InsideGroove - Race Report

REEVES, HOOD AND CARDEY VICTORIOUS AT BAKERSFIELD SPEEDWAY

Oildale, CA -- Usual Kings Speedway regular Jimmy Reeves visited Bakersfield Speedway Park Saturday night and was most impressive as he rode a high line from 11th starting to victory in the 25 lap IMCA Modified main event. Former track champion Alan Updyke finished second ahead of point leader Steve Smothermon. The Reeves’ win snapped a three race winning streak for Brad Pounds. Red hot Darrell Hood scored his third straight 25 lap Super Street Stock feature win in a very entertaining duel with Keith Heaslet. With the win, D Hood narrowed Lloyd Reed’s point lead to just four points. Heaslet had nipped D Hood in the heat race in a photo finish, but he settled for a solid second place in the 25 lapper ahead of Reed and Toby Randolph. The California Lightning Sprints visited the 1/3 mile clay oval for the second time in 2003 and heat winner David Cardey passed Jonny Bates on lap 11 and won their 20 lap main event. Bakersfield’s own Wink Schweitzer ran second with Keith Janca third ahead of Gary Sexton. It was Cardey’s fourth win of 2003 to move ahead of three time winner Brent Sexton.

Another strong 28 car field appeared in the IMCA Modifieds with Chris Smith and Larry Blake towing over from Ridgecrest. Billy Griffin beat Brad Pounds in the dash. Gary Dutton came from 4th to win the first heat ahead of Griffin. Mike Hood outraced nephew Larry Hood in heat 2 and defending track champion Rick Childress came from 4th to win heat 3 ahead of Matt Barrett. Usual dirt late model racer Barrett had just purchased the former Eric Jacobsen Joe Carr built car. J Reeves showed his strength early by driving from sixth starting to win the fourth heat ahead of Tommy Gregory and Mike Scott. Only the top 3 in each heat advanced to the main event where they were joined by the top four finishers in a pair of B Mains. Pounds was fourth in his heat and won the first B Main ahead of Doug Thompson, Mike Corwin and Lin Deines. Jeff Miller was a wire to wire winner in the 2nd B Main ahead of Smothermon, Buck Cox and Chris Mendenhall. Rookie David Childress dropped in the point standings when he failed to make it out of the second B Main, finishing sixth. Gregory and Griffin shared the front row for the 25 lap A Main with Reeves in 11th since Reeves did not carry a point average. In his new Ken Hobson owned Xtreme, Griffin paced the first 15 laps of the A Main. Fifth starting Dutton took second from Scott on lap 3 and M Hood pitted. Barrett also showed strength as he moved into third on lap 4. Updyke was fourth ahead of Reeves on lap 5. Cox stalled for a lap 7 yellow flag. Dutton spun on the restart with Barrett into second ahead of Updyke. A debris caution on lap 12 found J Reeves, Barrett and Updyke swapping 2nd place. When Barrett tried to make an inside pass on leader Griffin on lap 14, he ended up losing second to J Reeves. J Reeves took the lead from Griffin as they lapped Chris Mendenhall on lap 16. Updyke also got by Griffin and Miller spun for a yellow flag. With J Reeves and Updyke in the top two spots, R Childress moved in to challenge Griffin for third. Pounds was dueling teammate Barrett for fifth. The red flag fell on lap 24 as Barrett broke a front suspension on the backstretch. Pounds was attempting an outside pass and they tangled when Barrett couldn’t turn in turn 3. Pounds ended up on top of the Barrett car. R Childress was also collected in the incident and 16th starter Smothermon found himself in third. J Reeves paced the one remaining lap to win ahead of Updyke, Smothermon, Dutton, Griffin, L Hood, Miller, Cox, Corwin and Pounds. Smothermon came out of the night with a 10 point lead on Pounds and L Hood climbed all the way to third in points as Kathy Pierson missed her first race of the season.

Outside front row starter Lonnie Welch won the super street stock dash ahead of Dave Bauer. The 13 car field was divided into two heat races and Bill Little beat Billy Simkins in the first. Heaslet nipped D Hood in a photo finish in heat 2. Ed Barrett and Little shared the front row for the 25 lap feature. Barrett led the first lap, but lost the lead to Heaslet on lap 2. Barrett got into the fence hard for a lap 2 yellow and visitor Joey Silva had to pit with a flat tire. A yellow on lap 3 saw Dave Bauer penalized for spinning Royce Patterson. D Hood gained second with the Barrett crash and Lloyd Reed settled into third. Heaslet and D Hood put on an entertaining side by side duel for the lead with Heaslet nosing back out front on lap 5. Jeremiah VanScoy and Jason McElroy both pitted after Little spun for a lap 8 yellow flag. Welch and Toby Randolph were dueling for fourth. D Hood took the lead from Heaslet on lap 14 after another side by side fight. Reed briefly took second from Heaslet on lap 19, but fell back to third a lap later. D Hood won ahead of Heaslet, Reed, Randolph, Patterson, Welch and Silva. Reed came out of the night with a four point lead on D Hood and 8 ahead of Welch. Bauer fell to 4th in points, 16 out of first.

The California Lightning Sprints brought a 30 car field that they divided into four heat races. Bates won the first heat from 4th starting with front row starters Dylan Morris and Robert Early 2nd and 3rd. Seth Kramer flipped after the checkered flag. Janca came from sixth to win heat 2 ahead of pole starter Jim Henderson. Outside front row starter Schweitzer won heat 3 with Gary Sexton coming from fifth to place second. Cardey had engine woes stop him from racing at the first Oildale scheduled stop, but he won heat 4 from the pole with fellow front row starter Dan Lancaster second. Mike Barnette led every lap to win the 12 lap B Main over Karl Benefeil, Stuart Hielscher and Josh Williams. The 20 car grid for the 20 lap A Main put Bates and Janca in the front row ahead of Schweitzer, Cardey and Morris. Bates paced the first 10 laps with Schweitzer settling into second. Cardey took third from Janca on lap 2. G Sexton took fifth from Morris on lap 7 and Cardey nosed ahead of Schweitzer on lap 8. Cardey took the lead from Bates on lap 11. Both Schweitzer and Janca moved by Bates for the 2-3 slots before Ernie Bartley III spun for their only yellow flag on lap 14. Cardey paced Schweitzer over the remaining rounds for the win with Janca third ahead of G Sexton, Jesse Dean, Bates, Early, Paul Townsend, Morris and B Sexton. The next two dates on the California Lightning Sprint schedule are their first two non-winged shows of 2003 at Barona on May 17 and May 31.

Dash

Lonnie Welch, Dave Bauer, Royce Patterson

Heat 1

Bill Little, Billy Simkins, Lloyd Reed, Lonnie Welch, Joey Silva

Heat 2

Keith Heaslet, Darrell Hood, Royce Patterson, Ed Barrett, Toby Randolph

Main

Hood, Heaslet, Reed, Randolph, Patterson, Welch, Silva, Little, Simkins, Bauer, Jason McElroy, Jeremiah VanScoy, Barrett

Heat 1

Gary Dutton, Billy Griffin, Chris Smith, Lin Deines, David Childress

Heat 2

Mike Hood, Larry Hood, Bryan Terry, Brad Pounds, Doug Thompson

Heat 3

Rich Childress, Matt Barrett, Alan Updyke, Jeff Miller, Chris Mendenhall

Heat 4

Jimmy Reeves, Tommy Gregory, Mike Scott, Brady Bell, Buck Cox

1st B Main

Pounds, Thompson, Mike Corwin, Lin Deines, Steve Morrison, Chett Reeves

2nd B Main

Miller, Steve Smothermon, Cox, Mendenhall, Jim Deines, D Childress, Kenneth Cleveland

A Main

J Reeves, Updyke, Smothermon, Dutton, Griffin, L Hood, Miller, Cox, Corwin, Pounds, R Childress, Smith, Gregory, Terry, L Deines, Scott, Mendenhall, Barrett, Thompson, M Hood

Heat 1

Jonny Bates, Dylan Morris, Robert Early, Jesse Dean, Seth Kramer

Heat 2

Keith Janca, Jim Henderson, Brent Sexton, Donny Gansen, Karl Benefeil

Heat 3

Wink Schweitzer, Gary Sexton, Ernie Bartley III, Paul Townsend, Mike Barnette

Heat 4

David Cardey, Dan Lancaster, Steve Barnette, Lonnie Lopez, Stuart Hielscher

B Main

M Barnette, Benefeil, Hielscher, Josh Williams, Pat Hickey, B Sexton, #44X, Kramer, Kip McCleary, Danny Hyde, Dale Gamer, Bruce Haserot, Joel Williams

A Main

Cardey, Schweitzer, Janca, G Sexton, Dean, Bates, Early, Townsend, Morris, B Sexton, J Williams, Henderson, Benefeil, Gansen, Hielscher, M Barnette, Lancaster