InsideGroove - Race Report

HEASLET AND KIRKPATRICK SHARE BAKERSFIELD HONORS

Bakersfield, CA -- Leading just the final lap after Darrell Hood spun leading, Keith Heaslet won Saturday night's exciting 24 lap super street stock feature at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Heaslet was sixth different driver to pace the 11 car event and Joe Wilson Jr ran second ahead of Raymond Noland. Having recently quit competing at his home track in Watsonville and looking to deal his modified for a dirt late model, A J Kirkpatrick returned to action by charging from 12th starting to the lead in just 5 laps and winning the 19 lap IMCA Modified feature race. Gary Dutton ran second ahead of track champion Rick Childress. Passing Mike Lee for the lead on lap 18, Brian Puckett won his second 20 lap hobby stock feature of 2002 and took the track point lead from M'Lissa Manzella in the process. Lee was second ahead of Larry Hood. The night's racing came to a fiery conclusion as the track's rescue workers pulled Ken Patterson out of his burning car in the American Stock feature. With the clock already past the 11 o'clock curfew, Roy DeGeer Sr ended up the winner of the shortened 16 lap race. He also emerged as the new point leader as former point leader Ricky Spicer was disqualified in tech and lost all his points for the season. DeGeer Sr now holds a 14 point lead over Robert Smith and Roy DeGeer Jr ran second to his father in the feature action.

The super street stocks had a 12 car turnout, but James Hammons broke in hot laps. R Noland won the first heat over brother Karl Noland Jr with point leader Brady Bell the second heat winner over D Hood. The feature had an 8 car inversion off the heat results and pole starter Royce Patterson led the first 9 laps. Dave Bauer rode in second until he made an inside pass for the lead on lap 10. They traded the top spot through lap 12 when Bell stalled for a yellow flag. Leader Bauer spun on the restart and Patterson got collected as Wilson Jr was the new leader over Karl Noland Jr and D Hood. Bell was blackflagged for spinning Patterson on lap 16 and K Noland Jr had to pit with a flat tire. D Hood made an inside groove run at leader Wilson Jr and pulled alongside on lap 20. D Hood gained the lead on lap 21, but spun for a lap 23 caution and pitted. Heaslet had just passed Wilson Jr and he emerged as the new leader bringing the field down for the two lap shootout for the win. The race was checkered a lap early when K Noland Jr stalled and Heaslet won with Wilson Jr second over R Noland, Bill Little, Ed Barrett and Bauer. Bell's point is still 39 points over K Noland Jr and 121 over Wilson.

The addition of three Watsonville area cars grew the IMCA Modified count to 19 cars. Billy Griffin won heat 1 from the pole with Mike Corwin second. Jeff Miller won heat 2 from the front row with Dutton second. Outside front row starter Sidney Payne won heat 3 with Kirkpatrick coming from last to place second. The feature race was slated for 25 laps but shortened to 20 laps after the field suffered four caution flags in the first 8 laps. The feature was restarted after a Griffin spin with Lee Jensen, Payne, Lin Deines and Phil Cook all having to pit for repairs. Miller led the first four laps. Kirkpatrick leaped all the way to 4th on lap 1, took third from Andy Obertello on lap 2 and got around Corwin for 2nd on lap 3. After pulling alongside Miller with an inside groove challenge, Kirkpatrick raced in front on lap 5. Lee Walker and Payne tangled for that fourth caution on lap 8 with Kirkpatrick leading Miller, Obertello, Corwin and Childress. Joe Antonetti made a big move on lap 11 as he climbed into second with Childress and Miller trading third. Bryan Terry stalled for a lap 18 yellow. On lap 19, Troy Morris Jr spun and was hit by L Deines and Antonetti spun with Miller falling back. The checkered flag came out a lap early with Kirkpatrick winning over the late charge by Dutton. With just one point race remaining, Childress' 3rd place run netted him the title in his rookie IMCA season. Cook ran fourth over Mike Scott, Griffin, Jim Deines and Antonetti. Obertello was disqualified from his finishing spot for ignoring a black flag he drew for running into Childress while circling under caution. Childress holds a 41 point lead over Dutton, who moved three points ahead of Jensen in their second place duel. Scott and L Deines are tied for fourth in points, just 7 ahead of Morris.

The hobby stocks had a 24 car turnout so they raced three heats and a B Main to cut the A Main grid to 20 cars. Lou Wolfe, Lee and Jeff Barrett won heat races. Ron Schmidt was a wire to wire winner in the B Main over Eric Cimental and Bruce Johnson. Outside front row starter John Fenton led the first 5 laps of the 20 lap feature. Point leader M'lissa Manzella had to pit with a flat tire on lap 2, but a caution for Tom Klamorick's dragging bumper allowed her to stay lead lap. Lee started fifth, took second from George Scott on lap 3 and both he and Larry Hood passed leader Fenton on a lap 6 restart following a debris caution. Tenth starting Puckett took third from Fenton on lap 7 and 16th starter Chad Johnson was up to fourth on lap 11, but C Johnson pitted a lap later. Puckett passed L Hood for second on lap 12 and took the lead from Pittsburg resident Lee on lap 18. Puckett won with Lee second over L Hood as Bruce Johnson came from 13th to place 4th. Zach Forester ran fifth over Steven Johnson, Robby Sawyer and Wolfe as Manzella ran 10th. Puckett's point lead is just 3 points over Manzella and 9 ahead of B Johnson. L Hood is only 22 points out of first.

There were 21 American Stocks and all the night's racing was done from standing starts as the officials were watching for locked rear ends. Heat winners were Perry VanScoy, young Christy Carl and Craig Houk. Paul Weeden was a feature scratch. Amy Hedden led the first lap before VanScoy took over. Smith took the lead on lap 3 and paced three laps before VanScoy retook the lead. Carl was sent to the back for spinning Richie McGowan for a lap 9 yellow flag. DeGeer Sr had just passed Smith for second and R McGowan gained third when Smith spun for a lap 12 caution. VanScoy had problems on the restart and DeGeer Sr was the new leader. DeGeer Jr worked his way into second and Patterson flipped several times and caught fire for a lap 16 red flag. Patterson's mount ended up sitting on it's side and the rescue workers pulled him out the passenger side window before the car rolled back onto it's roof. The violent nature of the crash saw the engine and transmission fall out of the car when it was sitting on it's roof burning. The post race check for the locked rear ends saw both Spicer and Eric Olson losing their season points. DeGeer Sr won ahead of DeGeer Jr with Craig Houk third over Carl, Hedden, Smith and Patterson. Third ranked P VanScoy is just 3 points ahead of DeGeer Jr and 55 behind new point leader DeGeer Sr.

Summary American Stock Heat 1-Perry VanScoy, Eric Olson, Robert Smith, Ken Patterson, Robby Truesdale. Heat 2-Christy Carl, Richie McGowan, Matt Wankum, Amy Hedden, Lonnie Boatman. Heat 3-Craig Houk, Donnie McGowan, Mark Hogue, Roy DeGeer Sr, Randy Jordan. Main-DeGeer Sr, Roy DeGeer Jr, Houk, Carl, Hedden, Smith, Patterson, VanScoy, R McGowan, Steve McKinley, Jesse Bowles, D McGowan, Doug Thornhill, Wankum, Jordan, Boatman, Truesdale, Hogue. Hobby Stock Heat 1-Lou Wolfe, Robby Sawyer, Steven Johnson, George Scott, Ron Schmidt. Heat 2-Mike Lee, Chett Reeves, M'Lissa Manzella, Larry Hood, Roger Brewer. Heat 3-Jeff Barrett, Brian Puckett, John Fenton, Tom Klamorick, Eric Cimental. B Main-Schmidt, E Cimental, Bruce Johnson, Chad Johnson, Brewer, Zach Forester, Kathy Irwin, Steve Cimental, Wayne Cox Jr. A Main-Puckett, Lee, Hood, B Johnson, Forester, S Johnson, Sawyer, Wolfe, E Cimental, Manzella, Klamorick, Fenton, Schmidt, S Cimental, Irwin, Barrett, Brewer, Scott, C Johnson. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Billy Griffin, Mike Corwin, Lee Jensen, Jim Deines, Lin Deines. Heat 2-Jeff Miller, Gary Dutton, Rick Childress, Andy Obertello, Mike Scott. Heat 3-Sidney Payne, A J Kirkpatrick, Joe Antonetti, Phil Cook, Troy Morris Jr. Main-Kirkpatrick, Dutton, Childress, Cook, Scott, Griffin, J Deines, Antonetti, Tom Gregory, Jensen, Miller, L Deines, Morris, Bryan Terry, Corwin, Payne, Lee Walker, Bryson Lynch. Super Street Stock Heat 1-Raymond Noland, Karl Noland Jr, Keith Heaslet, Dave Bauer, Bill Little. Heat 2-Brady Bell, Darrell Hood, Joe Wilson Jr, Royce Patterson, James Cornelius. Main-Heaslet, Wilson, R Noland, Little, Ed Barrett, BAuer, Hood, K Noland Jr, Bell, Patterson, Cornelius.

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