Bakersfield, CA --

Leading all 20 laps from the pole, Jeff Miller won his second straight IMCA Modified feature race at Bakersfield Speedway Park Saturday night. He joined Gary Dutton and Joe Antonetti has two time winners in the 2002 season and has climbed into 8th place in track points. Mike Corwin finished 2nd and rookie Lee Walker lost his third place finish when he was found to have lost one of his weights during the race. This moved Ventura Raceway regular Wes Richardson up to a third place finish. Richardson had lined up in the back row of the 15 car field. Eric Cimental appeared to be headed to his first career win in the 20 lap hobby stock feature, but a lap 18 yellow flag wiped out his big lead and he couldn't fend off the challenges of betgeran Bruce Johnson in that two lap shoot out for the win. It was the first 2002 win for the 4th ranked Johnson. E Cimental did run second over Mike Lee as the two stock car divisions raced in support of a USAC Western States Midget and Ford Focus Midget show.

The IMCA Modifieds had a 16 car turnout and Miller won heat 1 from third starting over Troy Morris Jr and Corwin. Mike Scott took heat 2 from 4th starting with Brad Pounds coming from last to finish 2nd. Bill Gates broke a transmission and was a feature scratch while point leader Rick Childress got crashed in the heat action and he was left with just first gear for the 20 lap feature. A couple times during the race, Childress ran one slow lap and pitted. The 20 lapper had to be restarted after the first attempt saw outside front row starter Miller spin on a wet track. He was restored to his starting spot and he raced to an early lead over Doug Robinson and Morris. Childress lost little ground off his big point lead as closest challenger Gary Dutton stalled for a lap 8 yellow flag. Lap 9 also saw a yellow flag as second place Robinson spun and was hit by Pounds, Walker and Scott. Scott's race was over with a broken rear end and Robinson's night also ended. On the restart, Miller led Morris, Corwin, Walker and Phil Cook. Richardson broke into the top 5 on lap 14 and Morris had problems in the final two laps to move Corwin into second. Walker crossed the checkered flag third behind winner Miller and runnerup Corwin, but he lost a weight during the race and was disqualified from the finish. That put Richardson third over Morris, Cook, Lee Jensen, Steve Morrison and Lin Deines. Childress came out of his disappointing night with a 30 point lead on Jensen, 34 ahead of L Deines and 37 ahead of Dutton. Morris is fifth, 4 points back of Dutton and 4 ahead of Corwin.

The 19 hobby stocks were split into three heat races. Lee won the first from the pole with Robby Sawyer second ahead of point leader M'Lissa Manzella. Manzella is also chasing the Lady Street Stock championship at Chowchilla and she wheeled husband Tom's car to a feature win at that track on Friday in round 2 of that series. Johnson won heat 2 from 3rd starting with Brian Puckett second. Larry Hood won heat 3 from 4th starting with Steve Cimental second. Chett Reeves and David Hayder shared the front row for the 20 lap feature. E Cimental led the first lap from 4th starting, but Hayder paced lap 2 and then Laura Farris was out front for two more before E Cimental retook the lead on lap 5. Hayder spun for a lap 4 yellow and E Cimental was able to get underneath Faarris on the restart for the lead. Saywer gained second on lap 6 and Tom Klamorick was third on lap 7. By the midway mark, Johnson and Lee had climbed into the 4-5 slots and Johnson took third from Klamorick on lap 11. Teenaged Hood raced into fourth on lap 12 and Farris slowed with a flat tire. She was blackflagged, but ignored the flag and ended up getting disqualified from the finish for her actions. Johnson passed Sawyer for 2nd on lap 16 and Hood, Klamorick and Lee moved into the top 5 before Hayder spun and was hit hard by Steve Cimental for a lap 18 yellow flag. E Cimental lost a big lead and couldn't fight off Johnson on those two remaining rounds. Lee finished third over Manzella, Lou Wolfe, S Cimental, Hood, Zach Forester and newcomer Ron Spillman. Manzella ended the night with a 22 point lead over Hood and a 31 point advantage over Puckett, who crashed hard at the end of the race.

Summary Hobby Stock Heat 1-Mike Lee, Robby Sawyer, M'Lissa Manzella, Tom Klamorick, Zach Forester. Heat 2-Bruce Johnson, Brian Puckett, Chett Reeves, Eric Cimental, Ron Spillman. Heat 3-Larry Hood, Steve Cimental, Laura Farris, Dave Hayder, Lou Wolfe. Main-Johnson, E Cimental, Lee, Manzella, Wolfe, S Cimental, Hood, Forester, Spillman, Frank Farris, Klamorick, Puckett, Sawyer, Jeff Barrett, Matthew Rogers, Hayder, Reeves, John Fenton. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Jeff Miller, Troy Morris Jr, Mike Corwin, Gary Dutton, Doug Robinson. Heat 2-Mike Scott, Brad Pounds, Lee Jensen, Jim Deines, Lee Walker. Main-Miller, Corwin, Wes Richardson, Morris, Phil Cook, Jensen, Steve Morrison, Lin Deines, J Deines, Pounds, Scott, Robinson, Dutton, Rick Childress.

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