See Also ODD TWIST PUTS JOHN SILVA ON POLE 10/08/2004 TRACK CHAMPION MCGOWAN LEADS FINAL 27 LAPS FOR $1000 10/08/2004 ELEVENTH WIN WORTH $1500 FOR ROBBY SAWYER 10/09/2004 PAPENHAUSEN REBOUNDS FROM PRACTICE CRASH FOR $5000 WIN 10/09/2004

Oildale, CA --

Having lost the lead to Santa Maria Open winner Jimmy Reeves just two laps earlier, Charles Paul of Springville got help from a lapped car on the last lap to score a $2000 win in the 40 lap dirt modified feature at the 19th Annual Budweiser Western Dirt Track Nationals at Bakersfield Speedway Park on Saturday night. Reeves used a slide job in turn 2 on lap 38 to nose ahead of Paul only to see the slower car of Steve Morrison come out of the infield in front of him on the final lap of the 40 lapper. Morrison kept moving up the track and forced

J Reeves into the turn 3 fence with Paul driving underneath them for the top spot.

The highly disappointed J Reeves recovered for a $1500 second and NASCAR Southwest Series point leader Jim Pettit II battled back from an early race spin to win $1000 for third. Pettit was disappointed when he lost another rare dirt date when NASCAR announced that the recent Tucson AZ rainout would be made up on Oct 23-24. Sixteen year old Chowchilla rookie Alex Stanford was an $800 fourth and Southern California long tow Dale Underwood came from 18th to earn $700 for fifth. After pole starter Dave Byrd lost an engine leading on lap 4, the race was dominated by former Winston Racing Series Pacific Coast Regional titlest Bobby Hogge, the father of dirt late model star Bobby Hogge IV. Hogge led from lap 4, but his engine began to sound bad at the midway mark and became to smoke heavily with 10 laps to go. With the other drivers complaining about their visibility, Hogge was sent off the track while still leading on lap 35. Paul then led two laps before J Reeves made his move only to regain the rich win with the last lap action. The underfinanced Paul team is desperately seeking sponsorship help to continue their efforts. Paul did debut a new dirt modified this year and thanks wife Rachel and long time crewman David Peterson for their help.

With their large turnout, the Saturday night action opened with a pair of 12 lap B Mains that advanced five cars each into the 40 lap, 22 car A Main. Pole starter Ray Mayer from North Fork led the first ten laps of the first before getting passed on the outside by Bakersfield Speedway point runnerup Mike Hood in the former Sidney Payne Xtreme car. M Hood won with Mayer second ahead of last starter Aaron Barnell. Barnell joined the action on Saturday and ran third despite losing all of his right side body work. Steve Morrison and Riverside’s Darin Hawks claimed the other two transfers. Lonnie Welch was spun out of 4th by Robert Sanders and Ventura rookie Josh Houghton just missed a transfer in 6th. Bakersfield Speedway champion Larry Hood was untouchable in the second B Main as he won over J Reeves and Underwood. Billy Wilker fell from contention when he got spun by Larry Lundin early in the race, but Lundin was allowed to continue and he finished 4th ahead of Chett Reeves. Hanford female star Claudine Contente got into the fence and she finished 7th behind William Woodbridge.

The 40 lapper saw 4th starter Nick Sylvester drive straight to the pits on the green flag. Byrd led 3 laps from the pole with third starter Pettit into second. Contact on lap 2 from Brad Pounds sent Pettit spinning and Pounds was penalized to join Pettit in the rear for the restart. Hogge took second from Steve Smothermon on lap 3 and gained the lead when the broken motor sent Byrd pitward on lap 4. L Hood had already moved from 14th to 34d and Brian Cass was fourth ahead of Paul. When Pounds stalled after contact left him with a flat tire, he was called for causing two yellows and removed from the action. The track was using double file restarts behind the race leader and L Hood took second from Smothermon on this restart. Young Stanford was trading fifth with Paul and Chett Reeves spun for a lap 9 yellow. Smothermon regained second on this green flag and Paul raced around Cass for fourth. Barnell fell out and there was some contact racing between Pettit and Stanford for 7th as J Reeves had climbed into sixth. Paul took third from L Hood on lap 21 and C Reeves race ended as he spun again for a lap 25 yellow. On this restart, 2nd place Smothermon was squeezed into the turn 2 fence and then rear-ended by Mayer. Paul was now second over Cass and L Hood., but Hood was shuffled back in the field as Reeves raced into third over Cass and Stanford on lap 28. Stanford raced into fourth on lap 29 and Pettit had climbed back into the top five on lap 30. Pettit briefly took fourth from Stanford before the next yellow on lap 35 as Jimmy Irwin spun. The officials elected to stop leader Hogge and check out his worsening problem. They elected to send the badly smoking car to the pits, making Paul the new leader over Reeves, Stanford and Pettit. Buck Cox stalled for a lap 36 yellow flag and Pettit grabbed third from Stanford on this restart. No one was making bottom groove passes on the dry slick racing surface, but Reeves was able to dive underneath Paul in turn 2 and slid back up in front of him for the lead on lap 38. On the final lap, Morrison slowly raced out of infield right in front of the leaders and forced Reeves to get off his line and up to the fence in turn 3. Paul was able to dive underneath and win the drag race to the checkered flag. The disappointed Reeves did salvage second ahead of Pettit with Stanford in 4th ahead of Underwood, Cass, Smothermon, Brady Bell, Hawks and L Hood.

Summary 1st B Main-Mike Hood, Ray Mayer, Aaron Barnell, Steve Morrison, Darin Hawks, Josh Houghton, Jim Pierce, Marvin Leist, Lonnie Welch, Robert Sanders. 2nd B Main-Larry Hood, Jimmy Reeves, Dale Underwood, Larry Lundin, Chett Reeves, William Woodbridge, Claudine Contente, Mike Villaneuva, Billy Wilker, Darrell Hood. A Main-Charles Paul, Reeves, Jim Pettit II, Alex Stanford, Underwood, Brian Cass, Steve Smothermon, Brady Bell, Hawks, L Hood, Morrison, Lundin, Jimmy Irwin, Buck Cox, Bobby Hogge, Mayer, M Hood, Reeves, Barnell, Brad Pounds, Dave Byrd, Nick Sylvester.
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