InsideGroove - Race Report

STEVE DRAKE RETURNS TO CARQUEST ACTION WITH PHOTO WIN

Bakersfield, CA --

Making a rare return to the CarQuest Western Dirt Late Model Tour in order to get some laps on his family owned GRT Chassis before traveling to the Texas UDTRA action in September, defending CarQuest Series champion Steve Drake from San Luis Obispo won Saturday night's 40 lap feature in a photo finish call over Dick Shepherd. Drake was using his 406 ci engine with a restrictor plate for the CarQuest action and he led the first 35 laps before Shepherd drove by on the outside. Drake found an opening on the inside coming off turn 4 for the final time and he staged a drag race with Shepherd down the front stretch. They both pulled into the winner's circle and the tour officials studied the video tapes for several minutes before declaring Drake the winner. Shepherd was a very disappointed second as Drake collected $1,250 for the win with Shepherd's second place check $600. Having completed the rebuild of his lone engine just the night before, Mike Collins from Terra Bella was a $450 third and series point leader John Silva was a $400 fourth. Scott Pounds turned the fastest lap of the season in time trials and placed a $350 fifth in the 40 lapper. After four second place runs and three thirds so far this year at the track, Buck Cox finally picked off his first 20 lap IMCA Modified win. Cox also cut Steve Smothermon's point lead to just 6 points as Smothermon limped the final half of the race and placed 9th.

The late model count rebounded to 25 cars and the turnout not only included the return of Drake, but former series champion Ryan Cole made his first appearance since reuniting with his grandfather Gene Cole earlier in the month. Pounds paced time trials with his quick 13.049 lap on the 1/3 mile clay oval. That easily paced the 13.264 effort of Drake with Shepherd third at 13.435. Dana Nelson ran a 13.475, Shawn DeForest a 13.495 and Silva settled for a 13.544 after hitting the wall on his first timed lap. The night ended before it started for talented rookie Mike Johnson as fuel pump problems kept him off the track. The larger field saw a four heat format. Each heat had an invert 3 lineup with just 3 cars transferring into the 40 lapper. DeForest won heat 1 over Ron Bartels, Jerry Stewart returned with a win in heat 2 over Drake and Silva with Collins getting back on track with a win in heat 3 over Shepherd and Billy Griffin. Richard Papenhausen won heat 4 over Cole, who has a former John Hill Rayburn. There was also a 12 lap B Main with 8 transfers up for grabs. Jeff Hylton was a wire to wire winner in this race over Bill Bartels and John Lowrey. Jay Edens broke running 4th and Alan Updyke ran fourth ahead of the late model debut for street stock ace Mike Corwin.

The lineup for the 40 lapper put the four second place heat finishers in front of the four heat winners with R Bartels and Drake sharing the front row. Drake raced into the lead over R Bartels with Shepherd gaining third on lap 2 as Cole pushed high. The first yellow flag came on lap 4 for a tangle between Lowrey, B Bartels, Derek Nance and Randall Davis. Only B Bartels was eliminated in the incident. Stewart pulled into the infield on the restart and Shepherd got around R Bartels for second. Alan Updyke pitted after clipping the fence. Cole grabbed third from R Bartels on lap 7, but the front twosome of Drake and Shepherd checked out on the field. They raced from lap 3 to lap 34 without a yellow flag. Collins climbed into the top five on lap 17 and DeForest limped off the track as Pounds rode fifth over Hylton, Papenhausen and Silva. With ten laps to run, there were still ten cars on the lead lap. Shepherd made an inside run at Drake coming off turn 4 on lap 32 and they made contact with Drake hanging onto the lead. Cole's strong third place run ended in a tangle with Davis on lap 34 and R Bartels was collected. Cole was forced to restart in the rear with R Bartels restored to his third place spot for the restart. Papenhausen blew a tire on this restart and was done. Shepherd changed his tactics and used the high line to take the lead from the ill-handling Drake in turn 4 on lap 36. The leaders got into the lapped car of Corwin and turned him around for the last caution flag with R Bartels parking his mount. Shepherd appeared headed to the win when Drake found an opening coming off turn 4 for the last time. He pulled underneath Shepherd and they raced to the finish line. Both pulled into victory circle thinking that they had won and several minutes of viewing the video tape produced the call that Drake was inches in front at the flag. Shepherd settled for second over Collins, Silva, Hylton, Pounds, Cole, Griffin, Davis and Corwin.

The 13 IMCA Modifieds were split into a pair of heat races. Kenny Farris won the first from the pole with Gary Dutton coming from the rear for second over Jim Deines. Troy Morris Jr won heat 2 over Matt Barrett and Cox. Defending California State Champion Bill Saltzman broke in the heat action and was a feature scratch along with Jeff Miller. The Ken Hobson car tried to make an announced driver switch for the 20 lapper and they ended up being disqualified. Barrett led the first 13 laps of the 20 lapper in the Scott Pounds Warrior. Farris ran second until Morris, Smothermon and Dutton all got by on lap 4. Cox broke into the top five on lap 5 and he was third on lap 9 as Smothermon fell off the pace. A yellow for a stalled Smothermon on lap 10 nullified a pass that Morris had made on leader Barrett. Dutton tried to go underneath Morris and they tangled for a lap 11 yellow. Barrett now led Cox, Mike Scott and Bill Gates. Cox got underneath Barrett in turn 4 on lap 14 and wheeled his homebuilt creation to a 1/2 straight advantage in the remaining laps. Barrett ran second over Scott, Gates, Morris, J Deines and Farris.

IMCA Modified Heat 1-Kenny Farris, Gary Dutton, Jim Deines, Steve Smothermon, Mike Scott. Heat 2-Troy Morris Jr, Matt Barrett, Buck Cox, Ken Hobson, Bill Saltzman. Main-Cox, Barrett, Scott, Bill Gates, Morris, J Deines, Farris, Lin Deines, Smothermon, Dutton. Dirt Late Model Fast Time-Scott Pounds 13.049 Heat 1-Shawn DeForest, Ron Bartels, Pounds, Jeff Hylton, Alan Updyke. Heat 2-Jerry Stewart, Steve Drake, John Silva, Bill Bartels, Mike Corwin. Heat 3-Mike Collins, Dick Shepherd, Billy Griffin, Jay Edens, Scott Bartels. Heat 4-Richard Papenhausen, Ryan Cole, Dana Nelson, John Lowrey, Derek Nance. B Main-Hylton, B Bartels, Lowrey, Updyke, Corwin, S Bartels, Randall Davis, Jim Bonetti, Edens, Mike Montes, Larry Childress. A Main-Drake, Shepherd, Collins, Silva, Hylton, Pounds, Cole, Griffin, Davis, Corwin, R Bartels, Papenhausen, Nelson, Lowrey, S Bartels, Nance, DeForest, Updyke, Stewart, B Bartels.

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