InsideGroove - Race Report

RACE PREP CARS ADD TWO WINS

Bakersfield, CA --

Rebounding from his first lap crash in the season opener, Gary Dutton dominated the IMCA Modified action at Bakersfield Speedway Park Saturday night driving to wins in both his heat race and the 19 lap feature from outside front row starting spots. Late action shuffled the final standings with Rick Childress advancing to a 2nd place finish and taking over the track point lead in the process. Dutton's car comes out of Terry Henry's Race Prep shop and Dutton also built the hobby stock that has won the first 3 races on the track schedule. Dutton and Childress are brother-in-laws. Sidney Payne won his third straight 20 lap hobby stock feature and was quick to thank engine builder Darren Hopkins in addition to Dutton and the Race Prep gang. Despite the 3 straight wins, Payne holds just a 3 point lead over Brian Puckett and a 12 point advantage on M'lissa Manzella as Puckett and Manzella finished 2-3 for the third straight race.

The new strength of the IMCA Modified class was shown when 23 cars appeared on a night where Ventura, Hanford and Merced were also racing the division. Dutton easily won the first heat from an outside front row start with Troy Morris Jr second in his new mount. Opening night winner Joe Antonetti ran second. Antonetti is racing the March portion of the schedule here, but has lined up sponsorship to race regularly at Watsonville in 2002. Doug Thornton lost an engine running second in the first heat and ran out of time in his attempt to change it in time for the feature. Jeff Miller won heat 2 from the pole with fellow front row starter Brad Pounds second ahead of Rick Jenkins. The standings in the third heat were shuffled when Mike Corwin and Doug Robinson tangled dueling for the lead. Jim Deines took the win ahead of wife Lin Deines. Hobby stock graduate Lee Walker made his division debut, but was a feature scratch along with Thornton.

The IMCA feature lineup puts drivers with low point averages like Miller and Dutton in the front row and the division's steadiest drivers like Antonetti back in the sixth row. Dutton raced into the lead over Miller, Jenkins and Pounds. The first yellow came on lap 2 with Phil Cook out in a tangle with Mike Scott. By lap 5, Dutton had rebuilt a large lead and the next caution came on lap 8 as rookie Rodney Jennings and 2000 track champion Alan Updyke tangled. Updyke's night was over. Antonetti was having trouble moving forward from his 11th starting slot and he pitted on this caution. He attempted to return, but had done his work at his pit not the designated work area and his race was over. A lap 10 caution saw a four car tangle that ended the race for Bill Stevens, Jay Hester and Robinson. In their duel for third, Jenkins and Pounds tangled on lap 12 to allow Lee Jensen past them both into third. Pounds stormed back to pass both Jensen and Miller for 2nd with Jenkins in third when Morris stalled for a lap 14 yellow flag. Jensen, who hopes to contend for Western Region rookie of the year honors with an ambitious schedule, had to pit from fifth with a flat tire. On lap 17, Pounds broke trapping Miller and Jenkins pitted from second to shuffle the standings. The division time limit saw the race checkered a lap early with Dutton winning. The late action moved Childress into second ahead of Bill Gates, Jennings and Scott. Miller finished sixth ahead of L Deines and Corwin. Childress emerged from the night with a four point lead over Jennings and five point advantage over Corwin.

Running for a third straight weekend, the hobby stock turnout ws down to 16 cars. Larry Hood won the first heat from the pole with Manzella coming from the 4th row for second ahead of front row starter Tom Klamorick. Payne could only manage a 4th place finish in this race. Puckett won the second heat from the back row with Bruce Johnson second. Mike Lee broke in hot laps to end his night. In this class, the 8 best point averages from the 12 heat race transfers are inverted at the front of the feature lineup and that put John Fenton and Klamorick on the front row with Puckett and Payne in row 4. Klamorick led the first 4 laps. Manzella took second on lap 2 and Payne was third in just 4 laps. On lap 5, Payne passed both Manzella and leader Klamorick for the top spot and Johnson made a strong inside run to second on lap 7. Driving last year's division championship car, David Hayder lost a wheel for a lap 8 yellow and Bunny Howell had to pit with a flat tire. Manzella took third from Klamorick on the restart and Puckett was fourth a lap later. A wild three abreast pass on the front stretch on lap 12 saw Puckett leap from 4th to 2nd. Manzella grabbed third from Johnson a lap later. The final 12 laps were run without a slowdown. Both Matt Sliter and Zach Forester dropped out after late spins and Payne won ahead of Puckett, Manzella, Klamorick, Johnson, Hood and Jeff Barrett. With their three straight 1-2-3 finishes, Payne, Puckett and Manzella have pulled away from the pack in the point race. Payne leads by Puckett by just 3 laps, Manzella by 12 and Johnson moved into fourth, 39 points out of the lead and just 6 ahead of Lou Wolfe.

Summary Hobby Stock Heat 1-Larry Hood, M'lissa Manzella, Tom Klamorick, Sidney Payne, David Hayder. Heat 2-Brian Puckett, Bruce Johnson, Matt Sliter, John Fenton, Zach Forester. Main-Payne, Puckett, Manzella, Klamorick, Johnson, Hood, Jeff Barrett, Lou Wolfe, Fenton, Laura Yeager, Chad Huffman, Forester, Sliter, Bunny Howell, Hayder. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Gary Dutton, Troy Morris Jr, Joe Antonetti, Rodney Jennings, Steve Morrison. Heat 2-Jeff Miller, Brad Pounds, Rick Jenkins, Lee Jensen, Alan Updyke. Heat 3-Jim Deines, Lin Deines, Bryson Lynch, Mike Corwin, Doug Robinson. Main-Dutton, Rick Childress, Bill Gates, Jennings, Mike Scott, Miller, L Deines, Corwin, Jenkins, Morris, Jensen, Lynch, Corwin, Pounds, Bill Stevens, Jay Hester, Robinson, Antonetti, Updyke, J Deines, Phil Cook.

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