InsideGroove - Race Report

FATHER-SON HOOD TEAM POCKET BAKERSFIELD TITLES

Oildale, CA -- 18 year old IMCA Modified rookie Larry Hood wrapped up the Bakersfield Speedway track championship by towing through the pit gate on Saturday night, but he added to his margin by racing to a 4th place finish in the 25 lap feature that was won by defending track champion Rick Childress. L Hood also added Western Region rookie of the year honors and he won the championship at the five race season at Hawthorne Nevada with his Xtreme Chassis out of the Race Prep shops. 2002 Super Street Stock champion Brady Bell and Gary Dutton chased R Childress to the feature win. L Hoods father Darrell Hood had to work harder to finish off his track championship year, driving to a 3rd place finish in that 25 lapper to win the title by just 4 points over race runnerup Lloyd Reed. Keith Heaslet won for the second straight week. A third member of the Hood Racing Team, Mike Lee from Pittsburg fell short in his bid to add another track title as his second feature win in the time shortened 17 lap hobby stock main left him second in points, only 16 behind champion Richie McGowan. Jeremiah VanScoy rebounded from last weeks disqualification with a second ahead of champion R McGowan. Christine Carl from Buttonwillow got her second feature win in the time shortened 18 lap American Stock main with Mike McInnerney second. Mark Hogues bid for a clean sweep ended when he pitted from 3rd on lap 14, but he was crowned the American Stock track champion.

The 21 IMCA Modifieds were divided into three heat races. Nine feature race winner Brad Pounds won the dash from last starting but sat out his heat race. Heat winners were third starter R Childress and outside front row starters Steve Morrison and Jeff Miller. Jimmy Goldsmith was the only main event scratch, but Morrison was fighting problems with his car and missed the first green flag. Marvin Leist fell out on the first lap and Mendenhall led two laps before spinning out. R Childress came from sixth to inherit the lead with the Mendenhall spin. Miller took second from Bell on lap 6 and Pounds night was over as he dropped a drive line. L Hood was riding in 4th and Dutton gained fifth on the restart. Miller had to pit from second on a lap 10 yellow flag when Kenneth Cleveland spun. Bell was now second ahead of L Hood and Dutton with back of the pack starter Mike Hood all the way to fifth. M Hood changed an engine during the heat action. With Billy Griffin busy winning his second straight dirt late model main in Santa Maria, L Hoods crew chief Lee Jensen got a chance to wheel the Ken Hobson Xtreme and he gained fifth on lap 13. Dutton passed L Hood on lap 23 to finish third as R Childress got his first win of the season. Bell was second ahead of Dutton, L Hood, Jensen, M Hood, Buck Cox and Mike Scott. L Hood finished 37 points ahead of Dutton with Pounds 20 more back in third. R Childress climbed to within 10 points of Pounds and finished 19 ahead of Scott. David Childress and Bell rounded out the top 7 in points.

There were 12 super street stocks and Ed Barrett won the dash from the pole ahead of Randy Schweitzer. Steve Noland beat Reed in heat 1 and Lonnie Welch also turned third starting spot into a win in heat 2 over Heaslet and D Hood. D Hood carried a six point lead over Reed into the final feature and each position is worth two points. Outside front row starter Schweitzer took a quick lead over 4th starter Heaslet and sixth starter Welch as Darren Hopkins threw a wheel for a lap 1 yellow. Bill Little spun for a lap 2 yellow and then he blew a tire for a lap 3 caution. Welch took second from Heaslet on lap 7 and tried an inside move on Schweitzer, but that ended up costing him second back to Heaslet on lap 11. Heaslet was able to make an inside pass on Schweitzer for the lead on lap 13 and Schweitzer spun for a lap 15 yellow flag. Welch clipped the spinning Schweitzer and had to pit with a flat tire. Heaslet now led D Hood and Reed. Reed made a move underneath D Hood for second on lap 21 and then tried an inside line in his duel with Heaslet for the lead. Heaslet fought Reed off for the $500 feature win and Reeds track title bid fell 4 points short as third place D Hood took championship honors. Noland was fourth ahead of Schweitzer and John Romero. Welch finished third in points with the absent Dave Bauer fourth ahead of Little. It was the third win for sixth ranked Heaslet.

There were 21 hobby stocks and point leader R McGowan debuted a new car with a win in the dash, but decided to move back into his faithful ride for the remainder of the night turning the new car over to Mesa Marin racer Steve McGowan. Heat winners were outside front row starters Clyde Benson and Mike Wilson along with 3rd starter Bruce Johnson, the 2002 champion. Jacky Wood tagged the main event after missing the heat race action. The outside line of Benson, Wilson and Zach Forster all got by pole starter MLissa Manzella on lap 1 of the scheduled 20 lap feature. With Wilson attempting an inside pass of leader Benson, Ron Schmidt hit the wall for a lap 4 yellow flag. Forster took second from Wilson on lap 7 and got underneath Benson for the lead on lap 9. On lap 10, both Wilson and B Johnson drove by Benson for the 2-3 slots, but Curtis Dietzsch stalled and his stopped car was hit by Wilson, who had to pit. Benson was back in second ahead of Lee and R McGowan, but Benson broke an axle for the final yellow flag on lap 13. Lee and VanScoy gained the 2-3 slots and they took the lead when pacesetter Forster stalled on lap 16. The race was called complete with the lap 17 yellow flag with Lee in front of VanScoy. S McGowan put the new car in third, but was disqualified for failing to report to tech moving track titlest R McGowan up to third ahead of Chad Johnson, David West, Tom Klamorick and paraplegic Wood. Klamorick finished third in points, 60 behind Lee and 114 ahead of Forster. Robby Sawyer had a rough night and fell back into a tie for fifth with Eric Olson.

The American Stocks finished off their point season with a 14 car turnout. Hoge won the dash from the ple over Lisa Hudnall. Hogue came from sixth to win his heat and newcomer Chris Martin won heat 2 from 4th. The scratches of both Amy Hedden and James Cecil left a 12 car feature. After the front row of Wayne Dotson and previous week winner Conrad Feliks were sent to the rear for two false starts, McInnerney raced to a quick lead over Steve McKinley and Hudnall. Hogue started 7th, was fourth in two laps and took third when Hudnall spun on lap 5. Hogue grabbed second from McKinley on lap 7, but had a right front wheel bearing going bad and he fell back to third behind Carl on lap 11. Hogue pulled into the infield on lap 14 and debris forced a lap 17 yellow flag with Carl having taken the lead from McInnerney on lap 16. Third place Michelle Childress was spun on the restart and the race was called complete as the cars finished lap 18. Karl beat McInnerney with both Dotson and Hudnall disqualified from their 3-4 finishes for not going to tech. That climbed Feliks into third over Rob Snider and Childress with Martin penalized back to sixth for spinning Childress. Hogue finished 68 points in front of Tyack with Carl just 30 more points back in third. Jesse Bowles and McKinley rounded out the top five in season points.

Oct 4th will see a big practice night for all classes as the dirt late models, dirt modifieds, super street stocks and hobby stocks all prepare for the Oct 10-11 Budweiser Nationals.

Summary American Stock Dash-Mark Hogue, Lisa Hudnall, Conrad Feliks. Heat 1-Hogue, Steve McKinley, Michelle Childress, Mike McInnerney, Hudnall. Heat 2-Chris Martin, Rob Snider, Rose Tyack, Feliks, Christine Carl. Main-Carl, McInnerney, Feliks, Snider, Childress, Martin, Tyack, Hogue, McKinley, Jesse Bowles. Hobby Stock Dash-Richie McGowan, Eric Olson, Mike Lee. Heat 1-Clyde Benson, Bobby Quinton Jr, MLissa Manzella, Steve Cimental, Eric Olson. Heat 2-Bruce Johnson, Curtis Dietzsch, Ted Rogers, Lee, Robby Sawyer. Heat 3-Mike Wilson, R McGowan, Zach Forster, Steve McGowan, David West. Main-Lee, Jeremiah VanScoy, R McGowan, Chad Johnson, West, Tom Klamorick, Jacky Wood, Brewer, Dietzsch, Olson, S Cimental, B Johnson, Forster, Benson, Quinton, Rogers, Sawyer, Wilson, Manzella, Ron Schmidt. Super Street Stock Dash-Ed Barrett, Randy Schweitzer, Bill Stephens. Heat 1-Steve Noland, Lloyd Reed, John Romero, Barrett, Stephens. Heat 2-Lonnie Welch, Keith Heaslet, Darrell Hood, Schweitzer, Alvin Ince. Main-Heaslet, Reed, Hood, Noland, Schweitzer, Romero, Welch, Ince, Bill Little, Barrett, Stephens, Darren Hopkins. IMCA Modified Dash-Brad Pounds, Larry Hood, Cory Turner. Heat 1-Rick Childress, Turner, Chris Mendenhall, Chris Tonoli, Marvin Leist. Heat 2-Steve Morrison, Joe Porche, Robert Sanders, Kenneth Cleveland, L Hood. Heat 3-Jeff Miller, Gary Dutton, Brady Bell, Buck Cox, Chett Reeves. Main-R Childress, Bell, Dutton, L Hood, Lee Jensen, Mike Hood, Cox, Mike Scott, David Childress, Mendenhall, Porche, Miller, Cleveland, Tonoli, Pounds, Turner, Reeves, Sanders, Leist, Morrison.
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