InsideGroove - Race Report

ANTONETTI RETURNS FOR SECOND BAKERSFIELD WIN

Bakersfield, CA --

For the second time in 2001, Joe Antonetti from Santa Cruz made the long tow to Bakersfield Speedway Park and he won his second 20 lap IMCA Modified main event after taking just 3 laps to gain the lead from 8th starting spot. Gary Dutton drove a strong race to finish second and Eric Jacobsen lost his third place finish when he refused a claim by Buck Cox. Winner Antonetti survived a claim attempt by rookie Troy Morris Jr as Morris had forgot his membership card and you have to have the money, your claim card and your membership card to make a claim in the IMCA Modifieds. A week after winning leg one of the four track, four race California State Championship Series for the street stocks in Santa Maria, Brady Bell took advantage of his outside front row starting spot and led all 20 laps to win the Super Street Stock main event. Keith Heaslet was a race long second and Karl Noland Jr passed Raymond Noland on lap 19 to finish third. Wesley Allen gave the American Stock division 7 different winners in their first 7 races for the 2001 season as he was a wire to wire winner in their 20 lapper. David Wolford ran second and cut Joe Goatcher's point lead to 20 points as Goatcher finished third.

With five cars making the tow south from the Watsonville area and the 2001 debut for local racer Bryan Terry, the IMCA Modifieds had an 18 car field. Dutton won the first heat from third starting with young rookie Andy Obertello from Hollister second. Track point leader Steve Smothermon won the second heat from 4th starting and Watsonville Speedway regular David Soito Jr was second. Cox won heat 3 from third with Jim Deines just nipping wife Lin Deines for 2nd. L Deines and J Deines shared the front row for the 20 lapper with both Jason Selvidge and Terry scratching from the feature action. Outside row starters raced to the front at the green flag with J Deines leading Rick Jenkins and Morris on the first lap. Mike Scott spun for a yellow flag and both Todd Hermasillo and Obertello pitted with flat tires. Morris led lap two with Antonetti up to second over J Deines. Antonetti passed Morris on lap 3 for the top spot. Dutton had lined up third, but fell back to fifth on the first lap. He battled his way back to third on lap 3 and passed Morris for second on lap 4. Jacobsen started 15th, but was fifth on lap 7. Jacobsen passed Morris and Cox both on lap 10 to take over third. Phil Cook pitted with a flat tire and Smothermon worked his way into fifth behind Cox on lap 12. Debris forced a lap 15 yellow and Soito pitted. Jenkins made his charge over the final 5 rounds as he took fifth from Smothermon on lap 16 and passed Cox for fourth on lap 17. Antonetti led Dutton and Jacobsen at the checkered flag, but Jacobsen's claim refusal took him out of the standings. Jenkins climbed into third over Cox, Smothermon, Morris, J Deines and Scott. Smothermon holds a four point lead over Morris, who is just two points ahead of Cox as the trio duels for the track title.

The Super Street Stock field was down to 11 cars despite the addition of Southern California visitor Dino Napier. Mike Corwin started outside front row in heat 1 and beat polesitter Bell for that win. Heaslet also won his heat from an outside front row start with pole starter Tom Manzella second. Manzella and Bell shared the front row for the 20 lap main event based on their point averages. Bell raced into the lead over Heaslet and R Noland. Corwin was riding fifth when he spun and pitted with a flat tire for a lap 2 yellow flag. Sixth starter Karl Noland Jr gained fifth and passed Manzella for fourth on lap 4. Heaslet made an inside run on leader Bell and pulled alongside on lap 5. Bell was able to repulse the effort and point leader Steve Cargill took fifth from Manzella just before Manzella blew in a ball of flames to force a lap 17 yellow flag. Napier pitted with a flat tire. K Noland got inside brother R Noland for third on lap 19 with Bell fighting off the Heaslet challenge. Cargill was fifth over Charles Paul and Corwin. K Noland moved into second in points, just 3 back of Cargill and 5 ahead of Paul. R Noland is just 17 points back, Heaslet 26 and Corwin 32.

The American Stock class had 19 entries and Mark Hogue came from third to win heat 1. Mike Lee won heat 2 from the pole and Allen also used a pole start to win heat 3. The feature race had just 15 starters as Lee was found to have incorrect tires, Johnny Morales broke an axle in his heat and Danny Brewer crashed in his. Eric Farris had to go home and get a backup car after crashing with Brewer. Allen started on the pole and was never headed. Hogue took second from Robert Smith on lap 3, but began to smoke heavily to force a lap 5 yellow flag with Amy Hedden spinning. Smith regained second over Wolford and Bryson Lynch. When Ricky Spicer spun on lap 9, Dave Brunson was blackflagged for rough driving and dropped from the finishing order. Smith's strong run ended when he pitted on lap 17 and Allen won ahead of Wolford, Goatcher, Perry VanScoy, Chet Reeves, Lynch and Bunny Howell as only 9 cars saw the checkered flag. Goatcher leads Wolford by just 20 points with Reeves 29 points back and Howell 40 points out of the lead.

Summary American Stock Heat 1-Mark Hogue, Perry VanScoy, Joe Goatcher, Jeremiah VanScoy, Bunny Howell. Heat 2-Mike Lee, David Wolford, Dave Brunson, Bryson Lynch, Amy Hedden. Heat 3-Wesley Allen, Robert Smith, Chet Reeves, Craig Houk, Eric Farris. Main-Allen, Wolford, Goatcher, P VanScoy, Reeves, Lynch, Howell, Ricky Spicer, Houk, Smith, Farris, J VanScoy, Hogue, Hedden. Super Street Stock Heat 1-Mike Corwin, Brady Bell, Steve Cargill, Karl Noland Jr, Dino Napier. Heat 2-Keith Heaslet, Tom Manzella, Raymond Noland, Charles Paul, Bill Little. Main-Bell, Heaslet, K Noland, R Noland, Cargill, Paul, Corwin, Little, Napier, Manzella, Mike Bulley. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Gary Dutton, Andy Obertello, Troy Morris Jr, Joe Antonetti, Kenny Farris. Heat 2-Steve Smothermon, David Soito Jr, Rick Jenkins, Jason Selvidge, Mike Scott. Heat 3-Buck Cox, Jim Deines, Lin Deines, Todd Hermasillo, Eric Jacobsen. Main-Antonetti, Dutton, Jenkins, Cox, Smothermon, Morris, J Deines, Scott, L Deines, Farris, Obertello, Soito, Phil Cook, Bill Gates, Hermasillo.

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