InsideGroove - Race Report

BUSY NIGHT NETS $2,500 BUSBY WIN

Bakersfield, CA -- After a hard crash in his heat race forced him to start in the C Main, dirt modified legend Scott Busby from Martinez put forth a sterling effort as he won the 40 lap dirt modified A Main Saturday night at the 17th Annual Budweiser Western Dirt Track Nationals at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Busby drove around defending race champion Dave Byrd on a lap 36 restart to collect the $2,500 win. Busby finished 2nd in both the C and B Main events to earn the 14th starting spot in the rich 40 lapper. He was up to fifth in just 3 laps and moved into second on lap 27. For the first time in 2002, Busby is not maintaining his own dirt modified, instead driving for Sheri Thomas in her Harris and the team recently had a $3,500 win at Merced. Busby is also a NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series regular and his racing efforts are sponsored by Richmond American Homes. Byrd settled for a $1,250 second and Bobby Hogge IV was a $1,000 third. Richard Papenhausen ran fourth ahead of Billy Griffin. The win also unofficially gave Busby the championship of the special three race series between Petaluma, Antioch and Bakersfield. Busby combined a 13th, a 3rd and a 1st to nip the 12th, 2nd and 4th of Papenhausen. That effort paid $750 with Papenhausen collecting $500 and third ranked Bert Elworthy $250.

The weekend event drew a 40 car field and they were divided into four qualifying heats on Friday night with the top 3 in each advancing to the rich 40 lap A Main. Joe Antonetti won the first heat from the pole with fifth starting Papenhausen second ahead of Hanford star Bryan Burnes, who just nipped Gary Dutton for that last transfer spot. J D Willis won heat 2 from the pole as 7th starter Hogge ran second ahead of Elworthy. Brad Pounds broke on the final lap racing third and faded to fifth behind Keith Brown. Outside front row starter Duane Cleveland drove his Dirt Works to a win in heat 3 as Hanford champion Brian Cass ran second ahead of Petaluma Top Dog Nationals winner Randy Larsen. Mike Corwin just missed the transfer out of this heat. Byrd wowed the crowd by driving from 9th starting to win heat 4 with a sterling outside groove run in the Faith Plating GRT. This was just the fourth dirt modified start of 2002 for Byrd. Track champion Rick Childress ran second ahead of Griffin and Greg Williams.

The Friday night show ran out of time to run the 12 lap qualifying feature for the dirt modifieds, so the 12 heat race transfers lined up in the front of the 40 lap A Main by their heat race finishes. That put Antonetti and Willis in the front row ahead of Cleveland, Byrd and Papenhausen. The 8 B Main transfers made up the final four rows in a 20 car grid. Dutton spun on the first lap as Antonetti paced one lap before he spun. Both drivers drove away from their spins as the track was fighting curfew problems. Willis was the new leader ahead of Byrd, Papenhausen and Hogge. Byrd took the lead from Willis on lap 4 as 14th starter Busby raced into fifth. Byrd pulled ahead of the four car duel for second with Papenhausen getting around Willis on lap 8. The first caution came on lap 10 as A J Kirkpatrick and Brown tangled. Larsen had to pit with a flat tire. On the restart, Childress spun, but a big front stretch tangle involved Cass, Willis and Elworthy. Elworthy was restored to his spot with Willis pitting. Papenhausen pushed his Qwik Chassis around the outside of Byrd on the restart to take the lead on lap 12. Busby took third from Hogge as Mike Collins spun into the infield without a caution. Collins was driving the Allen Ennis car. Byrd retook the lead from Papenhausen on lap 16 and Elworthy retook fifth from Childress. Going into the race, Larsen and Willis paced the series point list, but Willis was lapped by Byrd just before Burnes spun to trigger a lap 24 yellow flag. Griffin broke into the top 5 for the first time on lap 27 in the Ken Hobson car. Nick Perivolaris spun for a lap 30 yellow flag with Jim Pettit II also spinning. Busby had passed Papenhausen for second on lap 27 and Hogge took third from Papenhausen on lap 31. The final yellow came on lap 35 as Dutton spun. With just five laps to go, Busby was going to race whichever groove Byrd didn’t take and that left an outside groove run for Busby at the green flag. He was able to race around Byrd on the high side to pace lap 36 and the four remaining rounds. Byrd ran second ahead of Hogge, Papenhausen, Griffin, Cleveland, Elworthy, another C-B-A racer Kellen Chadwick, Burnes and Antonetti. Larsen and Willis ran 16th and 17th to end their series title hopes.

The final 8 spots in the A Main were determined in a 20 lap B Main. Keith Brown led the first 4 laps before Collins nosed in front. Brown regained the lead on lap 6, but it was usual dirt late model racer Collins back in front on lap 8. Dutton gained third when Brad Pounds exited on lap 6 with Greg Williams into fourth. Busby had started 14th and was 6th at the lap 10 mark. The final yellow came on lap 13 when Steve Morrison spun and was hit by John Pierce. Dutton took second from Brown on this restart and he drove around Collins for the top spot on lap 18. Busby took third from Brown on lap 17 and passed Collins on the last lap to take second. Collins was third ahead of Pettit, Brown, Perivolaris, Chadwick and Kirkpatrick. Just missing the move up were Williams and Doug Thornton.

Nine transfer spots into the back of the B Main were avaiable in the C Main. Petaluma regular David Press took the lead from Eli Zucker on lap 5 and won the 15 lapper that was slowed by just a single yellow flag. Busby broke into the top 5 on lap 7 in this race and passed Thornton for second on lap 10. Kirkpatrick had to pit with a flat tire on alp 12, but still scrambled back to claim a transfer as Press won ahead of Busby, Thornton, Dustin Jenks, Chadwick, Zucker and Rick Karnes. Buck Cox’ night ended with a flat while racing in 4th.

Next action at Bakersfield is Nov 2nd with a 50 lap USAC Midget race combined with the American Stock Nationals.

Summary Heat 1-Joe Antonetti, Richard Papenhausen, Bryan Burnes, Gary Dutton, Mike Collins. Heat 2-J D Willis, Bobby Hogge IV, Bert Elworthy, Keith Brown, Brad Pounds. Heat 3-Duane Cleveland, Brian Cass, Randy Larsen, Mike Corwin, Nick Perivolaris. Heat 4-Dave Byrd, Rick Childress, Billy Griffin, Greg Williams, Steve Morrison. C Main-David Press, Scott Busby, Doug Thornton, Dustin Jenks, Kellen Chadwick, Eli Zucker, Rick Karnes, A J Kirkpatrick, Larry Hood, Troy Morris Jr, Jeff Miller, Buck Cox, Tommy Grergory, Rodney Jennings. B Main-Dutton, Busby, Collins, Jim Pettit II, Brown, Perivolaris, Chadwick, Kirkpatrick, Williams, Thornton, Todd Hermosillo, Karnes, Bill Saltzman, Hood, Morris, Morrison, John Pierce, Zucker, Press, Pounds, Jenks. A Main-Busby, Byrd, Hogge, Papenhausen, Griffin, Cleveland, Elworthy, Chadwick, Burnes, Antonetti, Cass, Kirkpatrick, Pettit, Childress, Dutton, Larsen, Willis, Perivolaris, Collins, Brown.
InsideGroove Latest Reports | InsideGroove Archives
About InsideGroove