InsideGroove - Race Report

MIKE HOOD GETS FIRST, TWO STRAIGHT WINS FOR SAWYER

Oildale, CA -- On a crash filled night that saw every feature race except for one shortened by time limits, former dirt late model racer Mike Hood got his first IMCA Modified feature win of 2004 as he led every lap but one in that 25 lap feature at Bakersfield Speedway Park on Saturday night. It was nearly a perfect night for M Hood as he won his heat and ran second to Jeff Miller in the dash. Driving the Donnie Range car in 2004, former track champion Steve Smothermon from Porterville made his first local start of the year and finished second ahead of defending track champion Larry Hood. Driving underneath Steve Cargill for the top spot on lap 14, rookie Robby Sawyer became the first two feature winner in the super streeet stocks this year as he won for the second straight week in their time shortened 15 lapper. Cargill ran second ahead of new point leader Jeremiah VanScoy. Several early race incidents cut the hobby stock main event to just five scored laps and point leader Richie McGowan led just the final lap for his second win. R McGowan was 2003 season champion without a win. Steven Johnson and Tom Klamorick ran 2-3. The NMRA TQ Midgets made their second 2004 season visit and Steve Lambert emerged as their new season point leader after pacing the final 12 laps of a time shortened 15 lapper. Randy Moody jumped into one of the Greg Edenholm team cars and ran second ahead of teammate Scott Hansen. The first mini stock race at the track in 20 years ran 12 laps and the Santa Maria based car of Wayne Nunes won with a last lap pass around Jimmy Nason. Chris McKellar flipped leading for a lap 12 red flag.

The IMCA Modifieds split a 20 car turnout into three heat races. Fourth starting M Hood beat Miller in heat 1, outside front row starter Tom Gregory won heat 2 in another great effort in his new Big Dog Chassis and Chett Reeves captured heat 3 from the pole. Miller beat M Hood in the dash. The scratch of Robert Sanders left a 19 car grid for the feature and they ran the distance with just five yellow flags after a red on the initial try. Marvin Leist had gotten sideways on the start and the incident saw Jim Deines flip. L Hood spun on lap 2 as pole starter Lonnie Welch paced the first lap. M Hood took over on lap 2 and a spin by Welch moved Reeves into second on lap 5. After starting 12th, Smothermon quickly struck to 4th and a fire on third place Miller produced a lap 9 yellow flag. On the restart, Reeves made an outside challenge on leader M Hood. They finished lap 10 even and Reeves nosed ahead to lead lap 11 before falling back behind M Hood. Smothermon got around Reeves for second on lap 13 and Lee Jensen spun for the last yellow flag on lap 15. M Hood led Smothermon over those final ten rounds with L Hood making a charge. L Hood was fourth on lap 18 and moved his Xtreme Chassis into third on lap 22. Reeves ran fourth ahead of Mike Scott, point leader Sidney Payne, Steve Morrison and Jensen. Payne's point lead is now just 1 points over L Hood and 2 ahead of Scott in the 3 Way Chevrolet sponsored class. Morrison is just 12 points of the lead and just a single point ahead of Rick Childress. Both Jensen and M Hood are just one point back of Childress in the 8 way point title duel.

The super street stocks fielded 13 cars and Charles Paul won heat 1 from the pole ahead of Glen Hughes. Outside front row starter Lloyd Reed won heat 2 with pole starter Randy Schweitzer second. The dash was cancelled when just 2 cars lined up. Their feature race was shortened to 15 laps despite running with just 2 yellow flags. Bill Little was a scratch and Cargill shared the front row with Zach Forster. Forster spun on lap 1 and Cargill paced the first round. John Romero got out front for laps 2-3, but it was Cargill back in front on lap 4. Sawyer followed Cargill around Romero for second and began to challenge for the lead. VanScoy raced into third on lap 5 and Romero spun out of fourth for a lap 8 yellow flag. Paul lost laps in the pits and Cargill led Sawyer, VanScoy, Steve Noland and Glen Hughes on the restart. Sawyer got underneath Cargill for the win on lap 14 and the early checkered flag found Cargill in second ahead of VanScoy, S Noland, Hughes, Reed, Romero and Wayne Heurung. VanScoy came out of the night with a 3 point lead on Reed and 8 ahead of Sawyer. Heurung is 40 points out of the lead, but just 2 ahead of Hughes in their 4th place duel.

The hobby stock field exploded to 26 cars and used a four heat format. The top 3 finishers in each heat advanced and they were joined by 8 transfers from a B Main. Heat wins went to sixth starting Bruce Johnson, sixth starter Zach Forster, outside front row starter Steve McGowan and pole starter R McGowan. Double division racer Forster won the dash over R McGowan. Eric Cimental led all 10 laps of the B Main with M'Lisss Manzella a race long second ahead of Roger Brewer. Top runner Chad Johnson broke a motor in his heat to end his night. Matt Wankum led the first 2 laps of the five lap feature with Rick Spicer pacing laps 3-4. The most spectacular of the incidents that ate up the time saw Wankum spin. Devan Jones clipped him and his car was launched into the catch fence in turn 4 area. Spicer was fending off R McGowan as they started the final lap, but Spicer spun and R McGowan won ahead of S Johnson, Tom Klamorick, B Johnson, Manzella, Spicer and Eric Olson. R McGowan increased his point lead to 28 points over B Johnson and 29 ahead of S Johnson. S McGowan fell back to 4th, 45 points out of the lead and just 4 points ahead of Spicer. Manzella is two more points back in sixth.

The TQ Midgets brought 15 cars that were divided into two heat races. Third starter Lambert won heat 1 over Todd Hunsaker and Kenny Wiley. Randy Moody came from fifth to win heat 2 with 4th starter Chuck West in second. Ken Bonnema and Steve Parke had the front row for the shortened 15 lap feature. The race started with a red flag as Jake May flipped over a spinning car, hit the wall and landed upside down. He was transported to the hospital with shoulder pain. Parke paced three laps before 7th starter Lambert took over. Moody gained second on lap 5 and back row starter Hansen was third on lap 12 as Dave Phillips spun for the final yellow flag on lap 11. Moody was making a late race challenge at Lambert when Phillips again spun and everyone slowed for the race ending caution flag. Lambert won ahead of Moody, Hansen, Parke, West Evans, Hunsaker, West, Jody Bandfield and Wiley. With several of the point leaders missing, Lambert emerged as the new point leader with a 23 point lead on West and 41 ahead of Evans. Wiley is five more points back in 4th.

The debut of the new mini stock class drew five cars including Mona, Utah long tow Bill Rowley, who races regularly in Price Utah. Nunes won the heat race from 4th starting over last starter Rowley and Chris McKellar. Rowley beat McKellar in the dash. Nason led the first 4 laps of the 12 lap feature. McKellar challenged on the high line and Nunes on the bottom. Both leader Nason and third place Nunes spun on lap 5 with McKellar the new leader over Rowley. After leading through lap 8, McKellar flipped for a red flag. Rowley had to pit with a flat tire and he lost a lap making the change. Nason found himself back in the lead, but got passed on the final lap by winner Nunes. Nason ran second ahead of Earl Farris and Rowley.

The California Clash dirt late model series returns to headline the May 1st show with the IMCA Modifieds, American Stocks and a special infield track for the go karts. Steve Drake won his third straight California Clash feature on April 24th in Tulare, another time limit shortened 13 lapper ahead of Dick Shepherd and A J Kirkpatrick. That event drew 22 cars and a bigger field is expected for the Oildale event.

Summary TQ Midget Heat 1-Steve Lambert, Todd Hunsaker, Kenny Wiley, Ron Ahrendt, Jody Bandfield. Heat 2-Randy Moody, Chuck West, Steve Parke, Jake May, West Evans. Main-Lambert, Moody, Scott Hansen, Parke, Evans, Hunsaker, West, Bandfield, Wiley, Ken Bonnema, Dave Phillips, Ahrendt, Bruce Hiroshima, May, Michael Bliffen. Mini Stock Dash-Bill Rowley, Chris McKellar, Wayne Nunes. Heat-Nunes, Rowley, McKellar, Jimmy Nason, Earl Farris. Main-Nunes, Nason, Farris, Rowley, McKellar. Hobby Stock Dash-Zach Forster, Richie McGowan, Matt Wankum. Heat 1-Bruce Johnson, Wankum, Rick Spicer, Steven Johnson, Eric Cimental. Heat 2-Forster, Brian Criswell, James Deide, Mike Wilson, Justin Schweitzer. Heat 3-Steve McGowan, Brian Puckett, Tom Klamorick, M'Lissa Manzella. Heat 4-R McGowan, Devan Jones, Eric McGough, Amy Hedden, Geoff Menees. B Main-Cimental, Manzella, Roger Brewer, Hedden, B Johnson, Billy Irwin, Eric Olson, Clyde Benson, Sean Minor, Lou Wolfe. A Main-R McGowan, S Johnson, Klamorick, B Johnson, Manzella, Spicer, Olson, Benson, Puckett, Minor, Cimental, Hedden, Diede, S McGowan, McGough, Brewer, Jones, Wankum, Forster, Criswell. Super Street Stock Heat 1-Charles Paul, Glen Hughes, John Romero, Jeremiah VanScoy, Robby Sawyer. Heat 2-Lloyd Reed, Randy Schweitzer, Wayne Heurung, Royce Patterson, Zach Forster. Main-Sawyer, Steve Cargill, VanScoy, Steve Noland, Hughes, Reed, Romero, Heurung, Schweitzer, Paul, Patterson, Forster. IMCA Modified Dash-Jeff Miller, Mike Hood, Sidney Payne. Heat 1-M Hood, Miler, Steve Smothermon, Larry Hood, Jim Deines. Heat 2-Tom Gregory, Steve Morrison, Mike Scott, Lonnie Welch, Lin Deines. Heat 3-Chett Reeves, Payne, Marvin Leist, Brady Bell, Lee Jensen. Main-M Hood, Smothermon, L Hood, Reeves, Scott, Payne, Morrison, Jensen, Chris Mendenhall, Rick Childress, Gregory, L Deines, Welch, Nick Sylvester, Miller, Buck Cox, Bell, J Deines, Leist.
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