See Also ODD TWIST PUTS JOHN SILVA ON POLE 10/08/2004 ELEVENTH WIN WORTH $1500 FOR ROBBY SAWYER 10/09/2004 WILD FINISH AS PAUL COLLECTS $2000 10/09/2004 PAPENHAUSEN REBOUNDS FROM PRACTICE CRASH FOR $5000 WIN 10/09/2004

Oildale, CA --

Leading the final 27 laps and fending off the challenges of Eric Cimental, track champion Richie McGowan pocketed the $1000 victory in the 30 lap hobby stock portion of the 19th Annual Budweiser Western Dirt Track Nationals Friday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. McGowan repeated his 2003 track title this year and opened his night with a heat win. He followed Cimental for three laps before taking the point. Cimental ran second for the remainder of the race and Devan Jones ended up third. Coming off a long layoff, Jeff Lay jumped into the Clyde Benson car and made a late charge to fourth place with veteran racer Ralph Cooke making his one local appearance of each season in fifth. Cooke has a Camaro that he races at Victorville that doesn’t fit the track’s regular season hobby stock rules. The hobby stock portion of the busy weekend was all run on Friday night and drew a 40 car turnout. McGowan was quick to thank the help of crewman Tyler Bandy and the car setup work by IMCA Modified racer Nick Sylvester.

The field was dividied into four 10 lap qualifying heat races with the top 3 in each moving into the front of the 22 car, 30 lap A Main. Usual track chief steward Randall Davis won heat 1 from the pole by 1/3 lap over Cooke and Billy Irwin. Steven Johnson won heat 2 from 2nd starting with Chad Johnson second ahead of Sean Minor. Chowchilla star Dan Stephens lost a lap when he was spun by Tyler Bandy. Bandy was blackflagged off the track. McGowan won heat 3 from 4th ahead of desert visitor Melodie Smith and Santa Maria’s Gary Rayburn Sr. Another Santa Maria star Scotty Preast lost a wheel. Cimental came from sixth to win heat 4 ahead of Chowchilla star Marshall Weaver and Lay. Laura Farris was making a strong run in the Ron Schmidt car when some contact racing left her with a broken axle, collecting sprint car racer John Fenton who was driving the Rick Spicer car.

Ten transfers came out of the B Main where Jones won ahead of Geoff Menees, Lou Wolfe, Dan McArthur and Tom Klamorick. Santa Maria’s Kurt Morgan crashed hard and former American Stock champion Mark Hogue also made hard contact with the fence. Menees had won the C Main ahead of Stephens, Hogue, David Woodbridge and Shane LeBlanc. The 30 lapper started with a restart as S Johnson suffered heavy damage in the first lap action. Smith had to restart in the rear after pitting. Cimental led R McGowan over the first 3 laps with Jones taking third from Davis on lap 2. Davis spun and was hit by Lay. On lap 4, McGowan took the lead from Cimental with Lay third ahead of Jones. Menees spun for a lap 6 yellow and Weaver pitted. Minor got into the fence in turn 1 as Jones and C Johnson both got by Lay on lap 9 for the 3-4 slots. Bandy hit the turn 4 wall hard right in front of car owner McGowan for a yellow on lap 11. Lay pitted and Cooke was now fifth behind C Johnson and Jones. Stephens, who hoped to tow to Fallon NV to race on Saturday and Sunday, suffered heavy damage in a tangle with Billy Irwin on lap 13. When C Johnson spun out of third on lap 22, he ran onto the track to show his displeasure at brother in law Jones. Minor again made heavy contact with the wall for a final yellow flag on lap 24. McGowan stayed out front to win over Cimental, Jones, a fast closing Lay, Cooke, Klamorick, Weaver, Lou Wolfe and Smith.

Summary Heat 1-Randall Davis, Ralph Cooke, Billy Irwin, Michael Redding, Tom Klamorick. Heat 2-Steven Johnson, Chad Johnson, Sean Minor, Devan Jones, Matt Wankum. Heat 3-Richie McGowan, Melodie Smith, Gary Rayburn Sr, Gary Rayburn Jr, Dan McArthur. Heat 4-Eric Cimental, Marshall Weaver, Jeff Lay, Lou Wolfe, Rachel Paul. C Main-Geoff Menees, Dan Stephens, Mark Hogue, David Woodbridge, Shane LeBlanc, John Fenton, Tyler Bandy, Rick Rubato, Mike Frazier, Bobby Radford. B Main-Jones, Menees, Wolfe, McArthur, Klamorick, Wankum, Stephens, Bandy, Woodbridge, Johnny McKinley. A Main-McGowan, Cimental, Jones, Lay, Cooke, Klamorick, Weaver, Wolfe, Smith, Menees, Wankum, McKinley, Rayburn Sr, Woodbridge, Davis, Minor, C Johnson, Stephens, Irwin, Bandy, McArthur, Davis.
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