InsideGroove - Race Report

FIRST IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE WIN FOR LARRY HOOD

Oildale, CA -- The only thing missing from Larry Hoods incredible rookie season in the IMCA Modifieds had been a feature win, but Saturday night the teenaged Bakersfield Speedway Park point leader drove around Brady Bell in the final two laps to win the 25 lap main event on Saturday night. It was a big weekend for L Hood, his Xtreme Chassis and crew chief Lee Jensen as the heavily traveled team ran second Friday night in Hawthorne NV to become the new track point leader there. L Hood has already made 38 starts in 2003 and he leads the Western Region Rookie of the Year standings as he duels Arizona star Joe Warner for third place in the region. Bell, the 2002 super street stock track champion, ran second ahead of Darrell Hood. D Hood is L Hoods father and his busy racing schedule has him leading the tracks super street stock point standings. Mike Wilson led all 25 laps from the pole position to win the hobby stock main event ahead of point leader Richie McGowan and Tom Klamorick. The Hood team also has a car battling for the championship in this class as Mike Lee from Pittsburg ended the night just 32 points back of McGowan. The NMRA TQ Midgets made their debut race at the 1/3 mile clay oval and teammates Jimmy May and Scott Hansen dueled for the win in their Greg Edenholm owned mounts. They raced their 20 lapper without a yellow and May led wire to wire to win ahead of Hansen and Mike Lambert. It was a sixth win in 2003 for Venturas May. The VRA dwarf cars rounded out the four division show and they raced their Pro and Senior divisions together this night. A break in the CDCRA schedule allowed several of their competitors to join the action and they swept the top three finishing spots with Angel Figueroa winning the 20 lap main for the second time in 2003 at Bakersfield. Jason Tomlinson ran second and David Quigley won the Senior class by finishing a strong third.

The IMCA Modifieds split their 19 car field into three heat races. Billy Griffin won the first from the pole with fourth starting Mike Hood second. D Hood turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 2 ahead of defending track champion Rick Childress. Brad Pounds came from fourth to win heat 3 ahead of Jeff Miller. Pounds was also the dash winner as he turned an outside front row start into a victory over pole starter R Childress. The 25 lap main was run with just four yellow flags. Griffin and Miller shared the front row for the start and Miller paced the first 3 laps. Pounds spun for a lap 2 yellow and R Childress fell out. D Hood grabbed the lead from Miller on lap 4 with his former A J Kirkpatrick mount. Bell and Griffin were trading third, but Bell, L Hood and Griffin all drove by Miller on lap 12. David Childress spun for a yellow flag and Miller pitted. Bell used a high line pass to take the lead from D Hood on the lap 13 restart and L Hood also passed his father a lap later for second. Bell was fighting off the inside groove efforts of L Hood when the next caution fell on lap 20 for a tangle between Miller and Steve Morrison. In the closing laps, L Hood moved his challenge to the outside line and he made his winning pass on lap 24. L Hood won ahead of Bell, D Hood, Griffin, Robert Sanders, visitor Chris Smith, Mike Scott and Buck Cox. With his chief challengers all having problems on the night, L Hood built his point lead to 34 points over Dutton, 38 ahead of R Childress and 43 in front of Pounds.

The 22 hobby stocks also used a three heat format. Bruce Johnson won the dash from an outside front row start as McGowan placed second. Zach Forster came from fifth to win heat 1 ahead of Jeremiah VanScoy. Fourth starting Robby Sawyer won heat 2 with fellow second row starter Chad Johnson second. Wilson had a big night as he won heat 3 from the pole with fellow front row starter Devan Jones second. Only 19 cars started the main event with Eric Cimental, Jacky Wood and Tom Dominguez all scratching. David West dropped out on the first lap as Wilson took a quick lead over Jones and C Johnson. Eric Olson broke an axle for a lap 6 yellow flag. B Johnson broke into the top five on lap 8 and C Johnson raced to second on lap 9. A flat tire had sidelined Jones and Clyde Benson then broke an axle. C Johnson had to pit with a flat tire. On the restart, Wilson led VanScoy, Sawyer and B Johnson. On lap 15, B Johnson raced into third only to be taken out by Sawyer. Sawyer drew a black flag and B Johnsons race was over. Wilson now led VanScoy, Klamorick and Zach Forster. VanScoy slowed late in the action and Forster tangled with Laura Farris as they dueled for second. Klamorick also got collected in the incident and he lost second place to McGowan. Wilson won ahead of McGowan, Klamorick, Lee, Jones, Ricky Spicer and C Johnson. McGowan holds the 32 point lead on Lee with Klamorick climbing into third in points, 74 points back of McGowan and just 2 points ahead of Forster.

This was the first race for the NMRA TQ Midgets at Bakersfield, but the track provides their next two nights of action on Sept 6 and Sept 27. Hansen came from last to win heat 1 over teammate May, who started third. Chuck West won heat 2 from the pole with fourth starter Lambert second. Jody Bandfield pitted on the first lap of the feature race. The lineup was an invert 4 off the heat finishes and May took a quick lead over Hansen, Lambert, Walt Johnson and West. They raced in that order from green to checkered in the caution free 20 lapper, but Hansen did nose ahead briefly in turn 2 on lap 9. May and Hansen were never seperated by more than three car lengths. West Evans broke an engine on the final lap as May won ahead of Hansen, Lambert, Johnson, West, Kenny Wiley and Ron Wade. Lambert came out of the night with a 9 point lead on West and 25 ahead of Johnson. May is fourth in points and Hansen 7th.

The VRA dwarf cars did split its 16 car turnout into seperate heat races for the Pro and Senior divisions. Figueroa won the Pro heat race from the pole with fellow front row starter Carl Behmer second ahead of Tomlinson. Wheeling the Jeff Shelton car, Mike Sweeney won the Senior heat race ahead of Ken Lippert and 8th starter Quigley. The Senior cars were placed in front of the Pro cars in the 16 car main event grid. Quigley started on the pole and took a quick lead over Lippert and CDCRA visitor Walter Boyd. Problems for Jim Doss produced the first caution flag on lap 2. Figueroa raced into fourth on the restart and he passed both Lippert and Boyd for second on lap 4. Tomlinson was fifth on lap 5 and fourth a lap later. Figueroa waged a brief side by side duel with Quigley before taking the lead on lap 8. Tomlinson raced by Quigley for second on lap 9. At midway, Boyd ran third ahead of Quigley and Lippert. Quigley retook second on a lap 11 restart. Doss hit the wall for the final yellow flag on lap 16. Tomlinson was able to retake second from Quigley on lap 18 and he chased Figueroa to the win. Quigley paced the Senior class with his third ahead of Mike Bradley, Boyd, Sweeney, Rick Denny, Jon Prechtl and Lippert, the final lead lap finisher. Bradley was third in the Pro Class while the fianl five lead lap finishers are all Senior entries.

Summary Pro Dwarf Car Heat-Angel Figueroa, Carl Behmer, Jason Tomlinson, Mike Bradley, Mark McLeroy. Senior Dwarf Car Heat-Mike Sweeney, Ken Lippert, David Quigley, Walter Boyd, Jim Kojaku. Combined Main-Figueroa, Tomlinson, Quigley, Bradley, Boyd, Sweeney, Rick Denny, Jon Prechtl, Lippert, McLeroy, Cindy Addison, Jim Doss, Kojaku, Gary Conditt, Behmer, Glen Monk. NMRA TQ Midget Heat 1-Scott Hansen, Jimmy May, Walt Johnson, Ron Wade, Steve Parke. Heat 2-Chuck West, Steve Lambert, Kenny Wiley, Michael Bliffen, West Evans. Main-May, Hansen, Lambert, Johnson, West, Wiley, Wade, Bliffen, Evans, Parke, Jody Bandfield. Hobby Stock Dash-Bruce Johnson, Richie McGowan, Eric Olson. Heat 1-Zach Forster, Jeremiah VanScoy, Roger Brewer, McGowan, David Hayder. Heat 2-Robby Sawyer, Chad Johnson, Mike Lee, B Johnson. Heat 3-Mike Wilson, Devan Jones, Olson, Tom Klamorick, Clyde Benson. Main-Wilson, McGowan, Klamorick, Lee, Jones, Ricky Spicer, C Johnson, Forster, Laura Farris, Hayder, Steve Cimental, VanScoy, Eric Standridge, Brewer, B Johnson, Sawyer, Benson, Olson, David West. IMCA Modified Dash-Brad Pounds, Rick Childress, Mike Hood. Heat 1-Billy Griffin, M Hood, Robert Sanders, Brady Bell, Chris Smith. Heat 2-Darrell Hood, R Childress, Larry Hood, Larry Blake, Chett Reeves. Heat 3-Pounds, Jeff Miller, Cory Turner, Mike Scott, Steve Morrison. Main-L Hood, Bell, D Hood, Griffin, Sanders, Smith, Scott, Buck Cox, Reeves, Blake, Gary Dutton, David Childress, Morrison, Miller, Pounds, Turner, Marvin Leist, M Hood, R Childress.
InsideGroove Latest Reports | InsideGroove Archives
About InsideGroove