InsideGroove - Race Report

FOUR WINS FOR BRADY BELL, MILLER WINS FIRST

Bakersfield, Ca --

Super street stock point leader Brady Bell jumped into the outside groove early in Saturday night's 25 lap feature and he took the lead from 5th starting in three laps enroute to his 4th win of 2002 at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Pole sitter Jeff Heusdens got around defending champion Karl Noland Jr on lap 17 to finish second in the Glen Hughes car. Jeff Miller led all 20 laps as he won his first IMCA Modified feature of the season. Ruaway point leader Rick Childress was second ahead of pole starter Phil Cook. Rookie Robert Sanders picked off his first feature win in the crash shortened 15 lap hobby stock feature. Leader Steve Johnson was taken out by teenaged Larry Hood in the final corner and was awarded the win by the officials, but the post race tech found him running one of last year's tires so he was disqualified. Taking the lead from sixth starting on the first lap, Clyde Benson led all 20 laps to win the American Stock feature with Roy DeGeer Jr second over Ricky Spicer. The four division stock car show was put together at the last minute when the SCRA sprint cars were cancelled.

The IMCA Modified turnout was down to 14 cars and the quartet of Troy Morris Jr, Bill Gates, Rodney Jennings and Mike Corwin all broke motors in hot laps. Morris went home to get a backup and was ready for the heat action with the other three out for the night. Cook won the first heat from the pole with Lee Jensen second. Miller also won heat 2 from the pole with Lee Walker in second. Cook and Miller shared the front row for the feature with Miller racing into the first lap lead. Morris spun running 2nd for a lap 1 yellow. Walker moved into second over Jim Deines and Lin Deines. Jensen was fourth when Gary Dutton spun for a lap 4 yellow with L Deines pitting. On the restart, Jensen, Childress and Dutton raced into the 3-4-5 slots and J Deines pitted on lap 7. Billy Griffin dropped out in the Ken Hobson car and Morris was blackflagged for causing two yellows when he spun for a lap 15 yellow flag. Childress took third from Jensen on lap 16 and Walker fell to the back of the lead lap on lap 17 with Childress into second over Dutton. Dutton pitted his overheating mount and Miller won ahead of Childress, Cook, Jensen, Mike Scott and Walker. With six top five finishes in the first 7 races, Childress has built a 38 point lead on the tied duo of Dutton and Jensen with L Deines two more points back in 4th. Corwin was second in points starting the night, but fell to 6th behind Morris.

Coming off a two race holiday weekend for most of the teams, the super street stocks had just a 9 car turnout. Bill Little won the first heat ahead of visitor Jerry Crain. Bell won heat 2 from the outside front row with K Noland Jr second. The feature lineup put Heusdens and Jerry Crowley in the front row with K Noland Jr and Crain in row 2 as heat winners Bell and Little started in row 3. Tom Manzella broke a motor early in the night and did not run the feature. Heusdens led the first 2 laps as Bell jumped to third on the first lap. Bell then passed both K Noland Jr and Heusdens on the outside for the lead on lap 3. Newcomer Marshall Lencioni spun for a lap 3 yellow. K Noland Jr took second from Heusdens on the restart and Joe Wilson Jr got around Crain for 4th on lap 5. Crowley moved into the top 5 on lap 7 and Lencioni was blackflagged as he spun for a lap 9 yellow flag. A spin by Crowley gave 5th to Little and Heusdens regained second from K Noland Jr on lap 17. The final couple laps saw Heusdens and K Noland Jr trading second as Bell won. Heusdens was second ahead of K Noland Jr, Wilson, Crain, Little and Crowley. Bell now holds a 21 point lead on K Noland Jr with Wilson a distant third, 101 points of the lead.

There were 20 hobby stocks in action, but early season point leader Sidney Payne was among the missing. Disappointed with getting crashed on a frequent basis after winning the first 4 races of the season, Payne has sold his car to Mike Lee and purchased an IMCA modified. Sanders shares his car with Zach Forrester and he won heat 1 ahead of S Johnson. David Hayder beat Lou Wolfe in heat 2 and Tom Klamorick won heat 3 ahead of Matt Sliter. Jeffrey Barrett lost a motor in his heat and he was joined as a feature scratch by last week's winner Ivan Crawford. The race got off to a wild start with five cars crashing on the first lap. Wolfe ended up on top of Chett Reeves with both cars in the catch fence as Hayder, Lee and Chad Huffmon were also involved. At this time, the scheduled 20 lapper was shortened to 15 laps. On the restart, Sliter led the first scored lap with S Johnson taking over on lap 2 as Sanders settled into second over Robby Sawyer and Klamorick. Hood took fourth from Klamorick on lap 5 and Hood then got underneath rookie Sawyer for third on lap 11. On the final lap, Hood got into leader S Johnson in turn 4 and turned him around. Sanders was first across the finish line, but the officials awarded the win to S Johnson. This was the first week that the teams were required to have the 2002 track tire on all four corners. S Johnson was running the second car in a two car team and they only had 7 legal tires, so he raced with one of the 2001 tires. This was found in tech and he was disqualified with Sanders winning over Sawyer, Brian Puckett, Eric Cimental, Klamorick, point leader M'Lissa Manzella and Bruce Johnson. With Payne's departure, Manzella holds a 16 point lead on Puckett with Hood two more points back.

The American Stocks returned to action with a 25 car field. Eric Olson, Benson and Roy DeGeer Sr were the heat winners. Only 20 cars were left to start their 20 lap feature when Steve McKinley pitted before the green flag. The race was restarted when Amy Hedden spun and Mike Johnson tangled with Ken Patterson. Benson led the first scored lap over Roy DeGeer Jr and Spicer with Walt Farris III spinning. Debris forced a lap 1 yellow, then the field ran 19 straight green flag laps to end the race. Spicer got underneath DeGeer Jr for second on lap 5, but DeGeer Jr regained the spot on lap 12. Watt Wankum gained fourth when Olson pitted on lap 14 and he passed Spicer for third on lap 17. Benson won ahead of DeGeer Jr with Spicer regaining third on the final lap as Wankum fell back to fifth behind Robert Smith. Mark Hogue ran sixth over Jeremiah VanScoy and DeGeer Sr. Smith emerged as the new point leader with a 7 point margin on DeGeer Sr, an 11 point lead on Hedden and a 30 point advantage on J VanScoy.

Summary American Stock Heat 1-Eric Olson, Perry VanScoy, Amy Hedden, Mark Hogue, Steve McKinley. Heat 2-Clyde Benson, Walt Farris III, Ricky Spicer, Matt Wankum, Robert Smith. Heat 3-Roy DeGeer Sr, Roy DeGeer Jr, Jeremiah VanScoy, Christy Carl, Chuck Biddles. Main-Benson, DeGeer Jr, Spicer, Smith, Wankum, Hogue, J VanScoy, DeGeer Sr, P VanScoy, Hedden, Biddles, Diego Marquez, Farris, Carl, Randy Schweitzer, Olson, Paul Weeden, Richie McGowan, Mike Johnson, Ken Patterson. Hobby Stock Heat 1-Robert Sanders, Steve Johnson, M'Lissa Manzella, Robby Sawyer, Eric Cimental. Heat 2-David Hayder, Lou Wolfe, Mike Lee, Larry Hood, Chett Reeves. Heat 3-Tom Klamorick, Matt Sliter, Brian Puckett, Laura Farris, Steve Cimental. Main-Sanders, Sawyer, Puckett, E Cimental, Klamorick, Manzella, Bruce Johnson, S Cimental, Hood, Hayder, John Fenton, Sliter, Mike Lee, Farris, Wolfe, Reeves, Chad Huffmon. Super Street Stock Heat 1-Bill Little, Jerry Crain, Jerry Crowley, Marshall Lencioni. Heat 2-Brady Bell, Karl Noland Jr, Jeff Heusdens, Joe Wilson Jr. Main-Bell, Heusdens, K Noland Jr, Wilson, Crain, Little, Crowley, Lencioni. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Phil Cook, Lee Jensen, Troy Morris Jr, Jim Deines, Rick Childress. Heat 2-Jeff Miller, Lee Walker, Lin Deines, Billy Griffin, Mike Scott. Man-Miller, Childress, Cook, Jensen, Scott, Walker, L Deines, Gary Dutton, J Deines, Morris, Griffin
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