InsideGroove - Race Report

WILD FINISHES MARK OILDALE NIGHT

Oildale, CA -- Having earlier won both his heat race and the dash, former super street stock track champion Brady Bell made a last lap pass around California State champion Bill Saltzman to be first across the finish line in the crash marred IMCA Modified main event Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park, but he then crashed hard in turn 1. When Bell could not drive his car to the front stretch claim area, he was disqualified per IMCA rules and Saltzman awarded the 24 lap win ahead of Sidney Payne and Rick Childress. Unlike the regional points where your top 30 starts are counted, the state standings include every race that you attempt and the retired Saltzman runs the most active schedule here in the west. In 2003, he not only was IMCA Modified state champion, but added the track championship at the unsanctioned Chowchilla Speedway. After a restart shuffled the lineup, fifth starter Lloyd Reed Sr jumped into the lead on lap 1 and was never headed in the 30 lap super street stock main event. A spin by rookie Jeremiah VanScoy on lap 28 cost him second place as Randy Schweitzer ran second ahead of Royce Patterson. Leaders Steven Johnson and Steve McGowan hooked bumpers in turn 2 of the final lap of the 25 lap hobby stock main event. They stayed in front, but McGowan gassed his car in turn 4 and spun S Johnson out in the process. The spinning S Johnson crossed the line just ahead of third place Tom Klamorick. The officials elected to give the win to S Johnson and place S McGowan second ahead of Klamorick. The American Stock win was decided in the tech area when Jesse Bowles was found illegal, handing the win and a clean sweep to Wayne Dotson. Third place finisher Conrad Feliks had failed to go to the tech area, leading to his disqualification so Michelle Childress ended up the race runnerup after crossing the finish line in 4th.

The addition of two Merced regulars and a two car effort from Steiner-Compton Racing gave the IMCA Modifieds a 25 car turnout as opening race winner Joe Antonetti and Andy Obertello again made the long tow from the Santa Cruz area. They were divided into four heat races and the impressive Payne came from fifth to win heat 1 over rookie Nick Sylvester. Outside front row starter Bell won heat 2 ahead of Richard Papenhausen. Jeff Miller won heat 3 from the pole over fellow front row starter Jason Selvidge. Track champion Larry Hood won heat 4 over Lee Jensen. This year, Bakersfield is taking the dash lineups from the heat results and Bell beat Payne in the dash. The crash filled, scheduled 30 lap main event had an incredible 11 yellow flags and a red, taking over an hour to complete. The first caution didn't appear until lap 6 as Bell raced into an early lead over Mike Hood and Selvidge. Sylvester lost a lap after an early race spin and Selvidge raced into second on lap 3. Miller grabbed third on lap 5 and Merced winner Bob Williamson Sr was riding fifth behind L Hood. Antonetti pitted after a multi-car tangle ended the race for Merced's Kurtis Moore on lap 7. Selvidge pushed his D&M Performance mount around Bell for the top spot on lap 8. Papenhausen gained third on lap 10. Papenhausen passed Bell for second on lap 12 and took the lead from Selvidge with an inside pass on lap 13. There were just four cautions in the first 13 laps, but the remainder of the race went one lap at a time. Selvidge stalled for a yellow flag, M Hood escaped unhurt in a violent flip for a lap 16 red flag. As Papenhausen tested his car after the red flag, he lost his left rear wheel and he was done. L Hood found himself leading Miller and Bell, but Antonetti raced into third on lap 18. Antonetti made a bid to pass both leaders on the bottom, only to get hooked coming off turn 4 and spin into the front wall. L Hood then spun and Miller ran out of fuel. Jensen also pitted from the top five when he ran dry and the officials cut the race. Saltzman led laps 22 and 23, but Bell passed him on lap 24. When cars again crashing, the checkered flag was dropped and Bell himself slammed into the turn 1 fence after taking the flag. The track gave him over five minutes to try and drive to the front stretch claim area, but he couldn't move more than a couple feet and the win was awarded to Saltzman ahead of Payne, 24th starter Rick Childress, Chris Mendenhall, Lin Deines, Marvin Leist and Miller. Payne is the early season point leader with a 2 point margin on R Childress.

The super street stocks had a 13 car turnout and Santa Maria regular Willy Oathout won heat 1 from an outside front row start. Track champion Darrell Hood started on the pole and finished second. Wheeling the Keith Heaslet car in 2004, VanScoy won heat 2 ahead of Reed Sr. VanScoy was the dash winner over Oathout. Royce Patterson, Wayne Heurung, Robby Sawyer and Oathout had the front four starting spots for the 30 lap feature, but problems for Patterson, Sawyer and John Romero produced a restart and Oathout had to pit with a flat tire after clipping the wall. Reed jumped out front of Heurung and D Hood. Santa Maria's Jacob Jones was out early and D Hood spun after losing third to Glen Hughes for a lap 8 yellow flag. Heurung had rebounded strongly from his flip in the season opener and he pitted during this caution. Hughes was now second ahead of VanScoy. D Hood was out at the midway mark and Schweitzer retook fifth from Oathout on lap 18. Schweitzer drove around Patterson for fourth on lap 23 and Oathout spun for a lap 24 yellow. Second place Hughes parked his car. VanScoy inherited second, but spun on lap 28 with Reed Sr winning ahead of Schweitzer, Patterson, VanScoy and Heurung. Reed came out of the night with a six point lead on VanScoy and 10 ahead of Hughes as D Hood fell 11 points back of the point leader.

The 16 hobby stocks were divided into three heat races. S McGowan won the first heat ahead of opening night winner Bruce Johnson. M'Lissa Manzella captured heat 2 over newcomer Bobby Besser. Eric Olson and Klamorick ran 1-2 in heat 3. S McGowan won the dash over Manzella. Besser and Devan Jones had the front row for the 25 lap feature and Jones paced the first 9 laps. Matt Wankum hit the wall in a tangle with Clyde Benson for a lap 2 yellow flag. Olson settled into second and Manzella lost third when she hooked bumpers with B Johnson. S Johnson gained third and took second from Olson on lap 7. Track champion Richie McGowan spun and got hit by S McGowan for a lap 9 yellow flag. S Johnson took the lead from Jones on the restart and Jones spun on lap 12. Billy Irwin was blackflagged off the track for spinning Jones and Olson was the new runnerup ahead of Ricky Spicer. S McGowan gained fourth with the Irwin blackflag. Spicer had to pit with a flat tire on lap 19 and runnerup Olson suffered a broken axle on lap 21. Rachel Paul had to pit with a flat and green flag racing resumed with S Johnson leading S McGowan, Klamorick and B Johnson. The leaders hooked bumpers in turn 2 on the final lap and stayed hooked together until S McGowan sped up coming off turn 4 and his action spun S Johnson out. The officials elected to award the win to S Johnson and place S McGowan second ahead of Klamorick, B Johnson, Wankum, Spicer and Paul. B Johnson came out of the night 3 points ahead of both S Johnson and S McGowan.

The track divided 19 American Stocks into three heat races. Dotson came from sixth to win heat 1 over Chris Martin. Outside front row starter Steve McKinley won heat 2 over pole starter Feliks. Bowles won heat 3 from the outside front row as Michael Johnson ran second. Dotson beat Bowles in the dash. The feature had 18 starters. Bowles started on the pole, but fell to third behind M Johnson and S McKinley on the opening lap. Bowles traded second with S McKinley before leader M Johnson hooked bumpers with the lapped car of Lisa Hudnall. Hudnall hit the wall for a yellow flag and M Johnson stayed out front. Bowles reclaimed second on lap 8 with Dotson third ahead of M Childress. A flat sidelined fifth place Martin on lap 17 and Sam Henry got tangled up with Mike McInnerney on lap 16. Leader M Johnson had to pit with a flat right front tire on the restart with Bowles the new leader over Dotson and Feliks. They ran in that order to the checkered flag, but Feliks forgot to go to tech and Bowles car was found illegal. That handed Dotson the win ahead of M Childress, Johnny McKinley, Henry, Jackie Wood, Mike Boyd and Christine Carl. J McKinley came out of the night with a six point lead on Henry and 18 in front of Carl.

The March 27th race will be the season opener for the CarQuest Western Xtreme Dirt Car Series.

Summary American Stock Dash-Wayne Dotson, Jesse Bowles, Michael Johnson. Heat 1-Dotson, Chris Martin, Jackie Wood, Roxie Johnson, Tayler Spicer. Heat 2-Steve McKinley, Conrad Feliks, Michelle Childress, Johnny McKinley, Sam Henry. Heat 3-Bowles, M Johnson, Mike McInnerney, Dan Kennison, Lisa Hudnall. Main-Dotson, Childress, J McKinley, Henry, Wood, Mike Boyd, Christine Carl, M Johnson, R Johnson, S McKinley, Martin, Kennison, Spicer, Hudnall, Lloyd Reed Jr. Hobby Stock Dash-Steve McGowan, M'Lissa Manzella, Tom Klamorick. Heat 1-McGowan, Bruce Johnson, Billy Irwin, Matt Wankum, Lou Wolfe. Heat 2-Manzella, Bobby Besser, Steven Johnson, Rick Spicer, Jim Perry. Heat 3-Eric Olson, Klamorick, Devan Jones, Clyde Benson, Rachel Paul. Main-S Johnson, McGowan, Klamorick, B Johnson, Wankum, Paul, Olson, Jones, Benson, Irwin, Manzella, Richie McGowan, Wolfe, Besser, Perry. Super Street Stock Dash-Jeremiah VanScoy, Willy Oathout, Lloyd Reed Sr. Heat 1-Oathout, Darrell Hood, Robby Sawyer, Glen Hughes, John Romero. Heat 2-VanScoy, Reed Sr, Royce Patterson, Jacob Jones, Ed Barrett. Main-Reed Sr, Randy Schweitzer, Patterson, VanScoy, Wayne Heurung, Hughes, Oathout, Hood, Zach Forster, Sawyer, Romero, Barrett, Jones. IMCA Modified Dash-Brady Bell, Sidney Payne, Jeff Miller. Heat 1-Payne, Nick Sylvester, Mike Hood, Mike Scott, Chett Reeves. Heat 2-Bell, Richard Papenhausen, Joe Antonetti, Steve Morrison, Chris Mendenhall. Heat 3-Miller, Jason Selvidge, Bill Saltzman, Tom Gregory, Jim Deines. Heat 4-Larry Hood, Lee Jensen, Bob Williamson Sr, Lin Deines, Marvin Leist. Main-Saltzman, Payne, Rick Childress, Mendenhall, L Deines, Leist, Miller, Buck Cox, Scott, Morrison, Williamson, Sylvester, Reeves, Jensen, L Hood, Antonetti, M Hood, Papenhausen, A Obertello, Selvidge, J Deines, Gregory, Kurtis Moore.
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