InsideGroove - Race Report

WHITE BATTLES FROM PENALTY FOR $3000 WILD TURKEY WIN

Imperial, CA --

Battling back from a lap 11 restart penalty that moved him from the lead to last, Perris Auto Speedway Super Stock champion Linney White led the final 12 laps to score a $3000 win in the Wild Turkey Pro Stock 50 lap special Saturday night at the Imperial Fairgrounds Speedway. White's win kept car owner Jerry Dodd's streak alive as his cars have won this race all three years that it has been staged with Chad Burns driving in 2002, David Gilliland in 2003 and White this year. Perris Xtreme Truck champion Mike Hixson had paced the event from lap 12 only to have an incident with lapped traffic knock him back on lap 38. B Main winner John Caley battled from 15th starting to earn the $1000 second and Bakersfield Speedway super street stock champion Robby Sawyer continued his impressive post season efforts with a $750 third. Former Perris champion Terry Hershberger pitted at the lap 25 fuel stop and had to battle from the back for his $600 fourth and Imperial's own Robert Prince collected $500 for fifth. Canyon Raceway super stock champion George Fronsman did double duty and ran a $400 sixth after a third place run in his IMCA Modified.

The 34 pro stocks were divided into five qualifying heats on Friday night with the top 3 finishers in each advancing into the Saturday night 50 lap finale. Cory Hemphill was a scratch from the heat action. Caley led all 10 laps of the opening heat race with Sawyer a race long second. Sawyer emerged as the winner when Caley was disqualified for not reporting to the tech area after the race. Hixson moved up to second and Fronsman inherited the final transfer slot. The weekend ended for Bakersfield's Keith Heaslet with a broken engine in heat 1. Making his first visit to the high speed 3/8 mile clay oval, Manteca's Darrell Hughes won heat 2 from a second row start. Hughes passed Brian Pannone, making his only 2004 dirt track start, midway through the race on the bottom of turn 4. California State Street Stock Championship Series titlest Rich Denman from Coalinga also battled his way around Pannone to place second with Pannone settling for third. Heat 3 had three different leaders, but the first car across the finish line again missed the win. Josh Nelms from El Mirage led four laps before IMCA Modified star Duane Rogers put his truck in front. A flat right front tire ended Rogers run and Perris regular Ed Perry inherited the lead. Perry failed to to go to tech and Imperial regular Aaron Mari inherited the win ahead of Ray Bonillas Jr. Rogers moved into the final transfer slot. A wild heat four was won by Coalinga's Michael Redding, who spends more time racing his enduro car during the year than his hot stock. Watsonville regular Scott Fuhrman led early and Prince was sent off the track for rough driving in an incident with Steven Daffern. Kevin King from Brawley crashed hard into the front wall to end his night. Fuhrman pitted and Barstow's Mike Miller led until Daffern pushed him off the top of turn 3. Daffern was disqualified and Redding got the win ahead of Fuhrman and Miller. White tried to get premier division championships at both Perris and Orange Show this year and he showed his strength by dominating heat 5. Rick Becker slowed while second and Jeff Dunham lost an engine racing in third before Hershberger and Arizona's Scott Keniston ended up with the 2nd and 3rd place finishes. The 15 heat race transfers drew for their starting order in the rich 50 lapper and Fuhrman drew the pole ahead of Sawyer, Fronsman, White, Hershberger, Hixson, Bonillas Jr, Keniston, Pannone and Redding.

Saturday's action started with a dash for the five heat winners. Both Redding and Sawyer pulled off the track with engine woes and Hughes broke a motor to end his weekend. White spun in his attempt to pass A Mari on the final lap and A Mari was the dash winner. Heaslet, King and Dunham were the drivers to not return for Saturday. Jimmy Nuckles was the only addition for Saturday. With Hughes out, the track elected to transfer six cars from a 17 car B Main, then run the remaining cars in a last chance with the top four transferring. Caley won the B Main ahead of Yuma's Rick Miller, Nelms, Arizona's Lonnie Foss, Prince and Everett Burns. Top local runner Scott Plunkett was 12th and he scratched from the last chance. Becker continued to have problems as he ran 16th in the B and last in the 8 car last chance. Perry won the last chance feature ahead of Cory Hemphill, Daffern and Lance Mari. Tyson Talkington missed by two spots in the B and just one spot in the last chance. Nuckles and Jeff Schumaier joined Plunkett as last chance scratches after problems in the B Main.

The 50 lap feature was now set and fourth starting White took a quick lead on the opening lap. The first 25 lap segment had numerous yellow flags and Denman ended up going a lap down when he got involved in an early incident and pitted. Sawyer ran second until Hixson got by him on lap 7. After leading 11 laps, White was sent from the front to the rear for jumping a restart. Hixson inherited the lead and B Main winner Caley was flying, taking second on lap 15. Riding a high line, White was putting on a show for the fans as he came from last to second in 14 laps. The midway standings found Hixson leading White, Caley, Hershberger and Sawyer, but Hershberger had to fall to the rear when he elected to go to the pits at the fuel break to make repairs to his car. The accident in lapped traffic cost Hixson the lead on lap 38 and White was out front for the remainder of the race. Caley gained second with the Hixson incident and finished there. Sawyer thought that he had lost third to Denman on lap 40 only to learn that Denman was not on the lead lap. Hershberger moved forward in the final 25 laps to finish fourth. Prince ran fifth ahead of Fronsman, Foss, Burns, Denman and Keniston. Daffern was 11th ahead of Rogers and Hemphill while the disappointed Hixson placed 15th. In checking his engine after the race, Sawyer discovered that two rocker arm studs had broken, leaving him on six cylinders.

Summary

Friday Heat 1-Robby Sawyer, Mike Hixson, George Fronsman, Lonnie Foss, Aaron Mari. Heat 2-Darrell Hughes, Rich Denman, Brian Pannone, Scott Plunkett, Everett Burns. Heat 3-Aaron Mari, Ray Bonillas Jr, Duane Rogers, Josh Nelms, Rick Miller. Heat 4-Michael Redding, Scott Fuhrman, Mike Miller, Steve Williams, Kevin King. Heat 5-Linney White, Terry Hershberger, Scott Keniston, Jeff Dunham, Rick Becker.

Saturday Dash-A Mari, White, Hughes, Sawyer, Redding. B Main-John Caley, Miller, Nelms, Foss, Robert Prince, Burns, Cory Hemphill, Tyson Talkington, Jimmy Nuckles, Ed Perry. Last Chance-Perry, Hemphill, Steven Daffern, Lance Mari, Talkington, Kent Rosevear, Williams, Becker. A Main-White, Caley, Sawyer, Hershberger, Prince, Fronsman, Foss, Burns, Denman, Keniston, Daffern, Rogers, Hemphill, Miller, Hixson, Nelms, Perry, Pannone, Miller, Fuhrman, Bonillas, L Mari, A Mari, Redding.

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