InsideGroove - Race Report

BYRD AND WITWER WIN BAKERSFIELD QUALIFIERS

Bakersfield, CA -- Coming off a $3,000 win in the Watsonville open comp, Dave Byrd of Pacific Grove enjoyed a perfect qualifying evening in the dirt modified portion of the Budweiser Western Dirt Track Nationals Friday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Byrd won his heat race from fifth starting and then drove the Foote Brothers GRT from 9th starting to a win in the 20 lap qualifying feature to earn the pole for Saturday night’s $2000 to win 40 lapper. Antioch Speedway champion Bert Elworthy came from the sixth row to place second and will join Byrd in that front row for the rich 40 lapper. Jeff Decker led the first 11 laps of the 20 lapper and ran third ahead of Antioch Speedway ace J D Willis and Brian Cass. Pretty much inactive for the 2001 race season, Robbie Witwer from Inyokern picked up the ride in the Trona Hardward Super Street Stock and led all 20 laps to win the qualifying feature for that class. The dirt late model racer will start on the pole of that 40 lap, $1,500 to win special on Saturday night. Still using the engine he borrowed from Mark Acosta at Watsonville, Porterville’s Raymond Noland placed second ahead of Livermore long tow Mickey Hill and birthday boy Steve Cargill.

The dirt modifieds had a 39 car turnout and they were split into four 10 lap qualifying heats where only the top 3 finishers advanced into both the 20 lap qualifying main and the Saturday night 40 lapper. Wheeling the Scott Pounds car, Matt Barrett won the first heat over Decker and Oregon’s Jeremy Richey. Joe Antonetti spun wildily out of contention in a three wide front stretch incident. Byrd came from fifth to win heat 2 over track co-champion Buck Cox with Willis third. Just missing the transfer were Petaluma Speedway champion Nick Perivolaris and Jeff Miller. With son Bobby Hogge IV busy racing in both the late model and street stock classes, Bobby Hogge made his 2001 driving debut, but suffered an early race flat tire. Former Antioch Champion Don Shelton won heat 3 from his second row start over Cass. Watsonville Speedway star Mike Brumit was sent to the rear for a jump start, but battled back to take the final transfer slot with a last lap pass around Merced Speedway star Troy Stone. A J Kirkpatrick started on the pole of heat 4 and won with his new Fegers Chassis purchased from Arizona ace Rick Ward. Elworthy ran second over Chico’s Dustin Jenks with Merced champion Bob Williamson just missing with a fourth. Top runner Eric Jacobsen damaged his front end in a first lap incident and will be relegated to the Saturday C Main.

The drivers drew for their starting order in the 20 lap qualifier with Decker and Barrett drawing the front row, Shelton and Cox in row 2. The race had to be restarted after Shelton blew a tire on the opening lap. Decker raced into the lead over Cass with Cox into third on lap 2. Byrd came from 9th to 5th in 4 laps and passed both Brumit and Cox to take over third on lap 6. Brumit also by Cox to take over fourth a lap later. Back row starter Elworthy had climbed to fifth before the first yellow came for a spin by Barrett on lap 10. Jenks suffered a flat left front tire. He wanted to continue racing, but the officials wanted to send him off the track. Jenks’ protest angered the officials and he was removed from the remainder of the weekend’s racing. The final yellow flag came on the restart when Cass got out of shape. A tap from Byrd sent him spinning and Brumit had to spin to avoid contact. Byrd was now second and he took the lead from Decker on lap 12 with an inside move in turn 4. Elworthy took second from Decker on lap 13 and the finish saw Byrd winning over Elworthy, Decker, Willis, Cass, Brumit, Kirkpatrick, Oregon’s Richey and Barrett. The cars will line up in that order in the rich 40 lapper.

The super street stocks had a 32 car turnout. Keith Heaslet came from sixth to win the first 10 lap heat over Cargill and Bill Little with Ed Perry settling for a fourth. Steve Noland showed glimpses of his old track championship form with a win in the second heat ahead of Tim Bewley and R Noland as James Hammons hit the wall hard. Track champion Karl Noland Jr won the third heat from third starting with Witwer second. Mickey Hill survived a last lap challenge from Eddie Dale to take the third transfer slot as Dale spun in his turn 3 try. Bobby Hogge IV jumped into the John Kolessar open comp car and won the fourth heat with a last lap pass around Bakersfield Speedway 2000 season hobby stock champion Rion Brown, who was making his super street stock debut in the Tom Manzella car. Darrell Hughes from Manteca was third with Watsonville star Chris Messmer just missing a transfer in fourth.

Again the lineup order for the 20 lap qualifying main was a complete redraw with Bewley and Witwer drawing the front row ahead of brothers K Noland Jr and R Noland. Witwer raced into the lead over K Noland Jr and R Noland. Bewley broke running fourth on lap 5 and K Noland Jr lost power on lap 11 to move R Noland into second over Hogge and S Noland. Brown spun for a lap 12 yellow and S Noland crashed into the back fence. Hughes jumped all the way to third on the restart with Heaslet into fourth on lap 15. Heaslet took third from Hughes on lap 18, but ran into the back of second place R Noland in turn 3 on lap 19. That sent R Noland spinning. The officials sent Heaslet to the rear, but he elected to pull off the track. R Noland was restored to second and Hogge limped off as he overheated. Witwer won ahead of R Noland, Hill, Cargill, Hughes, Brown and Bewley. They will start the rich 40 lapper on Saturday night in that order.

Summary Super Street Stock Heat 1-Keith Heaslet, Steve Cargill, Bill Little, Ed Perry, Rick Childress. Heat 2-Steve Noland, Tim Bewley, Raymond Noland, Brady Bell, Mike Calhoun. Heat 3-Karl Noland Jr, Robbie Witwer, Mickey Hill, Charlie Dowdy, Billy Simkins. Heat 4-Bobby Hogge IV, Rion Brown, Darrell Hughes, Chris Messmer, Mike Bulley. Qualifying Main-Witwer, R Noland, Hill, Cargill, Hughes, Brown, Bewley, Little, Hogge, Heaslet, S Noland, K Noland Jr. Dirt Modified Heat 1-Matt Barrett, Jeff Decker, Jeremy Richey, Chad Chadwick, Kellen Chadwick. Heat 2-Dave Byrd, Buck Cox, J D Willis, Nick Perivolaris, Jeff Miller. Heat 3-Don Shelton, Brian Cass, Mike Brumit, Troy Stone, Bart Reid. Heat 4-A J Kirkpatrick, Bert Elworthy, Dustin Jenks, Bob Williamson, Mike Scott. Qualifying Main-Byrd, Elworthy, Decker, Willis, Cass, Brumit, Kirkpatrick, Richey, Barrett, Jenks, Cox, Shelton.

InsideGroove Latest Reports | InsideGroove Archives
About InsideGroove