 5. 32 Chris Shannon 6. 4P Richard Pappenhausen 7. 13 Vance Beltran 8. 66P Paul Stone 9. 67 Michael Shearer 10. 03 Jimmy Pettit II 11. 16B Randy Brown 12. 4 Shawn DeForest 13. 90 Jason Beaulieu 14. 5R Karl Rose 15. 19 Royce Mull 16. 73 Steve Stone 17. 3 Dereck Colvin |
| Western All Stars Late Models |
| Heat 1 Finish: 1. 84 Jeff Decker 2. 32B Clay Daley 3. 4E Trent Elliot 4. 22G Paul Guglielmoni 5. 96M Matt Michelli 6. 83 Dennis Souza Heat 2 Finish: 1. 4P Richard Pappenhausen 2. 2 Bobby Hogge IV 3. 77C Johnny Cardoza 4. 96X AJ Kirkpatrick 5. 40 Tom Sullivan 6. 42 Mike Meazell Late Model Dash Finish: 1. 4P Richard Pappenhausen 2. 32B Clay Daley 3. 2 Bobby Hogge IV 4. 84 Jeff Decker Late Model Main Finish: 1. 84 Jeff Decker 2. 4p Richard Pappenhausen 3. 96 A.J. Kirkpatrick 4. 4e Trent Elliot 5. 22g Paul Guglielmoni 6. 77c Johnny Cardoza 7. 42 Mike Meazell 8. 2h Bobby Hogge IV 9. 32 Clay Daly 10. 83 Dennis Souza 11. 96m Matt Michelle 12. 40 Tom Sullivan |
