Oildale, CA -- Defending track champion Larry Hood took just 5 laps to take the lead from 10th starting and he won Saturday night's time shortened 15 lap IMCA Modified main event at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Rain delays right after wheel packing and again at the end of the heat action left just 90 minutes to complete the four main events and L Hood was chased to his win by Jeff Miller and Tom Gregory. L Hood leaped from fifth to third in track points, just 4 behind leader Sidney Payne. Young Robby Sawyer became the second super street stock rookie to win a main event this year as he drove underneath Royce Patterson on lap 19 to win the 20 lap feature. Another rookie Zach Forster led the first 17 laps before blowing a right front tire. Patterson placed second ahead of Bill Little. Bruce Johnson got his second win of 2004 in the time shortened 19 lapper for the hobby stocks. He led just the final 3 laps after a late race pass around Eric Cimental. Steve McGowan ran third and defending champion Richie McGowan protected his point lead by wheeling a borrowed car from last to fourth. The American Stocks made it six winners in six races as Steve McKinley led all 13 laps from his outside front row start. Jason Bannister was second ahead of Adam Watkins. Rain during the drivers meeting forced an extra hour of wheel packing and the first six heat races were run on a track too wet to race on. Another shower at the end of the heat action forced another session of wheel packing and the trophy dashes were dropped.

With Hanford raining out early in the day, the 23 car IMCA Modified field included Hanford track champion Bryan Burnes. Heat winners were division rookie Lonnie Welch, Robert Sanders, Nick Sylvester and Gregory. The rain delays saw the officials reduce the feature laps to 20 and the IMCA Modified lineup procedure put Sanders and Chris Mendenhall on the front row with Payne and Burnes in row six. Gregory led the first 4 laps with Miller in second for the first 3. Chett Reeves stalled on lap 1 and Mendenhall pitted. L Hood leaped from 10th to 3rd on lap 1 with his Xtreme Chassis and he raced by Miller for second on lap 4. An inside move netted L Hood the lead on lap 5 and David Childress moved the Doug Thompson car by Burnes for fourth on lap 7. D Childress now crews on the Thompson dirt late model effort. The yellow flag fell on lap 7 as Rick Childress lost his brakes and slammed hard into the wall. He was unhurt and action resumed with L Hood leading Miller, Gregory, Burnes and Sanders. C Childress stalled for a lap 11 yellow flag and the time limit expired at 15 laps with L Hood leading Miller, Gregory, Sanders, Lee Jensen, Jason Selvidge, Mike Hood, Steve Morrison and Sylvester. Payne ran 13th and is now just 3 points ahead of Mike Scott, 4 ahead of L Hood. This class has had four winners in four races.

The 12 super street stocks were divided into a pair of heat races. Outside front row starter Bill Little beat another talented rookie Jeremiah VanScoy in heat 1 and Lloyd Reed used the same starting spot to take heat 2 ahead of Karl Noland Jr. Forster and John Romero shared the front row for the feature lineup with Sawyer starting 7th and Patterson 6th. Forster took a quick lead over Romero and Patterson as VanScoy spun on the first lap. Glen Hughes and Steve Cargill both dropped out. Patterson and Sawyer raced into the 2-3 slots on lap 3 and Noland took fourth from Little on lap 7. Noland pitted on lap 9 to move Little back to fourth ahead of Wayne Heurung. Reed spun for a lap 11 yellow flag. VanScoy raced back to fifth on lap 14 and Forster stalled with his right front flat tire after leading 17 laps. Sawyer ran behind Patterson for lap 18, but drove underneath him for the win on lap 19. Sawyer won with Patterson second ahead of Little, VanScoy, Reed, Romero and Heurung. Reed's point lead is just 3 points over VanScoy and 15 ahead of Sawyer. Four winners in four races for this class also.

The track split 20 hobby stocks into three heat races. R McGowan lost a motor in hot laps and got the Geoff Menees car for the feature action. Justin Schweitzer was a feature scratch. Heat winners were pole starter Matt Wankum, third row starter B Johnson and pole starter S McGowan. Racing for just the second time this season, E Cimental had the pole for the 20 lap feature with Eric Olson alongside. B Johnson lined up sixth. Cimental led the first 16 laps. Clyde Benson broke an axle on lap 1 with the yellow also flying on lap 2 and 3 for a spin by Wankum and a stalled Eric McGough. Olson settled into second ahead of B Johnson with Steven Johnson into fourth on lap 3. Bobby Besser hit the wall for a lap 9 yellow flag. S Johnson restarted in the rear after pitting to move S McGowan and M'Lissa Manzella into the 4-5 slots. B Johnson took second from Olson on lap 12 and Olson pitted a lap later. S McGowan was now third and Manzella traded fourth with Devan Jones. B Johnson had just taken the lead from Cimental before 4th place Manzella spun for the final caution on lap 17. The time limit expired on lap 19 with B Johnson leading Cimental, S McGowan, 18th starting R McGowan, Wankum, S Johnson, Jones and Tom Klamorick. B Johnson became the first two time winner in any of the track's four basic classes in 2004. R McGowan stretched his point lead to 17 points over brother S McGowan and 19 ahead of B Johnson. A tough night dropped Rick Spicer from 2nd in points to sixth.

The American Stocks were in action for a sixth time in 2004 and again attracted a 20 car field. Heat winners were Mike Armitage, Christine Carl and James Cecil. Adam Watkins and S McKinley shared the front row for the 18 car feature as both Roxie Johnson and Tayler Spicer scratched. The time limit expired in just 13 laps as S McKinley led wire to wire. Mike McInnerney ran second for two laps before suffering a left front flat tire. Bannister took over second and Watkins gained third as Michael Johnson blew a tire while third. Lisa Hudnall spun for a final yellow on lap 11 and Michelle Childress pitted her badly smoking car. S McKinley won ahead of Bannister, Watkins, Chris Martin, point leader Johny McKinley, Christine Carl and back row starter Sam Henry. J McKinley came out of the night with a six point lead on both Henry and Carl. Mike Boyd is 19 points out of first and just 2 points ahead of Martin.

The IMCA Modifieds, Super Street Stocks and Hobby Stocks return on April 24 along with the second 2004 visit by the TQ Midgets. The track's new mini stock class will also run it's debut race.

Summary American Stock Heat 1-Mike Armitage, Mike McInnerney, Steve McKinley, Adam Watkins, Lisa Hudnall. Heat 2-Christine Carl, Michael Johnson, Jason Bannister, Mike Boyd, Dan Kennison. Heat 3-James Cecil, Johny McKinley, Chris Martin, Michelle Childress, Tayler Spicer. Main-S McKinley, Bannister, Watkins, Martin, J McKinley, Carl, Sam Henry, Kennison, Boyd, Jesse Bowles, Cecil, Hudnall, Childress, M Johnson, Armitage, Wayne Dotson, McInnerney, Dennis Brunson. Hobby Stock Heat 1-Matt Wankum, M'Lissa Manzella, Rick Spicer, Justin Schweitzer, Bobby Besser. Heat 2-Bruce Johnson, Eric Cimental, Tom Klamorick, Steven Johnson, Sean Minor. Heat 3-Steve McGowan, Devan Jones, Eric Olson, Lou Wolfe, Eric McGough. Main-B Johnson, Cimental, S McGowan, Richie McGowan, Wankum, S Johnson, Jones, Klamorick, Manzella, Minor, Amy Hedden, Wolfe, Olson, Besser, Spicer, McGough, Mike Wilson, Clyde Benson. Super Street Stock Heat 1-Bill Little, Jeremiah VanScoy, Wayne Heurung, Royce Patterson, Robby Sawyer. Heat 2-Lloyd Reed, Karl Noland Jr, Zach Forster, Steve Cargill, Randall Davis. Main-Sawyer, Patterson, Little, VanScoy, Reed, John Romero, Heurung, Forster, Davis, Noland, Glen Hughes, Cargill. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Lonnie Welch, Sidney Payne, Larry Hood, Marvin Leist, Jimmy Goldsmith. Heat 2-Robert Sanders, Chett Reeves, Jeff Miller, David Childress, Jason Selvidge. Heat 3-Nick Sylvester, Brady Bell, Bryan Burnes, Jim Deines, Mike Scott. Heat 4-Tom Gregory, Chris Mendenhall, Mike Hood, Rick Childress, Lee Jensen. Main-L Hood, Miller, Gregory, Sanders, Jensen, Selvidge, M Hood, Steve Morrison, Sylvester, Buck Cox, Scott, J Deines, Payne, Leist, Lin Deines, Burnes, Bell, D Childress, Welch, R Childress, Mendenhall, Goldsmith, Reeves.
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