See Also SHERIDAN CONTINUES HANFORD MASTERY WITH $500 WIN 10/22/2004 FIFTEENTH TO FIRST IN 19 LAPS FOR ROBBY SAWYER 10/23/2004 ROBERT MILLER BATTLES TO HANFORD WIN 10/23/2004 BIGGEST CAREER WIN FOR YOUNG ARRON CHANEY 10/23/2004 FIRST EVER HANFORD WIN WORTH $3000 FOR STEVE DRAKE 10/23/2004

Hanford, CA --

Still recovering from his back injuries suffered at Bakersfield Speedway two weeks earlier, Billy Griffin charged to wins in both his qualifying heat race and the Kings Clash for the dirt late models Friday night as the annual Dirt Track Nationals opened at Kings Speedway. Griffin wheels a Warrior Chassis for Rick Fringer and finished 2nd in points at Santa Maria Speedway in 2004. The Kings Clash pays $500 to win, paid in $100 bills from Western Speed and Fuels Gary Olson. Griffin started outside front row in his heat race win and on the pole for the 10 lap Kings Clash win. Dick Shepherd had taken a quick lead in the Kings Clash, but Griffin flew by him on the inside in turn 4 on lap 1 and was never headed. Shepherd ran second ahead of California Clash champion Steve Drake and Jeff Decker. Each of the other Kings Clash participants won $50. Griffin, Shepherd and Drake were joined as heat winners by Clovis charger Mike Johnson, back in California after spending a month racing in the mid west with his Steiner Development entry. An inversion pill will be drawn on Saturday to determine how much of the field to invert in the $3000 to win, 30 lap feature race. The dirt modifieds had the largest turnout with 60 cars divided into 8 heat races. Heat winners were Mark Hamblin, track point runnerup Paul Stone, newlywed Jason Selvidge, 16 year old Alex Stanford, double division racer Bobby Scott Jr, Ryan McDaniel, Watsonville open winner J D Willis and Kellen Chadwick. The Kings Clash included all 8 of these drivers and the drivers who finished fourth in the heat races. Driving the JDK Racing GRT, A J Kirkpatrick took advantage of a broken front suspension piece on leader Brad Pounds and leaped by third to the win on the final lap. He also collected five $100 bills from Olson and another fourth place heat finisher Ron Dickerson ran second ahead of Pounds, Selvidge, Scott and Chad Patterson. This race also paid $50 to start and the 30 lap Saturday night feature for the dirt modifieds pays $2000 to win. The four division show attracted nearly 150 cars and the spacious pit area easily accommodated them despite having large flooded areas roped off.

The dirt late models had a 28 car turnout including Willamette Speedway point runnerup Trevor Glaser and Nevada’s Bill Pearson. They were divided into four qualifying heat races with the top four in each heat advancing into the Saturday night main event and the winner and 3rd place cars gaining slots in the Kings Clash. While both had had distributor problems in hot laps, Griffin took a quick lead over Pearson in the first ten lap heat and won with a best lap of 17.06. Pearson ran second in his Rocket and Derek Nance nursed a badly smoking car to third ahead of Vance Beltran. Drake had the pole for heat 2 and dominated with a best lap of 16.78. Bart Reid ran second over Decker and former Bandit sprint car racer Dick Stevens. Recent Bakersfield Speedway $5000 winner Richard Papenhausen ran fifth and will have to come through the B Main on Saturday. Fourth starter Shepherd had the lead on the opening lap with his new Victory Circle mount and he won heat 3 over Bobby Scott Jr and Milt McGinnis, who was subbing in the Larry Damitz car. Phil Barrow got the fourth transfer spot and Shepherd’s best lap was a 17.46. The fourth heat saw a first turn tangle between Eric Jacobsen, Mike Johnson and Scott Mauldin. Mauldin’s race was over and Jacobsen later fell out as outside front row starter Bobby Hogge IV led the first 9 laps before a steering problem allowed both Johnson and Ron Bartels to get by for the 1-2 slots. Oregon’s Glaser ran fourth. The drivers drew for their starting order in the Clash and Nance elected to scratch. Griffin and Shepherd drew the front row ahead of McGinnis and Decker with Hogge, Drake and Johnson rounding out the 7 car field. Shepherd nosed ahead at the green flag and led 80% of the opening lap before Griffin powered by on the inside. Griffin went on to win over Shepherd with Drake getting third from Decker on lap 8. Both Johnson and Hogge fell out and McGinnis ran fifth behind Decker.

With the large turnout of dirt modifieds, a 1-2 finish was required in the 8 heat races to advance into the 30 lap Saturday night feature and the Kings Clash included the heat winners and the fourth place cars. Outside front row starter Hamblin completely dominated the first heat, winning by more than a half-lap over Duane Cleveland, Nevada’s Mark Allison and Larry Lundin. Stone showed his home track knowledge by taking the lead from 4th in just two laps in heat 2 and outracing Bobby Hogge, who made a late move around Cameron Beard. Kirkpatrick ran fourth from a back row start. Having missed the other October races to get married, Selvidge returned to action with his Warrior and won heat 3 by more than a half-lap from the outside front row. Track champion Bryan Burnes ran second over Lonnie Welch and Pounds. Fresh off a win in one of the preliminary night features at the big Batesville ARK race last weekend, Oregon’s Jon DeBenedetti took the lead from A Stanford on lap 2 and appeared headed to the win in heat 4 only to jump over the end of the track on the final lap. A Stanford got by for the win with DeBenedetti second ahead of Dave Byrd and Tim Stratmeyer. Byrd came from the back row. Claudine Contente broke on the pace lap for heat 5 and Nevada’s Robert Miller appeared headed to the win with his D&M only to break on lap 9. Only three cars finished with Scott getting the win over Kurtis Moore and Wes Richardson. In his former John Logue Harris, McDaniel grabbed the lead in heat 6 from Watsonville Open runnerup Steve Noack on lap 3 and won. Double division racer Papenhausen ran second ahead of Noack and Mike Villaneuva. Papenhausen was the $1000 winner the previous weekend at Hawthorne NV when he combined a 2nd and a 4th and the purse was paid on points earned over the weekend. Outside front row starter Lonnie Lacy paced heat 7 until the white flag when he got out of shape in turn 1 and Willis raced by for the victory. Lacy recovered for second ahead of Jon Schlundt and Chad Patterson, back in his own car as Jimmy Reeves was racing in the Bandit sprint car class. The final heat also had a last lap lead change as Chowchilla regular John Pierce led the first 9 laps from outside front row only to see Chadwick drive by on the outside for the win. Pierce did run second over Ray Mayer and Dickerson. Monty Tomlinson lost an engine on the opening lap and Buck Cox broke racing in third.

The Kings Clash for the dirt modifieds had just 13 starters as three of the fourth place heat finishers did not participate. The draw put fourth place finishers Pounds, Dickerson and Kirkpatrick in the first 3 starting spots. Having came back from Tennessee to race the late season events, Pounds took a quick lead over Dickerson, Patterson and Kirkpatrick. Top runners McDaniel, Chadwick, Willis and Hamblin were all early dropouts and leader Pounds had a right front suspension problem from midrace on. Kirkpatrick took third from Patterson on lap 7 and Selvidge was fourth a lap later. On the last lap, Pounds was passed by both winner Kirkpatrick and runnerup Dickerson. Pounds settled for third ahead of Selvidge, Scott and Patterson.

Summary Modified Heat 1-Mark Hamblin, Duane Cleveland, Mark Allison, Larry Lundin, Rod Fauver, William Woodbridge. Heat 2-Paul Stone, Bobby Hogge, Cameron Beard, A J Kirkpatrick, Charley Campbell, Garrett Steitz. Heat 3-Jason Selvidge, Bryan Burnes, Lonnie Welch, Brad Pounds, Steve Smothermon, Jack Stanford. Heat 4-Alex Stanford, Jon DeBenedetti, Dave Byrd, Tim Stratmeyer, Dale Underwood, Chett Reeves. Heat 5-Bobby Scott Jr, Kurtis Moore, Wes Richardson, Robert Miller, Dustin Jenks, Rick Karnes. Heat 6-Ryan McDaniel, Richard Papenhausen, Steve Noack, Mike Villaneuva, Andy Obertello, Aaron Barnell. Heat 7-J D Willis, Lonnie Lacy Jr, Jon Schlundt, Chad Patterson, Chris Compton, Tom Topping. Heat 8-Kellen Chadwick, John Pierce, Ray Mayer, Ron Dickerson, Tommy Bottini, Buck Cox. Kings Clash-Kirkpatrick, Dickerson, Pounds, Selvidge, Scott, Patterson, Stone, Villaneuva, A Stanford, Chadwick, McDaniel, Willis, Hamblin. Dirt Late Model Heat 1-Billy Griffin, Bill Pearson, Derek Nance, Vance Beltran, Bill Bartels, Chet Buckley. Heat 2-Steve Drake, Bart Reid, Jeff Decker, Dick Stevens, Richard Papenhausen, Brian Wirtz. Heat 3-Dick Shepherd, Bobby Scott Jr, Milt McGinnis, Phil Barrow, Robbie Witwer, Danny Bohard, Dino Napier. Heat 4-Mike Johnson, Ron Bartels, Bobby Hogge IV, Trevor Glaser, Doug Thompson, Eric Jacobsen. Kings Clash-Griffin, Shepherd, Drake, Decker, McGinnis, Johnson, Hogge.

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