InsideGroove - Race Report

SHEPHERD BECOMES SEVENTH DIFFERENT FEATURE WINNER

Bakersfield, CA -- Bouncing back from a heat race incident, Dick Shepherd drove underneath John Silva on lap 33 and won the special 50 lap feature for the CarQuest Western Dirt Late Model Tour Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. In 2002, Shepherd is wheeling a car built by former Winston Cup crew chief Jerry Pitts and they had to completely rebuild the car following a violent July crash. Series officials Sandy Bainton and Wally Stewart each added $300 to the purse for the holiday special, raising Shepherd's winning total to $1,600 and also adding money to 2nd and 3rd. Shepherd's first 2002 win made him the 7th different winner on the series and Silva used his $700 second place run to climb back into second in points, 42 behind Scott Pounds and one point ahead of Mike Johnson. Phil Barrow passed Pounds on lap 37 to finish third with Pounds fourth. Forced into point race mode when he took a large early season point lead, Rick Childress was freed to race aggresively when he clinched the track title last week. This week, he drove his Harris chassis to wins in both his heat and the 25 lap feature. He had an exciting duel with Billy Griffin in the 25 lapper. By finishing third, Gary Dutton wrapped up second in points. Rookie Robby Sawyer passed both Mike Lee and Larry Hood on lap 19 to score his first feature win in the 20 lap hobby stock main. By getting around both Lee and Hood when they hooked bumpers on the last lap, Bruce Johnson ran second and emerged as the new point leader by just a single point over M'Lissa Manzella. Manzella had to borrow the Chett Reeves car and raced it to fifth.

Silva paced the 19 dirt late models in time trials with his 13.200 lap as Pounds turned in a 13.354 and Shepherd a 13.387. Devin Crockett was fourth at 13.437 and Johnson ran a 13.653. Silva then impressed by coming from 3rd to win the first heat over pole starter Barrow. Outside front row starter Johnson beat Pounds in heat 2 and pole starter Shawn DeForest won heat 3 over Shepherd. They tangled and spun dueling for the lead, then scrambled back to finish 1-2. Larry Childress made his 2002 debut, but broke a motor in time trials. The starting order for the front three rows in their feature put DeForest and Barrow in row 1 ahead of Pounds, Shepherd, Silva and Johnson. DeForest led the first 6 laps with both Dana Nelson and Derek Nance pitting on the first lap. Alan Updyke was out on lap 2 as Silva took second from Pounds and Johnson passed Barrow for fourth. Driving Bill Bartels car, Scott Bartels pitted when Ron Bartels spun for a lap 4 yellow. Silva took the lead from bay area friend DeForest on lap 7 and Shepherd got by Pounds for third on lap 12. Johnson spun out of fifth for a lap 13 yellow. After a brief side by side duel, Shepherd got by DeForest on the outside for 2nd on lap 17. DeForest and Brian Kuhn both spun for consecutive yellow flags on lap 20 with Jay Edens pitting. Recent Perris winner Mike Collins was now third, but he broke for a lap 28 yellow. This moved Pounds to third over Crockett and Barrow. Shepherd began to challenge leader Silva on the inside and he made his winning pass on lap 33 with Barrow getting by Crockett for 4th. Barrow drove underneath Pounds for third on lap 37 and the final 17 laps were run without a slowdown. Shepherd won ahead of Silva, Barrow, Pounds, Crockett, Johnson, R Bartels and Edens. While Johnson lost second in points to Silva, he is excited that the Sept 7th race is at Hanford, a track where he won earlier this year and the big October open comp last year also.

This was the final 2002 IMCA Modified point race and they had a 16 car turnout. Sidney Payne broke in hot laps to end his night. Lee Jensen beat Rodney Jennings in heat 1 while Griffin beat Lee Walker in heat 2. Childress won heat 3 from 4th as Phil Cook ran second. Griffin's tough luck season put him outside front row for the start of the 25 lap feature and he led the first ten laps. Childress came from 10th to 5th in two laps and took second from Jim Deines on lap 5. Dutton passed Mike Scott for fourth on lap 7 and he got by J Deines for third on lap 8. Childress then used an outside pass to take the lead from Griffin on lap 11. Brad Pounds was third on lap 12, but he pitted on lap 15. Griffin nosed back ahead of Childress on lap 17, but Childress retook the lead for good on lap 18. The win was Childress' second of the season and he finished 43 points ahead of Dutton. Griffin was second in the race over Dutton, Cook, Walker, Scott and visitor Larry Blake. Lee Jensen ended up third in points with Scott moving 3 points ahead of Lin Deines to take fourth.

There were 22 hobby stocks and the track has a rule that he have to race the car that you use in the heat race. Manzella's car was misfiring and she moved into the Reeves car at the start of the night. Reeves is much larger than the small Manzella so she had a tough fit. Heat winners were Lou Wolfe, Tom Klamorick and Zack Forester. David Hayder led the first lap of the feature with American Stock graduate Eric Olson flipping for a red flag. Lee was fourth on the first lap, but took the lead on lap 2 with Klamorick into second on lap 3. Incoming point leader Brian Puckett was riding fifth when he broke an axle and got into the fence to end his race on lap 8. Klamorick pitted with a flat tire as Hood moved into second over Bruce Johnson and 14th starter Sawyer. Bruce Johnson spun for a lap 12 yellow. Sawyer and Hood put on a show as they dueled for 2nd and Sawyer got by both Hood and Lee for the lead on lap 19. On the final lap, teammates Lee and Hood got hooked together and Bruce Johnson drove by them to finish 2nd. Manzella couldn't get by the same drivers and her fifth place run left her a single point back of Bruce Johnson in the title fight. 21st starter Kathy Irwin was sixth over Hayder and Zach Forester. Hood moved into third in points, 19 behind Bruce Johnson and 4 ahead of Puckett with events left on Sept 7 and Sept 21.

Summary Hobby Stock Heat 1-Lou Wolfe, Brian Puckett, Mike Lee, Larry Hood, Eric Cimental. Heat 2-Tom Klamorick, Dave Hayder, George Scott, M'Lissa Manzella, Robby Sawyer. Heat 3-Zack Forester, Bruce Johnson, Steve Cimental, Eric Olson, Robert Sanders. Main-Sawyer, Johnson, Hood, Lee, Manzella, Kathy Irwin, Hayder, Forester, Wolfe, E Cimental, Devan Jones, Sanders, Ross Spillman, Jeremy Valov, Chad Johnson, John Fenton, Klamorick, Puckett, S Cimental, Scott, Olson. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Lee Jensen, Rodney Jennings, Bryson Lynch, Brad Pounds, Lin Deines. Heat 2-Billy Griffin, Lee Walker, Gary Dutton Jim Deines, Steve Morrison. Heat 3-Rick Childress, Phil Cook, Wes Richardson, Mike Scott, Larry Blake. Main-Childress, Griffin, Dutton, Cook, Walker, Mike Scott, Blake, J Deines, L Deines, Richardson, Jensen, Pounds, Jennings, Morrison, Lynch. Dirt Late Model Fast Time-John Silva 13.200 Heat 1-Silva, Phil Barrow, Devin Crockett, Jay Edens, Eric Jacobsen. Heat 2-Mike Johnson, Scott Pounds, Mike Collins, Derek Nance, Dana Nelson. Heat 3-Shawn DeForest, Dick Shepherd, Danny Baldridge Jr, Scott Bartels, Ron Bartels. Main-Shepherd, Silva, Barrow, Pounds, Crockett, Johnson, R Bartels, Edens, Jacobsen, Baldridge, Doug Davenport, Brian Kuhn, S Bartels, DeForest, Collins, Alan Updyke, Nance, Nelson.

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