InsideGroove - Race Report

BRAD POUNDS LEADS FINAL FIVE LAPS FOR 9TH FEATURE WIN

Oildale, CA -- Forced to come from 9th starting spot, teenaged Brad Pounds charged into fourth on lap 9 and took the lead from point leader Larry Hood on lap 16 as he raced to his 9th IMCA modified feature win of the season Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. B Pounds wheels an Xtreme Chassis built by his father Scott Pounds and Terry Henrys RacePrep. He has also won 11 heat races, but stands third in track points. The Pounds team is working on a plan to relocate to Tennessee to further Brads racing career. Another teenager, L Hood, fell short in his bid to wrap up the track title with one point race remaining as he will carry a 38 point lead over Gary Dutton into that final night with 40 points available for the feature winner. The leading Western Region rookie of the year, L Hood did wrap up the Hawthorne NV track title on Friday night with a 2nd place run there. Tonight, L Hood ran third behind Dutton in the time shortened 20 lapper. The CDCRA dwarf cars relocated one of the Route 66 race cancellations at Bakersfield and brought a 19 car field. They raced the Pro and Masters divisions together and Bobby Brown Jr used a last lap move around Eric Lopez to win their time shortened 17 lapper. Lopez had led from lap 5 and he ran second ahead of Angel Figueroa and Jason Tomlinson. Figueroas teammate Randy Throne paced the Masters entries with a fifth place feature run.

There were 20 IMCA Modifieds in action and defending track champion Rick Childress won the dash ahead of L Hood and Chris Mendenhall, who sported a new look along with teammate Kenneth Cleveland. Late season sensation Cory Turner came from 6th starting to win heat 1 over fellow third row starter R Childress. Pounds won heat 2 from the pole with Mike Hood second ahead of L Hood. Chett Reeves turned a pole start into a win in heat 3 as Dutton ran second. The feature had 18 starters as Jeff Miller had a very hard heat race crash and Marvin Leist had crashed in hot laps. Bill Meyer Jr subbed in the Ken Hobson car usually wheeled by Billy Griffin and had the pole for the scheduled 25 lap feature alongside Reeves. Reeves led the first 8 laps. R Childress was out on lap 2. David Childress took second from Meyer on lap 3, but lost the spot on lap 5 as both Dutton and L Hood got by him. A pair of spins by rookie Jimmy Goldsmith took him out of action and L Hood grabbed second from Dutton on lap 8. Turner had to pit with a flat tire and Pounds gained fourth on lap 8. L Hood was the new leader on lap 9 as Reeves spun. Pounds leaped to second as the two Xtreme Chassis dueled for the win. Dutton settled into third ahead of M Hood and Cleveland. M Hoods race ended as he lost a tire on lap 16 after Cleveland had spun for a caution. Pounds raced underneath L Hood and took the lead on lap 16 after a brief side by side duel. Dutton also got around L Hood to finish second. Pounds won ahead of Dutton, L Hood, a hard charging Turner, R Childress, Buck Cox, Mike Scott and Reeves. L Hoods point lead is 38 over Dutton and 48 ahead of Pounds. R Childress has fallen 24 points back of Pounds and is just 12 in front of Scott.

The CDCRA dwarf car turnout included 9 Pros and 8 Masters. The cars were mixed for all three heat races. Figueroa started the night with a 20 point lead on B Brown Jr in the Pro Standings while teammate Throne paced the Masters standings by 11 points over Danny Arant and 18 ahead of defending champion Gary Ebeling. Figueroa came from fifth to win heat 1 over Masters racer Gordon Brand. Another Masters racer Walt Boyd won heat 2 from the pole as 4th starter Arant ran second. Jason Tomlinson won heat 3 from fifth with Carl Behmer second. The scheduled 20 lap feature had a big 12 car inversion that put B Brown Jr and Ed Niedzwiecki on the front row. B Brown Jr led the opening lap over Lopez and visitor Gary Barber. The red flag fell as Brand crashed out the pit entrance. Arants race was over, but Brand returned at the back. Lopez then raced underneath B Brown Jr for the lead on lap 5 and Figueroa rode a high line around Throne into fifth. Barber spun out of third for a lap 7 yellow with Figueroa now third ahead of Throne and Niedzwiecki. J Tomlinson broke into the top five on lap 9 and Marv Tomlinson spun for yellows on both lap 10 and lap 14. Figueroa was attempting an outside run on B Brown Jr for second when the lap 14 yellow flag fell. The race was redflagged on lap 16 when Niedzwiecki flipped. The field was given a one lap shootout for the win as the time limit had expired. B Brown Jr was able to race around Lopez on that final lap to collect the win. Lopez ran second ahead of Figueroa, J Tomlinson, Throne, Behmer, Ebeling, Brand and Boyd. Throne, Ebeling, Brand and Boyd were the leading Masters Division finishers. CDCRA races at Perris on Sept 20 and makes up an early season rainout at Santa Maria on Oct 4.

Summary Dwarf Car Heat 1-Angel Figueroa, Gordon Brand, Rob Brown, Bobby Brown Jr, Diana Marshall. Heat 2-Walt Boyd, Danny Arant, Marv Tomlinson, Gary Barber, Brent Stevens. Heat 3-Jason Tomlinson, Carl Behmer, Randy Throne, Ed Niedzwiecki, Gary Ebeling. Main-B Brown Jr, Eric Lopez, Figueroa, J Tomlinson, Throne, Behmer, Ebeling, Brand, Boyd, Barber, Stevens, Mike VanAcker, Marshall, R Brown, Niedzwiecki, M Tomlinson, Arant. IMCA Modified Dash-Rick Childress, Larry Hood, Chris Mendenhall. Heat 1-Cory Turner, R Childress, Larry Blake, Bill Meyer Jr, Mendenhall. Heat 2-Brad Pounds, Mike Hood, L Hood, Buck Cox, Jimmy Goldsmith. Heat 3-Chett Reeves, Gary Dutton, David Childress, Mike Scott, Kenneth Cleveland. Main-Pounds, Dutton, L Hood, Turner, D Childress, Cox, Scott, Reeves, Mendenhall, M Hood, Steve Morrison, Blake, Cleveland, Mike Corwin, Meyer, Goldsmith, Brady Bell, R Childress.
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