InsideGroove - Race Report

JENKINS DQ, SMOTHERMON POINT LEADER FOLLOWING WIN

Bakersfield, CA --

Rick Jenkins led the final 6 laps to take the checkered flag first in the 20 lap IMCA Modified main event Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park, but he was disqualified for the second time this year for not reporting to the track tech area when he left the frontstretch claim area following his win. This elevated Steve Smothermon to the feature win status and the 4th win of 2001 for the Porterville based racer put him back into the track point lead by just 3 points over rookie Troy Morris Jr. Remembering that his only win last season came on Father's Day weekend, Brian Puckett was a wire to wire winner in the 20 lap hobby stock main event on Mother's Day weekend. Lee Ullmann ran second and Rodney Jennings moved into the track point lead with a third place run. Incoming point leader Lee Walker lost laps in an early race incident and finished 16th, but won the $100 bonus in the random draw that occurs whenever a division runs it's main event without a single caution flag.

The 14 car IMCA Modified turnout included Western Region title hopeful Mark Allison from Las Vegas and defending California State champion Bill Saltzman. Gary Dutton won the first heat over Jenkins. Coming back after an absence of several seasons, former street stock ace Phil Cook won heat 2 over double division racer Buck Cox. Smothermon and Cox shared row 4 for the 20 lap feature with Morris and Allison in row 5. Dutton lined up third, but raced into the lead on the opening lap with Mike Scott taking second from Bill Gates on lap 2. A tangle on lap 4 eliminated Scott and Saltzman restarted in the rear after pitting with a flat tire. Jenkins was now second and Smothermon settled into third. Cox climbed to fourth on lap 9 and Dutton briefly lost fire on lap 15 to hand the lead to Jenkins. Smothermon also got by for second. Morris spun for a lap 17 yellow flag and Kenny Farris pitted. Jenkins led the rest of the way and accepted the spoils of the winner at the start-finish ceremony, but drove straight to his pit spot in the pits without venturing to the tech inspection area. This is an automatic disqualification and elevated Smothermon to the win over Dutton, Cox, Matt Barrett in his 2001 debut, Allison, Morris and Saltzman. Smothermon now leads Morris by 3 points, Cox by 7 points and Farris by 28 points.

There were 19 hobby stocks with Larry Hood borrowing the Darren Hopkins car that has had success recently. Heat winners were Jennings, Gene Verbeek and Puckett. Bill Howard Jr and Kenton Miller were both feature scratches. Outside front row starter Puckett took an early lead over Verbeek and Ullmann. Ullmann took second from Verbeek on lap 9, but Puckett had stretched a huge lead. Jacky Wood was riding fourth over Jennnings, but Wood dropped out late. Puckett won over Ullmann with Verbeek losing his third place spot when he was found light at the scales in the post race check. Jennings inherited third over Laura Yeager, Ted Rogers, Dennis Gentry, M'lissa Manzella and Charlie Evans. Walker lost laps when he hooked bumpers with Hood and finished 16th. That cost him his early season point lead as Jennings now holds a 4 point margin over Walker and 5 point margin over Manzella. Ullmann is just 30 points back and Yeager is 31 points back.

Summary Hobby Stock Heat 1-Rodney Jennings, Lee Ullmann, Lee Walker, Dennis Gentry, Charlie Evans. Heat 2-Gene Verbeek, Jacky Wood, Larry Hood, Ivan Crawford, Lou Wolfe. Heat 3-Brian Puckett, Doug Robinson, Larua Yeager, Bill Howard Jr, M'lissa Manzella. Main-Puckett, Ullmann, Jennings, Yeager, Ted Rogers, Gentry, Manzella, Evans, Crawford, Hood, Matthew Rogers, Steve Cimental, Wolfe, Wood, Robinson, Walker. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Gary Dutton, Rick Jenkins, Bill Gates, Steve Smothermon, Mark Allison. Heat 2-Phil Cook, Buck Cox, Mike Scott, Troy Morris Jr, Bill Saltzman. Main-Smothermon, Dutton, Cox, Matt Barrett, Allison, Morris, Saltzman, Jim Deines, Gates, Cook, Lin Deines, Kenny Farris, Scott.

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