InsideGroove - Race Report

MIKE JOHNSON WINS ALL GREEN CARQUEST FEATURE

Bakersfield, CA -- After a fierce early race duel with rookie Eric Jacobsen, Mike Johnson from Clovis claimed the lead for good on lap 11 and ran away from the field to win the 40 lap CarQuest Western Dirt Late Model Tour feature at Bakersfield Speedway Park Saturday night. The race ran the 40 lap distance without a single yellow flag following a restart and Johnson was a half-lap in front at the checkered flag of his $1,200 win. Johnson snapped a tough luck string at the Bakersfield track with a second place run at the previous race and he is now just 11 points back of second ranked John Silva. Jacobsen had a season best second place finish while point leader Scott Pounds was third ahead of defending series champion Mike Collins. The IMCA Modifieds had a great 24 car turnout and red hot Jeff Miller won his fourth 25 lap main event. Miller wheels a Warrior chassis and Gary Dutton ran second ahead of Phil Cook. Having had points restored that he lost when he switched cars one night early in the season, Ricky Spicer emerged as the new American Stock point leader following his second win of 2002 in their 20 lap feature. Spicer led the final 16 laps and now holds a 13 point lead over Robert Smith. Matt Wankum was second in the race ahead of Randy Schweitzer.

Silva paced late model time trials with a 13.222 lap and Jacobsen was a surprising second fast at 13.303. Pounds ran a 13.310 lap with Johnson fourth at 13.573. Jay Edens ranked fifth at 13.606 and Shawn DeForest had a 13.669 effort. The two heat races used the invert 3 lineup and Edens beat 9 time heat winner Pounds in the first heat with Silva also getting by Pounds to finish second. Outside front row starter Johnson won heat 2 with Jacobsen's great night continuing with a second place finish. Pole starter DeForest was third. The feature lineup put Johnson and Silva on the front row with Jacobsen and Edens in row 2. The 40 lapper had to be restarted after front row starter Silva spun and was hit hard by DeForest. Silva restarted in the rear, but the race was over for DeForest. On the restart attempt, the front row of Johnson and Jacobsen checked out on the field as Pounds got sideways and the field slowed to avoid contact. Pounds lost third to Edens, but regained it with an outside pass on lap 4. Collins then got by Edens for fourth on lap 6 and Ron Bartels was fifth on lap 7. Jacobsen then made an outside groove run at leader Johnson and actually nosed ahead to pace lap 10. As they were lapping Ron Barnett, Jacobsen found his outside pass attempt blocked and he lost the lead back to Johnson on lap 11. Matt Barrett pitted on lap 13 and Jacobsen kept the pressure on leader Johnson for much of the race. The flying leaders put Silva a lap down on lap 23 and Edens went down a lap later. In the closing rounds, Johnson stretched his advantage to the half-lap margin. His first late model win on the 1/3 mile clay oval gave him 2002 season victories at Las Vegas, Hanford and Bakersfield. Jacobsen's strong second climbed him to 8th in points and Pounds ran third ahead of Collins, R Bartels, Phil Barrow and last starter John Lowrey, the final lead lap car. Silva settled for 9th behind Dana Nelson. Pounds' point lead is 57 over Silva, 68 ahead of Johnson and 108 in front of Collins.

With Merced idle for their county fair and regional title hopeful Jason Pike looking for a track with a full field, a strong turnout of visitors swelled the IMCA Modified car count to 24 cars. Even young Larry Hood made his division debut in the car normally wheeled by father Darrell Hood. Miller won the first heat from an outside front row start with Brad Pounds second. Troy Morris Jr beat fellow front row starter Cook in heat 2 with Lee Walker coming from third to win heat 3 over Mike Scott. Lee Jensen won heat 4 from the pole with fellow front row starter Gary Dutton second. With only 3 cars advancing from each heat, a strong B Main field saw track point leader Rick Childress pass visitor Troy Stone on the last lap to win the 12 lapper. Merced point leader Ramie Stone, a winner at their Tuesday fair show, ran third over Ventura's Wes Richardson and Doug Robinson. Hood's night ended with a flip in his heat race. Sidney Payne qualified for the feature in his modified debut, but had borrowed a steering box from Jim Deines to race and scratched when he found that J Deines would be the only running car eliminated from the feature grid. Cook and Miller shared the front row for the 22 car, 25 lap A Main and Cook led two laps before Miller took over. The first caution came on lap 4 when Robinson flipped after contact with the wall. Fifth place Dutton had to pit with a flat tire. Third place Morris fell back with Scott gaining that spot on lap 7. Fifth place Pounds spun and Morris stalled for a lap 9 yellow. Both Mike Corwin and Walker got by Scott on lap 11 and Childress was fifth on lap 12. Driving the former Alan Updyke car for it's new owner, Doug Thornton broke a motor. T Stone and Scott tangled on lap 14 and Pike had to pit to check out his car. With an outside groove run, Childress took third from Cook on lap 17 as Corwin had moved into second. When Bryson Lynch spun for a lap 18 yellow, Childress had to pit with a broken throttle linkage. Pounds impressed as he drove by leader Miller to get back on the lead lap on lap 22 and the final caution came on lap 23 when Jensen got into Scott and both spun. Second place Corwin pulled off as Miller raced to the win over Dutton, Cook, Chris Tonoli, Pike, Scott, Richardson and Bill Saltzman. Childress crossed the line in third, but was placed back to 9th for not blending to the rear when he returned from his pit stop. Childress maintains a solid 45 point lead over Dutton, who is just a single point ahead of Jensen. Corwin and Lin Deines are tied for fourth, 53 points back of Childress and just 4 points in front of Miller.

The 27 car American Stock field was the night's largest with heat wins going to Wankum, Amy Hedden, Spicer and Eric Olson. Jeremiah VanScoy was a wire to wire winner in the B Main with Chuck Biddles second over Smith and Roy DeGeer Sr. Pole starter Wankum led the first four laps of the feature with 7th starting Spicer into fourth in 3 laps. Spicer got by Schweitzer and he gained second when Olson pitted. The lap 5 restart found Spicer driving underneath Wankum for the top spot as Schweitzer settled into third over Dave Garvin and Mark Hogue. Schweitzer took second from Wankum on lap 9 and the final 16 laps were run without a yellow flag. Wankum retook second late in the race as he chased Spicer to the win. Schweitzer was third over J VanScoy, Clyde Benson, Roy DeGeer Jr, Donny McGowan, Perry VanScoy and Craig Houk. The tight track title race found Spicer just 13 points ahead of Smith at night's end with DeGeer Sr now 23 points back. J VanScoy is just a single point back of DeGeer Sr. Hedden and Benson are tied for fifth, 74 points back of Spicer.

Summary American Stock Heat 1-Matt Wankum, Perry VanScoy, Mark Hogue, Robert Smith, Danny Gott. Heat 2-Amy Hedden, Dave Garvin, Clyde Benson, Chuck Biddles, Donny McGowan. Heat 3-Ricky Spicer, Randy Schweitzer, Walt Farris III, Jeremiah VanScoy, Paul Weeden. Heat 4-Eric Olson, Richie McGowan, Christy Carl, Roy DeGeer Sr, Craig Houk. B Main-J VanScoy, Biddles, Smith, DeGeer Sr, Don Mead, Houk, D McGowan, Roy DeGeer Jr, Jack Little, Erin Maltone. A Main-Spicer, Wankum, Schweitzer, J VanScoy, Benson, DeGeer Jr, D McGowan, P VanScoy, Houk, Smith, DeGeer Sr, R McGowan, Hedden, Hogue, Olson, Garvin, Mead, Farris, Carl, Biddles. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Jeff Miller, Brad Pounds, Jason Pike, Chris Tonoli, Doug Robinson. Heat 2-Troy Morris Jr, Phil Cook, Mike Corwin, Troy Stone, Rick Childress. Heat 3-Lee Walker, Mike Scott, Bill Saltzman, Sidney Payne, Tommy Gregory. Heat 4-Lee Jensen, Gary Dutton, Doug Thornton, Ramie Stone. B Main-Childress, T Stone, R Stone, Wes Richardson, Robinson, Payne, Gregory, Lin Deines, Tonoli, Bryson Lynch. A Main-Miller, Dutton, Cook, Tonoli, Pike, Scott, Richardson, Saltzman, Childress, Gregory, Pounds, L Deines, Jensen, Jim Deines, Walker, Lynch, Corwin, T Stone, Thornton, Morris, R Stone, Robinson. Dirt Late Model Fast Time-John Silva 13.222 Heat 1-Jay Edens, Silva, Scott Pounds, Ron Bartels, Dan Nelson. Heat 2-Mike Johnson, Eric Jacobsen, Shawn DeForest, Phil Barrow, Mike Collins. Main-Johnson, Jacobsen, Pounds, Collins, R Bartels, Barrow, John Lowrey, Nelson, Silva, Edens, Ron Barnett, Matt Barrett, DeForest.