InsideGroove - Race Report

LATE PASS NETS DUTTON FIRST 2003 WIN

Oildale, CA -- Having lost the lead to Brady Bell with a lap 8 bobble, Gary Dutton made a late race charge at Bell and used a lap 23 pass to win the 25 lap IMCA Modified main event Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Dutton was involved in the huge 17 car tangle on the first lap, but stayed on the track and paced the first 7 laps before rookie Bell took over. Dutton climbed into third place in points with the win with Bell second ahead of point leaders Larry Hood and Steve Smothermon. After being unable to complete ten laps in their time limit last Saturday, the hobby stocks rebounded to go 15 straight green flag laps at the start of their feature. Coming off a great run at Chowchilla on Monday night, teenager Robby Sawyer won his first 20 lap hobby stock feature with Chad Johnson using a lap 16 pass to take second from Jeremy Valov. Valov broke an axle and defending champion Bruce Johnson ran third ahead of point leader Richie McGowan. Steve McKinnley paced the final 17 laps to win the curfew shortened 19 lap American Stock main event with Amy Hedden in second. The VRA dwarf cars visited the 1/3 mile clay oval for the second time. The two classes ran a combined 20 lap feature. Carl Behmer used an outside pass in lapped traffic on lap 19 to take the Pro Division win from Mike Bradley. Third place finisher Gary Conditt paced the Senior Division.

The IMCA Modifieds split a 25 car turnout into three heat races. Continuing his strong runs in the former Eric Jacobsen car, Matt Barrett won the dash in front of Jeff Miller. Outside front row starter Steve Morrison took heat 1 ahead of the red hot Miller and Billy Griffin. Dutton came from 8th to win heat 2 with pole starter Kenneth Cleveland second. Brad Pounds charged from sixth to win heat 3 ahead of Doug Thompson. Both David Childress and Jason Selvidge crashed hard into the fence in hot laps and the track elected to not race a B Main. When D Childress found that he was too big to fit into the Jimmy Goldsmith car, he repaired his and the track decision to not run a B Main left them with a 24 car starting field for the 25 lap A Main. Outside front row starter Morrison spun at the start of the race and an incredible 17 cars were collected in the incident. The race was over for Miller, Cleveland, Griffin and Pounds. The Pounds team welded on their car and attempted to return, but they performed the work at their pit not the designated work area and would not allowed to rejoin the race. Morrison pitted on the restart with Dutton the early leader over Buck Cox and Tommy Gregory. Cox pitted and Gregory spun as Rick Childress took over second ahead of Bell and L Hood. When R Childress got into the fence for a lap 7 yellow, Thompson was penalized to the rear. On lap 8, Dutton got sideways in turn 4 and lost the top spot to 2002 Super Street Stock champion Bell. Point leader Smothermon had restarted the race 15th after suffering a flat in the first lap melee, but battled to take fourth from Mike Hood on lap 10 as teenager L Hood ran third. Smothermon traded third with L Hood late in the action and a spin by Chett Reeves tightened the leaders on lap 21. Dutton drove underneath Bell coming off turn 2 on lap 23 to take the top spot. Bell ran second ahead of L Hood, Smothermon, M Hood, Chris Mendenhall and Mike Scott. Not willing to let the first lap incident cut short his laps on his 40th birthday weekend, Scott changed radiators in the work area and stayed on the lead lap. He restarted the race 20th and worked his way to the 7th place finish. Smothermon’s point lead is five over Western Region rookie of the year hopeful L Hood and 15 in front of Dutton.

The hobby stock 20 car field included usual Chowchilla Speedway racer Rachel Paul. Tom Klamorick won the dash from a front row start. Heat winners were Eric Olson, point leader R McGowan and Sawyer. Valov and Sawyer shared the front row for the 20 lap main event. Sawyer took a quick lead over Valov and David West with a flat tire sidelining Roger Brewer. West lost third to C Johnson on lap 11 and pitted. The first caution came on lap 29 when Eric Cimental spun. Jeremiah VanScoy was penalized to the rear for the incident. C Johnson got underneath Valov for second on the restart and Valov broke an axle for the lap 17 yellow flag. Sawyer stayed out front for the win with C Johnson second ahead of B Johnson, McGowan, Zach Forster, Mike Lee, Olson and Klamorick. McGowan’s point lead is just 8 points over Forster and 24 ahead of Lee.

The American Stocks had a 14 car turnout with early season feature winners Tyler Bandy, Matt Peternel and Craig Houk all missing. Point leader Mark Hogue won the dash and heat winners were S McKinnley and Christine Carl. Pole starter Hedden led the first two laps of the feature with S McKinnley in second. S McKinnley took over on lap 3 as Jesse Bowles settled into third over Hogue. Fifth place Don Mead blew a tire for a lap 11 yellow flag. Hogue pulled alongside Hedden, but couldn’t complete the pass. Hogue pitted on lap 15 and Carl crashed into the fence for a lap 16 yellow flag. Conrad Felicks lost a wheel for a lap 18 yellow flag and a pair of spins produced the checkered flag a lap early on lap 19 with the 11 o’clock curfew. S McKinnley won ahead of Hedden, Robbie Truesdale, Bowles, Mike McInnerney and Johnny McKinnley. Hogue’s point lead is now 22 over Rose Tyack, 30 ahead of Mead and 38 in front of J McKinnley. S McKinnley advanced to fifth with his win.

The VRA dwarf cars that normally compete in Ventura brought 6 Pro Entries and 4 Senior entries. Pole starter Bradley won the Pro heat race ahead of back row starter Jeff Shelton and former CDCRA president Behmer. Conditt came from last to win the Senior heat race ahead of pole starter Glen Monk. The Pros were lined up in front of the Seniors in the combined 20 lap feature. Bradley took the lead from the pole with Behmer settling into second. Conditt took third from Monk on lap 2 and John Lynch pitted. Shelton had to pit from 4th with a flat right rear tire on lap 4. Behmer took the lead from Bradley on lap 10, but gave it back on lap 12. Rick Denny from Taft took fourth from Monk on lap 18. The race ran without a caution and leaders Bradley and Behmer came upon three lapped cars on lap 19. Behmer found a faster outside line to take the lead from Bradley and collect the win. Conditt ran third ahead of Monk, Jon Prechtl, Mark McLeroy and Denny.

Heat

Gary Conditt, Glen Monk, Jon Prechtl, Rick Denny

Heat

Mike Bradley, Jeff Shelton, Carl Behmer, John Lynch, Mark McLeroy

Main

Behmer, Bradley, Conditt, Monk, Prechtl, McLeroy, Denny, Cindy Addison, Shelton, Lynch

Dash

Mark Hogue, Don Mead, Christine Carl

Heat 1

Steve McKinnley, Jesse Bowles, Amy Hedden, Conrad Felicks, Kevin Morris

Heat 2

Carl, Hogue, Mead, Mike McInnerney, Eric Jones

Main

S McKinnley, Hedden, Robbie Truesdale, Bowels, McInnerney, Johnny McKinnley, Hogue, Carl, Felicks, Morris, Rose Tyack, Mead, Jones

Dash

Tom Klamorick, Bruce Johnson, Zach Forster

Heat 1

Eric Olson, Forster, Jeremy Valov, Steven Johnson, Lou Wolfe

Heat 2

Richie McGowan, Mike Lee, Eric Cimental, David West, Jeremiah VanScoy

Heat 3

Robby Sawyer, B Johnson, Chad Johnson, Roger Brewer, Bob Brown

Main

Sawyer, C Johnson, B Johnson, McGowan, Forster, Lee, Olson, Klamorick, E Cimental, VanScoy, Wolfe, Rachel Paul, Brown, Geoff Menees, West, Valov, Brewer, S Johnson, David Hayder

Heat 1

Steve Morrison, Jeff Miller, Billy Griffin, Rick Childress, Mike Scott

Heat 2

Gary Dutton, Kenneth Cleveland, Buck Cox, Tommy Gregory, Darrell Hood

Heat 3

Brad Pounds, Doug Thompson, Steve Smothermon, Jim Deines, Chris Mendenhall

Main

Dutton, Brady Bell, Larry Hood, Smothermon, Mike Hood, Mendenhall, Scott, Gregory, David Childress, Robert Sanders, Chett Reeves, Lin Deines, Cox, D Hood, Jim Deines, Thompson, R Childress, Jimmy Goldsmith, Matt Barrett, Morrison, Miller, Cleveland, Griffin, Pounds

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