InsideGroove - Race Report

JOHN SILVA LEAPS TO SECOND WITH FIRST WIN

Bakersfield, CA -- Last weekend's wet weather forced Santa Maria Speedway to delay their season opener that was planned for tonight and that helped produce another strong 25 car turnout for the CarQuest Series. One of the last cars to time, Shepherd took fast time honors away from Silva by running a 13.101 lap on the 1/3 mile clay oval as Silva had run a 13.110 lap just three cars earlier. They easily outpaced the 13.388 of Collins, the 13.418 of Ron Bartels and the 13.450 of Drake. The Texas race was the first national event that Drake had attempted to enter and he timed sixth fast, made the A Main with a strong third in his heat and then was running in the top 8 in the A Main when a broken oil line took him out. With the large field, the A Main was scheduled to be made up of the top 3 finishers in the four heats, 8 transfers from a 12 lap B Main and two provisionals. The heat races use invert 3 lineups. Drake won the first heat ahead of Jeff Miller as some contact racing left Shepherd with a broken front end. Making his 2001 late model debut, Buck Cox won heat 2 over Silva and Jeff Hylton. Thinking about running the tour full time in 2001, Doug Thornton captured heat 3 ahead of an impressive Doug Jeffers. Late model rookie Mike Johnson ran a solid second to Dana Nelson in the final heat race. The talent filled B Main saw Scott Pounds collect that win with Donnie Hampl second over Bill Bartels, the 2001 debut for Devin Crockett and Ron Bartels. Shepherd and Oregon transplant Ron Brewster were added to the A Main grid as provisionals with Chad Reichenbach suffering first night woes in his 2001 debut.

First heat winner Drake drew a six for the feature lineup option and that put Nelson on the pole ahead of the four second place heat finishers, Drake, Cox and Thornton. The 40 lapper got off to a very ragged start with two complete restarts and three yellow flags in the first two scored laps. Eliminated in the early incidents were Hylton, Shepherd, Brewster, R Bartels and Jerry Stewart while both Billy Griffin and Hampl fell laps behind. Nelson led the first two laps and Miller took over on lap 3. Silva took second from Nelson on lap 4 with Collins moving into fifth behind Jeffers. Jeffers was spun out of fourth by Collins, who drew a warning flag. Both Pounds and Crockett were eliminated on lap 6. The field then raced to lap 26 without another yellow. Silva was able to pass Miller on the outside on the front stretch on lap 9 to take over the lead with Drake into fourth behind Collins and ahead of Cox. Both Collins and Drake got around Miller on lap 17 for the 2-3 slots. Debris forced a yellow flag on lap 26 with Randall Davis out as both Jeffers and Alan Updyke pitted with flat tires. Drake was able to take second from Collins on this restart and Miller's strong run ended when broken steering put him in the turn 1 crashwall on lap 36. Silva had everything under control and led those final four laps for the win with Drake second ahead of Collins, Cox, Nelson, Johnson and Jeffers. Collins' point lead is 18 over Silva, who is just a single point ahead of Drake. Shepherd fell to fourth, 29 out of the lead and just 6 ahead of Griffin.

The IMCA Modifieds had a season high 16 car field and Rick Jenkins won the first heat with a last lap outside pass on Dutton. Riding wins in the first two races, Steve Smothermon ran third in this heat. Doing double duty, B Cox won the second heat from his front row start as he held off the challenge of back row starter Antonetti. Former super street stock ace Burnes made his modified debut with a strong third in the heat race. After a restart, another wild front stretch incident at the start of the 20 lap main event eliminated both point leader Smothermon and Mike Scott with Cox pitting and restarting in the rear. Dutton led the first 11 laps. Jenkins settled into second ahead of Antonetti. Jenkins slipped into the infield on lap 5 and lost second to Antonetti. Both Bill Gates and Hanford ace Jimmy Reeves were early retirees with Reeves riding fifth before his retirement. Kevin Nichols stalled for a lap 8 yellow flag. Antonetti took the lead from Dutton on lap 12 and raced to his win. Jenkins passed Dutton in turn 3 on the final lap to take the flag in second, but both he and Burnes were penalized numerous spots to driving to their pit areas when the cars left the frontstretch claim area. This moved Dutton back into second over Cox, new point leader Troy Morris Jr, the season debut of Jim Deines, Kenny Farris and Jay Hesner. The division rookie Morris ended the night with a 3 point lead over Smothermon, who is just two points ahead of Cox.

The Gene Romero motorcycle series invades Bakersfield Speedway on April 22 while the CarQuest dirt late models will make their 2001 debut at the clay half-mile Perris Auto Speedway that night.

Summary IMCA Modified Heat 1-Rick Jenkins, Gary Dutton, Steve Smothermon, Troy Morris Jr, Jimmy Reeves. Heat 2-Buck Cox, Joe Antonetti, Bryan Burnes, Kevin Nichols, Lin Deines. Main-Antonetti, Dutton, Cox, Morris, Jim Deines, Kenny Farris, Jay Hesner, Jason Selvidge, L Deines, Nichols, Reeves, Bill Gates, Smothermon, Mike Scott, Jenkins, Burnes. Dirt Late Model Fast Time-Dick Shepherd 13.101 Heat 1-Steve Drake, Jeff Miller, Billy Griffin, Donnie Hampl, Devin Crockett. Heat 2-Buck Cox, John Silva, Jeff Hylton, Scott Pounds, Alan Updyke. Heat 3-Doug Thornton, Doug Jeffers, Mike Collins, Bill Bartels, Larry Childress. Heat 4-Dana Nelson, Mike Johnson, Jerry Stewart, Ron Bartels, Chad Reichenbach. B Main-Pounds, Hampl, B Bartels, Crockett, R Bartels, Randall Davis, Updyke, Derek Nance, Ron Brewster, Scott Bartels, Reichenbach, Shepherd, Childress. A Main-Silva, Drake, Collins, Cox, Nelson, Johnson, Jeffers, Griffin, Nance, Hampl, Miller, R Bartels, Davis, Updyke, Crockett, Pounds, Thornton, Stewart, B Bartels, Brewster, Shepherd, Hylton.

CarQuest Point Standings April 16, 2001Mike Collins 235

John Silva 217

Steve Drake 216

Dick Shepherd 206

Billy Griffin 200

Doug Thornton 198

Ron Bartels 195

Scott Pounds 184

Doug Jeffers 175

Randall Davis 169

Jeff Miller 169

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