See Also ROD JOHNSON SCORES $4000 WIN AT MESA MARIN 10/13/2005 CHAMPION ERIC RICHARDSON LEADS LATE FOR $3000 MESA MARIN WIN 10/14/2005 DAVID GILLILAND WINS STAR NURSERY 300 AT MESA MARIN 10/15/2005

Bakersfield, CA -- Making the charge from 19th starting to the lead in just 3 laps, Steven Ayler stayed out front for the final 40 laps to capture the crash-extended 42 lap feature for the Mesa Marin's new sports compact division as part of the 29th Annual October Classic on Friday night. S Ayler joined Scott Cox as the only drivers to score more than one feature win at the track in the new division in 2005. With six of the Bakersfield Speedway dirt cars joining in, the last ever Mesa Marin race for the class attracted a 28 car turnout. After making a contact pass on Larry Hood in turn 3 of the last lap, Bakersfield Speedway star Roy Duncan ran second ahead of Christopher Meadows, Josh Chisum and Hood. With Mesa Marin going out of business after this weekend, the Schweitzer family that promotes the dirt track purchased Keith Vandam's track championship car and they offered the Mesa Marin race ride to two time dirt track IMCA Modified champion Hood. Hood had taken second from Duncan on lap 34. Duncan won his one previous start at the track. The evening also included a Race of Champions in the track's 911 cars. Track owner and builder Marion Collins tagged the field after practicing for days and raced to the 20 lap win. He was a mini stock champion at Bakersfield Speedway in 1974 before it became a dirt track. In the no holds barred event, 1990 champion Mark Wilson raced to second ahead of 2000 champion Mike Duncan, who also captured his second straight NASCAR Grand National title on the weekend.

Coming off his big win at the Compact Nationals at the Bakersfield Speedway dirt track a couple weekends earlier, Lance Hildebrand broke in practice and was a feature scratch. The dirt track contingent included California State Street Stock Championship Series titlest Mike Corwin in his wife Kari's car, Duncan, Sean Minor, Hood and the MMI cars of Michael Johnson, Kevin Johnson and Tyler Bandy. Outside front row starter Chris Holloway paced the first two laps with S Ayler coming from 19th to third in just one lap. S Ayler took second from Mesa Marin's fourth ranked Meadows on lap 2 and the lead from Holloway on lap 3. Richard Moen lost fourth to Bobby Aldridge on lap 6 as Surber continued in fifth. Aldridge grabbed third from Holloway on lap 11 with motorcycle star Josh Chisum into fourth on lap 12. Minor lost a wheel and hit the wall for the first yellow flag on lap 13. Yellow flag laps were counting and dirt track hobby stock titlest M Johnson climbed into fifth place. When green flag racing resumed on lap 19, M Johnson leaped all the way from fifth to 2nd as Meadows faded out of the top five. M Johnson had started in the back row. Duncan broke into the top five on lap 20, taking over fourth behind S Ayler, M Johnson and Chisum. A tap from Duncan sent Chisum spinning for a lap 22 yellow, but Duncan was not penalized. When the green flag returned on lap 27, Aldridge raced into fourth and Meadows was back to fifth a lap later. Duncan took second from M Johnson on lap 28 and another yellow fell on lap 30. Hood had moved the track title car from a 20th place start alongside S Ayler into sixth at this caution. On the restart, he made a big move racing all the way to second ahead of Duncan and M Johnson. Mario Medina Jr had just lost fifth to Meadows when he crashed into the wall for a lap 36 caution. Kevin Johnson blew a tire and M Johnson had to pit with a suddenly sour engine. The race was extended to 42 laps to allow for two green laps at the end. Surber took fifth from Aldridge on lap 41 and Duncan drilled Hood going into turn 3 on the last lap to retake second behind race dominator S Ayler. Meadows ended up third ahead of a fact closing Chisum, Hood, Surber, Aldridge, Vicki Keen, Holloway and Jeffrey Thielscher.

Gary Collins sat out the Race of Champions after hitting the wall in hot laps. Wilson and two time champion Dick Shepherd shared the front row with Duncan and 2005 champion Eric Richardson in row 2. Two time champion Frank Adamo and Dan Holtz were in row 3 and M Collins started in the rear. Shepherd raced into the lead and Adamo took second on lap 2. Adamo then drove underneath Shepherd for the top spot on lap 4. Richardson climbed into fourth behind Wilson and M Collins broke into the top four on lap 7. Wilson took second from Shepherd on lap 8 and M Collins was third a lap later. On a caution at lap 10, the entire field was inverted putting Adamo at the rear with Holtz the new leader over Duncan and Richardson. Holtz crashed into the fence on the restart to end his race and Richardson led lap 11 before Adamo battled his way from last to retake the lead on lap 12. M Collins was second on lap 13 and Duncan spun to force a lap 14 yellow flag. The officials elected to again invert the entire field, sending Adamo back to last and putting Duncan in the lead. Duncan led lap 15 and M Collins raced from third to first on lap 16. Richardson got around Wilson for third, but was taken out by Wilson for the last yellow on lap 18. M Collins led the final five laps for the win and Wilson ran second with his last lap pass around Duncan. Richardson came back to fourth ahead of Shepherd and Adamo.

Summary Race of Champions-Marion Collins, Mark Wilson, Mike Duncan, Eric Richardson, Dick Shepherd, Frank Adamo, Dan Holtz. Sports Compact Main-Steven Ayler, Roy Duncan, Christopher Meadows, Josh Chisum, Larry Hood, Matt Surber, Bobby Aldridge, Vicki Keen, Chris Holloway, Jeffrey Thielscher, Tyler Bandy, Lee Stoops, Steve Alexander, Larry Ayler, Jeff McCulty, #31, Terry Scott, Richard Moen, Rob Campos, James Beam, Kevin Johnson, Michael Johnson, Mario Medina Jr, Jim Patterson, Mike Corwin, Sean Minor, Ken Carter.

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