See Also FIRST FEATURE WINS FOR WILSON, SCHWEITZER AND JOHNSON 06/17/2006

Oildale, CA -- Coming all the way from the rear after a lap 9 pit stop and making his winning move around Steve Drake on lap 39, 2005 Western Dirt Late Model Tour champion Bobby Hogge IV from Salinas scored his second straight Western All Stars 40 lap feature win on Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway Park. He had a $3000 win on Memorial Day weekend here and tonight’s victory was worth $2000 as the Western All Stars action is sponsored by Fast Undercar and Victory Circle Chassis. Hogge IV wheels a Victory Circle Chassis using a Hendren Racing Engine. He only managed 7th fast time and pitted on a lap 9 yellow flag in the feature. He made it back to fifth on lap 30, took third from Ron Bartels on lap 35 and second from Billy Griffin on lap 37. He pulled alongside leader Drake as they finished lap 38 and raced to the exciting win. Drake settled for the $1000 second place money and R Bartels made a last lap pass on Griffin to collect the $700 third place award. Griffin settled for a $600 fourth and Phil Barrow was a season best fifth for a $500 payday. Drake drives a Rocket, R Bartels a Rayburn and Griffin a Warrior so the race had four different chassis builders in the top four. Hogge has the potential to have a huge money month as his WDLMT runs for $3000 to win on June 24 and the Western All Stars return here for a $5000 to win, $27,000 show on July 1.

A 29 car field appeared, but Larry Childress broke in hot laps. Coming off a Santa Maria win in the Chris Sivesind car, Mike Johnson was back in his own Victory Circle mount and set quick time with a 13.400 clocking on the 1/3 mile clay oval. Fast time pays $100 at the Western All Stars events. Drake had earlier posted a 13.441 lap and time trial expert R Bartels ran a 13.757 for third. Griffin ranked fourth in the Rick Fringer car at 13.822. Donnie Hampl ran to fifth with his 13.944 lap and Dick Shepherd was sixth in his Victory Circle at 13.975. He was the final 13 second car as 7th quick Hogge ran 14.062. Barrow got the final front row heat race start in 8th at 14.253. Scott Pounds appeared in a former Dan Schlieper car after destroying his mount at the Memorial Day race. Four straight up heat races transferred the top four finishers into the A Main and the top two from each heat earned the right to draw for their starting order in the dash. Johnson won heat 1 from the pole with Hampl second ahead of fourth starting Chet Buckley. Pounds came from sixth to edge Bill Bartels for the final transfer. Drake won heat 2 from the pole and Jeffrey Priddy was a solid second from third starting. Dino Napier started sixth and ran third with Donnie McGowan getting the final transfer in a crash filled race. Doug Thompson crashed hard in this heat and Andy Obertello broke to end his night also. R Bartels made it three straight heat wins from the pole with Hogge racing to a second from the outside front row. Larry Hood returned to action with a third from fourth starting and A J Kirkpatrick came from fifth to transfer with a fourth. Griffin made it four for four by winning heat 4 from the pole with fellow front row starter Barrow second. Devin Crockett ran third from third and sixth starting Jason Selvidge made the feature in his Bakersfield dirt late model debut with a fourth. The draw for the starting order in the all important dash that sets the front four rows in the 40 lapper found Priddy and R Bartels drawing the front row ahead of Hampl, Drake, Barrow, Hogge, Johnson and Griffin. R Bartels was a wire to wire from his front row start and Drake followed him in the high line to an early second. Hampl spun on lap 1 and Griffin was penalized to the rear. Hogge and Johnson both passed Priddy on lap 4 for the 3-4 slots and they finished that way even though Johnson briefly nosed ahead of Hogge on lap 7 of the 8 lapper. The dash pays $100, $75 and $50 to the top three slots.

Four transfers were available in the 12 lap B Main that had 10 starters after the problems for Childress, Thompson and Obertello. B Bartels had the pole and he won in wire to wire fashion in his Rayburn. Third starting Chad Reichenbach took second from rookie Robert Sanders on lap 2 and finished in second. Barry Bradshaw came from fifth to get third on lap 3 in the Ron Paulk car and he finished third ahead of Zack Forster. Just missing transfers were Shepherd and Sanders. Shepherd had one final way to get into the 40 lapper as the series allows the winner of the special Non Qualifier race to give up the $500 win money and tag the $400 to start feature if they desire. Shepherd had the pole for the Non Qualifier and was still in front of Sanders when the race was flagged early at 8 laps with only those two cars still running. Shepherd did elect to tag the feautre as the 21st starter. Brian Wirtz had fallen out on lap 6 and the trio of Willy Oathout, Scott Bartels and Danny Bohand were all eliminated in a lap 1 incident.

The field was now set for the 40 lapper with R Bartels, Drake, Hogge and Johnson holding down the front four starting slots based on their dash finish. Rough track conditions took their toll on the cars bodywork and the yellow flag fell 10 times in the long distance race. R Bartels raced into the lead over Drake and Hogge. Johnson and Hogge traded third for several laps before Hogge also got by Drake for second. Buckley and Selvidge spun for early cautions and Hood’s race was over. Napier lost his muffler and his night was over on lap 5. When Selvidge stalled for a lap 8 yellow, he was sent off for being involved in two cautions. R Bartels led Hogge, Drake, Johnson and Griffin when Kirkpatrick had problems for a lap 9 yellow. On this yellow, Hogge pitted and restarted in the back. Drake was back into second and he was able to drive underneath R Bartels for the lead on lap 12. Debris forced a lap 13 yellow and Johnson was able to take second from R Bartels on this restart. Johnson’s night was over as he stalled in the infield on lap 15 and Kirkpatrick also pitted. Griffin was now a player as he raced ahead of R Bartels for second and Pounds had come all the way from 13th to 4th ahead of Hampl. R Bartels retook second on lap 18 and Priddy lost several laps parked in the infield. Hampl’s strong night continued as he raced into fourth only to lose power on lap 26. Reichenbach rear-ended the broken Hampl at high speed and B Bartels also crashed into the melee. Drake got the front row by himself on the restart with the field double filed behind him. R Bartels raced underneath Drake to retake the lead on lap 27, but Drake came back to regain first on lap 30. Hogge was now back to fifth behind Griffin and 21st starting Shepherd. All eyes were on Hogge as he rode the high line around Shepherd for fourth on lap 34 with Pounds stalled for a final yellow flag. Both Griffin and Hogge got around R Bartels on this restart for the 2-3 slots and Hogge raced into second on lap 37. He then pulled alongside Drake on lap 38 and made his winning pass on lap 39. Hogge got his second straight Western All Stars win and third overall for 2006 as he also won a WDLMT race in Watsonville. Drake ran second ahead of R Bartels, who passed Griffin on the last lap. Barrow was ffith with a last lap move around Shepherd. Shepherd ran sixth ahead of Buckley, Forster, Crockett, B Bartels and McGowan, who was one lap down. Priddy was the final finishing car.

The Western All Stars have special awards at every race. This week, Thompson won a free pit pass, Kirkpatrick a free race entry, Sanders a cordless drill, a free Hoosier tire went to 5th in each heat, a $25 Race Prep gift certificate to sixth in each heat and a cash of oil to 7th in each heat. Fifth and sixth in the B Main also got a case of oil and Shepherd won the $50 Hardcharger award from Photo Finish Photos.

Even with it’s expanded purse, the Fast Undercar Firecracker 50 on July 1 still carries just a $25 entry fee and $40 pit passes. With a fifty car turnout, first is $5000 and it will $3000 to win if 49 cars or less appear. Second pays $2000, third $1200, fourth $1100, fifth $1050, sixth and seventh $1025 and 8th through 10th are all $1000. It pays $750 down to 15th and $500 to the bottom.

Summary Fast Qualifiers-Mike Johnson 13.400, Steve Drake 13.441, Ron Bartels 13.757, Billy Griffin 13.822, Donnie Hampl 13.944, Dick Shepherd 13.975, Bobby Hogge IV 14.062, Phil Barrow 14.253, Bill Bartels 14.293, Jeffrey Priddy 14.340, Robert Sanders 14.368, Devin Crockett 14.394, Chet Buckley 14.450, Andy Obertello 14.514, Larry Hood 14.533, Chad Reichenbach 14.614, Zack Forster 14.688, Doug Thompson 14.739, A J Kirkpatrick 14.739, Scott Bartels 14.751, Scott Pounds 14.754, Dino Napier 14.881, Willy Oathout 14.906, Jason Selvidge 15.067, Brian Wirtz 15.198, Donnie McGowan 15.297, Barry Bradshaw 15.329, Danny Bohard 15.578, Larry Childress NT. Heat 1-Johnson, Hampl, Buckley, Pounds, B Bartels. Heat 2-Drake, Priddy, Napier, McGowan, Thompson. Heat 3-R Bartels, Hogge, Hood, Kirkpatrick, Sanders. Heat 4-Griffin, Barrow, Crockett, Selvidge, Reichenbach. Dash-R Bartels, Drake, Hogge, Johnson, Barrow, Griffin, Priddy, Hampl. B Main-B Bartels, Reichenbach, Bradshaw, Forster, Shepherd, Sanders, Oathout, Wirtz, S Bartels, Bohard. Non-Qualifier-Shepherd, Sanders, Wirtz, Oathout, S Bartels, Bohard. A Main-Hogge, Drake, R Bartels, Griffin, Barrow, Shepherd, Buckley, Forster, Crockett, B Bartels, McGowan, Priddy, Pounds, Reichenbach, Bradshaw, Hampl, Johnson, Kirkpatrick, Selvidge, Napier, Hood.

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