InsideGroove - Race Report

WILD NIGHT SEES ALL FOUR FEATURES SHORTENED

Oildale, CA -- In a wild night of action that saw all four feature races shortened due to the fierce crashes, Jeff Miller led all 18 laps of the IMCA Modified main event and was in front at the 11 PM curfew to gain his second win of 2004 at Bakersfield Speedway Park on Saturday night. Cutting his cousin Larry's point lead down to just 4 points, Mike Hood finished 2nd with L Hood fifth behind Jason Selvidge and Chris Mendenhall. The track's own version of the Hatfield-McCoy rivalry is the Johnsons and the McGowans in the hobby stocks. Their ugly side reared up again on lap 9 to end the feature race. Brian Puckett was racing ahead of the incident, but was found to have too big an engine in tech and he was disqualified as the win went to Rick Spicer despite being fifth on the final scored lap. Third place Steve McGowan had taken out second place Bruce Johnson and B Johnson retaliated by putting point leader Richie McGowan into the fence. R McGowan flipped in the incident but emerged unhurt. Steven Johnson cut into R McGowan's point lead with a second place finish ahead of Devan Jones. Jesse Bowles won his second 15 lap American Stock feature and girl friend Christine Carl ran second ahead of Chris Martin. Carl cut into Sam Henry's point lead and moved into second in points when incoming runnerup Johny McKinley was disqualified for having too much engine compression. J McKinley had finished 4th. The California Lightning Sprints were in town for a two day show and Donny Gansen was a wire to wire winner in the time shortened 15 lap Saturday main event. Gansen started the weekend just 23 points behind point leader Ernie Bartley III and he gained ground on Saturday as Bartley lost his brakes and ran fifth behind runnerup Lonnie Lopez, Karl Benefiel and Jesse Dean.

The 19 car IMCA Modified count included Ventura Raceway regulars Chris Tonoli and Wes Richardson. L Hood drove his Xtreme Chassis from sixth to win heat 1 over fellow third row starter Mike Scott. Outside front row starter Mendenhall won heat 2 over back row starters Sidney Payne and Jimmy Irwin. Outside front row starter Chett Reeves won heat 3 over back row starter Selvidge. Mendenhall then won the dash over fellow front row starter L Hood. Reeves and Mendenhall had the front row for the feature ahead of Richardson and Miller. The race was restarted after an incident that forced Tonoli to pit with a flat tire. Miller got around Mendenhall to pace the opening lap with Mendenhall in second. Scott took third from Richardson on lap 3, but lost the spot to M Hood on lap 5 with L Hood into fourth. Jimmy Irwin and Ricahrdson tangled for a lap 10 yellow with Miller leading Mendenhall, M Hood, Selvidge and L Hood. The last caution came on lap 12 as Steve Morrison and Buck Cox tangled. M Hood had taken second from Mendenhall and Selvidge put his D&M Performance mount into third on the restart. Mendenhall and L Hood were trading fourth and the time clock ran out at 11 PM with Miller leading M Hood, Selvidge, Mendenhall, L Hood, Scott, Payne and Reeves. L Hood came out of the race 4 points ahead of M Hood, 14 ahead of Payne, 18 ahead of Miller and 21 in front of Scott.

With 27 cars on hand, the hobby stocks ran four heats and a B Main. Heat winners were Justin Schweitzer, B Johnson, R McGowan and Roger Brewer. B Johnson beat R McGowan in the dash. Third ranked M'Lissa Manzella broke an engine in her heat and borrowed the Laura Farris car for the B Main. He dropped a drive line before the B started, but the track transferred all ten cars that appeared for the B into the A Main. S Johnson won the B Main over Clyde Benson and Eric Cimental. The wild hobby stock feature had two red flags. Brewer paced the first two laps ahead of Puckett and S McGowan. B Johnson made contact with Geoff Menees in their fourth place duel and Menees hit the wall and flipped for a lap 2 red flag. Brewer had to pit with a flat tire and Puckett led the remainder of the shortened race. B Johnson had just passed S McGowan for second when S McGowan took him out on lap 9. The angry B Johnson then forced R McGowan into the fence and the point leading defending champion R McGowan flipped in the incident R McGowan wasn't hurt, but Puckett's failure to pass tech found Spicer elevated to the win position ahead of S Johnson, Devan Jones, Schweitzer, Tom Klamorick, Cimental and Jim Perry.

The American Stocks split 18 cars into three heat races. Michael Johnson, Bowles and Wayne Dotson got the heat wins, but Dotson scratched from both the dash and feature. Bowles had a perfect night as he won the dash ahead of Johnson and Carl. The time limit shortened this feature to 15 laps. Mike Armitage paced the opening lap only to get spun on lap 2 by Jason Bannister. James Cecil was the new leader over Bowles and Johnson. Johnson stalled with a flat tire on lap 7 and leader Cecil pitted to hand Bowles the lead ahead of girl friend Carl. The red flag dropped on lap 8 as Adam Watkins broke an axle and flipped several times between turn 1 and turn 2. The last caution came on lap 10 when Johnson forced Mike McInnerney into the fence. Bowles led Carl and Martin for the final 9 laps. J McKinley made a late charge to fourth but failed post race tech. That gave Michelle Childress fourth ahead of point leader Henry, newcomer Bill Cotton and Mike Boyd.

The California Lightning Sprints brought 22 cars, but Gary Sexton was done before the heat action. Bartley, Jarrett Kramer and Jonny Bates won heat races. The feature lineup was an 8 car inversion that put Gansen and Benefiel on the front row ahead of Brent Sexton, Steve Barnette, Kirk Jackson and the three heat winners. Gansen took a quick lead over Benefiel and Barnette. Kramer gained fourth on lap 3 and Jackson stalled for a lap 6 yellow. The red flag then dropped for a flip by Barnette. By lap 7, Lopez was up to third ahead of Bates and Bartley. On lap 11, fifth place Bates pitted when Keith Janca, Greg Bardonnex and Seth Kramer tangled. Lopez took second from Benefiel and the race was called at 15 laps with Gansen the winner. Lopez placed second ahead of Benefiel, Dean, Bartley, Ryan Silva, Jim Henderson and B Sexton.

Summary Lightning Sprint Heat 1-Ernie Bartley III, Kirk Jackson, Karl Benefiel, Ryan Silva, Seth Kramer. Heat 2-Jarrett Kramer, Steve Barnette, Donny Gansen, Greg Bardonnex, Jim Henderson. Heat 3-Jonny Bates, Brent Sexton, Lonnie Lopez, Brad Russell, Jesse Dean. Main-Gansen, Lopez, Benefiel, Dean, Bartley, Silva, Henderson, B Sexton, Wink Schweitzer, Russell, Jason Bennett, Stuart Hielscher, Bates, Keith Janca, Greg Barddonex, Seth Kramer, J Kramer, Barnette, Jackson. American Stock Dash-Jesse Bowles, Michael Johnson, Christine Carl. Heat 1-Johnson, Mike Boyd, Johny McKinley, Chris Martin, Mike McInnerney. Heat 2-Bowles, Carl, Mike Armitage, Michelle Childress, Steve McKinley. Heat 3-Wayne Dotson, Sam Henry, Jason Bannister, James Cecil, Kenny Kerr. Main-Bowles, Carl, Martin, Childress, Henry, Bill cotton, Boyd, Cecil, McInnerney, Kerr, Bannister, Armitage, Johnson, Adam Watkins, Lloyd Reed Jr, S McKinley. Hobby Stock Dash-Bruce Johnson, Richie McGowan, Roger Brewer. Heat 1-Justin Schweitzer, Brian Puckett, Eric McGough, Eric Cimental, M'Lissa Manzella. Heat 2-B Johnson, Tom Klamorick, Lou Wolfe, Clyde Benson, Tyler Bandy. Heat 3-R McGowan, Devan Jones, Rick Spicer, Steven Johnson, Shane LeBlanc. Heat 4-Brewer, Steve McGowan, Geoff Menees, Rachel Paul, Matt Wankum. B Main-S Johnson, Benson, E Cimental, Paul, Bandy, Jim Perry, Amy Hedden, LeBlanc, Billy Danner, Manzella. A Main-Spicer, S Johnson, Jones, Schweitzer, Klamorick, Cimental, Perry, Benson, Bandy, Wolfe, Hedden, Manzella, Paul, Brewer, B Johnson, R McGowan, S McGowan, LeBlance, Menees, McGough. IMCA Modified Dash-Chris Mendenhall, Larry Hood, Jimmy Irwin. Heat 1-L Hood, Mike Scott, Wes Richardson, Lin Deines, Chris Tonoli. Heat 2-Mendenhall, Sidney Payne, Irwin, Lou Tompkins, Nick Sylvester. Heat 3-Chett Reeves, Jason Selvidge, Jeff Miller, Mike Hood, Jim Deines. Main-Miller, M Hood, Selvidge, Mendenhall, L Hood, Scott, Payne, Reeves, Sylvester, Tonoli, Tompkins, Irwin, Buck Cox, J Deines, Marvin Leist, Richardson, Steve Morrison, Lin Deines, Jimmy Goldsmith.

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