InsideGroove - Race Report

FORSTER THIRD ROOKIE TO WIN IN BAKERSFIELD SUPER STREETS

Oildale, CA -- In an exciting late race duel with Brady Bell, Mike Hood won his second 25 lap IMCA Modified main event of the season Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. M Hood is now just 7 points of the point lead and Bell finished 2nd ahead of previous week feature winner Jeff Miller. Under a lap 7 yellow flag, 59 year old Tommy Gregory, a veteran of over 30 years action at the 1/3 mile clay oval, suffered a fatal heart attack His car veered through the infield, hit the turn 1 wall at low speed and then careened in the back fence at high speed after his throttle stuck wide open. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital. Zach Forster was a wire to wire winner in the 20 lap super street stock main event to become the third young rookie driver to get a feature win in this class in 2004. His win snapped a two race winning streak for rookie Robby Sawyer, who finished 3rd. Sawyer had even ventured to Kings Speedway last Saturday night and won the hot stock feature there. Watsonville Speedway regular Phillip Priddy gained second when Bill Henderson pitted on lap 15 and finished there ahead of Sawyer. Sawyer and rookie Jeremiah VanScoy came out of the night tied for the point lead. After leading the whole race, Chad Johnson hooked bumpers with the lapped car of Roger Brewer taking the white flag and Eric Olson raced past for his first 20 lap hobby stock win of the year. Devan Jones also got by for second. C Johnson crossed the line in third, but was disqualified when he came up 50 pounds light at the scales. Michael Johnson became the first repeat winner in the American Stocks in 8 races in 2004 as he paced the final 12 laps to win that 20 lapper. Early leader Jesse Bowles was second ahead of Johny McKinley. Sam Henry protected his small 6 point lead over J McKinley with a fourth place run. The second race for the new mini stock class found Jimmy Mason the winner of the 10 lap feature ahead of Rick Spicer. With the win, Mason took the lead point lead from Santa Maria based Wayne Nunes. The super minis that race at Chowchilla Speedway made their first Bakersfield Speedway Park appearance and Atascadero's Ron German turned times in the low 16's as he won both the heat and 10 lap feature. Chowchilla champion Dudley Reed from Porterville was second ahead of Mike Oliveira.

The addition of five Merced Speedway regulars gave the IMCA Modifieds a 19 car turnout. M Hood won the first heat from 4th starting, Marvin Leist took heat 2 from the pole and fourth starting Larry Hood won heat 3. With a new car, Gregory was enjoying his best season ever with three heat wins and a third place feature finish but his health issues had resigned him to the fact that this would be his last season. He had skipped the previous week's race due to his health and sat out tonight's heat action. Leist started on the pole in the 25 lap feature and paced the first 2 laps before Bell drove underneath him. Miller and Chett Reeves got by Leist on lap 4 and 8th starter M Hood was up to 4th on lap 6. Leist spun for the lap 7 yellow flag. M Hood raced into third on the restart and took second from Miller on lap 11. During his career, M Hood has been very successful in both dirt late models and pavement late models. The final caution came on lap 18 and the remainder of the race featured a side by side duel between Bell and M Hood. M Hood pulled alongside several times before pulling off his winning pass on lap 23. Bell ran second ahead of Miller, defending champion L Hood, point leader Sidney Payne, Lee Jensen, the top visitor Aaron Barnell, Nick Sylvester and Troy Stone. Garrett Steitz finished 10th, California State point leader Bill Saltzman 12th and Mike Gillard 15th. Payne's point lead is now 3 ahead of L Hood and 7 in front of M Hood. Miller closed to within one point of fourth ranked Mike Scott.

The super street stock class had 14 entries including long tow Priddy and I-10 Speedway Pure Stock champion George Olmsted. Outside front row starter Henderson won heat 1 in his 2004 debut and Jeremiah VanScoy did the same in heat 2. Olmsted lost an engine in his heat to end his night. Bill Stevens and Forster shared the front row for the scheduled 25 lap feature. Forster raced into the lead ahead of Glen Hughes with Wayne Heurung into third on lap 2. A tangle between Priddy and Charles Paul forced a lap 4 yellow and Paul spun on the restart. Hughes pitted on a lap 7 yellow for a John Romero spin. Heurung was now second ahead of VanScoy, but Henderson gained third on lap 10 and both Henderson and VanScoy passed Heurung on lap 11. Priddy was flying back through the pack and he raced into fourth on lap 12. Gary Dutton lost a wheel on lap 14 and both Heurung and VanScoy spun. Henderson pitted from second on lap 16 and Forster now led Priddy and Sawyer. They stayed in that order to the checkered flag with Forster getting his first win. Priddy ran second ahead of Sawyer, Romero, Paul, Heurung and VanScoy. The several cautions forced the early checkered flag on lap 20. With Lloyd Reed missing from action, VanScoy and Sawyer are tied for the point lead, 38 points ahead of Heurung.

The hobby stocks split 21 cars into three heat races. Pole starters Richie McGowan and Olson both won heat races and outside front row starter Tom Klamorick won the other heat race. Chad Johnson came from last to second in his heat and had the pole for the featire race. C Johnson raced into the lead with Olson in second. Bryan Terry gained second on lap 2, but fell from contention on a lap 4 restart with Olson back into second ahead of Clyde Benson. Fourth place Rick Spicer blew a tire on lap 5 and Bruce Johnson climbed to fourth on lap 9. B Johnson got as high as third before he had problems and Jones gained third ahead of Steven Johnson and M'Lissa Manzella. Point leader and defending champion R McGowan raced into fifth on lap 17. Looking like he was headed to his first win of the year, C Johnson hooked bumpers with Brewer taking the white flag. Olson raced by for the win with Jones gaining second. C Johnson broke free in third, but was 50 pounds under the division weight limit at the post race weighin. That moved R McGowan up to third ahead of S Johnson, Manzella, Klamorick, Eric Cimental, Terry and Benson. R McGowan holds a 31 point lead on S Johnson with B Johnson another 15 points back in third. Manzella is only 9 points back of B Johnson and four ahead of Jones.

The busy American Stock class fielded 17 entries for their 8th point race of 2004. Pole starters Sam Henry and Johny McKinley had heat wins and outside front row starter Steve McKinley got the third heat victory. Top running Wayne Dotson was a feature scratch along with Jackie Wood and Jason Bannister. Third starter Bowles took a quick lead over 5th starter M Johnson and pole starter Adam Watkins. S McKinley raced into third on lap 4, but lost the spot to J McKinley on lap 6. Christine Carl stalled with a broken right front suspension on lap 7 and Jim Tozzi broke a motor. M Johnson used an outside pass to take the lead from Bowles on lap 9 and S McKinley stalled for a yellow flag. A smoking Chris Martin fell out. The final caution came on lap 18 when Karen Spicer hit the fence hard in turn 1. She was unhurt and M Johnson raced to his second win ahead of Bowles, J McKinley, Henry, Mike Armitage, Mike Boyd and Dan Kennison. Carl fell 16 points back of point leader Henry.

The five car mini stock turnout included Fallon NV based Wes Scott. Rick Spicer won the heat race ahead of Scott. Opening race winner Nunes led the first lap from his outside front row start, but Mason took over on lap 2 and paced the remainder of the race. Spicer took second from Nunes on lap 7 and finished there with the lapped car of Scott in fourth. Brent Hendrix was a main event scratch after crashing in the heat action. The super minis brought five cars. German won the heat race from third starting and leaped from fifth to the lead on the first lap of their 10 lap feature. Dudley Reed took second from Mike Oliveira on lap 3 and Bill Polk spun for a lap 4 yellow. Turning laps as quick at 16.36, German won the 10 lapper ahead of Dudley Reed, Oliveira, Darren Reed and Polk.

The May 15th race will see the USAC Midgets and USAC Ford Focus Midgets coming to the 1/3 mile clay oval and the hobby stocks will round out the racing card.

Summary Mini Stock Heat-Rick Spicer, Wes Scott, Jimmy Mason, Brent Hendrix, Wayne Nunes. Main-Mason, Spicer, Nunes, Scott. Super Mini Heat -Ron German, Darren Reed, Dudley Reed, Bill Polk, Mike Oliveira. Main-German, Dudley Reed, Oliveira, Darren Reed, Polk. American Stock Heat 1-Sam Henry, Chris Martin, Mike Boyd, Karen Spicer, Jackie Wood. Heat 2-Johny McKinley, Jesse Bowles, Christine Carl, Michael Johnson, Mike McInnerney. Heat 3-Steve McKinley, Adam Watkins, Dan Kennison, Jim Tozzi, Mike Armitage. Main-Johnson, Bowels, J McKinley, Henry, Armitage, Boyd, Kennison, S McKinley, Spicer, Martin, Tozzi, McInnerney, Carl, Watkins. Hobby Stock Heat 1-Richie McGowan, Bruce Johnson, Roger Brewer, Devan Jones, Matt Wankum. Heat 2-Tom Klamorick, Chad Johnson, Eric Cimental, M'Lissa Manzella, Steven Johnson. Heat 3-Eric Olson, Rick Spicer, Clyde Benson, Bryan Terry, Justin Schweitzer. Main-Olson, Jones, R McGowan, S Johnson, Manzella, Klamorick, Cimental, Terry, Benson, Amy Hedden, Brian Criswell, B Johnson, Steve McGowan, Schweitzer, Jim Perry, Spicer, Wankum, Sean Minor, Eric McGough, Brewer. Super Street Stock Heat 1-Rick Henderson, Zach Forster, John Romero, Randy Schweitzer, Steve Noland. Heat 2-Jeremiah VanScoy, Gary Dutton, Phillip Priddy, Bill Stevens, Wayne Heurung. Main-Forster, Priddy, Robby Sawyer, Romero, Charles Paul, Heurung, VanScoy, Henderson, Stevens, Dutton, Schweitzer, Glen Hughes, Noland. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Mike Hood, Jeff Miller, Nick Sylvester, Sidney Payne, Jim Deines. Heat 2-Marvin Leist, Steve Morrison, Mike Scott, Bill Saltzman, Aaron Barnell. Heat 3-Larry Hood, Brady Bell, Chett Reeves, Lee Jensen, Troy Stone. Main-M Hood, Bell, Miller, L Hood, Payne, Jensen, Barnell, Sylvester, Stone, Garrett Steitz, Reeves, Saltzman, Scott, Leist, Mike Gillard, J Deines, Lin Deines, Morrison, Tommy Gregory.

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