InsideGroove - Race Report

TWO STRAIGHT FOR POINT LEADER LARRY HOOD

Oildale, CA -- Taking the lead from Chris Mendenhall on a lap 16 restart, IMCA Modified 17 year old point leader Larry Hood won his second straight 25 lap main event Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. He increased his point lead to 39 points with the win and Mendenhall had a career best second place run ahead of defending track champion Rick Childress and second ranked Gary Dutton. Taking the lead from previous week winner Mike Wilson with just four laps to run, Chad Johnson collected his 2nd 20 lap hobby stock feature win of the year. Wilson ran second and Mike Lee used a third place run to cut Richie McGowans point lead to just 26 points. McGowan was 6th in the 18 car race.

The IMCA Modifieds split 16 cars into three heat races. Mendenhall turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 1 with rookie Cory Turner taking heat two from last starting. Brad Pounds came from 4th to win heat 3 as L Hood ran second. Steve Morrison took dash honors from a pole start as rookie Robert Sanders came from last to finish 2nd. Morrison and Mendenhall shared the front row for the 25 lap feature and Mendenhall raced to an early lead over Morrison and Sanders. L Hood started 11th, was fourth on lap 5 and took third from David Childress on lap 6. Sanders pitted when Chett Reeves and Buck Cox tangled for a lap 6 yellow flag. L Hood used an inside move on a restart to take second from Morrison on lap 8. Turner briefly gained fifth behind D Childress when Marvin Leist was blackflagged for drawing two cautions. Turner spun on lap 13 and Dutton raced into fourth on lap 15 before usual Kings Speedway regular William Woodbridge spun for a yellow flag. On this restart, L Hood again got his Xtreme Chassis underneath leader Mendenhall for the top spot. R Childress leaped from 5th to 3rd on lap 17 and Dutton made a late pass to take fourth from Brady Bell. Turner moved back into the top five on lap 22 as L Hood won ahead of Mendenhall, R Childress, Dutton, Turner, D Childress, Mike Scott, Larry Blake and Bell. L Hoods point lead is 39 over Dutton with B Pounds another 11 points back in third. R Childress is 7 points back of B Pounds while Scott rounds out the top five. I want to apologize to Scott for stating that he drew a black flag in last weeks race when all he did was pit with a flat tire.

The red hot Wilson came from last starting to win the hobby stock dash ahead of Tom Klamorick. This class had 20 cars and heat winners were Jeremiah VanScoy, Robby Sawyer and Steve Cimental. The main event gridded 18 cars as Randy Jordan hit the wall in the heat action and defending champion Bruce Johnson lost an engine in his heat race. Clyde Benson and Wilson shared the front row and Wilson took a quick lead over J VanScoy and Benson. C Johnson started 6th, was fourth on lap 1 and took third from Benson on lap 2. The talented field ran the 20 laps without a single yellow flag. After falling to fifth behind C Johnson, Zach Forster and Lee on lap 10, J VanScoy pitted. Forster was out on lap 12 as Lee moved to third ahead of Robby Sawyer and Benson. After several attempts at an inside pass on leader Wilson, C Johnson finally pulled off his winning move on lap 17. Wilson ran second ahead of Lee, Sawyer, Benson, McGowan, Klamorick, Eric Olson and David West, the final lead lap finisher. Klamorick is third in points, 50 behind Lee and 20 ahead of Forster. Sawyer did move around Olson to climb into fifth in points by an 8 point margin.

Summary Hobby Stock Dash-Mike Wilson, Tom Klamorick, Mike Lee. Heat 1-Jeremiah VanScoy, Zach Forster, Chad Johnson, Lee, Troy Thomas. Heat 2-Robby Sawyer, Perry VanScoy, Klamorick, Eric Cimental, Eric Standridge. Heat 3-Steve Cimental, Clyde Benson, Wilson, Richie McGowan, Eric Olson. Main-C Johnson, Wilson, Lee, Sawyer, Benson, McGowan, Klamorick, Olson, David West, P VanScoy, S Cimental, Roger Brewer, Standridge, E Cimental, J VanScoy, Forster, Thomas, Billy Danner. IMCA Modified Dash-Steve Morrison, Robert Sanders, Buck Cox. Heat 1-Chris Mendenhall, Mike Scott, David Childress, William Woodbridge, Gary Dutton. Heat 2-Cory Turner, Rick Childress, Sanders, Brady Bell, Chett Reeves. Heat 3-Brad Pounds, Larry Hood, Cox, Morrison, Marvin Leist. Main-L Hood, Mendenhall, R Childress, Dutton, Turner, D Childress, Scott, Larry Blake, Bell, Morrison, Cox, Woodbridge, Sanders, Pounds, Reeves, Leist.
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